Philippine students and activists yesterday protested a government decision to allow security forces to patrol the campuses of the nation’s biggest university after authorities accused it of being a breeding ground for communist rebels.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government has stepped up efforts to end a Maoist-led rebellion, one of the world’s longest insurgencies that has killed more than 40,000 people.
However, the UN had warned in a report that “red-tagging,” or labeling people and groups as communists or terrorists, and incitement to violence have been rife in the nation.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The government, in a decision made public late on Monday, scrapped a 1989 agreement that had prevented soldiers and police from entering the 17 campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP) without consent, except during emergencies or when in hot pursuit.
“This signals greater repression, harassment and harm among activists, youth and students and other people [who] they maliciously tag as communists, terrorists and will result in the militarization of campuses,” Eleanor de Guzman, secretary for human rights of a labor group, told a crowd of about 100 protesters.
Justifying the decision to scrap the 1989 agreement, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement that the 112-year-old university “has become the breeding ground of intransigent individuals and groups whose extremist beliefs have inveigled students to join their ranks to fight against the government.”
A number of UP students, some killed in military operations or captured, had been identified as members of the communist party’s armed wing, the Philippine Department of National Defense said in a letter to the university’s president, without providing evidence.
UP president Danilo Concepcion urged the department to reconsider the decision, while Philippine Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo said the action was “designed to silence criticism.”
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
RSS