‘But don’t abuse it’
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has given assurance that it will not intervene or suppress academic freedom and other fundamental liberties exercised in campuses.
However, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde stressed that students, teachers and other academic professionals should not abuse this freedom as he maintained his earlier pronouncements on the infiltration of schools by left-leaning front organizations to radicalize and recruit students in some colleges and universities.
“Although this has been their standard strategy for years, I felt responsible to forewarn once again my fellow parents and our students of the serious danger it poses to their future. Nonetheless, I assure you there will be no police intervention to suppress academic freedom, speech,
expression and other fundamental liberties exercised in our campuses,” Albayalde said at a press briefing in Camp Crame in Quezon City yesterday.
He added that the police “recognized that student activism is a healthy sign of a vibrant democracy which our country now has. But to the extent of taking up arms or inciting to take up arms against the government is definitely in conflict with the law that the PNP is duty bound to address with appropriate police response.”
Officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) labeled 18 universities and colleges in Metro Manila as breeding grounds for insurgency.
This prompted Albayalde to warn professors who are encouraging their students to entertain “rebellious” ideas of possible charges.
“With all due respect to members of academe, on the heels of the international observance of world teachers’ day over the weekend, I know that many of them remain faithful to their chosen vocation as role models and educators of the youth,” he said.
Albayalde said professors need to be cautious of the standard practice of the leftist underground movement who exploit academic freedom to infiltrate and radicalize some students to serve, wittingly or unwittingly, their goal of undermining, destabilizing or even overthrowing the government.
“Although the strength and capability of its armed wing have been effectively diminished, it is still important to be conscious of its persistent schemes to undermine our country’s stability,” said Albayalde. “I submit that academic freedom is important to promote critical thinking in our educational institutions but it does not give anyone the right to abet, encourage or violate laws and regulations, much more to take advantage of the students’ idealism to propagate hatred, violence and armed struggle against the government.”
He said he hopes that patriotism and nationalism that promote values of love, sacrifice and service to country would be taught more in schools, especially in state colleges and universities.
While admitting that only a “very small percentage of universities and colleges are infiltrated by the left,” this is still a concern as the young mind can be easily influenced. He noted several incidents in the past where young activist students were killed in armed encounters between the military and the rebels.
Albayalde added that the PNP has initiated consultations with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and started opening lines of communication with school authorities to help discount the possibility of campus infiltration by extremist groups with their violent ideas.
“Surely we can learn from each other on how best to deal with this security concern and to try to help each other protect and secure the future of our youth who are considered to be our nation’s hope,” the PNP chief said.
He also stressed that the PNP remains responsive to the requirements of due process, rule of law and human rights in all its operations.
“Let me point out that human rights advocacy is an institutional policy in the PNP that is deeply rooted in our doctrine, systems and procedures. Continuing education on human rights has been constantly afforded to all 180,000 police personnel through periodic training programs and follow-on seminars, while human rights training modules are now incorporated in all PNP mandatory training and specialization courses from recruitment and onwards, along the entire career in the police service,” he pointed out.
Top police and military officers met at Camp Crame yesterday to map out their plan of action and agenda for the dialogues with presidents and other top officials of schools and universities in Metro Manila and the rest of the country.
Director Guillermo Eleazar, concurrent chief for the PNP directorate of operations and National Capital Region Police Office, said they plan to ask the officials to request teachers to refrain from inciting students to rebel against or paint a bad image of the government.
He added that the PNP is just waiting for CHED chairman Prospero de Vera III to confirm the schedules for the planned dialogues.
“We cannot go straight to the president or officials of the universities as we are waiting for the green light from chairman De Vera… It depends on the CHED official who would we be talking to,” Eleazar said.
‘We cannot fail’
Meanwhile, the government and the military are intensifying the Balik Loob program for communist rebels to counter the supposed Red October plot to oust President Duterte.
“We cannot afford to fail. We cannot let our President down, as much as we cannot fail our own people,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said during Friday’s Task Force Balik Loob high-level interagency meeting at Camp Aguinaldo.
He stressed that the agencies should work closely with each other for a whole-of-government approach in providing benefits and services to rebels who opt to surrender.
“Ending the insurgency is not an end but rather a means towards achieving higher national objectives of social healing, reconciliation, unity among our people and, eventually, attaining lasting peace – a legacy which the President wants to bequeath to the nation and to our people,” Lorenzana said.
But the National Democratic Front (NDF) – political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines – said that pronouncements about Red October are “incredible, fantastic and downright fishy.”
“At this point, it is clear that Malacañang and the AFP are not convincing anyone but themselves. Instead, the Filipino people do not have to be convinced twice that the sinister Red October plot is a psy-war and red scare campaign meant to justify Duterte’s desire to declare martial law nationwide and fulfill his plan to install a Marcosian fascist dictatorship,” the NDF-Mindanao claimed in a statement.
They added that Red October is nothing but a ploy to suppress the issue on economic hardship, poor governance and social justice.
The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment has also sought the help of the Commission on Human Rights after some of their members were allegedly harassed and threatened “under the veil of the Red October conspiracy.”
These environmentalists, it claimed, were accused of being communist rebels and subjected to surveillance.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas also plans to file cases against the AFP for attacking and persecuting farmer leaders. – With Non Alquitran, Michael Punongbayan, Jose Rodel Clapano, Rhodina Villanueva