USM students, staff continue protest against school president

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Frustrated students and various academic organizations in the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) in Kabacan town are seeking President Benigno Aquino III’s intervention on the ongoing six-month standoff between their school president and groups demanding his ouster.

Accusing him of abusing power and embezzling school funds, protesters urging for the relief of Jesus Antonio Derije, president of USM at the center of Kabacan town in the first district of North Cotabato, have again been picketing since last week at the main gate of the university, preventing students from coming in.

Some of the picketers were wearing black ski masks and dark glasses, according to the Kabacan municipal police.

“These actions are detrimental to the welfare of our students and teachers,” lamented Antonio Tacardon, USM’s vice president for student affairs.

Derije has been out of office since early this year due to the controversy and the presence of dozens of protesters, armed with clubs, stones and machetes, apparently aimed at stopping him from entering the campus to report for work.

Derije tried twice to enter the USM campus, sparking trouble between the protesters and his security escorts, some of them injured in the ensuing melee.

Tacardon said they opened a small emergency gate at the rear of the USM campus, but most of their students remain reluctant to come in due to threats from the picketers.

Affected students even showed reporters cellular phone footages of students climbing over the circumferential fence of USM just to get through and attend classes.

“Malacañang should now come in and intervene. We are no longer safe in school and our schooling is being hampered by this crisis,” an 18-year-old student, who asked to be identified only as Fatima, said.

Tacardon said the security situation at the USM is getting worse with the continuing presence of the picketers at its main gate.

A leader of the protesting group, Raffy Tadeo, has announced over Catholic station dxND in Kidapawan City that they want the Commission on Higher Education to relieve Derije to enable university officials to freely choose a new president.

Tacardon said Tadeo, who claims to be member of the USM faculty, is not even listed in the university’s roster of academic and technical personnel.

“Why should an outsider meddle in the affairs of the university? This person is pathetic. There are people in the group picketing at the USM gate who are not employees of the university,” Tacardon pointed out.

Parents of the affected students are ranting on the inability of the Kabacan municipal police and the mayor’s office, supposedly empowered to address the problem by the Local Government Code, to clear the USM gates from picketers.

“It’s no longer safe for our children to stay in the campus and its immediate surroundings. CHED is already aware of the situation, but is surprisingly silent about it,” said Abdul Masla.