MANILA, Philippines — The Second Congressional Commission on Education should include the definition of academic freedom as one of its priorities for its review of the state of higher education, Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Prospero "Popoy" De Vera.
"(The definition of academic freedom) continues to be a concern as well as a challenge in higher education," De Vera said at a House hearing led by the basic education committee with CHED officials and members of EDCOM 2.
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De Vera also mentioned the need to clearly define academic freedom after the selection of the new chancellor at UP Diliman, which spawned criticism and calls for transparency from several professors and students who supported the bid for chancellorship of former UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo.
"I think Congressman Mark Go and I, after the selection of the chancellor of UP Diliman was subjected to, you know, what is called academic freedom, and would like to discuss and take this up not only within the context of the university itself but in the governance of universities," De Vera said.
"This is very challenging for many boards of state universities and colleges and I am sure also in the private schools," De Vera added.
De Vera and Rep. Mark Go (Baguio City) are members of the Board of Regents, the UP system’s highest decision-making body which selected the new chancellor.
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EDCOM 2 kickstarts in 2023 its three-year review of the country’s education system three decades after the first EDCOM was created.
As part of its review of higher education, EDCOM 2 will also prioritize its assessment of students' access to quality education, efficiency of public and private education institutions, graduate education, among others.
Courts may define academic freedom
While the 1987 Constitution mandates all higher education institutions should enjoy academic freedom, it does not define the term.
This, however, appears to be deliberate.
According to a University of the Philippines article on academic freedom, the reason behind the lack of definition can be traced to deliberations by the 1986 Constitutional Commission.
Then-commissioner Adolf Azcuna said: “Since academic freedom is a dynamic concept and we want to expand the frontiers of freedom, especially in education, therefore, we will leave it to the courts to develop further the parameters of academic freedom.”
In 2021, a panel of professor emeriti from UP agreed with US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter's opinion that academic freedom consists of the "four essential freedoms" of a university: "to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study."
At the same webinar, UP professor and economist Solita Monsod said that academic freedom does not translate to "unlimited" freedom among members of the academic community.
Among others, it does not mean "a faculty member can harass, threaten, intimidate, ridicule, or impose his or her views on students" and it "does not protect faculty members from non-university penalties if they break the law," according to Monsod.
Defense accords, books sparked calls for acad freedom
The need to preserve and defend academic freedom has been cited in both UP’s and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ now-terminated agreements with the Department of National Defense.
Both accords — which bar security personnel from entering campus without permission — were scrapped in 2021 and 2022 following Duterte’s pronouncements cracking down on schools with unverified claims of communist recruiters on campus.
RELATED: Students alarmed at DND termination of accord on operations in PUP campuses | DND says to 'allow legitimate dissent' even with accord with UP scrapped
UP Diliman's University Council — which is composed of the chancellor and tenured faculty members — scored De Vera in 2021 after he issued a statement saying that UP officials should be more "prudent" in speaking about the censorship of supposedly subversive books from some state university libraries.
The council said that it was "appalled" that their call for the defense of academic freedom was used by De Vera to criticize the university and its leaders.
RELATED: CHED tells UP Diliman officials: Respect schools' removal of 'subversive' readings | UP professors emeriti oppose removal of books government calls subversive