President Duterte is backing a candidate for the next president of the University of the Philippines, according to an opposition lawmaker, who warned the administration against influencing the selection process.

“I understand the Duterte administration is supporting a candidate,” said Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, a graduate of the UP College of Law.

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“We urge the Duterte administration to respect the independence of the state university by not supporting any of the contenders,” he told a press briefing at the House of Representatives.

Lagman did not name the candidate with administration backing.

The UP Board of Regents is poised to elect the next UP president on Nov. 15.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the administration was lobbying for J. Prospero de Vera III, a public administration professor at UP and host of a political talk show on ANC.

In September, Mr. Duterte appointed De Vera as commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education and concurrent adviser to the government’s negotiating panel with the communist National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

The other candidates are: UP College of Law dean Danilo Concepcion, also the executive director of the UP Bonifacio Global City campus; UP vice president for academic affairs Gisela Concepcion; Science Undersecretary for research and development Rowena Cristina Guevara; UP Diliman vice chancellor for academic affairs Benito Pacheco, and UP Diliman National Institute of Physics professor Caesar Saloma.

Lagman said UP must maintain its independence from outside influence.

“The bulwark of academic freedom and free speech must not be the victim of partisan incursion,” he said.

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