KAGUMA Condemns Arrest Of University Of The Philippines Professor Melania Flores
Katipunan ng mga Gurong Makabayan (KAGUMA) | National Democratic Front Of The Philippines
February 15, 2023
The Katipunan ng mga Gurong Makabayan (KAGUMA) condemns the unjust arrest of Melania Flores, a professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas and former national president of the All-UP Academic Employees Union. Flores was accosted by Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) of the Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) last February 6, 2023, Monday late morning, in her own residence inside the premises of the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City.
KAGUMA condemns the concerted campaign of repression orchestrated against Flores, who was charged with “violating the Social Security Law” for allegedly failing to remit social security contributions to her former house helper. We find it to be the height of absurdity for the Social Security System (SSS) on its own initiative to go out of its way to file a court case against Flores while billions worth of non-remittances by labor-violating companies are left unchecked.
The PNP agents entered the campus without coordinating with the UP administration, violating the UP-DILG Accord that prohibits state forces from entering the UP campus without permission from university authorities. The PNP agents even used a ruse, pretending to be DSWD personnel in civilian clothing, to effect the arrest. All the while, Flores had not even received any subpoena or notices since the court order was issued last September 6, 2022.
The NTF-ELCAC has since joined the chorus to discredit and besmirch the name of Flores proving without any doubt the political motivation behind the absurd charges against Flores. It is clear that the brazen trampling of due process and the rights of Prof. Flores is but the latest fascist attack by state forces, in order to harass and intimidate progressive teachers and unionists.
KAGUMA calls on the academic community and the Filipino people to push back against intensifying fascist attacks on academic freedom and people’s rights. Ultimately, the fascists wish to make an example of the unjust arrest of Flores as a warning that they can with impunity carry out vicious attacks against activists, progressives, and other dissenters.
The fascists intend to terrorize and paralyze patriotic and progressive educators and academic workers to stop them from exposing and teaching on the real oppressed conditions of Philippine society and from linking arms with the wider movement and struggles of workers and peasants across the country.
What these fascists fail to understand is that their machinations are bound to fail as repression pushes more and more people to resist and fight back against tyranny and oppression. State terrorism and fascism, also reminds people of the class character of the big comprador-landlord state and teaches them a lesson on the necessity of revolutionary collective action.
Defeat the fascist attacks of the US-Marcos regime!
Makibaka, Huwag Matakot!
Source : https://philippinerevolution.nu/statements/kaguma-condemns-unjust-arrest-of-up-diliman-professor-calls-for-pushback-against-intensifying-fascist-attacks/