UP Students Condemn Military Presence On Campus

Around 200 students, faculty, and members of the UP community held a demonstration to condemn the presence of around 20 marines of the Armed forces of the Philippines in the campus.

"Outright political repression is practically knocking on our doors," said Isa Artajo, chairperson of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND-UP), as she and major student formations inside the university question the house in of the said troops in the Department of Military Science and Tactics (DMST) compound.

Artajo maintained that "Such visitors are and will never be welcome inside UP, a bastion of anti-Arroyo sentiments and movements." Citing the recent appointment of the DMST commandant, an enlisted military personnel, as head of the Special Security Brigade (SSB), Artajo furthered that the threat of surveillance and intimidation will be realized as soon as marines start their "supposed clandestine" operations inside the campus.

"This is an obvious ploy of the Arroyo administration to forcefully stifle the brewing dissent exhibited by UP students in countless mass mobilizations calling for her ouster," Artajo said. She also cited an agreement between UP and the national government made after martial law banning any military presence and operation inside the campus. "The marines posing as SSB are rabid wolves in sheep's skin." Artajo maintained.

Likewise, Artajo condemned the spate of politically motivated killings under the Arroyo administration. "Without any popular support for her administration, Arroyo now resorts to outright violence to quell opposition, unleashing rabid dogs to perpetrate such crime against the people." Citing the operative framework under Oplan Bantay Laya, Artajo said prime targets of the Arroyo administration are legal mass formations where students, workers, peasants and other sectors are the usual suspects.

As of June 19, 690 activists have been killed since Arroyo held office in 2001.

Artajo said "UP students will continue to expose and oppose Arroyo's tyranny." She furthered that any attempt to repress the student's rights to assemble and call for Arroyo's ouster will be "aptly dealt with using the strength of collective mass actions."

"Any Arroyo lackey is not welcome in UP," she said.