UP FORUM Volume 13 No. 6 November-December 2012 13
IN SERVICE TO THE FILIPINO... continued from page 3
academic excellence.” But in a most unusual time..., S.P. Lopez had made a distinction among the manager presidents.... (He) defined a direction for the University that (sought)... in its halls academic freedom that is “better to be slightly on the side of excess than on the side of suppression,” and pursuing nationalism as self-identification, “a sense of one’s capacity and worth as an individual in a society of free and fully-functional individuals.” As the University’s constituents actively confronted the burning issues of the day, particularly in the historic moment of the First Quarter Storm and the Diliman Commune, S.P. Lopez rose to the occasion, mustering very well both his diplomatic background and liberal disposition to allow the expression of dissent, restrain full military intervention in the campus, and at the same time, continue to carry out the University’s academic programs. His administration raised the level of academic freedom in the University... Thus service to the people under the helm of technocrats adjusted to the exigencies of statism and developmentalism, particularly under conditions of dictatorship.... This entire period, however, from Romulo to Angara, encompassing twenty-five years, witnessed vast organizational growth and expansion of the University’s academic programs and facilities. Much of it could be credited to efficient management planning under the technocrats. The University instituted such development-oriented (units as the Institute for Small-Scale Industries, Asian Labor Education Center [now SOLAIR], Dairy Training and Research Institute at Los Baños..., Population Institute..., Institute [now College] of Social Work and Community Development, Philippine Center for Economic Development, Institute of Fisheries Development and Research, Marine Sciences Center, Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Transport Training Center, National Institute of Biotechnology and Microbiology..., Third World Studies Program (now Center), National Institute of Geological Sciences, Natural Sciences Research Institute, National Institute of Physics, and Center for Integrative and Development Studies).... There was, however, a disjunction in the conception of national service and development. For even as the University grew by leaps and bounds, serving the national good, dissatisfaction rankled and dissent flowed on the campuses and spilled onto the streets... The year 1968 presaged a springtide of unrest, which went on and on, if intermittently, well into the days of martial rule... A counterdiscourse, counterposed to the idea of service to the state, emerged, encapsulated by the slogan “Serve the People.” In retrospect, the period saw the beginnings
of people power. This, the constancy of collective protest—and a tradition of liberalism and nationalism that had unceasingly matured in the University’s total psyche—must have coaxed in the leadership the sense and tolerance to respond to the calls for democratization and mobilization. Toward the end of dictatorship and the rebirth of democracy, the period of the technocrats would come to a close. But in their time, the University leadership somewhat forged a modus vivendi with the academic community, in the crucible of critical engagement, mixed with mutual tolerance, to continue to strive for academic leadership in the service of the nation. In the Time of People Power: Academic Renaissance, Social Renewal A new era in the University’s history commenced with the rise of people power. It actually began in Angara’s time, more than halfway into his presidency. The signal probably came with the lifting of martial law in 1981, the year Angara’s presidency began.... Then in 1983, with Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, events accelerated, arousing collective indignation and resulting in a mighty resolve to end the dictatorship. From here on, the country was in flux, with people power taking center stage. True to form and as always involved, the University community went to the streets. In 1983, students sought the restoration of representation in the Board of Regents (BOR). Early in 1984, students and faculty joined the campaign to boycott the Batasang Pambansa elections. In the second half of the year, students raised barricades on
the campus to protest a tuition increase, which obliged President Marcos to take a hand in defusing the protest. Then in February 1986, the academic community, organized and, en masse, joined the people’s protests against electoral fraud, culminating in the EDSA revolt. Angara’s leadership gave way to the coming of a new political order. Faculty and students held “alternative classes.” Students were allowed to graduate even as formal classes stopped. Most importantly, upon Cory Aquino’s assumption of the presidency, Angara led the community in drafting a proposed constitution for the new (order). (T)he University’s next presidents were in exciting times and faced great challenges. It was on the shoulders of Jose V. Abueva that the first tasks for University renewal...were placed.,.. (He) saw the University and the nation becoming one, evoking self-examination to impart learning and leadership for “social transformation”—a new code, and very much in the spirit of the times.... Emil Q. Javier took a longer view...of service to the nation. He spoke...of connecting the country’s past and future, of linking the University to the struggles of the nation, harnessing its resources toward excellence and service... to recapture a sense of national purpose: “As the national university, we advance academic excellence and academic freedom, bolstered by a keen sense of responsibility to our collective future. The nation...awaits our oblation....” As the University entered the new millennium, Francisco Nemenzo was more focused on the challenges of a globalized milieu. Taking stock of rapid expansion and reduced incentives, he spoke of modernizing the University, arresting a decline in academic
leadership, and meeting the dynamism of a real world in the twenty-first century.... During this period, the University blazed its way into a kind of academic renaissance and social renewal, in light of changes spurred by people power such as in social outlook, in social relations and in development options for the majority of the people. Under Abueva, the University Center for Women’s Studies was made fully operational, the Sentrong Wikang Pilipino...and the Distance Education Program (were) established. Javier launched the Pahinungod, institutionalizing direct service to the marginalized..., established the Open University and UP Mindanao, and initiated the setting up of the Graduate School of Engineering, which produced twelve MS programs. It was the turn of Nemenzo to review and revise the General Education program...., He also instituted the Academic Distinction Program and the Creative and Research Scholarship Program, which encouraged quality researches... Service to the nation took on the same traditional form of service to the government, but within new parameters of empowerment, sustainable development, and respect for human rights and civil liberties.... Completing the University’s century of commitment to the nation, Emerlinda R.Roman, the first woman president of the University, put upon herself an even greater responsibility—to preserve the gains of a hundred years, especially the University’s most cherished traditions, and to carry on the task of enriching the national university as a center of excellence, leadership, and service.... (L)ong-standing tasks bequeathed to this generation by previous leaderships came to be fulfilled. One such task was the transformation of the University’s properties into profitable ventures.... (Another task), work on which began with Angara, relentlessly pursued by Abueva, Javier, and Nemenzo, and ably concluded by Roman, was the passage of the revised UP Charter, geared toward unleashing...the best from the University. The University in this time of people power reiterated and renewed its commitment, in the crucible of critical engagement, with itself and with the larger society, to attain academic excellence and leadership in service to the Filipino people.... (Postscript: President Alfredo E. Pascual carries on the UP tradition, drawing from the University’s vast heritage of service to the nation, with his administration’s own intervention—One UP, a strengthened academic and administrative system utilizing world-standard ICT, called e-UP, and a broader and more visible pursuit of public service, founded on academic excellence and technical expertise.) --------------Dr. Llanes is professor of History in UP Diliman. Email him at bonifacio1959@yahoo.com.