MANILA, Philippines — After a “very fruitful” meeting with the Department of National Defense (DND) on Thursday, officials of the University of the Philippines (UP) also met with representatives of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday and agreed to review their separate security agreement.
In a statement on Saturday, DILG officer in charge Bernardo Florece Jr. insisted that it was important to update the agreement that was signed in 1992 because while “it has served its purpose in the past, it now needs to be updated.”
In the meeting at the Philippine National Police’s Camp Crame headquarters, Florece led the DILG panel that included Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, Assistant Secretary Manny Felix, PNP chief of directorial staff Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz and Quezon City Police District director Brig. Gen. Danilo Macerin.
Technical working group
The UP officials who attended were UP president Danilo Concepcion, UP vice president for public affairs Elena Pernia, UP Diliman chancellor Fidel Nemenzo, UP Diliman vice chancellor for public affairs Aleli Bawagan, and John Baroña, director of the Public Safety and Security Office that supervises security of UP Diliman.
“UP and DILG have a common purpose, which is to the peace and security of all UP campuses,” Florece said in a statement on Saturday.
UP and the DILG agreed to form a technical working group to study the agreement, which was signed by then UP president Jose Abueva and then Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III in 1992 after the former Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police became the PNP and transferred from the DND to the DILG.
The agreement was meant to be an affirmation of the UP-DND agreement that was signed in 1989 between Abueva and then Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos, who would become president three years later.
Under both agreements, prior notification shall be given by a commander of an Armed Forces of the Philippines or PNP unit intending to conduct any operation in any of the UP campuses, except in cases of hot pursuit and similar emergencies, or in ordinary transit through UP premises.