Published January 18, 2021 11:45pm The LFS characterized the abrogation as an attack on UP s status as a haven for free-thought and academic freedom for students and was a demonstration of the government s distorted sense of priorities given the more pressing concern of the COVID-19 pandemic. The progressive student organization argued further that the action taken by the national security establishment stemmed from the Anti-Terrorism Law, which was created to silence government critics and student-activists and had nothing to do with combating the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People s Army. The alleged recruitment of student leaders by the CPP-NPA was merely the excuse used to do away with the academic freedom of students whom the government had long been “red-tagging.”