ni Ronalyn Seminiano Reonico | January 23, 2021
Sinuportahan ng Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) ang desisyon ng Department of National Defense (DND) na pagputol sa “long-time agreement” ng naturang ahensiya sa University of the Philippines (UP) na pagbabawal sa pagpasok ng state forces sa mga campuses nito nang walang koordinasyon sa unibersidad.
Pahayag ni DILG Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Usec. Bernardo Florece, “The agreement has become obsolete and no longer attuned to the times. It was signed way back in 1989, three years after the end of the Marcos dictatorship. The conditions have changed.”
Saad naman ni Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana sa pagputol ng kasunduan sa UP, “By reason of national security and safety of UP students, this Department intends to remedy this situation by terminating or abrogating the existing ‘agreement’ in order for us to perform our legal mandate of protecting our youth against CPP-NPA recruitment activities.”
Samantala, sang-ayon naman si DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya sa request ng UP na magkaroon ng pagpupulong upang mapag-usapan ang desisyon ng DND.
Saad ni Malaya, “The non-academic areas in UP have increased through the years and crime has been increasing, thus we need to discuss ways on how we can maintain peace and order in those areas.”
Aniya pa, “Upon the request of UP, we are open to a meeting. Kailangan na talaga nating umupo at mag-usap dahil sa dami ng mga pagbabago, pangyayari at problema sa UP. The bottomline is, and will always be, to ensure peace and security in the students and faculty of UP.”