UP condemns harassment of students undergoing fieldwork in Pampanga
“We will not let it happen just like that. Justice must be served.” – UP President Alfredo Pascual
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA –Three community development students of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman were in Porac, Pampanga to learn about the lives of the Aeta community. They did not expect they would be tagged as New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas for doing so.
Since December, Rafael Antonio Dulce, 25; Marie Gold Villar, 23; and another student who refused to be identified were at the Katutubo village or Tent City in Porac, Pampanga conducting field work as part of their academic requirement. The village is a relocation site where Aetas have lived after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.
On January 21, at around12:00 noon, the three students were trekking the mountains going to barangay Camias where they were invited by barangay officials to attend the town fiesta. On their way, a man in civilian clothes called out the group. The man, who introduced himself as Paul from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 3 office asked for Villar’s name and started interrogating her. Three more men in civilian clothes came towards them, said Dulce.
The men, said Dulce, kept on asking questions. Dulce then explained the objectives of their integration at the Katutubo village and that they were invited by barangay officials in Camias to visit their community. “Then their line of questioning became different and suddenly they were accusing us of being members of the NPA,” Dulce said during a press conference, Jan. 26.
Dulce texted their colleague who stayed at the Katutubo village, saying that they were being harassed. It was then that a man who introduced himself as Chris started pushing him and challenged him to a fistfight. “He started pushing me and threw out invectives at me. I almost fell because he was pushing me toward the ridge,” Dulce recalled..... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/01/27/up-condemns-harassment-of-students-undergoing-fieldwork-in-pampanga/
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