UP Diliman statement on the Vinzons Hall incident

STATEMENT ON THE UP VINZONS HALL INCIDENT

Released by the Office of the Chancellor, 3 February 2012

The UP Administration is profoundly affected and deeply saddened by the incident that happened at the University Student Council (USC) office at the UP Vinzons Hall (VH) that resulted in grave injuries to Ms. Lordei Camille Hina, a 4th year AB Political Science student and an active volunteer of the USC.

On February 1, Wednesday, at around 3:00 in the afternoon, two young men, posing as applicants for a booth in the 2012 UP Diliman Fair to be organized by the USC in mid-February, went to the USC Office in the VH 2nd floor. They violently attacked Ms. Hina by hitting her with a hard object on the head and robbed the USC office of two laptops. The VH security guard on duty in close coordination with other campus security personnel was able to apprehend one of the two suspects after a brief chase. He is now in the custody of the Quezon City Police and is initially charged with robbery and frustrated murder. The Quezon City Police has organized a special task force to arrest the other suspect(s).

As of this writing, Ms. Hina is still at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Capitol Medical Center, having sustained serious head injuries. The UP Administration continues to monitor her condition and is committed to provide support to Ms. Hina and her family.

On 2 February 2012, UP Diliman Chancellor Caesar Saloma called for an emergency meeting with the UP Diliman Committee on Security and Welfare to assess the status of the case and to examine our current campus security arrangement with the aim of making it more effective. The committee is recommending the strict checking of ID’s and bags by security personnel who will be issued metal detectors, at the entrances of all colleges, dormitories and buildings in UP Diliman. There will also be increase UP Diliman Police visibility especially in the vicinity where the incident happened in order to rebuild confidence.

Consultations with the students, employees, and administrators will be conducted to promote more vigilance and to come up with measures to ensure the safety and welfare of UP Diliman stakeholders.

As UP Diliman’s student’s center, VH has been an ‘open, free and accessible space’ where students from UP and other universities gather for various assemblies, seminars, training and other activities. For many years now VH has served as a venue to engage freely in discussions, hone their leadership skills and collectively learn and find effective solutions to the various issues that plague our society today.

As the UP Administration attempts to maintain VH and UP Diliman (493 hectares, 24,300+ students, 1500+ fulltime faculty members, 1500+ regular staff, tens of thousands of visitors daily) as an open and publicly accessible academic institution, it will continue to develop better ways to ensure the security, safety and well-being of its faculty, staff and students so that UP is able to accomplish its stated mandate as a national university.