Admin, BOR pushes PUP into further commercialization

The Finance Committee meeting of the Board of Regents of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) concluded today with the approval of further commercialization schemes including new private entities entering PUP, depositing of Senior High School (SHS) vouchers, anomalous private bank accounts, and continuous repression on the Student Council’s fiscal autonomy.

Though the committee approved the creation of a separate bank account for Senior High, the breakdown of fees amounting to P11,250 still remain unknown. The students were required to have vouchers from DepEd prior enrolment and now the bank account will contain the fund from the accumulated collection of vouchers with the PUP admin having zero plans for the allocation of such, despite the current situation of our Grade 11 students pressed inside college classrooms.

Also, the issue about the PUP admin having 5 private bank accounts on PNB, which was then declared 17 accounts in total, allegedly containing the Special Trust Fund (STF) surfaced in the said meeting. According to Pres. De Guzman, the said accounts hold various donations, whose donors, history of transactions, and amounts for each account are not stated in the board material used in the meeting.

Through the Student Regent, the Student Council asserted the right of student institutions to have Fiscal Autonomy by proposing of creating of a separate bank account to ensure full usage of SC fee for the students. The board immediately denied the said proposal by stating that there is no law or any legal basis for the Student Council to have their own autonomy on their funds.

Some of the other matters discussed in the FinComm meeting are the Income Generating Projects (IGP) of the University, protracted procurement of building construction and utilities, which certification of funds were not brought up.

“As we always say, the Finance Committee as well as the Board of Regents meeting are clearly rubber stamps for implementing privatization schemes, anomalous business transactions, anti-student policies, and much commercialization on education,” said Student Regent Karl Paulie Anareta.

The matters discussed in the aforementioned meeting will be approved/ deferred/ rejected in the upcoming Board of Regents (BOR) meeting on June 25.