PRRD Exposes Majority Of UP Students Are Communists: “I will stop the funding!”

President Rodrigo Duterte did not say that all students of the University of the Philippines (UP) are communists, but exposed that majority of them are, Malacañang stated Thursday, November 19.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after President Duterte threatened to defund UP because the institution supposedly does “nothing but recruit communists.”

“Iyong mga eskwelahan, UP? Fine. Maghinto kayo ng aral. I will stop the funding,” the President said in a taped speech.

“Nandiyan ‘yan, wala na ginawa itong ano kundi mag-recruit ng mga komunista diyan. Tapos nag-aaral kayo, ang gusto ninyong binibira ang gobyerno. Masyado namang nakasuwerte kayo. Huwag talaga kayong matakot – manakot rather, kasi I will oblige you,” he added. 

Roque cited the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, as an example as he was a former instructor at the UP.

“Marami na naman tayong kakilala talaga na nag-aaral sa mga pampublikong paaralan na talagang namumundok ‘no. In fact ang CPP-NPA, ang founder po niyan, instructor pa sa UP, si Joma Sison,” he said.

The communist founder has been in self-exile with his wife, Juliet, in the Netherlands since 1987.

Sison and his wife are facing impending arrest for their supposed involvement in the so-called “Inopacan massacre,” the 1980 mass purging of communist insurgents allegedly connected to the military in Inopacan, Leyte.

Roque, who used to teach in UP, said it is a known “fact” that the premier state university has produced members of the CPP-NPA.

“That’s something that is known by people. It’s not necessarily saying lahat kayo komunista pero marami talagang nagre-recruit diyan and it’s a fact,” he added. 

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While students have the right to criticize the government, Roque said UP students should also see to it that they do not waste their tuition, which is funded by taxpayers’ money.

“They have the right to criticize the government, kaya lang iyong mga gumagamit ng pondo ng bayan, huwag ninyong sasayangin ang pondo ng bayan. Kasi ginawa nga pong libre iyan at iyong mga maliliit na mga mamamayan, mga mahihirap na nagbabayad ng indirect taxes, sila po ang nagpapaaral sa inyo. Huwag namang callous,” he said.

Meanwhile, in an interview over ANC’s Headstart, UP Vice President for Public Affairs Elena Pernia denied President Duterte’s accusation that the university recruit students to join the communist insurgency.

“We don’t recruit for the communist party. We are an educational institution. We teach, we do research, we do public service. We don’t recruit. The University of the Philippines has a history of being activist, but we must make clear that the university is not anti-government. We are the national university,” she said. 

READ: Ex-Rebel Recruiter Warns New Recruits True Future Is With Gov’t Under PRRD, Not With NPA 

Source: Philippine News Agency