MANILA, Philippines — The College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) of the University of the Philippines Diliman called on the military on Friday to conduct a swift and impartial investigation, following a reported harassment of its three students during fieldwork last Jan. 21 in Porac, Pampanga.

In an official statement, Dean Dr. Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo said the CSWCD “denounce in the strongest terms” the harassment done to its fieldwork students. She explained that while the college recognizes its institutional responsibility to provide students with security and support on fieldwork as part of their academic requirements, “this incident threatens the viability of college programs and derails the practice of its legitimate profession.”

Based on a report to their faculty supervisor, on Jan. 21 at 12:20 p.m., BS Community Development student Pauline Paguia said that she, along with three other teammates — Anton Dulce, Ricardo Luis Flores and Marigold Villar —were allegedly harassed by alleged military men while doing their fieldwork in Katutubo Village in Barangay Planas for their CD 180 and CD 181 courses.

In the statement, Paguia recounted that Dulce, Flores and Villar were on their way up to a neighboring Aeta community in Barangay Kamias when a van passed by the group and four men supposedly disembarked and started asking questions about their identity.

The questioning later turned into accusations that the three students were organizing for the New People’s Army (NPA). The interrogation turned violent as one of the interrogators started shoving one of the students in an effort to agitate him into a fistfight. Before the three students were let go, the four men had also taken the students’ photos without consent.