MANILA - It would be "legally infirm" for President Rodrigo Duterte to defund the University of the Philippines over student protests, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said Wednesday.

In a speech aired Tuesday evening, Duterte threatened to stop funding the state university following calls from students for an academic strike against alleged government negligence in disaster response and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Duterte threatens to defund UP amid students' protest vs disaster response, pandemic handling

Asked if this would be possible, Pangilinan told ANC's Headstart: "No, that would be legally infirm."

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Pangilinan, who was a student leader from the university, said it would be better to pay attention instead to what the students are calling for.

"Sa akin kasi, you threaten, but in the end, why are the students protesting? Let’s go back to that," he said.

"Natural sa ating mga kabataan na magkaroon ng ganitong klaseng kritikal na posisyon...The youth will always be a source, a catalyst for change. You try to stop that and you’re going against how history unfolds," he added.

Calls for an academic freeze must be "seriously considered" in the light of consecutive typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced schools to enforce distance learning, he said.

In a statement released on Sunday, at least 134 faculty members of UP-Diliman have called on the school’s administration to immediately end the semester, citing challenges in distance learning coupled with the effects of typhoons that recently hit the country.

• UP faculty call for immediate end of semester

Students from different schools also gathered outside Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City on Tuesday to urge fellow students to withhold submission of school requirements until the national government provides much needed attention to those affected by the recent disasters that hit the country.

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