MANILA, Philippines — Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was said to have realized that discussions should have come first before he ended the UP-DND accord of 1989, an official said Thursday as the two parties met for the first time since the widely criticized termination.
The defense chief's move to nix the decades-long agreement barring entry to state forces in UP campuses had surprised many, with the abrogation done without meeting the university to iron conflicts in the said deal.
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Over ABS-CBN's Teleradyo, UP's public affairs chief Dr. Elena Pernia said Lorenzana held the view after administrators relayed the community's sentiment on the ending of the deal.
"Na-explain [ni] President Danilo Concepcion kung ano 'yung sentimyento ng unibersidad," she said. "Ang tingin namin it was abrupt at na-realize rin naman ni Secretary Lorenzana na 'oo nga 'no, siguro nga dapat before nagawa 'yung steps niya eh sana nagkaroon ng diskusyon."
(UP President Danilo Concepcion was able to explain what the university thinks about it, which we view as abrupt. Secretary Lorenzana was able to realize too that perhaps there should have been discussions first before he did his steps.)
Pernia said the meeting had been cordial, "very fruitful" and denied that what is an apparent first round of talks had been a heated one.
The DND terminated the accord on the basis of claims it has yet to prove that the university has long been a breeding ground of the armed communist movement.
Such allegation was shared too by President Rodrigo Duterte, a form of red-tagging or linking individuals as having ties to the CPP-NPA which exposes them to threats, intimidation or worse, lead to their deaths. It was not disclosed if these repeated incidents were discussed in the said talks.
Lorenzana initially shunned talks with UP, but the meeting on Thursday materialized after being brokered by Commission on Higher Education chief Prospero de Vera, who has sought to take a middle ground position over the matter.
"Ngayon, siguro mas maliwanag na kung [mayroon] kaming at least mapupuntahan [o] kung may bago ngang agreement na mangyayari," Pernia said. "At least ngayon, may way forward na."
(It looks clearer now that we would reach something out of this or if there will be a new agreement. Now, at least there is a way forward.)
The senior UP official said they may soon meet again by the end of the month or when schedules of the two parties are made clear.