All 14 campuses of the university are decidedly open to the flow of ideas and people. Fences and gates are understandably anathema to the free UP spirit: our campuses are carved into natural landscapes to stimulate instinctive learning, and nestled in regular communities to keep in touch with reality.
More so, UP as a publicly-funded university cannot simply deny entry to taxpayers who pay to sustain the productive, artistic, and intellectual energies of the iskolar ng bayan. However, the university cannot sacrifice the security of our campuses and our scholars.
Students are common targets for robbery and other crimes against property because of their physical and mental vulnerabilities. But more disturbingly, students from UP have become common targets for state-sanctioned harm and harassment. We are vulnerable for both economic and political reasons, inside and outside the campus.
Today we are working with all members of the UP communities to achieve a security plan that will respond to all-hazards: on and off campus violence, and even acts of nature including earthquakes and typhoons.
UP Diliman is in a prime position to overhaul its systems, with the appointment of Prof. Edgardo Dagdag, professor of security and foreign relations at the Asian Center, as chief security officer. He has been tapped to serve only for a few months, but is expected to put in place long-term policies and programs.
UP Los Banos has strengthened its physical security by augmenting its security forces, retraining the campus police, and constructing perimeter barriers in high-risk areas. The administration has also pledged to work more closely with the local government to help minimize criminal activity in the whole municipality.
Across the system, UP students are also starting to report petty crimes and offenses that were previously brushed aside as part of life. We recognize that we can help build one of the cornerstones of crime prevention: statistics and data, which become the basis for sound plans and strategies. As UP reaffirms its open campus policy, we accept the trust and responsibility to make the right decisions.
The best policies are those that come from genuine consultation and multi-sectoral efforts; those that ensure safety, but not trade off freedoms; and those that address the roots of the problem, not just its symptoms. In addition to local action, we call for the constitution of the Joint Monitoring Group, which delineates the authority of the Department of National Defense and the UP administration over UP campuses and students.
We cannot fully rely on traditional law enforcement – in several agreements we have rejected military and police detachments inside campuses, banned operations and deployment of forces, and required proper notification in case of arrest, detention or custodial investigation of any UP student, faculty, or personel. We have to also organize ourselves for more comprehensive and long-term solutions.
UP is not a paradise, in the same way it has disclaimed the ivory tower. But for all our fervent efforts to attain peace of mind, hopefully we find ourselves closer to heaven than below.
Updates on select cases
A) Crimes committed against UP students on campus by outsiders
Lordei Hina
Health: Lordei Hina is still confined in the hospital, and currently undergoing therapies. She still cannot speak or eat solid food and was recently implanted with a semi-permanent intravenous cathether.
Legal: The case for robbery against Danmar Vicencio aka Carlo Pescayo is being reinvestigated so charges can be upgraded to frustrated homicide. The Diliman Legal Office is the private prosecutor.
Investigative: The other suspect, Dante Borromeo Santos, is still at large and carries a P100,000 bounty. He was reported last seen at his house in Mambogan, Antipolo City. The motives of the crime are being explored, as several groups raise political angles. Lordei was a militant student leader and was attacked inside the office of the student council.
Financial: Task Force Lordei Hina received and remitted to the family contributions from collection boxes by STAND UP and CNS during the first two days (P24,105) and from the College of Home Economics (P2,101). Other contributions may not have been coursed through the Task Force and deposited directly in the account of Ms Concepcion Hina.
The UP administration is currently looking into policies of reparation and reimbursement for costs attending the incident.
B) Crimes committed against UP students off campus
Given Grace Cebanico
Legal: The case for robbery with homicide is being reinvestigated so charges can be upgraded to rape with homicide, a crime which carries a higher penalty. UP professor and avowed women’s rights advocate Rowena Guanzon is one of the private prosecutors.
Ray Bernard Penaranda
Ray Bernard, with his dreams of a firefly garden, was buried last Sunday.
Investigative: All the suspects have been rounded up and face formal legal charges.
C) Crimes and offenses committed off campus by state law enforcers
Pauline Gidget Estella et al
Pauline Gidget, former editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, was surveilled and trailed by military elements in Samar last month. She is currently exploring action to ensure her safety.
Anton Dulce, Marie Gold Villar et al
Anton, Marie Gold and other community work students were harrassed, interrogated and assaulted by military men in Porac, Pampanga while on field work last January. They have been withdrawn from the area by the College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD). Reportedly, the military will send the CSWCD a formal apology.