Liga Independencia Pilipinas calls for scrapping UP Security bill

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 27, 2022): Liga Independencia Pilipinas calls for scrapping UP Security bill (By Lade Jean Kabagani)

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Anti-communist group, Liga Independencia Pilipinas (LIPI), believes that "scrapping" the bill institutionalizing the 1989 University of the Philippines (UP)-Department of National Defense (DND) accord into the UP Charter, will protect campuses from infiltration of communist terrorist groups (CTGs).

LIPI national chairperson Jose Antonio Goitia, in a statement Thursday, defended the DND's earlier decision to abrogate its agreement with UP, saying "it would end the underground mass recruitment of the communist groups inside campuses."

"We have stated this in our previous statement. We reiterate that the termination of the agreement allows the military and police to enter the campus without prior notification to the UP administration in order to provide effective security and ensure the safety and welfare of the universities' students, faculty, and employees against the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army (CPP-NPA)," Goitia said.

He added that the bill will just allow the CPP-NPA and its front organizations to continue luring vulnerable students to overthrow the government, and later on, partake in the armed struggle.

"This is not a plan for intelligence operations, surveillance, raids on student offices, or the closure of essential resources like the bookshop or printing press," Goitia said.

The DND-UP Accord, signed on June 30, 1989, prohibits the military and the police from entering all UP campuses without prior notice to its administration.

Effective Jan. 15, 2021, the DND terminated the agreement citing the arrangement as "obsolete" and CPP-NPA’s means "to recruit students to join their ranks."

Goitia backed the termination of the accord as he lamented that "these campuses became breeding grounds" for armed revolution.

"(Defense) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ensured that students' democratic rights are protected, respected, and encouraged,” he said.

Goitia said the public should view the abrogated UP-DND accord as the government's step towards putting an end to the long-standing communist insurgency.

The Lower Congress has approved the House Bill 10171 or the UP Security bill, which seeks to amend Section 11 of Republic Act 9500 (University of the Philippines Charter of 2008), on final reading on Sept. 21, 2021, getting 179 affirmative votes.

Meanwhile, Goitia slammed the proponents of the Senate version of the bill, including Senators Risa Hontiveros, Leila de Lima, Francis Pangilinan, among others.

"Clearly, these Senators are deaf to the realities. They are putting our children in danger. When did authorities become involved in peaceful protests? When were students unlawfully detained? Why are Senator Hontiveros, de Lima, Pangilinan, and others seeking to provide a safe haven for unlawful recruitment and brainwashing our students with a prohibited ideology? Why do we have Senators who appear to prioritize the CPP-NPA over the interests of parents and students?," Goitia said.

Goitia said passing the bill into law would endanger the gains of the government against the communist insurgency.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1166521