The posters that appeared on campus were chilling. They warned that the University of the Philippines had become a breeding ground for communist sympathizers and that students and professors needed to be on high alert for anti-government insurgents. Some students were even named as possible offenders.
No one knew where the posters had come from, but they were found on many of the university’s campuses across the country over the past few weeks, according to students and university activists. Late last month, the government decided to get involved.
To weed out possible communists at the elite institution, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced a decision to end a 32-year agreement that barred security forces from entering the campus and arresting individuals without first coordinating with university officials. Professors and students can now be held on mere suspicion.