UNLESS the University of the Philippines (UP) administration admitted that it bears part of the responsibility, it would continue to be blind to the ugly truth raised by Department of National Defense (DND) secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, on why he decided to unilaterally terminate the 1989 DND-UP “agreement” closing the university to the entry of the police and military without the administration’s “prior consent.”
With 18 UP students (thus far) confirmed as ending up as “fighters” for the New People’s Army or “cadres” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP-NPA), both declared as “terrorist organizations” their defense that UP has never been a “haven of enemies of state” as pointed out by the defense chief, rings hollow indeed.
That UP being the recruitment ground of the communists, along with the country’s other colleges and universities, public or private, is an established fact.
Indeed, the “smart” group that they are, they should have known that the first echelon leaders of the CPP-NPA, like founder Jose Maria Sison and next party chairman, Rodolfo Salas, are both UP graduates, while others are also recruited during their student years.
That this has been the case ever since is because school administrators, as the facts bore out, have been wholly negligent (or tolerant) to the activities of CPP-NPA front organizations right under their noses all these times.
It is this necessity, to protect our premier state university from further the communist incursion, that we should appreciate Sec. Lorenzana’s scrapping of the 1989 UP-DND accord.
We agree. To encourage critical thinking, to “think outside of the box” and for our citizens, thru our educational system, to form an independent opinion on a lot of things is important in the strengthening of our democracy.
But when the administrators of our educational system, like those at UP, cannot understand, or refuse to recognise, the line that separates legitimate dissent and “academic freedom” from political agitations designed to plant the seed of hatred against the government or those activities by CPP front organisations aimed at its destruction, then they need to be reminded they have become irresponsible administrators.
And that having absconded with their other social responsibility to protect the students, our children, from turning into future terrorists, the State, would have to take decisive action for the greater good.
While another agreement may soon be signed between the DND and UP if only for the sake of “peaceful coexistence” between the government and our academic community, the abrogation of the 1989 agreement should be a wake-up call to our school administrators.
That more than providing “quality education” to our students, they share the responsibility to help secure the State from subversive elements hiding under the mantle of academic freedom.