ACT TEACHERS Partylist Rep. France Castro slammed Commission on Higher Education Chairman Prospero de Vera’s statements that the accord between the Department of National Defense and the University of the Philippines was destined to be problematic.

Castro said the CHED chairman should protect the academic freedom of academic institutions instead of supporting the baseless accusations of the security forces.

“The Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education himself is attacking the essence of education institutions by not condemning state security forces in terminating the UP-DND accord and further red-tagging most higher education institutions with their baseless and recycled lies of being so-called breeding grounds of NPAs,” Castro said.

The lawmaker asked De Vera to explain why the historical accord was destined to be problematic.

Castro added that instead of protecting academic freedom, CHED allowed the tyrannical attacks of the Duterte administration to limit the discourse in higher education institutions, red-tag students, teachers and legal organizations of education stakeholders.

“Imbes na kapakanan ng mga kabataan, guro at pagpapaunlad sa mga higher educational institutions ang protektahan ng CHED, ito pa mismo ang nagmumungkahing bigyan ng depinisyon ang ‘academic freedom’ na walang ibang patutunguhan kundi limitahan ang saklaw nito,” she said.

Castro warned that CHED will set a dangerous precedent by not condemning and not defending the academic institutions it is supposed to protect.

“Basta-bastang panghihimasok ito ng mga militar sa mga paaralan sa public at private higher education pati nga rin basic education. Paggamit rin ito sa learning institutions for military purposes dahil maaaring kampohan ang mga paaralan sa pagpapawalang-bisa ng mga kasunduan tulad ng UP-DND accord. For someone who has benefitted from the academic freedom in UP, CHED chair De Vera should know the importance of academic freedom and it should be protected from an administration’s tyrannical attacks,” she said.

“By accepting the narrative of the AFP and PNP against UP, PUP, and even universities like Ateneo, La Salle, FEU and UST, the obvious bias of the CHED is with the security sector and not education stakeholders,” Castro added.