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End of Term Report Hon. Krista Iris V. Melgarejo

31st Student Regent

University of the Philippines System

A year ago, I was entrusted by the iskolars ng bayan to represent them inside the highest policy

making body of UP, the Board of Regents. In the span of that one year, we have faced many

issues, from the intensification of the commercialization policies to the utter negligence of the UP

administration and the national government of our fellow iskolars ng bayan and countrymen in

Eastern Visayas.

As this term comes to a close, let us look back at the past academic year and may this review

give us lessons that shall motivate us to continue to fight for the democratic rights of the students

and the Filipino masses.

Commercialization Commercialization schemes and policies have greatly affected the public service orientation of

the University and we have seen and experienced them in their full blown scale in the past several

years. From the increase and implementation of miscellaneous fees to the approval of income

generating projects to utilize “idle assets” in different constituent units, we are continually

challenged to break the idea of self sufficiency and the concept of the necessity of income

generation.

Naming Rights Policy: The Eurotowers Group, Sy and Virata

Since the term of former President Emerlinda R. Roman, the Naming Rights Policy has given the

private sector the right to name buildings and facilities (and other benefits such as tax exemptions)

in exchange of their donations to the University. Such naming rights policy will not only drive us into

further “self-sufficiency” but it will affect the orientation

and culture University – its sense of nationalism and

history.

Theater Building of the UP Diliman College of Arts

and Letters – Donation from the Eurotowers

Group amounting to Php 100 million.

Renaming of the UP Diliman College of Business

Administration to Cesar E.A. Virata School of

Business – Donation from Regent Magdaleno

Alabarracin amounting to Php 40 million in total.

Building and facilities for the UP Professional

Schools in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig (to be

named Henry Sy Sr. Hall) – Donation from the SM

Investments Corportation amounting to Php 400

million. Photo credit: UP Diliman School of Business

Student Council Facebook Page

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Utilization of “Idle” Assets

Republic Act 9500 or the UP Charter of 2008 has legitimized the use of the University’s “idle assets”

and the entry of private corporations. These income generating projects have always been

disguised as projects that have academic purposes such as research (ex. The UP-Ayala

Technohub was disguised as a science and technology park to be utilized by UPD students and

faculty). Although there have been no new projects approved in the Board during the term, last

year, we witnessed the establishment of the UP Town Center at the old site of the UP Integrated

School along Katipunan.

Privatizing Public Health Care: Alyssa Asilo and the Class D Patients

The Philippine General Hospital is no exemption to privatization schemes. Aside from the

establishment of the privately operated Faculty Medical Arts Building within the PGH complex, the

PGH administration has now implemented new fees for Class D patients. The scheme has

repeatedly denied the poorest of the poor health care services.

In fact, other schemes such as the requirement of a

downpayment from patients has already claimed the

life of an iskolar ng bayan. Veterinary Medicine

student Alyssa Asilo did not receive immediate health

services because her family was unable to pay for the

downpayment required by the PGH.

We raised these issues repeatedly in the Board but

clearly, there was inaction from both the UP and PGH

administration.

Fee Increases

The OSR has been consistent in monitoring fee

increase/implementation proposals and made sure

that the guidelines stated in the Policy of the Use and

Implementation of the Tuition and Miscellaneous Fee

Increases are observed. But more than this, we have made it clear inside the Board that mere

numbers in the consultation do not and will never justify such increases as we are in the premise

that education is a right and should not be subjected to pricing like mere commodities.

Kristel Tejada and the UP Code of “Forced Student Loans”

The untimely death of Behavioral Sciences student Kristel Tejada became the epitome of the

dismal state of Philippine education. Kristel became the face of many more undocumented cases

of Filipino youth who have been denied of their right to education. Instead of addressing the issue,

the UP administration and the national government blamed the death of Kristel to her emotional

weaknesses and inability to cope up with problems.

Together with other student leaders, progressive administrators, and sectors, the OSR became part

of the Justice for Kristel Alliance. The alliance forwarded several revisions to the University of the

Philippines Code in line with the April 2013 Board resolution stating that “No qualified UP student

shall be access to education based on financial incapacity.”

UPLB Vet Med student Alyssa Asilo (Photo

credit: Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom)

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However, the approved revisions (which were

proposed by the administration) to the Code did

not bring any significant changes for the iskolars ng

bayan. It has only forced students to avail of student

loans when they are not able to pay for their

matriculation fees during the registration period.

Loans are short term solutions, but it does not

address the problem of high tuition rates in UP.

The Board resolution just became mere lip service as

there were no concrete policies or actions to

address anti-student and anti-poor policies like the

forced LOA policy in UP Manila and the class list

purging in UP Diliman.

Socialized Tuition System

Established in 1989, the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assitance Program (STFAP) aimed to

“democratize access to UP education through fairness and social justice”. However, the

mechanism only highlighted the differences in the financial status of the students and have only

justified the lack of government subsidy for higher education (in line with the Roadmap for Public

Higher Education Reform Program). The scheme has been repeatedly used to put up the illusion

that higher education can still be affordable in spite of the high tuition rates in the University.

Last December 2013, the Board approved the Socialized Tuition System or the “revamped” version

of the STS. According to the administration, the new system will help students by lessening the

requirements for the application and revising the process. In fact, in the February UCSFA meeting,

the STS has been exposed for what it truly is – a discount system for the Php 1,000 to 1,500 tuition

rate in the University.

Yes, indeed that are going to changes process-wise however, we are not only concerned about

the surface level changes in policies. The essential question here is, did it solve the high cost of UP

education?

We remained firm, together with the students that the STFAP cannot answer this question. Thus,

the struggle for our right to quality education remains and we would like to pursue our

counterproposal to this system – that the UP administration should problematize how to make the

tuition rate accessible even for the poorest of the poor. The OSR enjoins all student leaders to keep

their vigiliance on this policy especially it is in its first year implementation.

Photo Credit: Ronalyn V. Olea (Bulatlat.com)

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Globalization Instead of addressing the needs of the Philippine society, our Philippine education sector has been

designed to cater to the needs of the global market by adapting international policies that do

not even fit with the local situation.

PCARI: Science and Technology for Whom?

Science and technology has always been associated with the improvement of the quality of life

in society. That is why in the Philippine context, we want to use science and technology so that

the country would be able to maximize its resources and undergo national industrialization. But

with the dismal state of funding for the field of science and technology, it seems like a long shot.

Despite the potential research studies that Filipino scientists can pursue for the soceity’s benefit,

they are not able to do so since there is very little support coming from the national government.

We stood against the participation of the

University from the Philippines-California

Advanced Research Institutes (PCARI) Project

because clearly, it does not benefit the Filipino

people. It is appalling that the national

government can give away Php 10B for this

project (the Philippines will solely fund the

project) while the local science and technology

field has very poor funding. The discoveries and

innovations from the joint researches will not

translate to direct benefits to the common

Filipino. Aside from that, we are encouraging the

phenomena of “brain drain” because the

project does not have any strong guidelines to assure that scholars of this project will come back

and use their technical knowledge for the country.

Academic Calendar Shift

In line with the ASEAN Integration of 2015, this policy wanted to “improve student and faculty

mobility” by synchronizing the academic calendars with other universities from ASEAN member

countries. However, analyzing the policy further will reveal that there is more to this than just

exchange student programs and hiring foreign faculty.

In line with this newly approved policy, each constituent university will be conducting an

assessment of its academic programs according to the standards set by the Asian University

Network. Programs that do not meet these standards (ex. number of enrollees per year) can be

revised, merged with other programs or even abolished.

Last March 26, the Commission on Higher Education released a statement that it does not advise

the shift in the academic calendar for higher educational institutions because: 1) farmer and

fisherfolk households will run out of financial resources by August; and 2) the harmonization with

the schedule of basic education. In fact, the points raised by CHED were among the arguments

that we raised during the Board meeting. It is indeed disappointing that such statement came

Photo Credit: Manila Standard Today

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very late from the chairperson and there was no pressure from the CHED to make UP administrators

think otherwise about the approval of this policy.

We stood firm inside the Board that this hastily approved policy disregarded the concrete

conditions of the Philippine education sector and will only take higher education further away

from the Filipino youth, especially those coming from the basic sectors of society. Aside from that,

this sham internationalization policy will lead the youth to a future of competing for low paying

jobs from multi-national companies along with other graduates from other ASEAN countries.

Repression Repressive policies proposed and implemented by University administrators have always been the

means to silence the iskolar ng bayan and discourage critical thinking and analyses on the various

anti-student and anti-people policies being implemented inside and outside the University.

Code of Student Conduct

Back in 2009, word spread about the Diliman Draft Code of Student Conduct which aimed to limit

the freedoms and rights we enjoy as students and Filipino people such as the right to organize,

freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly. Student leaders came together to launch a

system-wide campaign calling for the junking of the Code as administrators in the respective

constituent units were prepared to adapt and implement it.

A year later, the OSR together with other student leaders, was able to negotiate with the Diliman

administration to revise the Code in order to remove the repressive provisions. Under this term, we

were able to negotiate with former Chancellor Saloma to include in its core principles the concept

of academic freedom, collegiality and self regulation. We were also able to decrease the ban on

freshmen recruitment for fraternities and sororities from one year to one semester. However, when

this reached the level of the Board, its approval was repeatedly halted.

We are well aware that various repressive policies exist in the student handbook/code of conduct

in the constituent units across the system. There are units that prohibit recruitment of freshmen into

any student organization, limitations in the usage of facilities, etc. The OSR has continued to

monitor and campaign against these policies.

However, we must make it clear that we do not want to settle with the small tactical gains. The

OSR stands and should stand firm that we are against any code that will hamper our democratic

rights.

Repression inside the Board

There have been attempts to silence the voice of the iskolars ng bayan inside the highest policy

making body of the University. From the attempted railroading of the STS in November to the

muzzling of your Regent to make public pronouncements on anti-student and anti-people issues.

Despite this, we continue to be steadfast in upholding the voice of the students and the people

inside the Board. We now challenge our fellow student leaders to also remain steadfast in the

midst of increasing repression inside from the state and the University administration.

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National Issues Realizing the connection of the different issues found inside and outside the University, the OSR

has never failed to participate in national issues together with other sectors in the society. It is in

this way that we realize that if we want significant changes inside the University, we can only

achieve it through genuine social change.

The Pork Barrel Scam and the National Budget

So much controversy surrounded the 2015 national budget. Our campaign started off with the

DMB approved budget for basic social services. For the next fiscal year, the UP system will be

receiving around Php 8.1B vis-à-vis its Php 17.1B proposal. It was also last year that we discovered

that the national government, through CHED, has pooled a lump sum budget under the

commission for the capital outlays of the 110 SUCs nation-wide which they have to compete for.

The prioritization of SCUs will be based on the how they perform. Leading SCUs such as UP will be

receiving more from CHED.

With the exposure of the pork barrel scam, we

were all appalled at the amount of money

that is allocated every year for the Priority

Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of

public officials and the President’s own pork

barrel which are disguised as lump sum funds

under several itemizations and government

agencies. This despite the funding for basic

social services like education and health.

Together with other sectors, we participated in

numerous people’s mobilizations against pork

barrel scam, calling for its scrapping and

rechanneling to basic social services.

Typhoon Yolanda: Going Beyond Relief Efforts

and Calling for Justice

Like in the past years, the OSR together with the student councils initiates relief efforts under Tulong

Kabataan. There was endless support coming from the UP community and the general public so

that we could provide relief goods for our kababayans in Eastern Visayas. Some even participated

in the people’s caravan to distribute the goods directly not only in Tacloban but also in other parts

of Leyte and Samar.

The Supertyphoon destroyed two of our campuses – UPV Tacloban and the UPM School of Health

Sciences in Palo, Leyte. It is quite disapppointing that despite what our felow iskolars ng bayan

went through during the height of the typhoon, the response from the UP system administration

has been very slow. It has only provided very minimum help for our students, faculty and staff from

the two campuses. It cannot even give our most affected students the financial assistance that

they need (ex. immediate rebracketting to E1 or E2, allowances and other subsidies). Until now,

the campus has still not recovered from the calamity while there has been little assistance coming

from both the UP system and the UPM admnistration for UP Palo.

Katipunan Kontra Korapsyon (Photo Credit: UP Aperture)

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We realize that this is more than just

providing relief efforts in the affected

areas as we can only provide limited

resources. We are one with the People

Surge and Tindog Network in their call for

justice as they have not yet received

significant relief and help from the

national government. We shall continue

to challenge our student leaders and our

fellow iskolars ng bayan to call for justice

for our countrymen in Eastern Visayas and

to continue to pressure the government to

not only provide the overdue relief but to

also provide long term solutions during

natural disasters.

Human Rights and the Peace Talks

The OSR continues to be involved in the issue of human rights violations in the country, calling

justice for all the victims (where several are UP students/alumni). We were able to spearhead

several activities so that students could understand that it is not enough that we call for justice for

the victims of human rights violations, but it also entails that genuine social change is needed.

Through these discussions and being involved in the different activities of the campaigns will reveal

that human rights violations are products of a systemic problem in society. From there, we will also

realize that it is not only those who are detained, disappeared and murdered who are human

rights victims but we are all victims of human rights violations when we are denied our basic rights

to education and basic social services.

And it is in this realization that we realize that just and lasting peace cannot be achieved by

increasing military operations against revolutionary groups under Oplan Bayanihan. Rather, it is by

solving the roots of the armed conflict that we will be able to achieve peace – just and lasting

peace based on social justice. That is why the OSR shall to enjoin all student leaders and all iskolars

ng bayan to join the campaign in calling for the immediate resumption of the peace talks

Challenges and Prospects In line with the Aquino administration’s RPHER, government funding for higher education remains

to be in a dismal state and simultaneously encouraging the administrations of the state universities

and colleges to look for means to implement income generating projects through tuition and

other fee increases, privatization of services, leasing of lands to private corporations, and other

various forms. Commercialization and privatization have all the more destroyed the public

character of the University and has taken higher education further away from the Filipino youth.

Policies to internationalize and globalize the education sector have also contributed to the

worsening crisis. This year, the government will continue to implement its K to 12 program and some

The UP Palo Oblation after Typhoon Yolanda (Photo Credit:

Rolando O. Borrinaga)

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of the higher educational institutions will proceed with the implementation of the academic

calendar shift policy. Such policies are leading the hope of our nation to a bleak future. We are

also subjected to repressive policies as our struggle against the anti-student and anti-people

policies continue in an attempt to silence the growing clamor for our democratic rights.

However, we should not look at the approval and implementation of these policies as

disadvantages. In fact, these policies have further ripened the conditions for the strengthening

among our ranks.

Our Urgent Tasks

As the country’s economic, cultural and political crises worsens, we are all the more challenged

to consolidate our ranks and continue the struggle of past student leaders and the Filipino people.

1) Continue the critique of the different policies and programs being implemented inside and

outside the University;

2) Intensify our campaigns against anti-student and anti-people policies. Expose and oppose

the worsening crisis in the education sector and the Philippine society;

3) Maximize all forms and media to raise awareness among the studentry. In todays’s internet

age, social media should also be maximized. However, this should only be complementary

to relating with the grassroots level of the studentry;

4) Deepen the political awareness of our iskolars ng bayan and the Filipino youth. Link and

raise the discourse of various issues inside and outside the University; and

5) Continually engage the studentry and other sectors to struggle for genuine social change.