House Bill No. 10171, a proposal to institutionalize the University of the Philippines–Department of National Defense (UP-DND) Accord was approved on second reading today, September 15, Wednesday at the House of Representatives.
The bill aims to amend Section 11 which arches provisions that prior notice is mandatory before the police and armed forces of the government can enter UP domains. This excludes circumstances of hot pursuit. Furthermore, the bill also seeks to add sanctions in punishing those who will not comply.
The UP-DND agreement which had safeguarded the academic freedom and safety of the UP community from the intrusion of state forces was previously terminated by the DND under the baseless grounds of alleged terrorism and CPP-NPA recruitment.
According to legal expert Tony La Viña, the unilateral termination has no lawful basis as the accord necessitates that consensus be reached with both parties involved.
The UP community has cried foul over red-tagging and the frightening ramification to academic freedom of rendering the accord obsolete. This is as military and paramilitary forces have already had a bad track record of upholding the accord even when it was still in place.
It can be recalled that police forces had also made the dash of intruding in campus vicinity in UP Cebu when seven protesters staging a peaceful mobilization against the then-Anti-Terror Bill within the UP Cebu Campus were forcibly arrested.
To negotiate the clauses of the bill and ensure and enforce that UP campuses remain a democratic space for its stakeholders, UP formed a technical working group reporting to the Board of Regents which formerly held its second meeting last September 3.
In the said meeting, UP President Danilo Concepcion stated that a statement would be the better option in lobbying towards protecting campus spaces. This, as the community asserted, however, would not secure the same assurances as compared to a resolution.
In order to strengthen the call to defend UP and to protect academic freedom, Defend UP Network spearheaded a social media campaign last September 14, Tuesday, and called on the UP community to participate in the protest on September 15, Wednesday, at the House of Representatives.
The League of Filipino Students – CSSP asserted the accord’s historic contributions, especially in upholding academic freedom and defending the university from state repression.
“Sa ilalim ng rehimeng bilyun-bilyon ang ibinibigay na budget para sa panunupil ng mga progresibong boses ng mga kabataan at mamamayan, makiisa tayo sa pagpapanawagan ng ating mga karapatan!” LFS-CSSP stated.
The bill still needs to be approved on the third reading in the House of Representatives and wait for the developments of its counterpart bill in the Senate before proceeding with the bilateral conference committee and President Duterte’s approval.
Featured Image by Rappler
