‘We are defending a sanctuary of learning and of life’
“We will defend the University of the Philippines, our sanctuary, as much as it has defended us,” Lalah, a Grade 12 Lumad student, vowed to a crowd of protesters during a mobilisation at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.
Members of the UP community assembled on 19 January at the steps of the historic Quezon Hall to condemn the unilateral abrogation of the 1989 University of the Philippines-Department of National Defense (UP-DND) Accord, the morning after Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced the questionable decision.
The accord lays down the guidelines on military and police entry to all UP campuses. This limits the power of state authorities to interfere with university operations, effectively protecting the freedom of faculty to determine what to teach and how it should be taught, and the freedom of students to think critically without danger. The accord, in other words, asserts UP as a sanctuary of learning.