Alleged gov’t spies nabbed by protesting PUP students
SWAT team blocked from entering school
By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:33:00 08/29/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Youth activists at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) claimed to have caught four alleged government agents conducting surveillance on a student protest Friday noon.
In a phone interview, Ken Ramos, chairman of the youth group Anakbayan, said the protesters first pounced on two men they caught taking pictures of PUP student council chair Krishna Ayuson.
Two other men, who tried to sneak out the first two, were also caught.
The men, in their late 30s, wore civilian clothes and were allegedly armed, Ramos said.
As of posting time, the four have been taken into the custody of the PUP security office, where they are being interrogated by the school administration and student council. However, Ramos said the four have refused to answer questions, not even about their identities.
“They refused to tell their motives for documenting our picket-program. But it is clear from their actions that they intended to spy on and intimidate us,” Ayuson said.
Ramos said after the four men were apprehended, 15 members of a police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team arrived at the school but were prevented from entering by the students.
An agreement between student activists and the government signed in the 1980s prohibits armed policemen from entering school grounds without the administration's permission.
Ramos accused the government for the alleged “underhanded tactic to stifle student unrest.”
“Surveillance, intimidation and misinformation have always been part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's arsenal in confronting protesters. These moves are almost always coupled with violence. This dangerous concept in dealing with opposition is now being used in educational institutions. Arroyo is responsible for the seeping fascism in the schools,” he said.
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