CONGRESSMEN on Tuesday approved a bill that seeks to institutionalize the agreement between the University of the Philippines (UP) and Department of National Defense (DND) banning state troops from the state university’s campuses nationwide.
House Bill 10171 will include the 1989 deal between UP and the Defense department in the UP charter of 2008.
It will ban police, soldiers and other law enforcement authorities from UP premises, except in cases of hot pursuit or emergencies.
It will also require state forces to notify the university president, campus chancellor or dean of a regional unit before conducting any activities at any UP campus nationwide.
The bill will prohibit state forces from interfering with peaceful protest actions by people within the UP campus. — Russell Louis C. Ku
