Spies and government surveillance
A month or so ago, news broke of suspicious surveillance being conducted with a certain and specified van with plate number UDU 234 on students of UP Diliman, particularly on students of the College of Mass Communication. Various instances of the van’s suspicious activities (parking near informal student gatherings/assemblies, following or parking near locations of student activists) on different parts of the Diliman campus have been reported over the months. The CMC Student Council and a couple of organizations in Mass Comm went on to have a press conference condemning such surveillance in light of the fresh implementation of the Human Security Act.
Last Tuesday, we saw the particular van with dark-tinted windows, with plate number UDU 234 parked on the driveway of Vinzons Hall–the seat of the University Student Council, the Student Regent and a traditional tambayan of activists. Together with some of my colleagues and Shan Abdulwahid, present Chairperson of the University Student Council, we approached the van with the intention of confronting the persons inside.
While I took pictures of the van, my colleagues and Shan tried to peek into the heavily-tinted windows of the van, and tapped the vehicle for a couple of minutes to call the attention of whoever were inside. We were being ignored for quite a while, which was weird. The typical reaction by innocent people to what we were doing was direct confrontation. Instead, we were being lead to frustration and into believing that no one was inside. We couldn’t be too sure, since the van was heavily tinted and we could barely see through the windows. After a few minutes, the front passenger window rolled down a few inches. A man then asked what was wrong. We asked the man to come down and talk with us. He refused. What’s even more suspicious was that he refused to be recognized by hanging a dark jacket between him and the window. When we jokingly asked him to show us his face, he ignored us. When he was asked what he was doing there, and why he was violating a verbal agreement not to roam around UP, he gave a lame excuse that he and his companions (who we never got to see) were picking up someone from the College of Law–which, by the way, was three blocks away. Without prolonging the confrontation too much, we allowed the man and the van to leave. From Vinzons Hill, we watched the van go towards the direction of the School of Economics. Contrary to his reasoning earlier, however, the van eventually went past the College of Law and went straight out of UP.
That’s the Human Security Act for you. Wanton disregard of people’s - students’ right to privacy, presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise, freedom of movement, academic freedom right inside university campuses.
And “they’re (the military) the first ones to uphold human and democratic rights”?
Lokohin nila ang lelong nila!
That was scary. Things are fast getting out of hand.
I suggest that you consult a lawyer on how to deal with this legally. Heck, Atty. Te is teaching there, he might be available for consultation. Next time you approach the van, use a video cam for more evidence.
It is time you UP people should fight back.
[...] Is this the Human Security Act in action? [...]
I agree with Arbet. Or you should take this to the attention of the UP admin.
[...] college life and storms really do not mix well. What really, really doesn’t mix well are military spies and universities. You go to school to learn the in’s and out’s of life, of society, to meet new [...]
if that happened sa UPD, pano pa kaya sa eLBi… i just can’t imagine (st area pa)…
So they (whoever was monitoring you guys) didn’t think you would notice the frequency of that van’s appearance? Wala lang.. Dapat kasi iba’t ibang sasakyan ang gamit nila. Ayan tuloy, nahuli niyo.. Haha! Joke lang..
Hindi ako maka-Stand-UP, pero what could you guys be possibly doing to merit such surveillance?! It’s not like you’re plotting something drastic and dangerous against GMA (I share your opinion on her mismanagement of the country, though). Bakit insecure sila masyado sa ating mga taga-UP..
grabe na talaga ngayon.
we also experienced the same intimidation and surveillance sa PUP. mas grabe sa amin kasi bumalik ang mga military sa community just outside the university and camped out sa mga brgy halls doon. araw-araw na lang ata ang surveillance sa amin sa school.
Ingat na lang kayo.
Nakakabahal naman ang balitang ito……creeping….martial law na ba? Next thing you’ll have people sitting in classrooms….yarggsh.
Alarming and very scary.
With what Yeho said, wag naman sana.
I don’t think it will happen in LB since malayo kami sa Maynila. Tsaka mauubusan lang sila ng gas. Hahaha!
Creepy… that van should be banned from the university premises! But then, the fact that UP campuses are open for all.. it’ll be hard to monitor every car going inside and out of UP..
sabi ko sa inyo… hinuhuli ang gwapo’t, cute ngayon eh…. teka, teka, sino kayo? bakit may dala kayong posas? boss, saan nyo ko dadalhin? hinuhuli nyo ba ako?
utakGAGO, magmasid ka lang sa paligid ng eLBi at meron talagang mga intel dyan. sa apat na taon ko sa eLBi, may mga nai-spot-an na kami dyan.
hindi guarantee na dahil malayo tayo sa metro manila ay ligtas na ang eLBi sa surveillance/intel. mas nakakatakot pa nga kasi nasa probinsiya tayo (kung saan maigting ang offensive ng militar sa mga “enemies of the state.” kahit sa laguna, visible ang militar). hindi naman sa lahat ng pagkakataon eh sa GHQ ng AFP dapat manggaling ang mga nagsu-surveillance.
maraming kampo ng militar sa southern tagalog (ST) area. along natl hi-way na nga lang going to eLBi eh may camp eldridge. siguro utakGAGO, maging mapagmasid lang
paranoid idiots.
“my colleagues” and Shan Abdulwahid…
[...] organizations are being done in a more brazen manner by the country’s intelligence agencies as the experience of fellow blogger Bikoy in UP Diliman last month. I also had my encounter with this kind of harassment last year. (See past post [...]