Congress
of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy –University of the
Philippines (CONTEND-UP)*
June 12,
2008
The 2008 UP Charter: Forging
the Transition from the Premier State University to a Privately Run
Corporate Enterprise Driven by the Search for Profit
From
State to National University
The first thing which would probably strike a casual reader of the
"Centennial Charter" (RA 9500) is the replacement of the conventional label
of "state university" by the term "national university." The current
nomenclature rests on the crucial distinction between Private Higher
Educational Institutions (PHEIs) and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).
Indeed, the yearly General Appropriations Act (GAA) only mentions SUCs as
recipients of government subsidy. The studious elimination of all mention of
the term "state university" in the Charter sends a message that this
distinction no longer holds for the University of the Philippines. This
suspicion is confirmed by the contents of the Charter itself.
UP
and the Rise of a New Managerial Stratum
One salient characteristic of the Charter is the creation of a managerial
stratum distinct from the existing governance structures of the University.
The UP President, aside from being referred to as the "chief academic
officer," is also labelled in the text of the Charter as the Chief Executive
Officer (CEO), which means no less than that she/he shall henceforth serve
as the highest ranking officer of the corporate entity which is the
"national university." Since the President shall be appointed in this
capacity as the head of a corporation and since good CEOs don't come cheap,
she/he shall also receive a salary befitting a CEO. In 2007, CEOs in the
Philippines received an average base salary of $44,496 and $51,519 in annual
cash or PhP4, 271,899 or PhP355, 991 a month (www.mercer.com).
Bear in mind that this is only the average. The Charter consequently states
that the Board shall deem it within its powers to "determine the
compensation of the President of the University" (Sec. 14). Despite the
efforts of the promoters of the Charter to allow the UP President to have an
unprecedented two terms, this proposal was eventually withdrawn because of
strong opposition. Quite disturbing, however, is the fact that the
Chancellor of each constituent unit will not only receive an unspecified
amount to be determined by the Board but will also serve an unspecified term
likewise to be determined by the Board (Sec. 18: "The Board shall determine
[both] the term and compensation of the Chancellor").
Combining managerial and governance roles, the President shall serve
simultaneously as the co-Chairperson of the Board of Regents (with the
Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)) and as the
Chairperson of an Independent Trust Committee (ITC) to be made up of
representatives nominated by the following private entities explicitly
specified by the Charter: Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP),
Investment Houses Association of the Philippines (IHAP), Trust Officers
Association of the Philippines (TOAP) and the Financial Executive Institute
of the Philippines (FINEX). Furthermore, in case of two failed biddings
these same private entities shall nominate representatives which shall make
up the majority of a "third-party body" tasked with making a "fairness
opinion report" (Sec. 23). The individuals making up the ITC and the
"third-party body" shall be "entitled to a reasonable per diem as the Board
may specify" (Sec. 23 & 24). Some information about these private entities
is in order. The BAP was founded in 1964 and aims to provide "a necessary
avenue for member banks to raise and discuss issues that affect the
commercial banking industry." It counts among its members, 40 commercial
banking institutions covering 26 local banks and 14 foreign bank branches (http://www.bap.org.ph/).
The IHAP was founded in 1974 and its current membership consists of
"fifty-five (55) member houses, which include the top players in the
investment banking industry" (http://www.ihap.org/).
Established in 1964, the TOAP's aim is to unite, professionalize and promote
the Philippine Trust and Investment Management Industry
http://www.toap.org.ph/). Lastly, the FINEX, founded in 1968 is said to
be an "organization (which) is devoted to the continuing development and
improvement of financial management techniques and the promotion of
efficiency in business enterprises" (http://www.finex.org.ph/).
There is no good reason why these entities should have their names inscribed
in such a solemn document such as the UP Charter. These are plainly
transitory private entities which do not sit well in a national public
document drawn up with claims to perenniality such as the UP Charter. They
could always be hired if and when consultants are needed and paid their
"reasonable compensation." As it is, they could just fold up in a couple of
years and leave embarrassing blank spaces on the Charter. This is almost
equivalent to putting the names of private businesses in the Philippine
Constitution. Being in the UP Charter lends these private entities more
prestige than they are worth.
The function of the ITC, befitting its "independent" nature, is to
recommend to the Board five banks aside from providing the "Board with
direction on appropriate investment objectives and permissible investments
with the view to preserving the value of the funds while allowing the
University to earn a reasonable return thereon" (Sec. 24). Emphasis should
be placed on the words "appropriate" and "permissible" in the above sentence
in order to stress the actual managerial power of the ITC. These
individuals, the President, the Chancellor, and these representatives from
the BAP, IHAP, TOAP and FINEX shall henceforth constitute a distinct stratum
of managerial technocrats whose "compensations" and privileges shall be at a
qualitatively differently level than the ordinary faculty, REPS and
administrative personnel making up the university community. It seems that
such gains as the Staff Regent who shall represent the administrative
personnel and the research, extension and professional staff was conceded by
the framers of the Charter with the foresight that the BOR itself shall
eventually no longer carry much weight in the scheme of things to come.
UP
as a Commercial Area with an "Academic Core Zone"
The scope of the income generating activities which these individuals shall
plan and undertake shall only be limited by the size of what is termed in
the Charter as the "academic core zone." According to Section 22 of the
Charter, "The Board may plan, design, approve and/or cause the
implementation of land leases: Provided, that such mechanisms and
arrangements shall … be exclusive of the academic core zone of the campuses
of the University of the Philippines." The whole territory of the University
lying outside of this so-called "academic core zone," which is as of yet
unspecified, is therefore declared as a commercial zone. Furthermore, lands
donated to the University from hereon may simply be sold if the terms of
donation allow for it.
Profiting from the Pursuit of Truth
It is hard to see, given the power enshrined in the new Charter which now
gives private business interests a preponderant role in shaping the future
of the University, how such half-hearted provisos in the Charter itself,
such as one stating that "such mechanisms and arrangements shall not
conflict with the academic mission of the national university" or that "any
plan to generate revenues and other sources from land grants and other real
properties entrusted to the national university shall be consistent with the
academic mission and orientation of the national university as well as
protect it from undue influence and control of commercial interests" (Sec.
22) can realistically be adhered to. Instead of protecting it, the Charter
actually renders the University extremely vulnerable to the "undue influence
and control of commercial interests" as never before. For example, Sec. 3 on
the "Purpose of the University," states that the University is "a community
of scholars dedicated to the search for truth and knowledge." However Sec.
13 specifies without irony "that research and other activities funded by the
University shall likewise undertake research in fields of topics that have
promising commercial applications." ("Likewise" here means "also" and cannot
be read as meaning "optional.") The message is clear: the scholars of the
University shall be dedicated to the "search for truth and knowledge" only
as long as these have "promising commercial applications."
The
Price of Higher Wages
The thoroughgoing commercialization of the campus and of the research and
academic mission of the University together with projected substantial
tuition fee increases are being sold to the faculty with the promise of
higher salaries. This is the proverbial carrot. Indeed, Sec. 13 states that
"any law to the contrary notwithstanding, to fix and adjust salaries and
benefits of the faculty members and other employees: Provided, That salaries
and other benefits of the faculty shall be equivalent to those being
received by their counterparts in the private sector." Aside from the fact
that a great part of these promised higher wages shall come from rising
tuition fees and rampant commercialization, it is also more than likely that
these salary increases shall come at the cost of undermining existing rights
to tenure in the longer term and lead to a rising percentage of part-time
and full-time non-tenure track teaching staff. This is already a problem in
the US where according to the American Association of University Professors
(AAUP), 68 percent of all university and college level teaching personnel
comprise these so-called "contingent faculty," thus seriously undermining
academic freedom, academic quality and professional standards (www.aaup.org).
This Charter marks the next 100 years of UP. What has been dangled to clinch
faculty support—exemption from the SSL and salaries competitive with the
private sector—is neither forthcoming nor will it be within the range of the
compensation package of the UP President as CEO. This Charter legitimizes
the neo-liberal turn to greater commercialization, privatization, and
deregulation of UP and of higher education in general.
A
Charter Against the University of the People
This blatantly neo-liberal charter accepts the conventional and deadly
wisdom of aspiring to be "globally competitive" at the cost of erasing all
traces of the University of the People. It accepts the assumption that the
government cannot and will not provide a sufficient budget for UP. Its main
direction is to forge the transition from being a service-oriented public
entity towards being a privately run corporate enterprise with its own CEO
and an independent trust committee driven primarily, if not solely, by the
search for profit. This Charter is nothing but the tragedy of the UP
Centennial.
As the UP administration advances its neo-liberal agenda in the
transformation of higher education, CONTEND calls on the various sectors of
the university to be militant and continue to struggle for a UP which may be
called an exemplary university of the people.
Education is not a commodity!
Continue the Fight for a genuine University of the People!
*The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy or CONTEND
is a progressive organization of academics based in the University of the
Philippines-Diliman. Please email your comments to
upcontend@yahoo.com
