After passing the Senate committee level, militant student alliances from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) staged a protest action against the “commercialized” and “repressive” Senate Bill No. 2448, or the National Polytechnic University (NPU) bill, which seeks amendments to PUP's charter to become the country's first national polytechnic university, on Thursday, October 19.
A day after Senator Chiz Escudero led the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education in granting fiscal autonomy to PUP on October 18, several campus-based progressives expressed their opposition to the bill’s development due to its outright privatization of the university's services and lack of consultation with the whole community before its passage in the chamber.
Protesting groups argued that despite the proposed P8 billion annual allocation of the bill to the university, P3 billion was historically removed from the bill during the 18th Congress, which can lead to the former only being a “pacifier” of hope to gain support for the bill’s passage.
The groups also deemed the minimizing allocation to be an avenue for PUP to penetrate joint ventures and remain open to huge businesses inside the campus, which only intensifies the institution's commercialization, which impacts students, non-teaching personnel, and small businesses in the university.
According to the bill, the appointed university's governing board will have the power to receive gifts and donations of “real and personal properties of all kinds” for its administration (and disposal, if necessary) for the benefit of the university.
PUP Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral (SKM) President-elect Kim Modelo emphasized that behind the P3.9 billion budget cut in the university, the government cannot fulfill the proposed annual P8 billion budget allocation and will only make up for it through reimposing tuition fees and commercializing campus services.
Rojemie Rabino from SAMASA PUP also reiterated that the bill only attempts to halt the triumph of students towards free education through the reimposition of tuition fee collections at the state university.
“Ang hiling ng buong komunidad ay sapat na badyet taon-taon. Hindi namin hinihiling na isangla niyo ang buong pamantasan sa mga negosyante at bigyan kami ng ilusyon sa mukha ng tumataginting na 8 bilyon [piso] tuwing fiscal year,” said Rabino.
Being a national polytechnic university, the groups also protested against the looming prioritization of higher occupational, technical, and STEM-related programs, which could lead to little to no support for programs under the disciplines of humanities and social sciences, including communication courses.
The protest also slammed the absence of any provision towards academic freedom under the proposed bill after the PUP-DND accord was abrogated last year.
“Ang senate bill na ito ay ginagamit na instrumento ng gobyerno upang takasan ang kanilang responsibilidad na pondohan ang mga pamantasan, kagaya ng PUP. [...] Nilalayon nilang iasa, di kalaunan ang pamantasan sa mga negosyante nang sa gayon ay maitali ang serbisyo at pasilidad sa komersyalisasyon at pribatisasyon,” wrote Kabataan Partylist PUP in a statement.
Aside from fiscal autonomy, the bill also seeks institutional autonomy for PUP, which exempts the university from the jurisdiction of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
During the committee hearing on Wednesday, CHED chair Prospero De Vera III argued that passing the bill might set a precedent for other internationally ranked universities to demand similar autonomy under the law, especially those institutions with great performance in licensure examinations.
He also argued that just like former President Rodrigo Duterte’s motivation in vetoing the bill in September 2019, PUP must be better than other state universities and colleges (SUCs) to be granted with significant fiscal and institutional autonomy.
PUP President Dr. Manuel Muhi then explained that the provision for PUP, as the “backbone of [the] Philippine economy,” to be recognized as a national polytechnic university can be backed by the administration being forced to cater to only 20,000 of the institution's 200,000 annual applicants.
The University of the Philippines was declared as the national university in 2008, while Batangas State University was recognized as the country's national engineering university in 2022, and Mindanao State University was committee-approved to be the national peace university during the 16th Congress.
Despite allegations of commercializing the state university through privatization, the act’s explanatory note said that through the amendment of PUP’s charter, the bill will allow the university to “continue fulfilling its mission to ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities”.
Article: Chris Burnet Ramos
Graphics: Aldreich Pascual
Photo: Chelsea Nicole R. Layao, PUP Campus Journalists
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