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 2^nd year Chemical Engineering student and Sandy, a 3^rd 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

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

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