CHED: Sexual assault at UP Diliman ‘wake-up call’ to review security policy

The sexual assault of a student within UP Diliman campus is a wake-up call for the institution to reexamine its policies on security and safety, including its coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other law enforcement agencies, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said Monday.

CHED chairman Prospero de Vera III made the remark after confirming that a young female UP student was sexually assaulted along Ylanan Road inside the Diliman Campus on Saturday, July 1, with the assailant still at large.

“This despicable criminal act is a wake up call for the University of the Philippines to review and rationalize its security and safety policies, including its operational engagement with the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies in order to make the UP Community safe and secure,” De Vera said in a statement.

The UP administration, for its part, said additional roving security personnel and officers would be deployed in different areas after office hours following the incident.

De Vera said the UP administrative and security officials must immediately coordinate and allow the proper offices of the PNP to spearhead the investigation and conduct possible pursuit operations. 

The UP administration, he added, must also tap the expertise of the PNP “to identify, track and apprehend all those responsible for this reprehensible act of violence.”

“Higher education institutions must remain as safe spaces for their students. I encourage anyone and everyone who has any information regarding the incident to report to the authorities to aid in the investigation. The University must spare nothing to ensure that justice is obtained for the victim and her family,” the CHED chairman said.

De Vera further said he tasked the UP President and the UP Diliman Chancellor to ensure that all assistance will be given to the victim.

Last month, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said he is not keen on reviewing the terminated agreement between the UP and the Department of National Defense (DND) that bans military and police forces from entering the campus.

The UP-DND accord was signed on June 30, 1989 and provided that the military and police are prohibited from entering the premises of any UP campus or its regional units without prior notice to the school administration.

In January 2021, then-Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana informed then-UP President Danilo Concepcion of the DND's decision to end the agreement. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA Integrated News