Congressional probe sought on ‘military surveillance’ in UP

A congressional investigation is being sought on the alleged intrusion of military agents on the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, last week, which critics have linked to an upcoming UP event for “lumad” or indigenous communities.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon denounced what he considered a surveillance operation conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the state university, as he asked the House committee on higher and technical education and on national defense to launch an inquiry.

On Wednesday, the UP Diliman police apprehended six men who were spotted near the Sunken Garden, one of whom introduced himself as a military officer but refused to disclose why they were in UP.

A statement issued the following day by UP chancellor Michael Tan expressed “deep concern” over the incident, saying there was a violation of a 1989 agreement between UP and the Department of National Defense. The agreement, he said, requires “prior notification of the university of any military operations on any of our campuses.”

The six men, who were seen using two motorcycles, a Toyota Innova and another vehicle, were apprehended by the UP Diliman Police and the university’s Special Services Brigade for “suspicious activities.”

They were turned over to the Quezon City Police District’s Anonas station, where one of them was identified as Army Lt. Fidorf Cimatu of the Intelligence Security Group.

The incident happened a week before the scheduled “Manilakbayan 2015” campout on UP grounds which is expected to gather some 700 lumad folk from Mindanao from Oct. 26 to 31.

Ridon, a former UP student regent, said student leaders of UP Diliman had also reported receiving text messages meant to harass them. “There is great suspicion that this military surveillance incident is connected with the preparations for the Manilakbayan campout next week.” DJ Yap