Many of my UP alumni friends are voicing out their frustration that the current administration wants to put up a bigger military presence in UP campuses nationwide. I agree with them that UP should not be policed so closely by the military. It does in fact sound very much like the martial law that Marcos declared back in the 70's.
The government says that they want to keep a closer eye on communist groups have reportedly taken a stronghold in UP campuses. Ironically, this is one of the reasons I don't support the government subsidizing 100% of the tuition of the students.
Let's look at this from the perspective of the government. The government provides free college education for everyone in UP. Now, it's mentioned that it's actually the people of the Philippines who send the UP students to school and not the government, but living in a democracy, we should see that those two are no different - the government is the entity that represents the people.
This administration, being the one that's technically paying for the education of the UP students would naturally want to know how education is being handled (i.e., how the money of the people of the Philippines is being spent). Because the government is spending for UP education, they do in fact have every right and in fact a responsibility to closely monitor this expense.
This is why I can understand why the government would want to have a larger military presence on campus. I would not want it in any lifetime but I understand their motivations. It's been noted that more UP students and alumni appear in the ranks of the NPA. Coming from UP, I know this to be true. Many people who go to UP join the ranks of the NPA when they leave. They never say they are though. They're always just, "graduate students" or "scientist" or "medical workers". These are actual words used in the newspaper to report certain cases where they were either detained or killed by the military.
Now, people might say I'm making outlandish claims but it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. Student activists make up roughly 10% of the student population of UP. However, reports of people being "detained illegally" or "killed in a military altercation" are almost always from this 10% group. That's why when I talk about this, I used to belong to the group that defended these people. But when I saw that it's almost always from a small group of students, I stopped to think that maybe they were the problem.
I still don't want my alma mater to be overrun by the military. But every time I see UP students call for walk-outs or rally for causes instead of studying harder for their education, I can't help but sympathize with the military.
To UP students, you're given the golden opportunity to get a good education to help our country grow. Focus on that for now. Please.
Now, people might say I'm making outlandish claims but it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. Student activists make up roughly 10% of the student population of UP. However, reports of people being "detained illegally" or "killed in a military altercation" are almost always from this 10% group. That's why when I talk about this, I used to belong to the group that defended these people. But when I saw that it's almost always from a small group of students, I stopped to think that maybe they were the problem.
I still don't want my alma mater to be overrun by the military. But every time I see UP students call for walk-outs or rally for causes instead of studying harder for their education, I can't help but sympathize with the military.
To UP students, you're given the golden opportunity to get a good education to help our country grow. Focus on that for now. Please.
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