Citing ‘Crash Landing on You’ crashes on Lorenzana defense of exit from pact with UP

MANILA, Philippines—South Korean hit TV series “Crash Landing on You (CLOY)” became a trending topic on Twitter in the Philippines on Tuesday (Jan. 19) after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana used it to defend his decision to unilaterally terminate an agreement with the University of the Philippines requiring prior notice to university officials for counterinsurgency operations in UP campuses.

“In UP they have something like a demilitarized zone (DMZ),” Lorenzana said on his official Twitter account. “Military can’t enter without coordination. What makes UP so special?” his tweet said.

“Are you in the Korean border?” Lorenzana said in Filipino. “CLOY is now life? We are not your enemies. We are here to protect our people, especially our youth,” he said.

It’s unclear, however, if he posted the tweet himself, although he said in 2020 that he had watched the Korean series about the love affair of a South Korean heiress and a North Korean soldier.

The DMZ is a region on the Korean peninsula that demarcates North from South Korea. Both sides are heavily fortified and guarded by troops.

The post on Lorenzana’s Twitter account did not sit well with CLOY fans, based on reactions on his page.

“I think government officials should STOP with the pop culture references,” said Twitter user @joefranc. “It doesn’t make you youthful. The more your attempt won’t work to be more genuine or even closer to the people just because you mention CLOY or BTS,” said @joefranc.

Twitter user @cloysauce said: “What pisses me off about that tweet is not just using CLOY out of context but also the DMZ. it’s a real-life militarized border dividing 2 countries that are technically still at war and he’s using it to justify their actions? so much for being the secretary of defense.”

Lorenzana’s tweet has so far garnered 2,100 retweets and 1,100 likes, five hours since it was posted. It also received over 400 replies, mostly unfavorable.

The Department of National Defense’s unilateral termination of the agreement came to light on Monday night, after UP posted a copy of the notice on its social media accounts.

In a letter dated Jan. 15, Lorenzana said the agreement had been a hindrance to operations against communist rebels, especially recruitment of cadres in UP.

He said the DND “is aware that there is indeed an ongoing clandestine recruitment inside UP campuses nationwide” by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA). Both have been declared as terrorist organizations by the Anti-Terrorism Council created by the new anti-terror law.

The 1989 DND-UP agreement was being used by communist rebels and their supporters to prevent law enforcers from operating against them in UP campuses, Lorenzana said. This prompted the defense establishment to abrogate the agreement “to perform our legal mandate of protecting our youth against CPP-NPA recruitment activities, whose design and purpose is (sic) to destroy the democracy we have all fought for.”

This means state forces can now enter UP campuses freely. The defense secretary said that the armed forces do not intend to put up military or police outposts inside UP campuses “nor suppress activist groups, academic freedom and freedom of expression.”

Lorenzana said the agreement was now “obsolete” as UP has become “a safe haven for the enemies of the state.”

Edited by TSB