Formal request needed before ruling on UP-DND accord: Guevarra

MANILA – Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said the department will await a formal request for adjudication if any is forthcoming from any of the concerned parties before it may rule on the contentious abrogation of a 31-year agreement between the University of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense (DND).

“Considering that there is an apparent dispute between the state university and the DND with respect to the validity of the unilateral cancellation of their long-standing agreement, the DOJ will view any request for legal opinion as a request for administrative adjudication or settlement under the revised administrative code, which provides that all such disputes between government entities should be brought before the DOJ, OSG (Office of the Solicitor General), or OGCC (Office of the Government Corporate Counsel), as the case may be,” Guevarra told reporters.

Guevarra also said the SOJ, as attorney general, does not issue legal opinions or commence administrative adjudication proceedings “unless requested by heads of government agencies or other state instrumentalities”.

The so-called DND-UP accord was a violation of the equal protection clause under the 1987 Constitution, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief-of-staff, Gen. Gilbert Gapay, said earlier.

In a statement, Gapay said it was only UP that enjoyed privileges under the recently-terminated agreement.

“There is no substantial distinction between UP and other schools, state colleges, and universities. To give to UP such entitlement places it an unfairly advantaged status over the academic institutions and defies that Constitutional guarantee of equality of rights and protection under our laws,” Gapay said.

Gapay expressed support to DND’s move to terminate the 1989 accord, saying it was “unfair to the Filipino people and runs contrary to the public interest”.

“Thus, the termination of the said accord does not violate the Constitution or any substantive laws of the land. On the contrary, the termination rectifies what we believe was in fact infringement of our Constitution,” he said.

He said that it is high time to put an end to a deal which has been taken advantage of by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) “in perpetuating their deceptive recruitment.”

Critics of the accord’s termination said the move was an infringement of academic freedom, but Gapay clarified that the military would not interfere in the state university’s “liberty to choose who may teach, what can be taught, the manner with which it will be taught or who may study in UP”.

“That academic freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution, it does not require enabling laws or any other agreements — certainly not from the voided agreement,” Gapay said.

The AFP records show that at least 18 UP students who were recruited by the NPA have perished in skirmishes with government security forces.

“And this deadly recruitment has to stop. The CTGs (Communist Terrorist Groups) can no longer lurk in the university as they did before knowing that the AFP cannot enter the campuses without the prior consent of the school administrators,” Gapay said.

The military, he said, cannot remain bound by an agreement that dictates they have to seek permission before they can enter UP campuses.

“As a way forward, we will pursue a more collaborative relationship between UP —and other universities for that matter— to usher the rebirth of schools and state universities that are bastions of genuine patriotism and not of misguided activism,” Gapay said.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.