UP: Martial Law museum delays due to absence of deed of transfer

The University of the Philippines (UP) claimed on Wednesday that the Human Rights Violation Victims Memorial Commission (HRVVMC) decision to not sign the necessary deed of transfer and possession is what has been causing the delay in the construction of a museum honoring Martial Law victims. 

In a statement, the university said the HRVVMC will fund a new P80-million building where the UP Diliman Campus Maintenance Office will be transferred after vacating the site where the museum will be built.

UP Vice President for Planning and Development Dan Peckley said the university needs the deed of transfer signed by both parties first in order to fully implement the transfer of the building and clear the area where HRVVMC will construct the museum.

“The main cause of delay has been the absence of the deed of transfer document [for the building] that is still with HRVVMC for approval,” Peckley said.

In a budget hearing at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, HRVVMC executive director Carmelo Crisanto blamed the UP Diliman bureaucracy for the construction delay of the Freedom Museum, which was supposed to have started in January this year. 

For the commission’s part, Crisanto said that while UP Diliman has donated 1.4 hectares of its property for the construction of the museum, UP has yet to sign a handover document that will relocate the present occupants of the area as provided under a memorandum of agreement between the university and the commission.

He said signing the document "means they can now fully control the assets that we have provided and infuse from their own budget P50 million to complete the landscaping, the office buildings [in the relocation site] for the staff of UP’s Community Maintenance Office, Yard and Workshop, among others."

Peckley, on the other hand, said that the university’s legal office already approved a draft of the deed which was forwarded to HRVVMC on April 18. He said UP had sought for a follow up on the document’s status in May, June, August, and even on the day of the hearing.

“Previously, HRVVMC informed the university that the draft was still being reviewed by the Office of the Solicitor General and Commission on Human Rights,” the university official said. 

He also maintained that UP “is committed to work with the museum stakeholders and provide assistance to ensure the establishment of the Martial Law Museum in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”

The construction of the Freedom Museum is provided under Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act, which grants monetary and non-monetary compensation in recognition of the heroism of the victims of human rights violations during the Martial Law period from September 21, 1972 to January 17, 1981.

UP president Angelo Jimenez, meanwhile, has called for an emergency meeting this week to discuss the issue and “reaffirm the university’s commitment in realizing the museum.”

“We take criticisms, even harsh ones, positively as part of the difficult challenges we face but we know that at its core, it is an expression of our shared commitment to human rights,” Jimenez said.

“This project is a go so let’s finish it,” he added. —RF, GMA Integrated News