21/08/2026
OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE UP OSR, KASAMA SA UP, AND UP SOLIDARIDAD ON SCHOOL-RELATED VIOLENCE AND CAMPUS MILITARIZATION
The UP Office of the Student Regent (OSR), Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral (KASAMA) sa UP, and UP Solidaridad extend our deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by the recent incidents of school-related violence. We condemn all forms of violence against students and school communities. Amidst calls for stronger security measures, we reiterate that genuine safety requires confronting the roots of violence, including the Stateβs long-standing normalization of violence, impunity, and militarization.
Recent developments across the University demonstrate the growing intrusion of armed state forces into our campuses. At UP Manila (UPM), Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel were seen carrying rifles within campus premises, while the UPM College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) planned to conduct βSAFE CAMPUS: Active Threat and Shooting Preparedness Training for College Studentsβ on August 25, prompting the UPM CAS Student Council and other UPM student councils to call for its cancellation. At UP Cebu (UPC), the PNP attempted to enter the University on August 17 as part of its nationwide 2026 Enhanced Managing Police Operations (EMPO) Challenge, which the UPC University Student Council strongly condemned.
Earlier this month, delegates of the 50th KASAMA sa UP National Congress, the 2026B UP Solidaridad National Congress, and the 61st General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) also witnessed the threat of militarization firsthand, with the 11th Regional Community Defense Group (RCDG) situated less than 100 meters from the UP Mindanao campus. These incidents are not isolated. They reflect the creeping normalization of armed state forces in spaces that must remain dedicated to education, critical thinking, and democratic participation.
The presence of the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) cannot be treated as a neutral response to violence. These fascist institutions have long been implicated in human rights violations, harassment, red-tagging, and impunity. The recent killing of the Negros 19, including Iskolars ng Bayan Alyssa Alano and Maureen Santuyo, is a grave reminder of the human cost of state violence. These young people should have been able to live, learn, and organize without fear. Instead, they became victims of a system that continues to treat dissent and resistance as threats to be suppressed.
These incidents are rooted in a broader culture of impunity cultivated by the State. Violence does not emerge in a vacuum. From the bloody drug war of the Duterte administration to continuing cases of extrajudicial killings, red-tagging, harassment, and surveillance under the Marcos Jr. administration, the State has repeatedly wielded violence and coercion as tools of governance.
The reported involvement or affiliation of the parents or relatives of those involved in recent acts of violence with the AFP or PNP must likewise be examined within this context. Violence normalized within institutions entrusted with wielding state force cannot be divorced from how violence is learned and reproduced in society. Yet instead of confronting these roots, the fascist regime advances militarized responses that place more armed personnel in schools and communities, falsely presenting repression and coercion as solutions to violence.
As deliberated by the 46th KASAMA sa UP and 61st GASC, we stand firm: there is no space for human rights violators in our educational spaces. We call on the University to reinstitutionalize the UP-DND Accord, uphold the UP-DILG Accord, terminate arrangements that enable the presence of fascist institutions within UP spaces, and functionalize a genuinely representative Committee on Academic Freedom and Human Rights (CAFHR).
Genuine safety cannot come at the expense of academic freedom, human rights, and the right to dissent. We must protect students without surrendering our campuses to militarization. The University must remain a space where students can learn without fear, speak without intimidation, and organize without repression.
