Alleged gov’t spies nabbed by protesting PUP students

SWAT team blocked from entering school

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 03:33pm (Mla time) 08/29/2008

MANILA, Philippines — Youth activists at the Polytechnic University
of the Philippines (PUP) claimed to have caught four alleged
government agents conducting surveillance on a student protest Friday
noon.

In a phone interview, Ken Ramos, chairman of the youth group
Anakbayan, said the protesters first pounced on two men they caught
taking pictures of PUP student council chair Krishna Ayuson.

Two other men, who tried to sneak out the first two, were also caught.

The men, in their late 30s, wore civilian clothes and were allegedly
armed, Ramos said.

As of posting time, the four have been taken into the custody of the
PUP security office, where they are being interrogated by the school
administration and student council. However, Ramos said the four have
refused to answer questions, not even about their identities.

“They refused to tell their motives for documenting our
picket-program. But it is clear from their actions that they intended
to spy on and intimidate us,” Ayuson said.

Ramos said after the four men were apprehended, 15 members of a police
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team arrived at the school but were
prevented from entering by the students.

An agreement between student activists and the government signed in
the 1980s prohibits armed policemen from entering school grounds
without the administration’s permission.

Ramos accused the government for the alleged “underhanded tactic to
stifle student unrest.”

“Surveillance, intimidation and misinformation have always been part
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s arsenal in confronting
protesters. These moves are almost always coupled with violence. This
dangerous concept in dealing with opposition is now being used in
educational institutions. Arroyo is responsible for the seeping
fascism in the schools,” he said.

–
Visit the NEW LFS WEBSITE: http://www.lfs.ph