Protect UP community from threats, forced disappearances by state forces — USCs
by Jose Vicente Miguel Dave
Calls to defend the UP community were amplified after student and community leaders of various University of the Philippines (UP) constituent units received alarming threats at their residences. This comes after the recent cases of surveillance and forced disappearances against UP students and alumni, suspectedly perpetrated by state forces.
In a press conference of the Office of the Student Regent (OSR) on Sept. 5, Defend the Defenders, UP University Student Councils (USCs) and organizations denounced the harassment of police forces made at different occasions. According to them, there is an increasing presence of state forces inside campuses despite it being barred by the UP-DILG Accord
DCPO’s Intimidation during 54th GASC
Various student accounts reported the presence of drones and civilian-clothed uniformed personnel during the 54th General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) in UP Mindanao (UPMin).
In a statement, Red Masacupan, the second Student Regent (SR) nominee from UPMin, narrated how the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) intercepted and intimidated delegates en route to Davao City Freedom Park. A standoff also occurred at the gates of UPMin.
Masacupan said that a certain DCPO officer was holding his gun while talking to former SR Siegfred Severino. The second SR nominee also detailed how former UPMin USC chair Fauzhea Guiani was asked by an officer whether the former chair had tried to point a gun at her head.
“What’s makes it worse ano, habang kausap si SR Severino, si DCPO TEU Domingo nakahawak na sa baril niya sa belt niya. Kitang-kita naman sa picture. Wala pa tayong ginagawa, wala tayong ginagawang mali, nakahawak na sa baril niya. Tinanong pa si dating UPMin Chair Guiani kung na-try na ba raw niyang matutukan ng baril sa ulo. Tinutulak pa nila ‘yung mga drivers natin na sagasaan na lang raw ‘yung mga estudyante para makaalis na sila,” Masacupan narrated.
The second SR nominee also stressed how state forces denied the presence of civilian-clothed uniformed personnel and drones conducting surveillance even when presented with multiple eyewitness accounts.
Threats, state-sponsored attacks days after GASC
Days after the conclusion of GASC, student and community leaders received unsigned threats stating that they are communists and they and their circle are being surveilled. Most recently, Bebang Alcantara, a community organizer from Purok Malinis, Barangay UP Campus, received a death threat for her and her son at her residence from unknown assailants.
“Hoy ikaw MANGA TERORISTA MALAPIT NA KAYON[G] MAMATAY LAHAT KASAMA NA MANGA MAHAL MONG-ANAK,” an excerpt of the unsigned letter reads. (LOOK: A community organizer from Pook… — Philippine Collegian | Facebook)
Among these cases of state-sponsored intimidation are the trumped-up charges currently faced by Third SR nominee John Peter Angelo “Jpeg” Garcia of UP Los Baños (UPLB). Garcia’s name was dragged by a sergeant of the 59th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA), alleging that he was on “Tour-of-Duty” as Alias “Tango” in the New People’s Army (NPA) in 2021.
This comes after Garcia’s activity in the Southern Tagalog Region as the current Chair of Youth Advocates for Peace with Justice — UP Los Baños (YAPJUST-UPLB), investigating the reported cover-up of the IBPA’s about the killing of nine-year-old Kylene Casano.
“We call on our justice system — dismiss the trumped-up complaints filed against human rights defenders now. May this government, particularly our justice system, see at last the injuries made after the enactment of the draconian Anti Terrorism Act. 19 civilians — innocent civilians — in the Southern Tagalog region alone were made victims of the weaponization of the ATA. Clearly, state forces are only doing this to cover-up their rise of abuses as well as silence us,” Garcia said.
UPB alumni among new desaparecidos
On top of the cases of state-sponsored intimidation, UP Baguio Alumni Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz “Bazoo” De Jesus remain unseen after being abducted by men who identify as part of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).
Capuyan and De Jesus, both Indigenous Peoples (IP) rights activists, were last sighted in Taytay, Rizal on April 28 this year. Two months after their disappearances, the Court of Appeals (CA) ordered state forces to present the two missing alumni, but the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP failed to present them.
Earlier this month, environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano were abducted by armed men in Orion, Bataan. Castro and Tamano were part of AKAP KA Manila Bay, an environmental group against the recent Manila Bay reclamation projects.
UP Manila’s local situation
Just a month before the recently concluded GASC, UP Manila (UPM) Development Studies (DS) students were forced to pull out from their practicum community in San Francisco, Quezon. Despite acquiring the necessary permits from the local government and having the necessary documents to conduct their practicum, they were still intimidated by the 85th Infantry Battalion. (DS students pull out from community practicum amid surveillance, intimidation by AFP’s 85th Infantry Battalion)
Students also protested the lack of student consultation regarding the agreement between the UP College of Dentistry (UPCD) and the AFP. According to incoming UPMa USC Vice Chairperson Brandon Deichmann, the agreement will only serve as an avenue of campus militarization within UPM.
“Amid the continued attack [on] students, human right defenders and organizers, the implications of this agreement is clear — it only serves as an additional avenue to further militarize campus grounds, permit the entry of AFP into UP Manila, and only continues to put our students at risk,” Deichmann argued.
“Despite the council having previously met with the administration and saying that they will provide a copy of this agreement, we have still not received a copy of this MOA, and we do not know the implications and what exactly talked about in this memorandum of agreement,” Deichmann added.
Establishment of a committee advancing UP students’ academic freedom
With the increasing threats on the safety and security of the UP Community, proposals for the establishment of a Committee on the Promotion and Protection of Academic Freedom and Human Rights were voiced out by different USCs.
The proposal aims to protect and defend UP from the increasing state-sponsored attacks.
