AFP apologizes to UP for presence in campus

MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday apologized to the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman for deploying military men in its campus last October 21.

The AFP explained that a legitimate national security operation was being conducted and was properly coordinated with the local police.

"University students and members of the UP faculty were not the subject of that operation as alleged by some quarters," the AFP said in a statement.

The military added that they had no intent to violate the 1989 agreement between UP and the Department of National Defense which requires prior notification of the university before any military operations in any of its campuses.

"The AFP humbly apologizes for the incident and assures the public and the UP that any inconvenience that arose out of this incident is not intentional. We will work to ensure that this does not happen again," the military said.

The AFP explained that its security operations are pursued to prevent crimes and terroristic acts.

Last week, an intelligence officer of the AFP was earlier taken into custody by the UP Police "for verification" after claiming that he was leading a legitimate operation inside the university.

The intelligence officer was identified as First Lieutenant Fidorf Cimatu, who was with five other unidentified military officers.

The UP Diliman administration expressed concern over the incident and called on the AFP to explain the unauthorized presence of intelligence officers in the campus.

The incident occurred prior to "Kampuhan sa Diliman," a solidarity camp hosted by the university for Lumads in Mindanao. The AFP has earlier denied any link to groups involved in the killing of Lumads or indigenous people.

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