The decision of the Department of National Defense to end its agreement with the University of the Philippines as regards prohibition on the entry of police and military was clearly an aim to sow terror and fear, the Communist Party of the Philippines said Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte supports the decision of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to terminate the UP-DND accord of 1989, says Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, an alumnus of the university.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Reps. Edcel Lagman (Independent, Albay); Michael Defensor (Anakalusugan Partylist) and Ruffy Biazon (PDP-Laban, Muntinlupa City) joined various sectors in defending the pact that made it mandatory for military and other state security forces to notify the University of the Philippines administration before conducting operations within its campuses.
“The repressive policies of the Duterte administration have gone berserk as it is now open season for the military invasion of UP campuses,” said Lagman.
He warned that the abrogation of the 1989 accord ”red-tags the entire UP constituencies nationwide” that will include UP campuses in Diliman, Quezon City; Manila, Los Banos, Visayas, Baguio, San Fernando, Tacloban, Ming-ao and Cebu.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19) As the Defense Department unilaterally moved to terminate a 1989 pact that prohibits the unauthorized entry of police and military personnel in University of the Philippines’ campuses, another deal has consistently been mentioned as its basis the Soto-Enrile agreement.
In an Oct. 29, 1981 letter, then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile told student groups that the police would not enter any campus nationwide unless requested by students or school authorities, and that the military would not interfere in “peaceful student protest actions.” In return, student protesters should notify the police ahead of any demonstration, the letter stated.
Two former top cops who are now occupying Senate seats on Tuesday said the move of the Department of National Defense in unilaterally terminating the agreement with the University of the Philippines (UP) regarding the ban on entry of state forces in its campuses made sense.