Marines Deployed to UP for Intelligence Work
The All-UP Worker’s
Union received reports last June 21 that there will be retrenchment in the
Social Security Brigade (SSB) to give way to the hiring of members of the
Philippine Marines. They found out that five newly-hired employees of the
brigade are Marines.
BY ZOFIA LEAL
Bulatlat
The All-UP Worker’s
Union received reports last June 21 that there will be retrenchment in the
Social Security Brigade (SSB) to give way to the hiring of members of the
Philippine Marines. The SSB is tasked with securing the campus premises.
Members of the SSB are hired as contractual employees and most of them are
from the University of the Philippines - Diliman community.
Data gathered by the
All-UP Worker’s Union reveals that five newly-hired employees of the SSB
belong to the reserves of the Marines. Twenty-three more Marines who are
set to be hired are reportedly living at the Vanguard of the Department of
Military Science and Training inside the campus.
The bio-data of the
five Marines reveal that they participated in joint military exercises
with U.S. Special Forces and that they had training in surveillance work.
Ken Ramos, former student regent, said that the fact that these Marines
were part of recent military exercises shows that they are in active
duty. Ramos added that the five may have been placed on reserve status to
facilitate their hiring in the university. University Student Council
Chair Paolo Alfonso said that members of the Marines are being placed in
the university to do intelligence work and to conduct surveillance
operations.
Students and members
of the UP community held a mobilization to hold a dialogue with Vice
Chancellor Ida May La’o but she was supposedly not in her office during
that time. They also tried to contact Col. Virgilio Aganon, SSB head, but
he also cannot be reached. After the said mobilization, Vice Chancellor
La’o called the office of the Collegian, the student publication,
saying that they will no longer hire the 23 Marines and will remove the
five who have started working with the SSB. The reason they gave was that
the Marines were stubborn and were organizing inside the SSB. She did not
elaborate.
The presence of the
Marines has caused an atmosphere of fear among the students, Ramos said.
Mitchie, a 2nd year Chemical Engineering student and Sandy, a 3rd
year Political Science student, wondered why there are Marines in the
university. Mitchie heard about it from her classmate and could not
believe it at first. Although their daily routines are not affected, they
have become wary of their moves if they see a member of the SSB roaming.
Ramos said that there
is a connection between the deployment of Marines in the campus and the
abduction of the two UP students, Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, in
Bulacan last June 26. The two students are still missing. He said that
the abduction of the two students and the deployment of Marines inside the
campus to conduct intelligence operations can be attributed to the
government’s counter-insurgency program dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya.
The All-UP Worker’s
Union and the University Student Council are still waiting for
confirmation that the five Marines have already left the SSB. They still
plan to question the UP administration on why they allowed the deployment
of Marines in the university. Bulatlat
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