Militant youth group deplores ‘militarization of school security’

The "militarization of the security in schools, particularly in the University of the Philippines (UP)" is meant to stifle the ongoing dissent of the students against the Arroyo administration, a militant youth organization said yesterday.

In a statement, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) president and former UP Diliman University Student Council chairperson Marco Delos Reyes said that the recent deployment of military men is not an isolated case in UP.

"This dreadful activity of the military and the government inside the campus is part of their Oplan Bantay Laya that aims to stifle legal and legitimate dissent from the people," Delos Reyes said.

"When Mrs. Arroyo declared an all-out war against the Left, she declared it as a war against her critics and the citizens. We will hold her liable for any transgression that will happen against any youth and student," he added.

It has been barely a month after the NUSP revealed that student leaders and activists were put under surveillance by the military and some even listed in the military’s order of battle.

UP students and faculty have been at the forefront of activism and critical dissent against Mrs. Arroyo’s administration, he said.

The University Student Council along with progressive organizations were among the first to demand for the ouster of Mrs.Arroyo, said Delos Reyes.

The faculty’s university council had earlier issued a statement calling for the immediate resignation of Mrs. Arroyo in July 2005.

UP students, faculty, and employees formed UP AWARE (Alliance Working for Arroyo’s Removal) and UNSEAT (University Solidarity to End Arroyo’s Tyranny) at the height of the implementation of Proclamation 1017 last February.

The UP Office of the Student Regent and the University Student Council had disclosed that members of the Special Services Brigade (SSB), created by the UP Administration in 2005 to address security problem in the campus, were military personnel.

The SSB are supposed to do their rounds in the academic oval of the University carrying their "yantok" or truncheons to secure students coming in and out of buildings and the dormitories.

The SSB became the pride of the UP Diliman Administration’s security program in light of security issues and the lack of budget for the UP Diliman Police last year.

Based on reports of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs, which handles campus security, SSB members came from the community and were trained and only paid honorarium without benefit.

However, the UP students disclosed that based on reports and documents they gathered, a quarter of the first SSB team came from the Marines.

With the restructuring of the SSB recently, more than 20 Marines were added to the team.

Hundreds of students staged a protest rally the other day in front of the Department of Military Science and Tactics (DMST) barracks in UP Diliman where the Marines are accommodated.

The rallyists demanded the removal of military presence inside the campus, citing that it is a violation of university and national policies against the entrance and intrusion of military personnel in school premises. – Sandy Araneta