News Release –September 21, 2007
For Reference: Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, 0920-9035683
For more information: Vince Borneo, Media Officer, 0927-7968198
Call for halt to increases
25 solons push for probe on tuition hike at University of the Philippines
Twenty five solons banded together to push for a House probe on the recent hike in tuition and other fees by the University of the Philippines , the country’s premier state university.
House Resolution 245 principally authored by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, directs the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education to investigate the effects of the recently implemented increase in tuition and other fees in UP.
“The 300 percent increase in UP’s base tuition – that’s from P300 to P1,000 per unit – implemented this first semester of Academic Year 2007-2008 has brought about a major contradiction to UP’s role in providing quality, relevant and accessible education to the Filipino youth. Congress must probe the UP administration’ s move to hike tuition and other school fees that has given rise to unconfirmed reports of a drop of enrolment figures at the state university,” Bayan Muna’s Casiño said.
Aside from Casiño, Reps. Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna), Luzviminda Ilagan and Liza Maza (Gabriela), 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) are pushing for the immediate probe.
Citing Sections 1 and 2 of Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution, the solons reiterated that “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;” thus, the existence of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) that includes the UP system nationwide.
“We are most concerned with the 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 in UP. UPCAT qualifiers who declined enrollment in UP, also more known as no-show rates are 42% in UP Los Baños, 65% in UP Iloilo , 48.5% in UP Tacloban and 49% in UP Manila ’s College of Arts and Sciences,” Casiño said.
The Bayan Muna solon also said that “even in the main campus in UP Diliman, there are cases of zero enrolment in some courses in the College of Arts and Letters and as much as 50% below turn-out of freshmen enrollees in courses such as Bachelor in Music and Bachelor in Fine Arts. Even popular courses such as BS Business Administration and BS Business Administration and Accountancy have registered low turn-outs at 44% and 54% respectively.”
“We also push for this investigation as the UP administration has not shown 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. Questions on the rationale and process that led to the approval of the tuition increase last December 15, 2006 still hang in the minds of parents, students and faculty alike. These questions have not been answered by the UP Administration. We maintain that UP, as a state university, must maintain its educational standards that are accessible to bright students, regardless of their economic status,” Casiño said.
H.R. 245 also called for corrective measures, particularly a halt of the tuition increase, while the inquiry is underway. #
____________ _________ _________ ___Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF RERESENTATIVES
Quezon City
FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 245 (Filed September 18, 2007)
Introduced by REPRESENTATIVES TEODORO A. CASIÑO, SATUR C. OCAMPO, LUZVIMINDA C. ILAGAN, LIZA L. MAZA , CRISPIN B. BELTRAN, MA. LAARNI CAYETANO, JOEL VILLANUEVA, FERDINAND MARTIN G. ROMUALDEZ, GUILLERMO P. CUA, JEFFREY FERRER, ARNULFO P. FUENTEBELLA, RONALDO B. ZAMORA, RENE M. VELARDE, WILLIAM IRWIN C. TIENG, MARCELINO R. TEODORO, PAUL R. DAZA, NIEL C. TUPAS, JR., ROMMEL C. AMATONG, MUJIV S. HATAMAN, LORENZO R. TAÑADA III, ANTONIO A. DEL ROSARIO, JUAN EDGARDO M. ANGARA, MARY ANN L. SUSANO, ANA THERESIA HONTIVEROS-BARAQUEL ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
RESOLUTION
DIRECTING THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION TO INVESTIGATE INTO THE EFFECTS OF THE RECENTLY IMPLEMENTED INCREASE IN TUITION AND OTHER FEES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
WHEREAS, Section 1, Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution declares that “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”;
WHEREAS, to ensure such accessibility to education, Section 2 of the same article states that the state shall establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society; thus, the existence of State Universities and Colleges (SUC) nationwide;
WHEREAS, the University of the Philippines (UP), as an SUC, must maintain its education accessible to bright students, regardless of their economic status;
WHEREAS, as a fully implemented state policy, there has been a continuous decline of allocation of the national budget to SUCs, including UP, since year 2000;
WHEREAS, due to budgetary limitation, SUCs have been pushed to engage in income-generating projects such as tie-ups with private corporations, and increases in tuition and other school fees; UP has entered into this scenario, as it has recently implemented a massive tuition and other fees increase to augment the lack of funds from the national government;
WHEREAS, the 300% increase in UP’s base tuition (from P300 to P1,000/unit) implemented this first semester of AY 2007-2008 has brought about a contradiction to UP’s role in providing quality, relevant and accessible education to the Filipino youth;
WHEREAS, this first semester, reports have been gathered by the 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 in UP;
WHEREAS, in data collated by OSR volunteers, regional units have posted alarming figures of UPCAT qualifiers who declined enrollment in UP, also more known as no-show rates (UP Los Baños – 42%, UP Iloilo – 65%, UP Tacloban – 48.5%, even UPM CAS – 49%) respectively;
WHEREAS, enrollment in some UP courses which are deemed “unmarketable” have declared low turn-outs this year, prompting the danger of a possible phase-out of such courses should the trend continue.
WHEREAS, examples of these are the zero enrollment in the some courses under the Department of Filipino in UP Diliman College of Arts and Letters, less than ten freshmen enrollees in 18 courses under various colleges in UP Diliman, and a 50% or below turn-out of freshmen enrollees in art courses such as Bachelor in Music and Bachelor in Fine Arts;
WHEREAS, even popular courses such as BS Business Administration and BS Business Administration and Accountancy have registered low turn-outs at 44% and 54%, respectively;
WHEREAS, parents have expressed their concern over the feasibility of securing their children’s stay in UP, considering that they have had to source out funds for their children’s tuition last enrollment thru loans, debts, relatives/other benefactors or by actively seeking scholarships;
WHEREAS, there has been widespread discontent and protest among the freshmen, their parents and the upperclassmen against the drastic fee increases. A loose alliance called the Students and Parents Against the Rising Cost of Education – UP (SPARE-UP) has been formed to consolidate their concerns and actions;
WHEREAS, the UP administration has not shown transparency in providing its stakeholders, particularly the Student Regent, student councils, and campus journalists with relevant data on the impact of the said increases;
WHEREAS, questions on the rationale and process that led to the approval of the tuition increase last December 15, 2006 still hang in the minds of parents, students, and faculty alike. These questions have yet to be answered by the UP Administration, especially as the Faculty and Student Regent were unable to partake in the said Board of Regents deliberation due to reasons not of their own fault;
WHEREAS, the bases used by the UP administration to justify the increase in tuition is now being used by other State Universities and Colleges to push massive tuition increases of their own. Recent examples have been the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology, the Philippine Normal University, and the foiled attempt in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED that the Committee on Higher and Technical Education conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation to investigate into the effects of the recently implemented tuition and other fee increases in the University of the Philippines, particularly on its mandate of providing quality and affordable education to the Filipino youth,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that corrective measures, particularly a temporary halting of the tuition increase, be put in place while the inquiry is underway.
