Palace vows to address standoff in university

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Malacañang vowed to attend to clamors by thousands of students displaced by the standoff between the president of the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) and a group of hostile protesters seeking his ouster.

Former North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, an alumnus of USM, said President Benigno Aquino III has responded positively to his text message last Thursday requesting  Malacañang’s intervention on the controversy.

Most students of USM, located at the center of Kabacan town in the first district of North Cotabato, have not been able to enter the campus since classes re-opened two weeks ago due to the presence of picketers at the university gates, armed with stones, wooden clubs with spikes and machetes.

The protesters have been seeking the relief of USM President Jesus Antonio Derije since early this year. They first picketed at the USM’s main gate about four months ago and have since been preventing the entry of students and teachers.

“Will have this looked into,” Piñol, a Liberal Party member, quoted the President as responding to his text message.

Piñol said he has announced via his Facebook account President Aquino’s commitment to have the problems now besetting USM investigated.

“We are grateful to the President,” Piñol said.

Even Maguindanao’s re-elected provincial governor, Esmael Mangudadatu, is hoping for the immediate resolution of the USM controversy.

Mangudadatu’s office has 107 scholars studying at the USM under his administration’s Maguindanao Program on Empowerment and Community Development (MagPEACE).

“Our MagPEACE scholars have also been affected by that issue. We are hoping for a peaceful, immediate resolution of the standoff there,” Mangudadatu said.

Beleaguered USM students even showed reporters cellular phone footages of their classmates scaling the circumferential fence of USM just to get through and enter their classrooms.

The protesters picketing at the main gate of USM are demanding the ouster of Derije over alleged mismanagement, abuse of authority and embezzling of school funds.