DND, UP leaders agree to form panel, continue dialogue

MANILA – Both the Department of National Defense (DND) and the University of the Philippines (UP) have agreed to form a panel to move on forward in ensuring the protection of the students on the campus.

DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana during an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday bared this development when asked about his meeting with UP president Danilo Concepcion last week.

“It was a very cordial meeting, I’m very glad that we finally met and we agreed in that meeting after he spoke his line, the stand of the UP (administration), ako din sinabi ko din yun stand natin (I told him about our stand), and we agreed after that to continue talking and we agreed to form a panel from both sides to talk on how to move forward in ensuring the protection of our students in the UP Campus,” he said.

And when asked who will comprise the panel for the DND side, Lorenzana said he has directed one of the department’s legal officers to represent the agency although there is still no date set yet regarding the meeting.

“And maybe one of these days, we are going to meet and discuss things to move forward,” the DND chief said.

Last Feb. 5, Lorenzana and Concepcion met and both agreed to continue dialogues on cooperation in promoting academic freedom and the recent termination of the accord that prohibits police and military presence in UP campuses.

“The dialogue afforded key leaders the opportunity to discuss the way forward and possible areas of cooperation on how both institutions can promote their mutual aspirations to ensure a safe and secure environment conducive to learning,” the DND, Commission on Higher Education, and UP said in a joint statement.

Lorenzana early this year terminated the 1989 DND-UP agreement that requires prior notice be given to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, then Philippine Constabulary, or the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit intending to conduct military or police operations in any of the UP campuses, by the University President, the Chancellor of the constituent university, or the Dean of the regional unit concerned, or their respective officers-in-charge in the event of their absence, when the situation so warrants.

Exceptions to the said requirement include hot pursuit cases and ordinary transit. In abrogating the agreement on Jan. 15, Lorenzana called the arrangement “obsolete”.

He added that the agreement was used by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army to turn UP into a breeding ground of “intransigent individuals and groups whose extremist beliefs have inveigled students to join their ranks to fight against the government.”

The Senate, on Jan. 26, has adopted Resolution No. 616 urging DND and UP to “revisit” their 1989 agreement on military presence in the state university’s campuses and called for a dialogue between both parties.