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The faculty and student body of the University of the Philippines School of Economics denounced Wednesday’s mobbing of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad as an assault on academic freedom and safe passage and asked the protesters to make a public apology.
“The acts of Wednesday’s protesters not only violated decency and courtesy, they were an assault on the university itself,” UP economics professors said in a statement.
Abad was the guest speaker in a forum on the proposed UP budget organized by the UP Diliman University Student Council and UP School of Economics Student Council (SESC).
As he exited the auditorium to his vehicle, a group of protesters from Stand UP (Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP) ganged up on him, calling him a thief as they threw crumpled pieces of paper, placards and coins in his direction.
The group was protesting the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), a brainchild of Abad, which has been declared unconstitutional in some parts by the Supreme Court.
“What is worse, some student leaders thought nothing of gloating about the incident and celebrating their hooliganism in mainstream and social media, as if it were some kind of victory. The incident is not a victory but a blow to UP’s honor,” the professors said.
“As an invited guest, Secretary Abad was covered by the same blanket of academic freedom and safe passage that the University guarantees to all who set foot on campus. The purpose of that high privilege is to guarantee a free traffic in diverse ideas—and of the diverse people who espouse them—which is the lifeblood of a liberal academic institution,” they said.
Those who violate that security by resorting to violence sow fear among others who have contrary ideas and will result in a reduction of debate to a monologue among the already-converted, the professors added.
The UP School of Economics Student Council also condemned the incident, saying that a member of the staff and a student were also hurt.
“The SESC believes in the right of students and nonstudents to protest and express their views, but it stands firmly against violent behavior leading to physical harm and aggravation to others, be they protesters, organizers or bystanders,” it said.
The professors said those who participated “who were possibly misled and sincerely unaware of the gravity of their acts” should own up and offer a public apology to Abad and the university.
They also called for a renewed discussion among faculty, staff and students of the University’s unwritten rules of free speech and safe passage “to ensure the university remains a free and fearless field of ideas, where debates are won not by assault but by argument, not by shouting down but by speaking up.”