THE termination of the DND-UP agreement is appropriate and long overdue considering the list of UP students who died after joining the Communist Terrorist Groups (CTG) that showed the undeniable presence of the CTG in the campus and that clearly violated the National Policy Framework on Learners and Schools as Zones of Peace.
In the document, it stated: "The learners as zone of peace have the right to be protected from recruitment or use by any party to an armed conflict or to become children involved in armed conflict." Further, "Schools as zone of peace shall not be utilized for propagation of political agenda or ideology."
Over the long-term agreement period, government forces respected the terms and conditions, as well as the National Strategic Framework for Learners and Schools as Zones of Peace. On the other hand, it appears that it has opened a brighter side for communist terrorist to carry out their affairs within the campus and served as a shield for operating freely internally and conducts their recruitment and organization process.
Is this the cause of the accord? Is this a good result from prohibiting government forces in conducting operations against the CTG, and has the learning institution been successful in protecting the learners from the potential threats posed by this group? Is the sanctity of learning institutions as a zone of peace being maintained and upheld?
Learning institutions are meant to be a safe haven for learners, a peace zone and not a mass base of terrorism and now that the accord was terminated, let us hope that government forces will help on the promotion of healthier learning environment of UP and the protection of learners in the exercise of their academic freedom.
Mariz Lagmay