UP Manila raises alarm over activists’ kidnapping

Janvic Mateo 

The University of the Philippines (UP) in Manila on Saturday expressed alarm over the reported kidnapping of two activists, including one of its alumna.
    Human rights groups reported that community organizers Patricia Cierva and Cedrick Casaño were taken by alleged members of the military in Gonzaga, Cagayan on May 18.
    Cierva is an alumna of UP Manila’s development studies program and a former officer of the university student council.
    The university said it is strongly supporting the call for the immediate surfacing of the two activists, and urged all concerned government agencies to assist in their release and ensure their safe return to their families.
    “We urge all government agencies to adhere to the basic tenets of democracy. We believe that our democracy, won through decades of activism and patriotism, can only be practiced to the fullest when the basic human rights of every Filipino is respected and protected, and these rights include individual safety, dignity and freedom of speech,” the university said.

    “We strongly urge all former and current teachers, students, officials, employees and friends of UP Manila to speak out and join the call for the surfacing of not just Cierva and Casaño, but of all those who were wrongly taken and arrested,” it added.

    The university condemned the continued red-tagging and threats against members of the UP community, citing the kidnapping of UP Cebu faculty Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha, the arrest of professor Melania Flores and the enforced disappearance of UP Baguio alumni Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz de Jesus.