Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has accepted Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s offer to facilitate talks with the University of the Philippines following the controversial abrogation of the 1989 accord that bars unauthorized entry of security forces into UP campuses.
Roque bared that he has not received a response from UP President Danilo Concepcion so far.
“What I offered was my good office…Pero so far po ang tumanggap lang po ay si Sec Delfin Lorenzana,” Roque said. “Hindi pa po ako nakakarinig ng kahit anong komento kay President Danilo Concepcion.”
“Itong bagay na to hindi na kailangang makarating sa level ng Presidente,” he added. “Although we do have the principle of qualified political agency, sa level na po ito ni Sec Lorenzana.”
Roque, a UP alumnus himself, earlier offered his office to facilitate the discussion between the two parties.
The pact between the DND and UP prohibits police and military personnel from entering campuses of the premier state university without prior notice, unless there is “hot pursuit” or an emergency. But through a Jan. 15 letter addressed to UP officials, the DND moved to unilaterally terminate the agreement, citing the supposed “clandestine recruitment” of students in communist organizations.
