• NEWS
    • NATION
    • CORDILLERA
  • BUSINESS
  • GREEN
  • OPINION
    • EDITORIAL
  • FEATURE
  • FACT CHECK
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • LITERATURE
  • SPORTS
  • ADVERTORIALS
  • ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
Baguio Chronicle
  • NEWS
    • NATION
    • CORDILLERA
  • BUSINESS
  • GREEN
  • OPINION
    • EDITORIAL
  • FEATURE
  • FACT CHECK
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • LITERATURE
  • SPORTS
  • ADVERTORIALS
  • ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • NATION
    • CORDILLERA
  • BUSINESS
  • GREEN
  • OPINION
    • EDITORIAL
  • FEATURE
  • FACT CHECK
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • LITERATURE
  • SPORTS
  • ADVERTORIALS
  • ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Baguio Chronicle
No Result
View All Result
Home News

More like Nazi moves, Karapatan says of KSU library action

Baguio Chronicle by Baguio Chronicle
September 22, 2021
in News, Top Story
Reading Time: 3 mins read
6
SHARES
23
VIEWS

A HUMAN rights organization and two peace advocacy groups on Monday decried the decision of a state university to “surrender” to the military its collection of books and documents on the peace process, supposedly to prevent “communist infiltration” of its students.

Human rights alliance Karapatan warned of the “dangerous precedent” set by Kalinga State University (KSU) when it turned over to the Philippine Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion at least 11 learning materials on the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which served as an envoy of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) during negotiations to resolve the five-decade long armed conflict.

“This sets a very dangerous precedent in the stifling of the public’s right to access information and the exercise of academic freedom… What’s next? Raiding and ransacking libraries and the public burning of books like what the Nazis did?” Karapatan said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Groups ACT for Peace and Pilgrims for Peace in a joint statement said KSU’s action signified its “surrender” of its academic freedom.

KSU voluntarily pulled out from its library the handbooks by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and surrendered them to the joint forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police.  

As decided by the  University Board of Regents, KSU-Bulanao Campus, through the Director for Library Services, withdrew last September 2 all the  NDFP book collections forwarded to the school library.

The collections included  CARHRIL English Filipino; CARHRIL English Hiligaynon; CARHRIL English Visaya; Declaration of Understanding; NDFP Declaration and Program of Action for the Rights, Protection, and Welfare of Children; The GRP, NDFP Peace Negotiations major arguments and joint statements September 1, 1980 – June 2018; the GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations Major Written Agreements and Outstanding Issues; NDF Adherence to International Humanitarian Law; letters to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN Secretary-General; NDFP Adherence to International Humanitarian Law: on Prisoners of War (POWs); two articles on the people’s struggles for a just peace; and NDFP Reciprocal Worrying Committee (RWC) respective on Social & Economics Reforms. 

“The recent decision of the KSU is a dismaying act of blind allegiance to the myopic anti-insurgency campaign of the current Rodrigo Duterte administration… The university administration has practically surrendered its academic freedom to the state security agencies,” they said.

On Sept. 5, KSU reposted the Philippine Army’s announcement of the turnover of the NDFP handbooks.

The decision of KSU to remove said books from its library was prompted by the declaration of the Government of the Philippines through the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) in May  2021 that the NDFP is a terrorist organization. The CPP-NPA was earlier declared by the ATC as a terror group through Resolution No. 20.  

“The action of the KSU Board of Regents (BoR) only indicates that they are against the NDF ideologies and they wanted to safeguard the students and the school institution from communist infiltrations,” the KSU post said, lifting the text from the Army’s statement.

Karapatan called this “absurd” and a form of “censorship.”

“Is the government so allergic to knowledge on human rights principles that it goes down to this kind of censorship? The government is simply showing its hand in enabling a brazen attack on academic freedom,” Karapatan said.

ACT for Peace and Pilgrims for Peace urged KSU officials to “study the peace negotiations” to enlighten themselves on the issues surrounding the armed conflict.

“We call on the members of the KSU BoR to contribute to efforts to resolve the half-century-old armed conflict between the Philippine government and the forces of the NDFP by invigorating academic freedom in their own university,” they said.

The Duterte administration has terminated all peace negotiations to resolve the over 50-year communist insurgency in the Philippines.

Instead, it created a “whole-of-nation” approach to quash the communist rebellion, led by the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). – Karapatan and PIA-CAR

 

 

 

 

ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Social media war on Beneco tiff drags Magalong into the rift

Next Post

IFSU to introduce Ifugao weaving to public school curriculum

Baguio Chronicle

Baguio Chronicle

Hailed by the Philippine Press Institute’s Annual Community Press Awards for Excellence as the country’s Best Edited Community Newspaper. Best in Photo Journalism-Weekly 2015 & 2016 and Best in Environmental Reporting-Weekly in 2018.

Related Posts

Panagbenga falls short of tourist goals but “still successful”

March 15, 2023

EC-MCO seeks to join BENECO in ERC case against more looming power rate increases

March 15, 2023

Bill renewing BENECO franchise moves forward in Congress

Land conversion, pandemic hurt La Trinidad’s strawberry industry

Police patrol construction sites without permits in Baguio

Council warns of legal issues in titling Burnham Park

Latest Stories

FACT CHECK: Philippines has one of the lowest inflation rates in the world #FactsFirstPH

FACT CHECK: Philippines has one of the lowest inflation rates in the world #FactsFirstPH

March 15, 2023

Panagbenga falls short of tourist goals but “still successful”

March 15, 2023

EC-MCO seeks to join BENECO in ERC case against more looming power rate increases

March 15, 2023

Baguio Chronicle

 

The Baguio Chronicle is the fastest- growing news publication in Northern Luzon today. It was established on December 6, 2009 in Baguio City.

© 2022 The Baguio Chronicle Website Design and Development by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • NATION
    • CORDILLERA
  • BUSINESS
  • GREEN
  • OPINION
    • EDITORIAL
  • FEATURE
  • FACT CHECK
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • LITERATURE
  • SPORTS
  • ADVERTORIALS
  • ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In