Tuesday, February 21, 2012

News Update UP Diliman to tighten security after stabbing incident

The University of the Philippines Diliman campus is enforcing a new security measure for 2012,
Chancellor Caesar A. said
Saloma during a forum Monday on improving security measures.
The forum was held two weeks after fourth-year Political Science student Lordei Hina was robbed and stabbed inside the University Student Council office in Vinzons Hall by men posing as tattoo artists. According to a Feb. 14
report on Philippine Collegian, UP Diliman's official student publication, Hina was transferred to a private room from the surgical ICU on Feb. 10. Hina’s mother said in the report that the victim still could not
speak, though she could move her hands and open both eyes. The university administration pledged to help the victim with financial and legal support.
“We are always trying to find a balance between openness and the safety of our mandated stakeholders,” Saloma said and cited the university’s stakeholders as the more than 1,500 regular faculty, over 24,000 students, and over 1,600 non-academic personnel.
Informal settlers within UP grounds now outnumber the stakeholders, Saloma noted.
According to an October 2011 census conducted by the office of the vice chancellor for community affairs, the informal settlers have grown into 15,484 households with an average 4 to 5 people per household.
Under the new security measure, nightshift guards will patrol the campus, as opposed to simply guarding the entrances of buildings that are typically empty at night, said Saloma.
As much as possible, dayshift guards will carry no guns because “ayaw po natin ‘yun na nagiging imahe natin ay private army,” according to the chancellor.
The new security measure will involve more faculty supervision.
The university plans to install bar gates and CCTV cameras in strategic locations, to better monitor those entering and leaving campus, the chancellor
noted.
A show of hands
Future security measures will require students, faculty, and employees to wear IDs and submit their bags to inspections. Alumni, faculty members, administrators, and students who attended the forum agreed to these measures by a show of hands.
During Monday’s forum, many of the stakeholders welcomed the chancellors announcement that by March 1 the university will no longer allow motorcycles that do not have silencers into the campus.
Bea Tan, a member of the University Student Council shared that security is the responsibility of the entire UP community, not just the administration.
“I think on the part of the administration, it’s good that the chancellor realized these issues and he has plans of implementing schemes and improving the existing ones but at the same time, for the people within the community, we can also do our part, we can help ourselves and our fellow students,” Tan told GMA News Online.
“Yes, security can be improved further. There are certain buildings that are more publicly accessed. With those buildings, there should also be an increase of security measures. You can’t treat all buildings the same way,” the student leader noted.
“At the same time, students should also be aware of their surroundings, there’s a sense of consciousness na when you go to UP, it’s an institution that’s accessible to the public so you also have to be guarded, you have to be aware kung may sumusunod na pala sa ‘yo,” she added. — VS