25 Lawmakers Want UP Tuition Hike Probed, Halted

House Resolution No. 245 directs the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education to investigate the effects of the recent increase in tuition and other fees at the country’s premier state university.

BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 33, September 23-29, 2007

At least 25 members of the House of Representatives have demanded an investigation into the recent hike in tuition and other fees at the University of the Philippines (UP), the country’s premier state university. The UP Board of Regents (BOR) approved a 300-percent increase in tuition and miscellaneous fees during its 1,216th meeting on Dec. 15, 2006.

Authored by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, House Resolution (HR) No. 245 directs the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education to investigate the effects of the recent increase in tuition and other fees at UP.

Casiño said that the increase from P300 to P1,000 ($6.62 to $22.07, based on an exchange rate of P45.31 per US dollar) per unit “has brought about a major contradiction to UP’s role in providing quality, relevant and accessible education to the Filipino youth,” citing unconfirmed reports of a drop of enrolment figures. The increase was imposed in the first semester of Academic Year 2007-2008 for incoming first-year students.

Those who supported HR 245 are Reps. Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna), Luzviminda Ilagan and Liza Maza (Gabriela Women’s Party), Crispin Beltran (AnakPawis), Ma. Laarni Cayetano (Taguig City-Pateros) , Joel Villanueva (Cibac), Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (Leyte), Guillermo Cua (Coop-Natcco) , Jeffrey Ferrer (Negros Occidental), Arnulfo Fuentebella (Camarines Sur), Ronaldo Zamora (San Juan City), Rene Velarde and William Tieng (Buhay), Marcelino Teodoro (Marikina City), Paul Daza (Northern Samar), Niel Tupas Jr. (Iloilo), Rommel Amatong (Compostela Valley), Mujiv Hataman (Anak Mindanao), Lorenzo Tañada III (Quezon), Antonio Del Rosario (Capiz), Juan Edgardo Angara (Aurora), Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel (Akbayan) and Mary Ann Susano (Quezon City).

Student and youth groups sought Casiño’s help for a House investigation. UP Diliman University Student Council Chair Shahana Abdulwahid earlier said that the UP students’ battle is being fought in all fronts, even in Congress. She said that they intend to gather support from legislators to stop the increase next semester pending a comprehensive review of its effects on enrolment.

At the height of the campaign, the Students and Parents Against the Rising Cost of Education – UP (SPARE-UP) was formed to consolidate their concerns and actions.

HB 245

Citing Art. XIV, Secs. 1 and 2 of the 1987 Constitution, the HR 254 proponents stressed, “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all” and “the State shall establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society.” These provisions, according to them, are the reason for the establishment of state universities and colleges (SUCs) like UP.

Casiño expressed concern over initial reports gathered by the UP Office of the Student Regent (OSR) and the Philippine Collegian on UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) qualifiers who have decided to enroll in other tertiary schools due to the high tuition at UP.

Based on the reports, he said that UPCAT qualifiers who declined enrollment in UP, also known as no-show rates, were 42 percent in UP Los Baños, 65 percent in UP Iloilo, 48.5 pecent in UP Tacloban and 49 percent in UP Manila ’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Even in the Diliman main campus, he said that there were cases of zero enrolment in some courses in the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) and as much as 50 percent below turn-out of freshmen enrollees in courses like Bachelor in Music and Bachelor in Fine Arts. Even popular courses, he said, like BS Business Administration and BS Business Administration and Accountancy have registered low turn-out rates of 44 percent and 54 percent, respectively.

Casiño also aimed to investigate the UP administration for allegedly not showing "transparency in providing its stakeholders, particularly the Student Regent, student councils, campus journalists and even Congress with the relevant data on the impact of the tuition and other fee increases.”

He said that parents and students are still puzzled on the rationale and process that led to the approval of the tuition increase. “We maintain that UP, as a state university, must maintain its educational standards that are accessible to bright students, regardless of their economic status.”

HR 245 also called for corrective measures, particularly a halt to the implementation of the tuition increase, while the congressional inquiry is ongoing.

More tuition increases

Aside from UP, there were also other schools which have also increased tuition and other fees.

Alvin Peters, National Union of Students in the Philippines secretary-general said that Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) increased tuition by 566 percent and the University of Northern Philippines in Vigan, Ilocos Sur which increased tuition from P75 to P100 ($1.66 to $2.21) per unit. Peters also recounted a Board of Regents’ proposal to increase tuition at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) from the existing P12 ($0.26) per unit to P100 ($2.21) per unit which was preempted by massive student protests.

“The trend of tuition and other fee increases in SUCs is an aggressive implementation of existing government policies on education,” he said. “What is therefore alarming is how the trend which has been set by the premier state university is becoming more pronounced as it becomes implemented in other SUCs around the country.”

He urged the Congress to reexamine and review existing education government policies such as the Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997 (Republic Act No. 8292), which allows governing boards of SUCs to increase tuition and other fees and enter into joint ventures with private corporations, and the Long Term Higher Education Development Plan 2001-2010, which he said essentially aims to lessen the state’s obligation to subsidize SUCs because these, in the end, “dictate the stepped up trend of commercialization of public higher education and spell the doom for the youth’s access to a college diploma.” Bulatlat

Banned

Student journalists in the Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) were banned from their own school. They discovered this the hard way when they tried to enter the school the day after they held a protest action against the administration’s oppressive decisions and were barred entry.

BY TRINA FEDERIS
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 30, September 2-8, 2007

Student journalists in the Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) were banned from their own school. They discovered this the hard way when they tried to enter the school the day after they held a protest action against the administration’s oppressive decisions, and were barred entry.

“When I tried to enter the premises, a guard stopped me, saying I cannot enter the school,” Eugene Villanueva, senior staff writer of the EARIST Technozette, said.

Elusive signature

EARIST Technozette staff members gathered near the school gym, in front of the school building on Wednesday morning. They were protesting the administration’s refusal to release the publication’s fund, because of the EARIST Technozette’s alleged failure to comply with the requirements needed before the fund is to be released.

“Which is ridiculous,” counters Morris Orbe, the EARIST Technozette’s editor-in-chief. “We have already submitted the report for last year. We even have a certification that we have indeed submitted it already. However, they keep on making excuses. We were made to go back and forth between the President’s office and the Vice-President for Academic Affairs’ office, chasing the elusive signature for the fund request.”

Sympathizers banned as well

Even sympathetic groups, such as UGATLahi, Musicians for Peace, Dulaang Katig, and Union of Progressive Students, were prohibited from entering the school grounds, Januar Golod, chairman of Dulaang Katig, a theatre group, affirmed.

“I tried to enter the school from the two gates (main and extension), but I was prohibited from doing so. The guard told me I cannot go in. He had a list beside him. When I looked at it, I did not have my name on it. I told him this, but the guard insisted that I cannot go in. He even added my name to the list.” relates Golod.

‘They even told us to bring our parents with us, if we want to enter the school premises,” Golod said incredulously.

“Even students who were not there in the mobilization last Wednesday were barred entry, just because they are members of the organizations sympathetic to the EARIST Technozette’s plight,” Golod relates.

Unreleased publication funds

The EARIST Technozette has been suffering from actions orchestrated against them by the administration. “They never admitted to withholding our funds, but they acted as if they were not willing to give it to us. The fund was supposed to be given a month after the last day of enrolment, but we have yet to receive a single cent,” Orbe relates.

“It’s like the Collegian all over again,” Orbe recalls, referring to the predicament of the official student publication of the University of the Philippines (UP), the Philippine Collegian last year, when the administration refused to release the publication fund to the Collegian.

The Collegian is now able to publish as before.

Tried-and-tested tactic

Jose Cosido, national president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), stated that withholding the funds of a student publication is a tried-and-tested tactic used by oppressive school administrators.

“These administrators think that they can cow these students into submission. What they don’t realize is that this kind of underhanded approach gives the students more reason to oppose them. Preventing the publication of the student paper encroaches upon the right of the people to know,” Cosido elucidates.

Negotiation with a premise

According to Orbe, Mr. Lito Mijares, a former Sudent Affairs officer, contacted him the day after the protest action. Mijares told him that the president, Dr. Eduardo Cailio, wanted to meet with the members of the EARIST Technozette in the president’s office. However, they had to meet a requirement first: they had to bring their parents along with them.

“They asked us to bring our parents as ‘co-educators.’ This is so they can ‘enlighten us,’ presumably because we headed a protest action against the administration. Well, if they want us to talk, they should take back this premise. Otherwise, we will not go,” maintains Orbe.

“Why should they bring their parents?” Cosido said. “They are of legal age. Instead, they should have asked them to be accompanied by a lawyer, or at the very least, a paralegal staff.”

Death threat?

All these precautionary measures seem to have stemmed from the administration’s misconception that a death threat was made to the president, Dr. Cailio, according to Orbe.

“They are under the impression that we are out to kill Dr. Cailio, instead of just removing him from his current position. In fact, they insist that some of our placards contained such messages, and that they have the photos to prove it. It’s obviously a far-fetched claim, as the only calls we have painted on our placards were, ‘No to tuition and other fee increase!’, ‘Support EARIST Technozette!’ and ‘Release the EARIST Technozette’s fund!’” Orbe contends.

There were also reports that what the administration took for a death threat was what a speaker during the mobilization last Wednesday said. According to Orbe, what the speaker said in verbatim was, “Bilang na ang araw ng pananatili mo rito sa EARIST, President Cailio!” (Your days of stay in EARIST are numbered, President Cailio!).

“I don’t know how they can come up with this. That statement was taken way out of context. Anyone can understand that we only want him out of EARIST. We have no intention to commit murder,” Orbe articulates.

Tactical gain

The EARIST Technozette, after a dialogue with the administration last Friday, will now be able to access their fund.

“We will now be able to use our funds. Our members, as well as the members of the other organizations who joined the protest action, are no longer banned,” Orbe articulates.

“Clearly, this incident teaches us that if we stick to our guns, if we refuse to surrender to unjust practices, we will be able to attain our goals. We have to uphold our principles to be able to uphold press freedom,” Cosido concludes.

Copy from Bulatlat

Proposed Budget for EARIST increase P10K onl;y

What do you say about the proposed budget of EARIST increase from P102, 286 of year 2007 to P102,296?

Pabor ka ba sa pagtaas ng tuition fee at miscellaneous fee?

Hindi maipakita ng administrasyong Caillo ang legalidad sa pagpapatupad ng bayarin partikular na sa Tuition at Miscelleneous. Dahilan upang kwestyunin ang pagpapatupad nito dahil sa hindi malinaw na patakarang ginawa ni Caillo sa pagpapatupad ng pagtaas ng bayarin. Ano ba ang masasabi mo kapwa ko mag-aaral sa usaping ito. Hali na at magpalit ng Kuro-kuro patungkol sa pagpapatupad ng bayarin. Sagutin lamang po ang katanungan.