UP community condemns ‘declaration of cooperation’ with Philippine military

File photo of students and Lumad community holding a protest in front of the Oblation in UP Diliman. Earlier this week, a Philippine senator said the organizations in UP serve as “rebel recruitment grounds” (Photo courtesy of Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns)

By JADE ABERIN
Bulatlat.com

Manila – The University of the Philippines community condemned the recently signed Declaration of Cooperation between UP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

On August 8, 2024, two days following the public hearing held by Senator Bato Dela Rosa, during which UP students and groups were accused of being “rebel recruitment grounds,” the “Declaration of Cooperation” was signed by AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. and UP Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Leo Cubillan.

The partnership purportedly aims to strategically coordinate resources and expertise between the AFP and UP through several initiatives, such as joint research projects, academic programs, and community engagement activities.

The UP community, however, said that the agreement makes the university “complicit in human rights violations and political oppression.”

“We believe that the UP System Administration has gravely compromised UP’s academic freedom,” the joint statement by UP Faculty Regent, Staff Regent, Student Regent, KASAMA sa UP and Defend UP Network said on a Facebook post.

“UP purportedly champions fearless scholarship and critical thinking, but its administration now wants to “strategically align (its) resources and expertise” with a coercive institution that we all know has been accused countless times by local and international human rights watchdog groups of trampling on civil liberties in its purported counterinsurgency campaigns and attacks on government critics and dissidents,” they added.

Members of different progressive groups held a protest in UP Diliman in Quezon City to voice out their opposition and denounce the agreement.

The UP Sectoral Regents also pointed out that the agreement was made without consulting the UP community and following the AFP’s unilateral and unlawful rejection of the UP-DND Accord, which restricts military and law enforcement officers from entering UP campuses without proper justification and prior notification.

Read: ‘Termination of UP-DND Accord had no legal basis’ – law expert

“This is most despicable and should merit the strongest condemnation from the students, faculty, staff, and other community members, including all University Councils in all constituent universities,” UP Sectoral Regents said. (RTS, RVO)