ARMY IN THE CAMPUS. This screencap shows photos of Army engineers from the 53rd Engineering Brigade undergoing a training on Geographic Information System (GIS) at the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus, posted by netizen Josnar Dionzon. Dionzon, in his Sept. 13, 2019 Facebook blog, slammed the left-leaning group Anakbayan for wrongfully interpreting the Army engineers' presence at the USC as "campus militarization," while the USC Supreme Student Council described their training as "solely for educational purposes." (Screencap from Josnar Dionzon's Facebook page)
CEBU CITY – Netizens here defended the Army engineers who received criticism from left-leaning group Anakbayan for wrongfully interpreting their presence at the University of San Carlos (USC) Talamban Campus as “militarization of the university”.
Josnar Dionzon, a university professor and realtor, revealed in his social media blog that “when the uniformed military from the engineering division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines went to the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus, the CPP-NPA affiliate groups like Anakbayan-USC became paranoid as they interpreted the military presence as a militarization of the university”.
Dionzon said the presence of the Army men turned out to be a “training on Geographic Information System (GIS) in the university”. The Army engineers belong to the 53rd Engineer Brigade of the Philippine Army based in Camp Lapu-Lapu here.
Dionzon explained that “GIS is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface".
According to him, the USC shared its expertise in the GIS surveying by providing the Army engineers with the knowledge of the system.
“There's nothing extraordinary. The university's community extension service has been involved in community organizing in selected slum communities which includes transfer of knowledge and skills to the poor. This capability building exercise aims to upgrade the Army's knowledge in order to provide better public service to the Filipino people,” Dionzon said on his Facebook post on Sept. 13.
Dionzon also took swipe at the group for questioning the soldiers’ presence in the university while wearing their battle dress attire (BDA) as uniform while attending GIS classes.
“"Why are they wearing the Army uniform?" the critics asked after knowing the noble purpose of the visit to the university. Why not? In the seminary, we used our religious uniform in attending classes in the diocesan seminary. Later, we put on our religious habit in attending mass with the laypeople,” he said.
“Should we insist that priests, nuns and seminarians must not wear their religious habits while attending political rallies and demonstrations? Why not?” Dionzon asked.
“These CPP-NPA affiliate groups are suffering from paranoia upon seeing the photos of uniformed personnel on the campus. Paranoia is an instinct or thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality,” he said.
He argued that uniform alone cannot transform the university campus into a military barracks, stressing that “when Muslim students wear their hijab, it does not follow that the university will turn into a mosque”.
The Student Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (STAND) of USC in its post on Sept. 12 demanded for an explanation from the university administration why they allow uniformed military men inside the campus.
“Let us altogether uphold our university as peace zones and defend our school from human rights violators,” the student organization said in its Facebook post.
However, the USC Supreme Student Council defended the university’s program giving GIS training to Army engineers as part of the university’s community extension program.
“The USC, being part of the Philippine Army’s Multi-Sector Advisory Board, aids in enhancing the Army engineers’ navigation skills and spatial knowledge through the GIS training which will help soldiers to better respond during times of disasters and calamities, and threats of terrorism,” it said.
“Hence, the presence of soldiers in our university is solely for educational purposes,” it added.
Another netizen, Jec Gat Zitro, said there is nothing wrong with having soldiers inside the university undergoing training on GIS, “considering the school has one of the best facilities for GIS in the country, plus the campus terrain and physical set-up are perfect for such training”.
“GIS plays a pivotal role in military operations as they are essentially spatial in nature. The concept of command, control, communication and coordination in military operations are largely dependent on the availability of accurate information in order to arrive at quick decisions for operational orders,” he said, slamming Anakbayan’s criticism as mere sensationalization of the issue.
He advised students in the university not to worry about the presence of uniformed men, describing them as an addition to the peace and security in the campus.
Dianne Rallon, a member of the Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Board of the Central Command, said on her Facebook post that the Army engineers “are citizens of this country” and there is nothing wrong with them taking training from the USC.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1080561
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