THE EXECUTIVE Committee of the University of the Philippines Diliman expressed solidarity with the Lumad Bakwit Schools as it maintained that academic institutions should be “zones of peace”.

The group also aired its support to Lumads “in their continuing efforts to finish their education because of and despite the closure of their community-built indigenous schools.”

The committee said that the police operation supposedly to rescue children in Cebu on February 15, 2021 incited fear among indigenous refugees, causing further trauma on minors already suffering from the effects of forced displacement.

“We assert strongly that such impunity must not be allowed to continue. The terrorist scare that is continuously invoked as justification for causing harm on the youth and education workers has gone far enough,” the committee said in a statement.

The UP panel is chaired by the chancellor, with the vice chancellors, deans and heads of units as members.

The university officials reiterated that schools must be respected “as zones of peace, protected from the violence of guns and warmongering.”

“We recognize and honor the youth who pursue their education against the most challenging odds, and stand with our educators whose vocation is difficult enough without the threat of red-tagging and illegal arrests,” they said.

The committee urged the government to release and drop charges against Chad Booc, an alumnus of the university, and his fellow teachers.

Looc, it said, was an honor graduate who dedicated his intellectual practice to community service “as an undergraduate student and later as an environmental activist, app developer, volunteer Math and Science teacher for indigenous children.”

“No educator must fear for their lives in the noble pursuit of their duties, and no armed state agent must be allowed to abuse their power in the conduct of theirs. We must continue to defend schools from militarization and reinforce our resolve to defend academic freedom as our constitutional right,” the committee said.