Deja-vu: Ill-fated, Mishandled Circumstance

A magnet of bad luck—disadvantaged, forced to obedience, and unheard. With the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ announcement of the final graduation venue, students confuse batch 2025’s seemingly misfortune to being victimized by poor decision-making and leadership skills.

In a Facebook post, the university named PUP Gymnasium as this year’s commencement exercise venue. Students, who have been waiting for the overdue announcement expressed their frustration and anger. Others couldn’t help but recall how the same batch was deprived of a decent graduation in 2021, where mostly have graduated virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. With the vicious loop intertwined with batch 2025’s fate, is this indeed, an inevitable circumstance—or an outcome of incompetence, grudges, and incapability to consider the voice of the student-body?

Complacent and sluggish—the PUP Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral (SKM) had the entire academic year to consolidate potential venues through student consultation. However, instead of being proactive, they sat under trees waiting for mangoes to fall. SKM President Tiffany Faith Brillante said that the PUP Gym was never mentioned as an option, that’s why they were caught off-guard by the rumors prior to its official announcement. This is an unprofessional and infuriating way to downplay their lapses as the student body’s representative. What makes it even worse is their late dissemination of the sensing form, days before the graduation venue has been finalized.

Sacrificial lambs, bound to be an epitome of an academic institution that runs on a limited budget. Seemingly, batch 2025 was unfortunate to be the administration’s punching bag with the National Polytechnic University (NPU) bill getting vetoed. Most students can’t help but see the sudden decision as a form of retaliation given how strongly the NPU bill was condemned by the majority.  For any instance, this is an assumption to be debunked, it does not eradicate the fact that the administration itself should be held accountable. Most especially since the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) has already made an early announcement of its renovation for ASEAN 2026, giving them enough time to look for other options. 

With the university’s gym as a venue, it is evident that important factors to be considered were extremely overlooked. From the major traffic from last year’s mid-year graduation, to the gym’s ventilation in terms of accommodating hundreds of people, and to the sweat-bathing inconveniences of commuting—the decision-making has been evidently rushed. If only the graduating students were genuinely consulted, the pros and cons could have been assessed better. After all, this year’s commencement exercise is a celebration of their perseverance and hard work within the academe. 

There are those who condone the idea of utilizing PUP Gym as the graduation venue, condemning those who complain as they unnecessarily compare the university’s gym to the University of the Philippines’ Amphitheater and Ateneo de Manila University’s Blue Eagle Gym. However, it must be noted that the two universities are spared from poor ventilation and congested roads compared to the inconvenience graduates and their parents will have to endure in order to reach PUP. Foreseeing PUP Gym’s ability to accommodate hundreds of people won’t be enough, if their comfort and convenience will be sacrificed. 

In the recent press conference led by Student Regent Troy Cabangon and SKM President Tiffany Brillante, logistical constraints because of PICC’s late notification was pointed out to be the origin of the problem. They have listed SMX Convention Center , Smart Araneta Coliseum, MOA Arena, CCP, and Philsports Arena as options considered but were eventually deemed “unfit” for the university’s graduation date range and 4-million budget. However, having this information cascaded now does not diminish the fact that they lack a sense of urgency in addressing the concerns and that they have collectively excluded possible suggestions from the graduating students. 

“Bakit ngayon lang?”—is a valid question to be constantly raised, when a huge amount of time has been wasted. It is an acceptable grievance for those who have waited for overdue answers. 

The university’s budget cut and PICC’s “late” announcement as scapegoats won’t suffice given how irresponsible the situation has been handled. The deeper issue lies on the administration and student-representatives’ lack of consideration to listen to the voices of the students. Unfortunately, instead of having someone held accountable, they throw the blame-game back and forth, responding with unnecessary lengthy essays in the most desperate attempt to compensate for the angered iskolar ng bayan. 

This turn of events is an eye-opener, not just to the graduating batch but to the entire PUP community. When the kind of leadership offered is disregarded, and everyone chooses to settle with the available person to choose from instead of stepping-up and taking the lead; we are forced to settle with the mediocre service they have to offer. May this urge everyone to be highly critical of the administration and to the student council who seem to have forgotten whose interest they are supposedly championing for. 

The ill fate of batch 2025 isn’t a coincidence, it was made with wide-eyes open. The truth is, bad lucks do not happen by any chance. They happen, when we become victims of leaders whose interest does not resonate with ours. This year could have been our chance to break-free from the misfortunes allegedly intertwined with our batch. Sadly, it seems like our leaders can’t get enough of romanticizing adversity, dragging us along when all we wanted was to be free.  

Article: Danielle Barredo 

Graphics: Aldreich Pascual