The House of Representatives Committee on Higher and Technical Education will begin the consideration of at least three pending bills filed seeking to institutionalize the 1989 UP-DND Accord on Monday. But with less than three weeks before the current Congressional session adjourns, the bills' final passage remains uncertain.

The committee will take up nearly identical House Bills (HB) 8437, 8514, and 8545 which seek to amend Republic Act 9500, or the 2008 UP Charter, by inserting the original text of the 1989 agreement into the law.

The pact prohibited state security forces from entering UP campuses without prior notification. But on January 15, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana unilaterally terminated the agreement in a letter to UP President Danilo Concepcion which was only made public three days later. Without elaborating, Lorenzana told Concepcion that the termination was “in pursuit of true national peace and development.”

“The unilateral abrogation of the 1989 UP-DND Accord and the looming militarization of campuses nationwide undermine academic freedom, and threaten the right to life, liberty, and security and freedoms of speech, of expression, and of peaceful assembly,” read part of the explanatory note of HB 8454 authored by the Makabayan bloc.

During the committee deliberations, the body will rewrite the bills into a single substitute bill. To pass the house, the bill will need to receive second and third readings, at least three days apart. The measure then will go to the Senate which has a similar legislative process to that of the lower house. Only after the upper chamber’s approval or through ratification of a conference report by both houses can the measure be up for President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval or veto.

The current session of the 18th Congress will end on June 4. After that, all pending legislation would have to be refiled and go through the legislative process anew. This narrow time frame means that the UP community should intensify its campaigns for the accord’s institutionalization and protection of academic spaces, Student Regent Renee Co told the Collegian.

‘In Bad Faith’

The UP administration, for their part, has already engaged in at least two dialogues involving the Department of National Defense (DND), and Department of Interior and Local Governance, including the police and military leaderships. But save for brief statements detailing the ground rules of the talks, UP has not provided any update on the dialogues since it began.

The Collegian has reached out to university officials for comment but they have not responded yet as of writing.

As the talks drag on and UP remains vulnerable from various forms of attacks, dialogues with government agencies may not be enough to put an end to state-sponsored assaults against the university which has only worsened since the UP-DND Accord was terminated. “Inaatake tayo at yung mga current safeguards na meron tayo–yung Constitutional at UP charter provision on academic freedom–ay hindi sapat,” the student regent said.

Co also pointed out that with the DND’s unilateral termination of the accord, the “good faith” between UP and military officials may no longer be there. Any semblance of good will, particularly from the military side, which has supposedly governed the pact’s implementation, has already been erased the moment DND left the agreement.

“Yung pagtatayo ng agreements ay nakabatay sa good faith na naniniwala tayo na both parties would execute the agreement, [and] would implement it sa spirit na nakasaad doon,” Co said. “It seems like kung ano man yung good will na na-establish ng agreement ay hindi na existent ngayon.”

Regardless of the dialogues, Co said that the university administration backs the legislative efforts to institutionalize the agreement. In fact, various UP officials and members of the UP Board of Regents, along with other members of the UP community, would serve as resource persons for the bills’ committee meeting on Monday.

Penalty Clause

In the Senate, meanwhile, three bills are also pending before the Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education seeking to codify into law the UP-DND Accord. Of the six measures in Congress, two versions aim to close a loophole in the 1989 agreement by penalizing state forces who violate the agreement. The bills were authored by detained Sen. Leila De Lima and the six Makabayan bloc solons.

Previously, the lack of a penalty provision on the accord has emboldened state forces to conduct covert operations inside UP campuses. In 2018, for instance, three police officers scoured the campus to look for then Student Regent Ivy Joy Taroma. During the Manilakbayan in 2015, similarly, campus police apprehended six military agents who, the military admitted, were “on a legitimate national security operation.”

Under De Lima’s proposal, law enforcement officers who will violate the proposed law could suffer six to 12 years of imprisonment. Meanwhile, a fine equivalent to two years’ salary, suspension for two years, imprisonment for five to 10 years, or all three could be imposed to the violators of the proposed law, according to the Makabayan bloc’s bill. The penalties would improve the agreement by holding those who violate the agreement accountable for their unauthorized campus incursions.

“Kung sinasaad [ng accord] na hindi dapat galawin yung mga nagpo-protesta, di dapat pumapasok without prior notification, ito’y parang written promises lang. Kumbaga, wala tayong mapanghawakan na susunod yung other party (state forces),” said Co on the agreement’s lack of a penalty provision.

Even the Commission on Higher Education has pointed out this loophole. In the 1989 agreement, there was supposed to be a Joint Monitoring Group composed of UP officials and representatives from the state security forces. This group could supposedly mete out penalties to violators of the accord, but they have not done so since the security sector and university officials fail to meet on a regular basis, Chairperson Prospero De Vera said in a statement.

Continued Clamor, Vigilance

Aside from the urgent issue of safeguarding UP’s academic spaces from militarization, Co said that the university constituents should remain vigilant since the 2008 UP Charter is being opened up for amendments. As members of Congress could propose amendments, the university’s stakeholders should remain on-guard with “insertions” that might be detrimental to the UP Charter.

“At this time, ang hinihingi lang ng UP community ay dapat yung protections natin, secure,” Co said. “Hindi sana gamitin yung opportunity na i-open up ang UP Charter, at i-open up natin ang negotiations ... [para] makapasok ang ibang interes at ibang agenda.”

Since its enactment, the UP charter has only been amended once, in 2019, which allowed UP to sell certain parts of Brgy. Krus na Ligas to the Quezon City government.

As the bills face a tight deadline and the prospects of possible insertions in the UP Charter, the campaigns to defend academic freedom, and end attacks against government critics, particularly the youth, must remain steadfast. Although institutionalizing the UP-DND Accord would not solve the issues of red-tagging, death threats, and other forms of harassment against the UP community, it is still a way forward, Co added.

“Yung kailangan nating lahat ay i-ensure na hindi tumitigil yung attention dito sa UP-DND Accord institutionalization,” Co said. “Hindi natin maaasahan ang mga state forces to ensure our security, to ensure our freedoms. Kaya meron tayong ile-legislate, at meron tayong kampanya to ensure na tayo ay may ways to protect ourselves.” ●