THE AKLAN State University has become the third educational institution to pull out from its library the reading materials authored by or related to the communist groups in the country.

The Kalinga State University and Isabela State University earlier removed books donated by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines or authored by its founding chairman, Jose Maria Sison.

“The Aklan Police Provincial Office, along with the full support of Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict Western Visayas, reached out to ASU for them to turn over also books that are not mentally healthy for students,” Prosecutor Flosemer Chris Gonzales, task force spokesperson, said.

The books and documents include one authored by Sison entitled “Foundation for Resuming the Philippine Revolution.”

The reading materials were mostly donated to the ASU and have been in its library since 2012.

Gonzales stressed that turning over the books to the government is not a restriction of academic freedom.

“Academic freedom is always subject to control and supervision by the state when the welfare of the people or overriding public welfare calls for it,” he said.

“We are at war with terrorism and of course, our university officials exercising sound discretion and good judgment can always decide for the welfare of their students,” he added.