UP professor arrested for ‘violating’ SSS law

MANILA, Philippines — The arrest of a university professor for an alleged labor violation drew outrage in her own community, which cited an accord with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) restricting police presence in the campus.

Plainclothesmen from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested University of the Philippines (UP) professor Melania Flores at her residence inside the campus at 11 a.m. on Monday.

She was cited for violating Republic Act (RA) No. 8282 or the Social Security Act of 1997, for failure to remit Social Security System (SSS) contributions for her housemaid.

For that alleged violation, QCPD named Flores its “most wanted person” and sought a warrant last September from Judge Maria Gilda Loja-Pangilinan of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 230.

Flores was taken to the Quezon City police office in Camp Karingal, where protesters gathered calling for her release.

Loja-Pangilinan set the bail at P72,000. The professor was released by 5:20 p.m., according to the UP Office of the Faculty Regent (OFR).

She was escorted by Faculty Regent Carl Marc Ramota, UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo, and Rommel Rodriguez, also a faculty member and vice president of All-UP Academic Employees Union.