DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 13 Aug) — Two partylist representatives have filed a resolution urging the House of Representatives to support the immediate relocation of the 11th Regional Community Defense Group (RCDG) from the grounds of the University of the Philippines Mindanao (UPMin) in Barangay Mintal here.
The resolution also called on authorities to put an end to militarization of academic spaces in campuses like UPMin.
Partylist representatives Renee Louise M. Co of Kabataan and Antonio L. Tinio of ACT Teachers submitted House Resolution No. 129 on Monday.
HR 129 adopted resolutions earlier issued by the various student councils of UPMin, from college to university level, who were worried over the presence of a military facility inside campus.
Outgoing UPMin student council chairperson Heroine Fernandez said in an interview with MindaNews last month that the students’ resolution was in response to numerous reports.
The UPMin University Student Council posted on Facebook on July 18 that the resolution was “anchored on the persistent calls against campus militarization.”
Himati, the official student publication of UPMin, told MindaNews it documented at least 19 cases of military activities inside campus from 2019 until July 2025.
These include a drone hovering above campus during a night-time student leaders’ event.
In October 2024, the school publication received reports of military maneuvers being conducted by uniformed personnel inside campus, specifically UPMin’s Cultural Complex.
Himati said military personnel downplayed the situation as “lingaw lingaw lang (just for fun).”
The Himati report also included incidents of red-tagging, as well as the entry of uniformed personnel without notice to the student council, a violation of an earlier agreement between administration officials and the USC.
The list includes at least five instances of red-tagging of UPMin students and student leaders.
In one case, an alumna, a nominee to become student regent, was sent an anonymous threatening note left on the doorstep of her dormitory.
On April 28, 2019, Himati also recorded posters with names and pictures of student leaders and their alleged direct involvement with the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) being displayed outside campus.
In 2024, the Supreme Court declared that “red-tagging, vilification, labelling, and guilt by association threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security.”
The student publication also documented what appeared to be military surveillance inside campus.
Incoming UPMin student council chairperson Lara Felescoso said that there may have been undocumented incidents due to “fear” of reporting it to the student council.
UPMin Chancellor Lyre Anni E. Murao, in a statement posted by Himati on Facebook last month, assured that UPMin’s “priority remains clear: the safety, rights, and welfare of our students, faculty, and staff.”
Col. Reandrew P. Rubio, director of the 11th RCDG, said during the Davao peace and security press corps forum on July 23 that there are no records of violence committed by his troops inside campus.
He said that the camp, then known as the Regional Home Defense Unit, has been in the area since 1957. UPMin, on the other hand, started to build its campus in the area starting in 1996.
Rubio said that affected members of the UPMin community could visit the RCDG to complain.
In 1989, UP and the Department of National Defense signed an agreement that explicitly prohibits the unwarranted presence of state forces such as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on UP campuses.
The accord was unilaterally terminated in 2021 by then defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana, despite the absence of any provision in the accord that allows for its termination on the basis of hindering national security investigations.
The presence of the military in “educational institutions forms part of a broader pattern of state-sponsored repression that seeks to stifle dissent, critical thinking, and progressive organizing among communities of the youth and the academe,” the resolution filed by the partylist representatives said.
“The state has the constitutional duty to protect and promote academic freedom and ensure that learning environments remain free from military interference,” it added.
The resolution was first drafted by student leaders from UPMin and was then deliberated during a national student councils assembly at UP Los Baños from Aug. 7 to 9.
Fernandez, along with the 42nd and 41st student regents Dexter Clemente and Francesca Duran, respectively, joined in the filing of the resolution at the House of Representatives. (Razl EJ Teman / MindaNews)
