TEACHER-SOLON RAPS CHED CHIEF FOR TAKING DND STAND ON U.P. ACCORD

Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro has slammed Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera's for saying the UP-DND accord was destined to be problematic.

In a statement released, Castro said the CHED chief must protect and defend academic freedom and not collude with the military in propagating baseless accusations against universities, particularly the University of the Philippines (UP), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) as well as the University of Sto. Tomas (UST), Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), Far Eastern University (FEU) and the De la Salle University (DLSU).

Earlier, de Vera agreed that some drug rings must be operating on campus, particularly in the heavily-populated communities ringing the 550-hectare premier state university in Quezon City.

"The Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education himself is attacking the essence of education institutions by not condemning state security forces in terminating the UP-DND accord and further red-tagging most higher education institutions with their baseless and recycled lies of being so-called breeding grounds of the New People’s Army (NPA),” Castro said.

She asked de Vera: "What is problematic with the historical accord fought for academic freedom by students and activists?"

"By saying that the UP-DND accord is 'destined to be problematic,' the CHED is already backing the narrative and objective of state security forces. Instead of protecting academic freedom, CHED is allowing these tyrannical attacks of the Duterte administration to limit the discourse in higher education institutions, red-tag students, teachers and legal organizations of education stakeholders," Castro said.

"Imbes na kapakanan ng mga kabataan, guro at pagpapaunlad sa mga higher educational institutions ang protektahan ng CHED, ito pa mismo ang nagmumungkahing bigyan ng depinisyon ang 'academic freedom' na walang ibang patutunguhan kundi limitahan ang saklaw nito."

"CHED will set a dangerous precedent by not condemning and not defending the academic institutions it is supposed to protect from tyrannical attacks," Castro added. "Basta-bastang panghihimasok ito ng mga mililitar sa mga paaralan sa public at private higher education pati nga rin basic education. Paggamit rin ito sa learning institutions for military purposes dahil maaaring kampohan ang mga paaralan sa pagwawalang bisa ng mga kasunduan tulad ng UP-DND accord. For someone who has benefitted from the academic freedom in UP, CHED chair de Vera should know the importance of academic freedom and it should be protected from an administration's tyrannical attacks."

"By accepting the narrative of the AFP and PNP against UP, PUP, and even universities like Ateneo, La Salle, FEU and UST, the obvious bias of the CHED is for the intelligence-free security sector and not education stakeholders," Castro added.

"Under the Constitution, an academic institution has the right to choose who may teach, what may be taught, how it should be taught and who may study in their institution. Further limiting education institutions of their academic freedom erases its essence and further tramples the right of our youth to have access to quality education," Castro argued.

"Nasa ilalim pa rin ang bansa sa matinding krisis pangkalusugan at pang-ekonomiya. Napakaraming nagkakasakit, nagugutom, at napakarami ng wala o kulang ang trabaho. Bakit inuuna ng administrasyong Duterte ang pag-atake sa mga paaralan? Sa gitna ng matinding krisis sa kalusugan at ekonomiya, mas mahalaga para sa administrasyong Duterte ang protektahana ng kaniyang kapangyarihan kaysa ang kapakanan ng kaniyang mamamayan," Castro concluded.

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