UP freedom vs the state

From the editorial, ¨Divert, Repress, Repeat¨ of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It tackled the
background or why Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana suddenly put a stop to a 31-year
agreement. The agreement was said to be between the University of the Philippines and the
DND. The agreement was about the safety and protection for the UP students who were
activists. This was also about the police and military forces entering the campus without
proper consent from the school´s officials.

The writer or author begins his article, ¨Divert, Repress, Repeat¨ with the issue regarding the
31- agreement. It was signed in 1989 by Jose Abueva, the University of the Philippine´s
president, and Fidel Ramos who was the former defense secretary. They made an
agreement for the protection of the students. From my understanding, the reason is because
of an issue regarding a staffer that was killed because of a military, because of an alleged
role in killing. But actually confessed that he was forced to admit the crime.

They believed that the campus was a safe place for students or enemies of the state. But
even though Lorenzana stated that the military and police will not put down activist groups,
besides the six men that were caught in 2015, last year 2020, 5 individuals that were
protesting were caught by the police. They claimed that they were violating social distancing
but then, later on put them off in a small precinct. Which does it seem that they also violated
the law?

The UP Chancellor, Fidel Nemenzo claimed that freedom is the lifeblood of the UP students.
It is because of their freedom to think and speak for themselves. The way they fight for what
they think is right makes up the UP that we know today, a school that ranked 65th among
489 universities in asia. And we must agree to what Up president said, that it was the result
of their exercise of academic freedom. The reason why we must defend UP as a zone of
free thought and free speech. Because of this issue, this also became a diversion to the
people about the government´s misdeeds.