Aside from the 300 percent tuition hike
UP Tuition to Adjust Annually Based on Inflation
During the 1216th Meeting of the Board of Regents (BOR) held on 15 December 2006, the highest policy-making body of the University of the Philippines did not only approve a 300 percent hike in tuition and miscellaneous fees. The BOR also ruled that “tuition will be subsequently adjusted annually based on the national inflation rate.”
BY REYNA MAE TABBADA
Bulatlat
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 PAINTING THE SCHOOL RED: UP students don red shirts to dramatize rage at the 300-percent tuition increase. Student protester displays a placard denouncing UP president Emerlinda Roman as a “traitor to the ‘people’s scholars’” |
During the 1216th Meeting of the Board of Regents (BOR) held on 15 December 2006, the highest policy-making body of the University of the Philippines did not only approve a 300 percent hike in tuition and miscellaneous fees. The BOR also ruled that “tuition will be subsequently adjusted annually based on the national inflation rate.”
Too Much
In a statement issued by Faculty Regent Roland Simbulan, he described the automatic annual increase in tuition as “too much.” Simbulan also pointed out that “the benefits under STFAP are not also going to be adjusted annually; further, wages and salaries of the students’ parents are not also being adjusted based on the national inflation rate.” The Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) is “part of UP’s effort to democratize access and admission to its various academic programs and promote fairness and social justice in the University, befitting its status as a state-supported institution of higher learning”, as defined in the power point presentation of UP President Emerlinda Roman.
In an interview with Bulatlat, Student Regent Raffy Jones Sanchez remarked that the said decision of the BOR proved their analysis that the state university is being privatized. “This is no different from what is happening in private universities,” Sanchez added.
Simbulan and Sanchez are the only members of the BOR who are elected by their respective constituents. The other members of the BOR are the five Malacañang appointees, the heads of the Senate and House Committees on Education, the UP President, and the Alumni Regent.
Commercialization
Simbulan and Sanchez both said the fee increases mandated by the BOR is part of the commercialization of the state university. They said, “Nagiging trend na nagtataasan lahat based on market rates sa UP.” (There is a trend in UP that fees are being increased based on market rates.) “Inevitably we’ll be commercialized,” Simbulan explained. Part of this trend, Simbulan added, is the increase in the rates for use of the operating room for indigent patients at the Philippine General Hospital. He said, it used to be free but will now cost P1, 500 ($30.67 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.895).
The next BOR meeting will be held on January 26 at the Clark Development Zone in UP Pampanga. The Faculty Regent will present two motions, to further study the tuition and other fee increases and to hold the implementation of the increases approved during the last meeting. The Student Regent will also file a motion to withdraw the approval of the tuition and other fee increases.
Sanchez highlighted the importance of the forthcoming BOR meeting. “Under the rules of parliamentary procedure, the filing of motions for reconsideration should be passed on the meeting immediately succeeding the one where it (a decision) was passed,” he clarified.
Aside from “table negotiations,” Sanchez also detailed a campaign plan for a “higher form of protest in terms of attendees and activities” against the tuition and other fee increases. The campaign is named AKLASAN (Strike). The said mass campaign would run for a week in all UP campuses and would culminate during the January 26 BOR meet. Bulatlat
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