MANILA, Philippines — Though the national police back the 1989 agreement between the University of the Philippines and the defense department, violations by police officers—many of which are documented yet unsolved—will not go unaddressed, the chief of police said.
In a statement sent to reporters Tuesday morning, Police Gen. Debold Sinas claimed that the accord, which requires state forces to secure authorization before entering the campus, "limits police and military presence in all its campuses" and "did not serve the best interest of public order and security" in its 30 years in effect.
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This comes after the Department of National Defense in a letter addressed to UP President Danilo Concepcion announced that the deal had been terminated starting Friday, January 15, per a report by the university's publication, The Philippine Collegian.
"The PNP wishes to state that the termination of the agreement does not diminish our mandate to uphold the law at all times. Any abuse or criminal behavior committed by men in uniform shall be dealt with accordingly," he also said in his statement.
"The PNP seeks to build stronger collaboration among stakeholders to protect campuses against criminal activities, drug syndicates, and shadowy organizations that promote and espouse Local Communist Armed Conflict against government thru force and violence," he added, though it is unclear what such activities would have to do with the university and its agreement with the government.
Why does this matter?
- Peaceful protest actions and demonstrations are typically held within the UP Diliman campus
- The Commission on Human Rights, also a common site for protesters, is also within the campus' borders
- UP grounds have long been a safe haven for activists, as they cannot be arrested on school grounds
- With the agreement scrapped, police and military forces can freely enter campuses if they so desire
UPLB: University never prevented state forces
In a separate statement, the university's Los Baños campus denied the PNP's claims on restrictions on police presence, pointing out that the university upheld its end of the bargain when it came to authorized operations.
"In the three decades that the Agreement has been in effect, nothing prevented the DND and the Armed Forces of the Philippines from enforcing the laws of the land in any UP campus as long as it is properly coordinated with the UP administration. We have assisted police personnel and even agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in discreetly enforcing court issued writs such as warrants of arrest on campus," UPLB Chancellor Jose Camacho, Jr. said.
"The Agreement is therefore not a hindrance to the enforcement of the country’s laws and judicial orders on campus. It has never hindered DND or AFP from conducting intelligence operations in UP campuses otherwise it would not have been aware of what it claims as “ongoing clandestine recruitment inside U.P. campuses nationwide for membership in the CPP/NPA.”
On the contrary, instances of police and military personnel not honoring the accord are well-documented.
READ: UP Cebu protesters 'tried the tolerance of police, went too far' — PNP chief
According to the now-terminated agreement, members of the army and police, as well as the military auxiliary Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit, "shall not interfere with peaceful protest actions by UP constituents within UP premises."
"The service of search or arrest warrants on any UP student, faculty, employee, or invited participants in any official UP activity shall, as far as practicable, be done after prior notification is given the UP President, or Chancellor of the constituent university, or Dean of the regional unit concerned, or their respective officers-in-charge in the event of their absence,” it also says.
How has the accord actually affected police operations?
At the University of the Philippines in Cebu campus in June, though, eight students were arrested at a Black Friday protest against the controversial anti-terror law.
Videos from the protest showed activists running into the UP Cebu to get to safety from police forces, only for some officers to run into the campus anyway. One showed an officer lifting up and carrying away one protester who was later arrested.
Police said the activists had "shoved" their officers, who had shields and truncheons. Later, then-PNP chief Archie Gamboa said that the eight who were arrested were apprehended for disobedience to authority. "It seemed like they really try the tolerance of police to some extent. They are going too far already, which is tantamount to disobedience that's why we caused the arrest," he said then.
READ: UP Cebu protesters 'tried the tolerance of police, went too far' — PNP chief
Just a month after the incident, a separate protest action in the university's Diliman campus saw much of the same treatment after progressive groups trooped to the Commission on Human Rights grounds, which is at the University of the Philippines Diliman, to protest the junking of ABS-CBN Corp.'s application for a renewed legislative franchise.
At the rally, Quezon City police alleged that demonstrators mauled a police officer—who was supposedly there "for peacekeeping and monitoring...to maintain peace and order in the illegal demonstration"—on campus.
The QCPD claim differs from other accounts that the police officer, who was photographed to be in plainclothes at the time, was arrested by the university's police after being caught with a gun.
PNP Operational Procedures require cops to be in agency-prescribed uniforms during official operations. The public document also says that police are instructed to observe maximum tolerance in all dispersal operations as far as rallies and demonstrations are concerned.
READ: QCPD says cop mauled, robbed amid reports he was apprehended by campus police
"It is in this light that we view the unilateral rescission of the 1989 UP-DND accord as an assault against the freedom of UP as an institution. It comes at the heels of earlier threats to discontinue funding for the University, which was intended to silence and intimidate us," Camacho said.
"We will not back down. We will continue with our duty to defend the freedom of our people guaranteed under the Constitution – the right to life and liberty, the freedom of speech, of expression and the right of the people to campaign against graft and corruption."
Termination 'an assault against UP's freedom'
Camacho in his statement also slammed what he said was "the unilateral rescission of the 1989 UP-DND accord as an assault against the freedom of UP as an institution."
"It comes at the heels of earlier threats to discontinue funding for the University, which was intended to silence and intimidate us...As a bastion for the expression of ideas, ideals, and advocacies and as a sanctuary for the exercise of our cherished rights and freedoms, UP is hallowed ground for activism and dissent, not rebellion," the statement read.
"The 1989 Agreement is supposed to embody the shared aspirations for peace and democracy between the DND and the UP administration and was signed in good faith. As such, it can never be a hindrance to the achievement of these aspirations. Unless, a party to it views the other with contempt," it added.