On the termination of the DND-UP accord
The agreement between the Department of National Defense (DND) and the University of the Philippines (UP) executed in 1989 which requires prior notification before law enforcement agents can enter the latter's campuses can not supplant the Constitution and laws of the land.
While parties in a contract can stipulate terms and conditions as they deem mutually acceptable, the same can not - and must not be contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy. That legal principle is basic.
National security requires that the law enforcement and the military, as enforcers of law and the protector of the people, respectively, can not be impeded or derailed in the exercise of this constitutional duty.
Logic dictates that giving prior notice to UP before conducting lawful operations and serving warrants impedes law enforcement.
The termination of the agreement does not violate academic freedom. With or without it, UP remains to be the sole authority of what courses to teach and the manner by which the same is taught. It decides who the faculty members will be.
The freedom of expression and of speech is not abridged. Nor is the right to peaceably assemble prohibited. Neither does the abrogation proscribe or stop the faculty and students of UP from thinking freely on any subject.
With or without the DND-UP accord, and governments will come and go, UP will always be citadel of freedom.
Salvador S. Panelo
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel
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