Following the decision of some state universities and colleges (SUCs) to remove books and other reading materials donated by so-called communist terrorist groups (CTG) from their libraries, the chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said such decision should be respected in the name of “academic freedom.”
“There are reasons why some HEIs [Higher Educational Institutions] have decided to remove materials donated by government-declared communist terrorist groups [CTGs] in their libraries. School authorities in these HEIs are in the best position to explain why. They are given sufficient administrative discretions under existing laws,” a news statement issued by CHED Chairman Dr. J. Prospero “Popoy” E. de Vera read.
De Vera stressed that the decision to remove books and other reading materials in a university library is done by individual HEIs in the exercise of academic freedom.
Earlier, three state universities—Kalinga State University, Isabela State University, and Aklan State University—pulled out reading materials from their libraries and turned these over to the regional National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
“HEIs must respect these decisions of other HEIs in the spirit of mutual respect and proper governance of their institutions,” de Vera said.
He also urged the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman to respect other HEIs who have decided to remove the said materials.
“I know that there are many HEIs that are critical of the policies adopted by the University of the Philippines – Diliman officials, and the way they run their campus, but they are not issuing statements out of mutual respect for the governance of individual public universities,” he said.
He added: “I urge UP-Diliman officials to do the same.”
The CHED chief also pointed out that “it would be best for the Chancellor of UP Diliman and other officials to be more prudent, circumspect, respectful and discerning in issuing statements, especially [on matters] involving the exercise of academic freedom of other higher education institutions.”