Reform the STFAP now!

We greet the new academic year mourning. As we pay our tuition fees, the scene becomes all too clear: One of us, unable to pay, is forced to take a loan from the University, forced to sit through classes without her name in the class list, and eventually forced to leave the University due to financial incapacity.

At the height of our frustration, it becomes easy to unqualifiedly oppose. The danger arises, however, when we decide to do away with policies and programs that are otherwise reasonable in principle. What will happen to UP students without socialized tuition? Will we all be forced to pay equally high tuition rates? Is free tuition possible without sacrificing quality education, given the current budget deficiency for state universities and colleges?

In the context of wide social inequality and scarcity in the budget for higher education, a socialized tuition scheme in its essence presents itself as the most viable solution to ensure that our education is at the same time quality and accessible. Reality demands equity over equality: Those who cannot pay must be subsidized, while those who can must pay.

Yet, despite its idealism, the present tuition scheme as revised in 2007 is unjust, regressive, and flawed. While the "no late payment" policy in UP Manila has been suspended, we continue to be haunted by anti-student rules such as Art. 330 of the University Code, unjustly stating without qualification that "no student who has not duly matriculated shall be admitted to classes." The rule is aggravated by the administration's imposition of unjust ad hoc policies such as assigning students to Bracket B by default.

Moreover, present tuition rates as percentage of income are larger for lower brackets, producing a regressive tuition schedule.* Whereas Bracket A students pay only at most 0.15% of their income for tuition, Bracket B students pay at most 0.20%, Bracket C students pay 0.24%, and Bracket D students pay 0.22%.

Finally, flaws in the implementation of the STFAP are all too familiar: Because of the current policy of centralizing bracket processing in the System-wide University Committee on Scholarships and Financial Assistance (UCSFA) that rarely meets every academic year, results of STFAP applications never make it in time for enrollment. At the same time, arbitrary and outdated indicators based solely on income have produced countless overheard stories of mismatches in bracket assignment.

All of these problems make it clear that, despite our momentary victory in making tuition loanable for up to 100%, the struggle for a just, progressive, and efficient socialized tuition scheme must continue.

The outdated STFAP and other student financial services must be reformed by:

1. Repealing the "no pay, no admission" rule in Art. 330 of the University Code;
2. Developing a progressive tuition schedule by either increasing income thresholds per bracket or lowering tuition fees;
3. Allowing payment of tuition in installments or a late payment option;
4. Prohibiting default bracket assignments;
5. Reducing the time for bracket processing to 2 months and releasing results before enrollment;
6. Decentralizing approval of bracket appeals to the unit/campus level;
7. Using consumption-based indices instead of the current income-based index;
8. Making bracket assignments transparent by providing detailed explanations upon release of STFAP results;
9. Ensuring flexibility through midyear bracket reassignment in cases of unexpected changes in income sources per family;
10. Applying the STFAP even for graduate and second-degree students without increasing tuition rates;
11. Allowing online STFAP application and submission of electronic documents, as recognized under the E-Commerce Law;
12. Providing transportation allowance upon entry of freshmen from distant areas; and
13. Annually reviewing existing tuition policies and programs.

The unheard cry of one of us, along with our frustration, must now be coupled with serious, concrete, and critical proposals for reform. Our struggle has been long, complex, and painful, but our victories prove that history is now in our hands.

As the Board of Regents is set to once again discuss the University's tuition scheme on June 20, we will make sure we are heard. On June 19, join us at the AS Steps, 4:00pm, for a mass tarp signing for our proposed reforms. The tarp will be posted in campus to welcome regents arriving the next day.

Iskolar para sa Bayan, ating pagtagumpayan ang isang makatarungan, progresibo, at epektibong programang pangmatrikula sa Unibersidad!

Be critical. Go beyond scrap.

REFORM THE STFAP NOW!

Laban ng UP Law, Laban ng Lahat!

UP Law is in crisis. Managed recently like a factory desperate to meet product standards in the face of growing criticism of its passing rates and rankings in the bar exams, the college has decided that, instead of developing students who underperform, it should be weeding them out.

Since June 2012, the UP Law admin has been haphazardly implementing revisions in academic policies aimed at dismissing as many students as possible under its watch. The admin started with the reinstatement of the QPI rule in addition to six other ways a law student may be dropped from the rolls. Under the QPI rule, freshmen must annually meet a 2.85 GWA while upperclassmen must have a yearly GWA of 2.75 to stay in the college. Despite promises of prospective application from Dean Danilo Concepcion, the QPI rule can now cover all of the upperclassmen’s grades since entrance into the college. Thus, students who previously never imagined the possibility of such rule must now, all of a sudden, meet its requirements; else, they are dismissed.

The QPI rule was followed by open directives from Dean Concepcion to mercilessly give students failing marks, as relayed by members of the faculty. For the freshmen of AY 2012-2013, the situation was aggravated by the mid-semester decision to implement departmental multiple-choice final exams despite the fact that law professors use substantially different syllabi and course content. Finally, the admin has also decided to institute grade ranges for appeals: Now, only freshmen with a GWA of 2.869 to 2.880 may appeal for retention while upperclassmen must have a cumulative GWA higher than 2.75 to be able to appeal.

The result is the 110: Out of only 667 enrolled students in the college, 17 were dismissed from the first sem and 93 were in danger of being dropped from the rolls by May 2013. Of this 110, only 23 appeals were granted.

While the University aims at quality education, this cannot be holistically had without respecting basic students’ rights and welfare. The hallmark of a UP education is not the rigor of the national university's academic requirements, which any other university or bar-oriented law school can provide, but its libertarian atmosphere of learning that produces critical and professionally prepared Iskolars para sa Bayan. With the University's tradition of academic freedom, UP students learn, develop, and mature into the leading practitioners and scholars our developing nation needs.

UP Law's unreasonable policy direction to kick out its students, all potential lawyers for the people, is a regressive move that pulls us backward from students' rights to student repression. While the college's recent poor performance in the bar exams cannot be denied, why must the admin transfer the burden of improving passing rates and rankings to the students? Instead of being interpreted as the mistake of underperforming students, poor performance might be a signal for UP Law to start rethinking its curriculum, its professors' syllabi and styles of teaching, and its ancient modalities of learning such as daily recitations designed to instill fear in students.

Seen from a larger perspective, the ease with which the UP Law admin instituted anti-student rules magnifies the shaky ground upon which the academic rights we enjoy today stand. We realize that college administrations are empowered to drastically and arbitrarily change policies without student consultation, and that these changes can be applied retroactively to the disadvantage of students.

The crisis in UP Law is therefore a reflection of a larger crisis in our University. While we take pride in UP's brand of academic freedom, we must ask: Are we really free? Until today, we assert that our tambayans are a right and not a privilege, that the implementing rules of the STFAP cannot be arbitrarily changed every year to the disadvantage of students deserving lower brackets than what are assigned, and that we have a right to see our grade breakdowns prior to official recording on the CRS. Indeed, while rules on student discipline are about to be consolidated this year in the 2012 Code of Student Conduct, UP ALYANSA's longstanding call to draft a code of students' rights have yet to even be considered.

The struggle for students' rights in UP is therefore far from over. Until the students victor, we must continue to fight for our rights. This academic year, we start with UP Law.

Suspend the QPI Rule in the UP College of Law!

No to unjust and unconsulted academic rules!

Iskolar para sa Bayan, pagtagumpayan ang ating akademikong kalayaan at mga karapatan!

ALYANSA's policy recommendations on STFAP and other tuition policies forwarded to the UP administration

Dialogue with Asst. Prof. Richard Philip Gonzalo (the official in charge of revising UP’s tuition programs) on STFAP and other tuition policies on 21 March 2013 at Malcolm Hall 307, UP College of Law.

Photo by JC Tejano (@jctejano on Instagram).

UP ALYANSA, BUKLURAN UP System, and other youth and student groups forward its position paper on the university's STFAP and other tuition policies to the UP Board of Regents, UP President Alfredo Pascual, the UPD Office of Scholarships and Student Services (OSSS), and Asst. Prof. Richard Philip Gonzalo (the official in charge of revising UP’s tuition programs).

ALYANSA and BUKLURAN's policy recommendations include the following:

• Repeal of Article 330 of the University Code, or the "no pay, no admission" rule
• Transparency in the STFAP by explaining to students in writing how their brackets were assigned
• Flexibility by reducing the proposed two-year bracket renewal period to one year
• Online STFAP application with the submission of electronic, instead of physical, documents for verification
• Equal application of STFAP bracketing for second-degree and graduate students without hiking tuition levels
• Yearly review of the STFAP by the admin and students
• Mode of payment in installments
• Deferred payment option without interest
• 100% tuition coverage of the existing student loans program
• Transportation allowance for UPCAT passers from distant areas

READ OUR POSITION PAPER IN FULL AT http://bit.ly/Z2Kxyc.

Iskolar para sa Bayan, pagtagumpayan natin ang QUALITY, RELEVANT at ACCESSIBLE EDUCATION... PARA SA UP, PARA SA BAYAN!

UP ALYANSA on the tragedy in UP Manila

We are one with the UP community in grief and frustration over what has transpired to one of our fellow Iskolars just recently. It is unthinkable that the state university, the university that should supposedly provide quality, relevant, and accessible education to Iskolars ng Bayan, would deprive an Iskolar of her right on financial bases. This should serve as an alarming wake up call to the administration to repeal repressive and unjust policies such as “no payment, no enrolment” schemes and forced Leave of Absence policies.

Problems like these are what socialized tuition and financial assistance are meant to solve; financial ability should never be a hindrance to our right to education. But it is obvious that the principles of socialized tuition have not been met. The administration has failed to do all it can to meet the needs of its Iskolars.

UP ALYANSA will continue the call for a higher budget on education. But in addition to this, we call for the administration to show that the higher budget we have received is used for the students; the administration must be transparent in its use of funds, always aiming to accommodate the students. We cannot tolerate the administration allowing the denial of education to Iskolars ng Bayan.

The principles of socialized tuition must also not be perverted. We call for review, consultation, and revision of the current STFAP scheme. The bracketing system must be revised to adequately accommodate the students. The payment policies must be relaxed to allow students to study in spite of their immediate financial ability. Lastly, loans and financial assistance programs must be made accessible and favorable to the students so that socio-economic condition will never be a hindrance for the availing of the state education that is due to them.

As we maintain our principles of social justice and social progress, we will continue strive to ensure that education is quality, accessible, and relevant. Although sad and mournful, we must now wake up to the realities of failures and let-downs of the current system and policies. As Iskolars para sa Bayan, we must actively involve ourselves in reformation that will support and accommodate the marginalized, powerless, and oppressed sectors of society as well as our fellow Iskolars para sa Bayan.

Let us be one with the USC UP Diliman and the whole UP community as we wear black on March 19 and March 20 to fight against repressive policies and call for a more accessible education.

Principled disagreement and anonymous black propaganda: A challenge

Over the past few days, I have been receiving reports of anonymous efforts to bring down Alex Castro in the race for USC Chair. As a fellow candidate and in behalf of UP ALYANSA, I wish to voice my strongest condemnation against these malicious attempts.

The campaign is a time not just to show off each candidate's and each political party's strengths and victories, but also a time to educate and to engage in a healthy, passionate, and principled discourse.

In the earlier part of this week, members of ALYANSA made a principled disagreement with Alex Castro's citation of wrong information on the sin tax law. Rooted in our advocacy to make this campaign more about platforms and less about personalities, we demanded an apology from Alex Castro and a retraction of the misinformation that the 15% allocation for tobacco farmers has been stricken off the sin tax law. To this day, we have not received any apology or retraction; so, our principled disagreement and demand continue.

But when a supposed screenshot of an alleged chat conversation between Alex and a "friend" cropped up, I was personally disappointed. Today, a perverted statement entitled "Sex Will Fix" was released in different areas in campus.

These are exactly what ALYANSA has been campaigning against. While we make sure to maintain our principled disagreement with Alex Castro and KAISA on the level of issues and platforms, efforts like these serve as roadblocks to our dream of an informed student body.

The anonymity of these efforts reveals exactly their purpose: Nothing more than to regress to personality politics and blur this campaign into becoming a pageant of reputations rather than clear platforms. I personally challenge the people behind these efforts to come into the open and make a principled choice to inform, rather than to maliciously attack. I challenge the people behind these to reveal their identities and the USC Chair candidate they support, if any, so the students may decide for themselves what to make of the propaganda.

As student leaders, it is our duty to inform and shape the debates in campus to become a discourse of principles, integrity, ideology, and platforms. This campaign is not about me; it is not about Alex Castro's alleged chat messages or motives. This campaign is about the students and their right to make an informed choice on their next University Student Council.




Carlo Brolagda
ALYANSA USC Chairperson candidate
February 20, 2013

WE MADE HISTORY.

WE MADE HISTORY.

In a year, we passed in Congress the reproductive health and sin tax bills into laws. Through mass mobilizations and various direct negotiations, we convinced the government to increase the budget for the University and other state universities and colleges. After decades of systemic corruption and misgovernment, we detained former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and impeached her former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

In a year, we have mainstreamed the discourse of gender equality in campus. We stood firm in our condemnation of fraternity-related violence and, for the first time, filed a case as students against warring fraternities. We have institutionalized fiscal transparency and mechanisms of accountability in the USC. We have freed the USC from its former captivity in outdated dogma and transformed it into a body truly reflective of our passions and aspirations.

Today we are at a critical juncture, faced with an obvious choice: Do we continue our momentum of progressive change or do we fall back into irrelevance and empty rhetoric?

ITULOY NATIN ANG NAPAGTAGUMPAYAN. Our victories have only begun. As we weave our individual stories of hopes and dreams, we realize that, as a collective, we are headed towards one destination. As we build on our successes, we affirm our shared journey towards genuine student empowerment, social justice, and social progress.

PARA SA UP. In the advancement of our rights and welfare as Iskolars para sa Bayan, we abandon intangible promises and choose concrete solutions. We refuse sloganeering by merely opposing. We choose to propose. We have chosen to forward amendments based on students’ rights which have been successfully incorporated into the Code of Student Conduct. We choose a more just and equitable system of socialized tuition. We choose to formalize our freedoms and liberties with a national law on students’ rights and welfare.

PARA SA BAYAN. As we fight for the marginalized, oppressed, and powerless sectors in our society, we go beyond oversimplified classifications. We engage government from the outside and within. We refuse to battle wrongs with another wrong. We choose to be proactive. We have chosen to challenge impunity and patronage politics with a freedom of information law. We choose to end indecent labor conditions with a security of tenure law. We choose to address gender inequality with an anti-discrimination law.

Victory after victory, our choice becomes clearer: We choose to continue making history.

ITULOY NATIN ANG NAPAGTAGUMPAYAN. PARA SA UP, PARA SA BAYAN!

Carlo Brolagda for USC Chairperson!

Alex Santos for USC Vice Chairperson!

VOTE STRAIGHT ALYANSA SA USC ON FEBRUARY 28!

 

ITULOY NATIN ANG NAPAGTAGUMPAYAN. PARA SA UP, PARA SA BAYAN!

AS ONE NATION, WE SHALL NEVER FORGET

As one nation, we have claimed on countless occasions that we could move forward as one body with one spirit, one Filipino people amidst the physical and cultural barriers that separate us. We have envisioned a society where the laws of the land apply to all, leaving no one exempt from necessary reprimands and penalties in times of posing considerable threat and causing damage to others.

Throughout the course of our history, however, we have seen long years of tedious battles in court that ended with implicated influential personalities walking away from heinous crimes as free men only because of some loophole they claim to have found. And yet we have seen how the victims and their families rallied the honest proofs of how their fundamental rights have been trampled on like mere pieces of trash. Is this how we want our own history textbooks to depict the Philippine justice system?Indeed, justice delayed is justice denied.

Three years ago, 58 civilians were brutally murdered in Maguindanao. This massacre of innocent Filipinos was set against a backdrop of political rivalry where those caught in between the crossfire unwillingly gave up what could have been longer and happier lives. Defenseless civilians were cruelly killed in a show of force that left the whole nation outraged and dejected. But beyond the mourning and the anger, the Filipino people did not fail to express their disappointment in the government because of its lack of immediate response to such a heinous crime. While there were already loud talks of whoever was behind the catastrophe, it took a while before these claims were examined and acted upon.

We, in UP Alyansa, understand and fully believe in the value of honoring the due process because it is fair and just – it is democratic and constitutional. However, we also believe in the timely delivery of answers to the public and the enactment of concrete courses of action in an appropriate timeframe.

Serving justice is not just about releasing a ruling and handing out penalties whenever the court finishes its examination, no matter if this takes decades. Serving justice means efficient examination so the court can hand out its ruling and corresponding penalties within an appropriate timeframe because those who have done wrong, no matter how popular, powerful, and influential they may be, must be punished in the shortest amount of time possible, given that due process was upheld. We are certainly not for merely railroading punishment on all those accused. We clamor for an efficient justice delivery system that acknowledges the value of a realistic and truly responsive timeframe.

We acknowledge that the judiciary also has other concerns outside the Maguindanao Massacre as this is not the only case left unresolved. Nevertheless, we call for justice for the 58 victims as this crime of extreme proportions manifest how the rich and powerful have, and perhaps always can, maneuver their way out of fair and suitable punishment.

We Filipinos still live in terror because we know that none of the influential, so-called masterminds who have been implicated were already proven guilty. We know that until they are placed permanently behind bars and made to stay there for the rest of their lives to make up for what they have done, they can still be exempt from punishment and therefore set free, once again able to seize control and forever reign in terror.

As one nation, let us push for a lasting respect for the dignity of the human being and fundamental freedoms, the foundation of a true democracy, through the immediate enactment of the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act and other measures. As one nation, let us clamor for the timely delivery of justice, and most of all, for the end of the culture of impunity that haunts the Philippine justice system.

Students march from Ateneo to UP, rally for Straw Bill

By Pamela P. Baluyot on November 21, 2012 in Beyond Loyola

STUDENTS FROM different universities and youth groups in Metro Manila came together to celebrate the International Students’ Day by marching from the Ateneo de Manila University to the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman last Saturday, November 17. The participants of the parade expressed their support for the passage of House Bill No. 2190, otherwise known as the Students’ Rights and Welfare (Straw) Bill, in Congress.

Aside from students from UP and the Ateneo, students from De La Salle University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, the University of Santo Tomas and the University of the East also joined in the march. Members of Akbayan Youth, World Youth Alliance (WYA) and the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines were also present.

The celebration was a first in the Philippines. Mickey Eva, president of the Coalition for Students’ Rights and Welfare and currently Vice Chair of UP ALYANSA, said, “We organized the event to call for [participation in the fight] for students’ rights and welfare since it is international students’ day. The focus is, of course, students’ rights. We wanted to use this day to capture the attention or the imagination of the entire country to focus its laws and policies also on students’ rights.”

The 23-year-old bill pushes for the legislation of a magna carta for all students in all Philippine schools, colleges and universities.

Ateneo Sanggunian President Gio Alejo said, “We’re lucky as Ateneans because we’re able to participate in a process like this, but other schools do not have the same privileges.” He raised the concern of many students, such as tuition fee increase and the insufficient budget for student councils and other activities.

Ninian Sumadia, a member of Akbayan Youth, also mentioned security and safety on campus as among the problems that need to be addressed. She cited the alarming violations of students’ rights and welfare, such as rape cases and frat-related violence in many schools across the country.

Meanwhile, WYA Regional Director Christine Violago brought up issues concerning the poor quality of facilities and education in many schools. “For WYA, the human person is the greatest resource of the country, [which] is why we need to invest on education,” she said.

When asked what the ordinary student can do to help this campaign for students’ rights and welfare, Eva said, “You could simply share for the education of students’ rights in your university; you can report cases of Straw violations with the NYC [National Youth Coalition] and you can also be as educated as other advocates when it comes to students’ rights.”

Once implemented, the Straw Bill is geared to address the concerns many students across the country are currently facing. Heart Diño, chairperson of the UP Diliman student council, said, “We want to continually spark the change as students… What we want now is to really mobilize and capacitate the students [to fight] for their rights.” ###

Click for the original THE GUIDON article HERE.

In numbers, voice, and vision, youth power reigns at Int’l Students Day fete

By Tricia Aquino, Photos by Analy Labor · Monday, November 19, 2012 · 12:01 pm

Jensen Gomez, a band from College of Saint Benilde, rocks out at the UP Diliman Palma Hall. Photo by Analy Labor, InterAksyon.com.

Some 200 students paraded from Ateneo de Manila University to the University of the Philippines Diliman to mark International Students’ Day on Saturday, culminating at UP’s Palma Hall to celebrate students’ rights and welfare with a cause concert.

School colors didn’t matter as students from Ateneo, College of Saint Benilde, De La Salle University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, University of the East, UP Diliman, UP Manila, and UP Los Baños gathered not only to have a good time, but to call for the passage of the STRAW (Students’ Rights and Welfare) bill, as well.

Students from different schools come together on International Students' Day, November 17, 2012. Photo by Analy Labor, InterAksyon.com.

Essentially, House Bill No. 2190 recognizes the rights of students to education and as such entitles them to learning in an environment that promotes and honors their rights and welfare; it asserts their political and civil rights in decision-making policies inside and outside their school, especially in matters affecting the rights and welfare of students.

Akbayan Representative Walden Bello spoke to congratulate the students for throwing their support for a piece of legislation that he and fellow members of the House of Representatives had been advocating for years.

“The purpose of the Students’ Rights and Welfare Bill is really to institutionalize the participation of students in educational governance,” said Bello, the bill’s principal author, to the crowd. He noted that hrough the “key piece of legislation,” all students will be able to attain “quality education” for their “better good.”

Akbayan Representative Walden Bello speaks about the Students' Rights and Welfare Bill, of which he is principal author. Photo by Analy Labor, InterAksyon.com.

Noel Cabangon, who gave his rendition of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up,” called on the youth to always do so for their rights. He said, “The youth are instrumental to change in our country. We saw that during the Martial Law years. Who took the lead to topple down the dictatorship? The students. Change started from the students. Even if you look at the history of other countries, where do revolutions begin? Where does change begin? From the students.”

This was the reason why he lent his voice to the event.

Akbayan Representative Walden Bello sings Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up” with musician and activist Noel Cabangon. Photo by Analy Labor, InterAksyon.com.

“I’m here because there is a need to protect the rights of students inside the schools. There should still be room where they can express their sentiments without fear from being suspended or expelled, etcetera.” Respect, he added, should also be given to “the right for students to be heard not only in the issues (at) school but also the issues outside of it, because they are also first and foremost citizens of this country.”

Four other musical acts made heads bob during the celebration: Kaleidoscope Eyes, Jensen Gomez, She’s Only Sixteen, and Miko Pepito.

These students marched along Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, calling for a piece of legislation that will protect their rights and welfare. Photo by Analy Labor, InterAksyon.com.

“It was fun for everyone,” said Mickey Eva, leader of the event’s organizing team and president of the Coalition for Students’ Rights and Welfare. The group is made up of student organizations all over the country. “It was the first time that the celebration for students’ rights and welfare, and for International Students’ Day, was this big. I’m very fulfilled that these organizations came together, worked with each other, for the promotion of students’ rights and welfare.”

With lawmakers and civil society organizations supporting them, he said, “It gives us optimism and hope.”

InterAksyon.com is a proud media partner of the event. ###

Click for the original InterAksyon.com article HERE.