“It’s a very lucrative business, education,” Alvin Peters of the National Union of Students of the Philippines said. He added in Filipino, “It shouldn’t be, but it is.”

    In the Alternative Classroom Learning Experience (ACLE) held by the League of Filipino Students, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines-UP Diliman, and the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND-UP), students exhaustively discussed proposed amendments to the UP Charter, and how these changes might privatize the university, a state-run institution.

    The two bills being fought out at the time were Senate Bill 1964, Sen. Francisco Pangilinan’s version of the UP Charter, and the House Bill 2845 known as the Zialcita Bill. Students and concerned members of the academe were eagerly anticipating a bicameral conference that would take place four days later, to resolve the two bills.

Members of the UP-Wide Democratization Movement and Student Regent Terry Ridon said of the two, the Pangilinan Bill is a pro-commercialization charter, with STAND-UP declaring it to be “the single most pressing threat to the democratic character of our university and to the future Iskolar ng Bayan.”
	TERRY RIDON

    Ridon noted three particular elements being changed in the Charter: democratic governance, democratic access, and the utilization of idle assets.

One of the provisions being changed, for example, is the Board of Regents (BoR), which is the governing body of the entire UP system. Ridon said “The BoR is a testament to the colonial experience,” with three of the members being Malacañang appointees.

    In the Zialcita Bill, a proposal was made in Section 10 for a REPS regent, with REPS standing for Research and Extension Professional, essentially the non-teaching academic personnel of the University. Further, the student regents serving for one-year terms were chosen “in accordance with the rules and qualifications set by the general assembly of recognized university student councils.”

    The Pangilinan Bill, however, made no provision for a REPS regent, and Section 12 allowed for the student regent to be chosen and approved in referendum with the students. Ridon called the referendum, or all students voting in all campuses, “utterly impractical.”

    Another provision of contention was the power of the BoR to fix tuition, particularly with the 300% Tuition and Other Fee Increase (TOFI) fought last year. The Zialcita Bill, Section 11, enabled the BoR to charge tuition and other school fees only after “due consultation and consent of various student councils.”

    The Pangilinan Bill only made allowances for consultation with the students “concerned.”

Much of the UP student body are already incensed, given last school year’s TOFI. Despite the administration’s claims it wouldn’t affect the then-enrolled students, and thus didn’t concern them, many of the complaints stemmed from the lack of consultation and consent given to and by the students.     STAND-UP in their primer on the UP charter explained the use of the term “concerned” was used in private schools to evade consultations, much in the same way no consultations were given to the students who weren’t going to be affected by the tuition fee.     With regard to idle assets, the Zialcita bill ensured that revenue-generating plans for university property would be consistent with UP’s “academic mission and orientation as the national state university as well as protect the University from undue influence and control of commercial interests.”

WITH THE TWO BILLS BEING FOUGHT OUT IN CONGRESS, THERE ARE FEARS THE NEW CHARTER COULD LEAD TO COMMERCIALIZATION.

    The Pangilinan Bill, however, simply stated that the BoR may plan, implement, securitize anything, and even sell property and land grants, to generate revenue.

	This is problematic according to STAND-UP because securitization entails private ownership of stocks and securities, negating UP's objectives. In the UP plan for 2008, which is the centennial anniversary for university, UP lands will be used for commercial purposes. This includes the Arboretum, a small forest being converted into a business center, and a mall in UP Cebu.
THE ARBORETUM

    The changes being sought in the Charter were further disturbing, Peters said, because the policies implemented in UP were particularly (nationally) significant.

    "UP is the guinea pig in so far as policy...whatever policy the government (plans to implement), they first try in UP."

   Following the closed-door session of the Senate and Chamber on January 28, reports have been made on the resoulution of the two bills. Executive Secretary to the Office of the Student Regent Hannah Dormido said the changes made to the UP charter included the following: no outright sale of land, the inclusion of a REPS regent, and consultation and consent of students have to be first given before enacting tuition changes.

   However, Dormido was quick to say there was no definite copy of the resolved bill, as the bicameral conference have yet to release the minutes of the meeting.