Rights groups have expressed concern over the violent dispersal of a recent protest by students from the state-owned University of the Philippines in Tacloban City who were up in arms against what they say is the militarization of state-run campuses .
“The violent dispersal curtails students’ rights to assemble peacefully and air their grievances. It may just be the beginning of heightened repression in campuses of the University of Phillippines across the country,” Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of Philippine-based rights group Karapatan, told UCA News on Aug. 19.
“What police did to the students was unacceptable. The police should facilitate a peaceful protest,” said Amnesty International Philippines on Aug. 19.
Regarded as the top university in the Philippines, the University of the Philippines has eight constituent universities and one autonomous college.
Its alumni include a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, seven of 17 Philippine presidents, 14 of 26 chief justices, 36 of 42 national scientists, and 40 of 57 national artists.
University president Angelo Jimenez and the Armed Forces of the Philippines inked a pact on Aug. 8, dubbed as the “Declaration of Cooperation,” which paves the way for research and studies with the armed forces.
However, students from the 57th General Assembly of Student Councils from various campuses assembled at the Tacloban campus in the central Philippines on Aug. 16 to call for an end to what they said was the “intense militarization” of state-run colleges.
They also demanded the junking of the anti-terror law in the Catholic-majority nation and an increase in monetary allocations for state-run colleges.
Their placards were confiscated while others were threatened with arrest.
However, the Tacloban City Police said they adhered to the principle of ‘maximum tolerance,’ exercising the highest degree of restraint while dealing with protesting students.
“Despite these efforts, some participants became confrontational, blocking traffic and shouting at police officers,” said Tacloban police chief Colonel Michael Palermo.
There were no reports of injuries or excessive force, Palermo said.
Geron Ponferrada, a spokesperson at Tacloban City Hall, told UCA News that the protesters did not have a permit to hold the march.
The An Lantawan, a student publication from Leyte Normal University in Tacloban, however, noted that “preventing individuals from expressing their views and grievances against the government, under the pretext of public safety and order, is a dangerous trend that must be condemned.”
