10 U.P. Newsletter
OCTOBER 2011 From left to right: Dr. Manuel Agulto, UP Scientist II Rex Victor Cruz and Prof.Rommel Espinosa
Cruz has a rank of Professor 12 and has served as dean of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources. Plans for UP Visayas
BOR appoints new UPM, UPLB, UPV chancellors training centers; a culture of entrepreneurship in all university activities; and non-academic gender- and race-sensitive equal-opportunity activities and interactions to encourage public discourse and personal growth. Agulto has served as director of the Institute of Ophthalmology and has a rank of Professor 6 at the College of Medicine. Plans for UP Los Baños
Cruz said he will work to make UPLB truly a national university. UPLB, he said, “has
‘We are One UP’ – Pascual This endeavor will tie all units together into One UP and will improve information sharing and accessibility, strengthen decisionmaking, simplify operations, speed up service delivery, reduce operational costs and promote personnel well-being. Green UP is another project that will promote administrative efficiency. This aims to make all campuses environment-friendly while saving on the costs of utilities. Green UP will also move for the formulation of system-wide guidelines on building designs and landscapes. Effective human resources management also falls under administrative efficiency and, according to Pascual, requires matching skills to tasks, reasonable working hours, compensation of work beyond the call of duty, rewarding excellent performance,
to grow further, strive harder and better, to be a genuine public service university, a relevant research university and an ever growing graduate university.” He promised to help the UP president develop an alternative admission process to enhance the access of deserving students from poor and indigenous groups; strategies for sustainable, optimal and most profitable use of Makiling Forest Reserve and other real properties of UP; and mechanisms to facilitate delivery of technical assistance,
expert services, information and technology to national and local governments, local communities, private sector and the civil society. He will also ensure at least a monthly meeting with the UPLB Executive and Management Committee; student representation in these committees; and regular consultation with students. Among his research academic and resource generation thrusts is working for innovation and interdisciplinary programs and creating a Resource Generation Office.
As associate professor of physics who has served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Espinosa has well-defined measures to enhance UPV’s academic and research status. His academic plans for UPV include institution of new GE courses and expansion of the Philippine Studies domain; a PhD program in Marine or Ocean Sciences that will have multidisciplinary streams; and a review of all academic programs with focus on those which have spiraling enrollment rates coupled with an active recruitment campaign. His plans in research include consolidation and rationalization of research bodies under a Thrusts and Programs Master Plan; and the re-direction of the Office of the ViceChancellor for Research and Extension to prioritize research and publication. He also expressed support for creative writing workshops. Espinosa vowed to maximize campus fiber-optic backbone to digitize administrative processes, utilize land grants and implement the Iloilo City campus landuse plan.
He reported that the UP Board of Regents has already approved the Revised UP Intellectual Property Rights Policy, which will “guide and facilitate technology transfer.” This will not only help the university fulfill its mandate as a research and public service institution but is also an effective way of achieving financial sustainability. Apart from the commercialization of these assets, he also talked about harnessing alumni relations to encourage UP alumni not just to make financial donations but to share their expertise and networks with the university. The UP administration, with alumni support, plans to launch a comprehensive fund-raising campaign to augment the university’s endowment funds. As the national university, UP is “laden
with great responsibilities.” Pascual lamented the university’s limited budget, which hampers its ability to support more poor students who have been admitted but cannot enroll because of financial inadequacy and renders it unable to provide commensurate salaries to its faculty and researchers, thereby losing them to other universities and the private sector. He stressed that while UP has achieved excellence despite the limitations, it must continue to demand from the government the financial support it rightfully deserves as the national university. The government must realize that “support for UP is not an expense, but an investment.” In closing, Pascual said, “We must succeed not because we have a reputation to keep but because we have a country to serve.”
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providing a suitable work environment and granting equitable employee benefits. Becoming the country’s leader in achieving a “just and equitable employment relations system” is another way of realizing goals toward administrative efficiency. This means addressing housing and health care concerns of faculty and staff and establishing a more effective way of resolving grievances and implementing social contracts. The other aspect of operational excellence is financial sustainability which can be attained by maximizing the potential of UP’s land assets. The first step is the crafting of a Master Development Plan that will cover all campuses, landholdings and land grants. This plan will govern all developments of land assets for revenue generation. Another asset Pascual mentioned is intellectual property (IP).
Iba’t ibang kampus ng UP, nagprotesta laban sa limitadong badyet sa edukasyon, iba pang (Mula sa pahina 4) batayang serbisyo ng UPM Kilos Na ang kampanya para ikasa ang welga at makapagbuo ng pagkakaisa sa iba’t-ibang sektor sa loob ng pamantasan.” Dagdag pa ni Arguelles, noong Setyembre 22 ay “naglunsad ang UPM ng solidarity program, snake rally, boodle fight, planking sa Faura Street at sa PGH plaza, educational discusion (ED) festival, cultural night, smores night with film showing showing, at overnight vigil.” Nagkaroon din ng flash dance, signature vigil campaign at pakikipag-usap sa mga opisyal ng pamantasan sa paglahok sa protesta. Nagpahayag ng pakikiisa sina Dekano Reynaldo Imperial ng College of Arts and Sciences at PGH Director Jose Gonzales. Noon namang Setyembre 23, muling naglunsad ng solidarity program at snake rally na lumundo sa martsa patungong Mendiola. Ayon kay Arguelles, tinatayang 1,000 hanggang 1,500 ang lumahok sa kilos-protesta. Nagtanghal ng budget cut dance ang UPM Kilos Na sa Mendiola. Pose to Oppose ng UPLB
Sinabi naman ni Allen Lemence, tagapagsalita ng Save Our Education Movement (SOEM), na ang kanyang
organisasyon ay nagsisilbing chapter ng UP Kilos Na sa UP Los Baños (UPLB). Sa pangunguna ni Pura Beatriz Valle, tagapangulo ng Konseho ng mga Magaaral ng UPLB, naglunsad ng welga ang SOEM sa Timog Katagalugan (TK), kasama ng AUPWU. Sumuporta rin sa panawagan para sa mas mataas na badyet sa batayang serbisyo ang ilang mga guro. “Araw-araw nagkaroon ng noise barrage sa humanities building mula September 20,” sabi ni Lemence. Naglunsad din sa Facebook ng kampanyang “Strike a Pose to Oppose Budget Cut,” kung saan naglagay ng mga islogan ang mga estudyante, guro, at kawani sa kanilang mga litrato. Nagkaroon din ng “Funeral March,” kung saan nagbitbit ang mga estudyante ng kabaong na may nakasulat na “RIP Education.” Nagprusisyon din ang mga ito nang may dalang mga krus at sinunog ang nasabing kabaong sa Oblation Grounds. Sa komemorasyon ng Batas Militar noong Setyembre 21, nagnag-planking planking ang mga estudyante sa Oblation Grounds bilang bahagi ng multisektoral na mobilisasyong dinaluhan ng Bayan Muna Youth-TK, Anakbayan-TK, Gabriela Youth-TK at
League of Filipino Students-UPLB (LFS). Tuluy-tuloy din ang pagsasagawa ng roomto-room discussions, film showing at mobile art exhibit exhibit. Ayon kay Lemence, 100 ang nag-planking at bumuo ng katagang “UP nag-planking STRIKES BACK” sa Oblation Grounds noong Setyembre 23. Bilang pakikiisa sa panawagan sa mas mataas na badyet sa batayang serbisyo, 800 ang nagmartsa mula UPLB gate hanggang Junction. Human Chain ng UP Baguio
Dalawang linggo ang naging paghahanda para sa welga sa Baguio na sinuportahan ng Alliance of Concerned Students, AUPWU, AUPAEU at Outcrop, ang opisyal na pahayagan ng mga estudyante ng UP Baguio (UPB), ayon sa punong patnugot nitong si Jessa Paquibot. Tatlong dekano ang nagpahayag ng suporta sa kampanya matapos kausapin ng mga estudyante—sina Dean Raymundo Rovillos ng College of Social Sciences, Dean Purificacion Delima ng College of Arts and Communication at Dean Wilfredo Alangui ng College of Science. Naglunsad ang Outcr op at ilang miyembro ng Konseho ng mga Mag-aaral
sa UPB ng room-to-room discussions at may mga nagnag-freeze freeze mob din. Noong Setyembre 20, nagkaroon ng budget cut forum kung saan nagsalita si Palatino. Sa porum na ito, ayon kay Paquibot, lahat ng administrador ay pumirma sa unity statement laban sa budget cut. Noong Setyembre 22, nagkaroon ng programa kung saan tumugtog at nagkaroon ng mga pagpapahayag ng pakikiisa ang iba’t ibang organisasyon. Tinatayang 600 ang sumama sa kilos-protesta noong Setyembre 23 at nadagdagan pa ito nang sumama ang iba pang sektor na sumusuporta sa kampanya. Ayon kay Paquibot, sinimulan ang welga sa isang misa at sinundan ito ng snake rally sa buong kampus. “Doon sa mismong unity march, nagbigay ng solidarity message ang isang dean, tapos lumarga ang martsa na binuo ng mass organizations, deans, professors, students at employees.” “Sa Session Road,” dagdag pa nito, “nagkaroon ng flash dance. Sa Malcolm Square naman nagkaroon ng human chain at solidarity messages na nagpapaliwanag na rin kung para saan ang mga pagkilos sa Baguio at sa buong bansa.”
(Itutuloy sa pahina 11)