UP students who mobbed Abad condemned

The acts committed by a small group of students against Budget Secretary Butch Abad

after his speech at the UP School of Economics must be condemned to the full by the UP community and the country as a whole. Grabbing Secretary Abad by the collar, throwing paper balls at him and shouting him down are not acts of reasonable people who have the obligation to allow the free discourse of ideas. One report said that even coins were thrown at Secretary Abad.

The UP Student Disciplinary Tribunal and the UP Legal Service must investigate the incident and prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the student handbook and the law. The vast majority of students, faculty members and nonacademic personnel comprising the UP community are appalled by the acts committed against Secretary Abad. The perpetrators are not even one-tenth of 1 percent of the UP student population and they belong to the utmost fringes of the

UP community.

—JOSE ANSELMO I. CADIZ,

UP School of Economics alumnus

and former solicitor general