Noynoy PDAF `abolition’ misleading, protests to continue – UP community

PRESS RELEASE
August 24, 2013

Noynoy PDAF `abolition’ misleading, protests to continue – UP community

Concerned students, faculty, staff and residents of the University of the Philippines denounced the misleading announcement of President Noynoy Aquino as regards the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

In a press conference last August 23, Aquino said that it is now time to “abolish” PDAF and put in place a new mechanism to meet the needs of the people. Members of the Senate and the House of Representatves can still recommend projects but they will have to go through the process of finalizing the national budget.

The concerned UP community members said that Aquino’s policy pronouncement is just a “sugar-coated reform of the inherently flawed pork barrel system.”

In a statement, they stressed that the PDAF will just be repackaged, “such that the Congress will be at the behest of the Department of Budget and Management and the Office of the President.”

They called for the “just distribution and rechanneling of funds to basic social services, NOT a rehashed pork barrel system that is even more vulnerable to corruption. These funds must be allocated through public agencies such as public hospitals, state universities and colleges, public schools, salary upgrading of teachers and government workers, etc. The skewed regional allocations in the proposed budget must be realigned, with sufficient allocations for neglected regions in the Visayas and in Mindanao.”

In this context, they stressed the need for people to rage against “unbridled corruption” in government. “On August 26, we shall march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Rizal Park to Mendiola to decisively assert our resolve to abolish the presidential and congressional pork barrel and rechannel funds to basic social services!”

The statement was signed by the UP Faculty for the Abolition of the Presidential and Congressional Pork Barrel System, UP Kilos Na, Multi-Sectoral Alliance, Office of the Student Regent, Office of the Staff Regent and the University Student Council.

For verification and more information, please call Prof. Sarah Raymundo at (0939) 925-9368

STATEMENT

Marching On: UP Community for the Abolition of the Presidential and Congressional Pork Barrel System

We, the University of the Philippines community, strongly condemn the deceitful and misleading announcement of President Aquino to “abolish” the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and to institute, in its place, a supposedly “new” mechanism for allocation. This is a clear attempt to pacify and diffuse the just anger of the people and their clamor for the abolition of the pork barrel system and the rechanneling of funds to basic social services. In fact, PNoy’s proposal is by no means an abolition of the PDAF; rather, it is a sugarcoated reform of the inherently flawed pork barrel system. It drowns the more substantive problems of graft and corruption and patronage politics that result from this system. Worse, it conveniently leaves the president’s Special Purpose Funds, amounting to at least 310.1B, untouched, even increasing his discretionary power in the management of national funds.

In PNoy’s proposal, the congressional pork barrel (PDAF) will merely be repackaged, such that the Congress will continue to be at the behest of the Department of Budget and Management and the Office of the President. In the guise of transparency, the proposal actually places the PDAF under the stricter and more direct control of the President, making legislators more beholden to Malacanang. This farce is by no means an “abolition” but a perpetuation of the pork barrel system: it fortifies patronage politics both at the presidential and local levels, and violates constitutional principles by blurring the lines between the executive and legislative functions of government.

We are calling for just distribution and rechanneling of funds to basic social services, NOT a rehashed pork barrel system that is even more vulnerable to corruption. These funds must be allocated through public agencies such as public hospitals, state universities and colleges, public schools, salary upgrading of teachers and government workers, etc. The skewed regional allocations in the proposed budget must be realigned, with sufficient allocations for neglected regions in the Visayas and in Mindanao.

Let not the deceitful machinations of the PNoy Administration dampen our rage against unbridled corruption in government and attacks on our right to social services. On National Heroes Day, we shall continue the legacy of our heroes in upholding the people’s interests against the rich and the few who secure seats in government and reduce the national agenda to their own selfish interests. On August 26, we shall march from Liwasang Bonifacio to Rizal Park to Mendiola to decisively assert our resolve to abolish the presidential and congressional pork barrel and rechannel funds to basic social services!

Join the August 26 March from Liwasang Bonifacio to Luneta to Mendiola: 7AM mass-up at Quezon Hall, UP Diliman; 9AM meet-up at Liwasang Bonifacio and march to Rizal Park.

Commentary: A U.P. Professor seeks tenure but finds Happiness instead

By Chanda Shahani

Comes now an article entitled Tenure Untracked: I am happy about what we did! by U.P. Diliman Professor of Sociology Sarah Raymundo. The article somewhat obscurely refers to the bi-polar power sharing arrangement at the University of the Philippines between the so-called business professors best represented by outgoing U.P. President Emerlinda Roman and what Professor Raymundo ironically calls the “enlightened progressives.”

The “enlightened progressives” is another moniker for the so-called “revisionists” who broadly speaking have been identified with embracing parliamentary and other conventional forms of political struggle outside the university while the “rejectionists” famously called for the boycotting of parliamentary elections in the 1980s and thus missed out on a major opportunity to further their grip on power in the national stage.

But the great schism in the left between the revisionists and the rejectionists has taken its own life within U.P. and has resulted in the “revisionists” symbolized by former U.P. President Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo, forging a tactical alliance with senior faculty of the College of Business Administration, represented most prominently by outgoing U.P. President Emerlinda Roman.

In fact our theory at the Diliman Diary is that the pendulum in picking the next U.P. President should have swung again towards the hand-picked choice of the “revisionists”  – U.P. Diliman History Professor Ma. Serena Diokno becoming the next U.P. President – with the full cooperation of outgoing U.P. President Roman – had not all these well-laid plans been rudely interrupted by the unilateral decision of President Benigno S. Aquino III to reverse all “midnight” appointments by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, including three critical last minute reappointments to the U.P. Board of Regents, who were expected to vote for Professor Diokno.

Aquino's last minute reversal of Arroyo-era "midnight" appointees to the BOR effectively scuttled Diokno's chances of becoming U.P. President as the three critical swing votes were removed from the eleven-member BOR; leading to a free-for-all voting last December 3, 2010 that saw former Alumni Regent Alfredo E. Pascual emerging as the clear winner after one round of voting.

But we digress. Going back to Professor Raymundo, who wrote that, “With all due respect to these academics I do not have to name, now we know how power blocs in the University can forge a strong alliance to block “untamed radicals". They say there are at least two power blocs in UP-Diliman. The business bloc and the bloc of the “enlightened progressives”. But both have done an excellent job blocking,stalling, red-baiting. No real difference when it comes down to concrete and practical engagement."

If we look at the very premise in which so-called ideological opposites – professors of business administration and “enlightened progressives” could come together and work shoulder to shoulder to control and dismember the university as a kind of mutual spoils of war; while abandoning the very people whom Professor Raymundo has fought for – the disempowered and the dispossessed – such as non-academic workers or even non tenured professors such as herself - we are compelled to ask - Why?

At the heart of it, of course is that the perception of some observers that both seeming ideological opposites are obsessed with grabbing and controlling power within the university, as well as its material fruits even as the University becomes commercialized and even as its very workers are discriminated against because they only provide less valuable manual labor as opposed to mental labor.

Ironically, Professor Raymundo should have been a shoo-in to be granted tenure on the basis of her excellent teaching performance and academic track record. However, her progressive views lead her to being shut out of being able to enjoy tenure under the current Roman administration, a price she says she has willingly paid for in practicing “the steely vigilance and dedication crucial to revolutionary struggle,” neither shirking “from the responsibility to expose various forms of abuse of authority among the ranks of academics, not so much as to censure anyone but precisely to remind everyone that the academe is not autonomous from the transmission-function of structural corruption.”

At the end of the day, Professor Raymundo was excluded from being granted employment and tenure because she chose to challenge the conventional morally corrupt power structure of career bureaucrats, running the university into a quagmire of mediocrity that it is now desperately struggling to extricate itself from. 

Nevertheless, Professor Raymundo says that she is "happy" for fighting the good fight.

And with the ascension of incoming U.P. President Pascual as the new U.P. President on February 10, 2011, there is every reason to assume that Professor Raymundo may finally obtain not only happiness, but the tenure she is seeking without having to sell her principles by the wayside, which is the tried and tested formula that the Outgoing U.P. Administration would have wanted for her before embracing her as one of their very own.

Komentaryo: Patuloy na paglaban sa diskriminasyon sa U.P.

Ni All U.P. Workers Union

Hindi naglubay ang ating unyon para labanan ang patuloy na diskriminasyon sa unibersidad. Noong Mayo 27 pa ang desisyon ng BOR na bigyang tenure si Sarah Raymundo; hanggang ngayon wala pa ring tenure!

Noon pang Hunyo 24 inaprubahan ng BOR ang P10 T para sa faculty at P8 T para sa REPS at kawani na sagad. Di pa rin ito ipinatutupad.

Lumilitaw na kahit manalo ang mayorya sa BOR pero tutol si Presidente Roman, hindi niya ipinatutupad ang desisyon. Kaya nga hindi naglubay ang ating unyon sa paggigiit na ipatupad na ang P10t at P8 T sagad at bigyan na ng teaching appointment si Sarah Raymundo. Serye ng protest lunch sa Quezon Hall at jog and walk laban sa diskriminasyon ang inilunsad ng All UP Workers Alliance. Nagdaos pa ng vigil noong Oktubre 27, isang gabi bago ang BOR meeting nitong Oktubre 28.

May panimulang tagumpay na tayong nakamit. Pumayag na rin si Roman sa 10-8 t sagad award. Ang kagyat na implementasyon ay P10t para sa faculty at P6t para sa mga kawani at REPS habang hinahanapan pa ng paraan na mapunuan ang kulang na P4.5 milyon para sa dagdag na 2t para sa mga kawani at REPS. Pag-atras ito sa matagal na posisyon ng Administrasyong Roman na 10t at 6 t lamang ang kayang ibigay!

Siyempre di pa tapos ang ating laban sa diskriminasyon na nasusuma sa "Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahilan" na motto ng kasalukuyang administrasyong Roman:

1) ipatupad ang desisyon ng BOR na bigyang tenure si Sarah Raymundo

2) tiyakin na makuha natin ang dagdag na 2t para sa mga sagad na kawani at REPS

3) dagdag na 10 days leave benefits para sa mga kawani at REPS.

Mabuhay ang militante, progresibo at makabayang unyonismo sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas!

Mabuhay ang mga kawani, REPS at guro ng pamantasan!

Source: http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1666689833325&sk=messages#!/album.php?aid=32643&id=107602369270905&fbid=162265357137939

To see the remaining pictures, please click on this link:http://diliman-diary-sidebars.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-pictures-from-komentaryo-patuloy.html

U.P. Faculty Regent’s Updates on the October 28 Board of Regents’ Meeting

By Faculty Regent Judy M. Taguiwalo

Faculty Regent’s Updates on the October 28 Board of Regents’ Meeting

October 29, 2010

The regular monthly meeting of the BOR was held last October 28 at Quezon Hall, UP Diliman. Only seven of the 11 board members were present: President Emerlinda Roman, Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, Alumni Regent Gladys Tiongco, Regent Nelia Gonzales, Student Regent Cori Alessa Co, Staff Regent Buboy Cabrera and I. Chair Licuanan and Senator Angara were out of the country on official business. Regent Chua was not present and Malacanang has not named a new Regent in place of Regent Sarmiento who passed away last October 3 in Prague, Czech Republic, where he was visiting his daughter, the current Philippine Ambassador to that country.

Here is my update on significant items of the meeting. Staff Regent Buboy Cabrera said he will make the report on the discussion of the Sagad award and the additional 10 days sick leave benefits for REPS and administrative staff.

1. Search for the next UP President: The November 19 BOR meeting to select the new UP President was reiterated. The interview by the Board of the 11 nominees will be held the day before or on November 18.

2. Faculty Regent Selection process: Vice President for Academic Affairs Amelia Guevara reported to the Board the results of the first round of nomination for the Faculty Regent Selection. The 2011-2012 Faculty Regent will come from UP Los Banos. The top five nominees and their votes during the first round are the following:

Teodoro Mendoza --- 428

Ida Dalmacio ----------- 159

Salvador Catelo ------- 100

Jezie Acorda ------------ 35

Felino Lansigan and Rita Laude ---30

The breakdown per CU of the first round of nomination showed that Dr. Mendoza topped the nomination in all six constituent universities except at the OU where he got one out of four votes.

The names of those going into the second round of nominations (meaning those who accepted the nominations) will be known by the first week of November. The actual voting which will select the next Faculty Regent will be on November 15 to 18, 2010 on the dates specified by the administration of the various CUs.

The rules for this selection prohibit campaigning by the nominees. Deans may however invite the nominees to talk to the faculty if they so desire. It is therefore important for us to read the CVs and vision statements of the nominees once they are uploaded on the UP website for us to make an informed choice of our next representative to the Board of Regents.

1. UP Budget: The P1.39 billion budget cut for the 2011 UP budget remains as of second reading in the HOR. Rep. Angara requested President Roman to submit priority items that may be included when the House committee deliberates on possible insertions to the budget. President Roman said she will do so and emphasized the need for additional MOOE for PGH whose budget has been cut. The budget deliberations will continue once Congress resumes sessions on November 8.

1. Appointments of officials:

Dean, School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), UPD—Prof. Johann Frederick A. Cabbab

Dean, College of Social Work and Community Development, UPD—Dr. Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo

Director, National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, UPD—Dr. Cynthia T. Hedreyda (third term)

5. COA report on the UP Mindanao Chancellor: As I shared with you in my September update on BOR meeting, the concern raised regarding the overspending in the 2007 investiture of the UP Mindanao chancellor was tabled for the next meeting. The Commission on Audit in Davao City in its August 23, 2010 “Report on the Special Audit /Investigation Conducted of the University of the Philippines Mindanao “ found that that Chancellor Rivero had overspent by P269,584.67 or by 72% of the approved budget investiture budget of P374,216. The report ended with the recommendation that the UP Mindanao Chancellor should “ be admonished to prioritize the allocation of its funds on U.P.-Min's mandated purposes.” (For a copy of the August 2010 COA report, please see http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2010/09/commission-on-audit-criticizes-up.html). The Presidents of the UP Mindanao chapters of the All UP Workers Union and the All UP Academic Employees Union as well as the Chair of the UP Mindanao Student Council wrote “strongly urging” the Board to:

“Let Dr. Rivero personally restitute the excess amount spend during her investiture, amounting to PhP269,584.67. It is clear from the breakdown of this amount that the expenses were extravagant, unnecessary, or personal (i.e., expenses of her guests); Recall Dr. Rivero’s appointment as chancellor of UP Mindanao based on moral integrity and misuse of limited funds; to whom much is given, much is expected in terms of accountability;

Translate “admonish” into specific sanction for Chancellor Rivero.“

President Roman said that Chancellor Rivero had appealed the decision of the COA and the COA Mindanao report has not been officially transmitted to the University. The Board should recognize the right of the Chancellor to due process before taking any action.

1. Implementation of the May 27,2010 BOR decision granting the appeal for tenure of Prof. Sarah Raymundo: Sarah Raymundo remains without any teaching appointment over five months since the BOR decision. The Department of Sociology continues to refuse to prepare her appointment papers. Other options for Sarah Raymundo have been explored but none has led to any possibility that she will be able to teach this second semester.

2. Tenure issue of UP Cebu Professor Roberto Basadre : Prof. Basadre has fulfilled all the requirements for tenure and has been recommended by the UPV Cebu College Academic Personnel Committee for tenure last September 4, 2009. The Dean of the UPV Cebu College overruled the recommendation for tenure on the grounds of the possible reorganization of UP Cebu High School. Instead the waiver rule (extending the temporary appointment of a faculty, usually used to allow time for faculty members’ publication to come out) was used to extend his temporary appointment twice in a row. With the creation of UP Cebu College as an autonomous unit under the Office of the President, the tenure recommendation of the CAPC remains unacted and Prof. Basadre is in danger of losing his teaching assignment when his temporary appointment ends in May 31, 2011. In fact the UP Cebu College Dean wrote that :

I again raised the issue in the October 28 BOR meeting and observed that the creation of UP Cebu College would have as its victim Prof. Basadre. President Roman said she will clarify this with Dean Avila of UP Cebu College.

Other items deferred for future deliberations:

1. The UP Administration recommended that the “computation of the sick leave benefits of those faculty extended beyond age 65 be based on the salary of actual retirement date instead of the salary at age 65.”  The Staff Regent asked for a deferment of approval so that information on the possibility of extending this to administrative staff and REPS could be explored. I also asked for deferment until the information on the names and number of faculty who would benefit from this policy and the financial implication of such extension be provided to the Board. My request for deferment is also based on the fact that the UP Administration has objected (on account of lack of money) to extending to faculty members who have reached the ceiling of their ranks as Assistant Professor or Associate Professor to cross ranks outside of the regular call for promotion. This policy of crossing ranks outside of the call for promotion currently applies only to faculty members who are about to retire.

2. Professor Emeritus: I was provided a copy of the September 24 letter to the UP System Committee on Professor Emeritus written by seven professors of the Land and Water Resources Division of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering regarding the nomination of Dr. Wilfredo David, former UPLB Chancellor, as Professor Emeritus in Agricultural Engineering. That letter also pointed out that the college recommendation “to extend the services of Dr. David for one year beyond the mandatory retirement age of 65 years was not favorably acted upon by the present UPLB administration.”

On October 20, I requested to have this item on the agenda of the BOR meeting. Prior to the October 28 BOR meeting, the OSU provided me a copy of the October 21 letter of Vice President Guevara, who heads the system committee on professor emeritus , to the UPLB professors. In that letter, VP Guevara explained that the “UP System committee evaluates only the nominations endorsed by the Chancellors, upon the recommendation of their respective CU committees on Professor Emeritus”. In the same letter, VP Guevara informed the professors that “Dr. Wilfredo P. David was not nominated by UPLB Chancellor Rey Velasco. In his letter, Chancellor Velasco informed our office that “Four faculty retirees with the rank of full professors were evaluated by the UPLB Committee on Professor Emeritus but the Committee believes that none of them qualifies to be nominated to the prestigious nomination.”

During the BOR meeting, VP Guevara further explained that the Dean of the College to which Dr. David used to be connected did not recommend him for Professor Emeritus. I said that there are several concerns emerging from this issue:

• The need for transparency on the criteria for selection of professor emeritus and the composition of the committee tasked to make the recommendations; (I have been provided a copy of the criteria used by UP Diliman for the professor emeritus nomination but none from UPLB)
• The need to inform faculty members nominated for professor emeritus but who were not awarded the title the reason for such decision. Those nominated for professor emeritus belong to a small group of distinguished professors of the university and they at least deserve to be informed of the reason why they have not been awarded the title.

(Source: http://www.facebook.com/notes/judy-taguiwalo/updates-on-the-october-28-bor-meeting/449346553137) 

U.P. Diliman Sociology Professor Sarah Raymundo is finally granted tenure by the U.P. Board of Regents, ending two years of waiting

U.P. Diliman Professor Sarah Raymundo 

(Source: http://tenureforsarahraymundo.blogspot.com/)

The University of the Philippines (U.P.) Board of Regents (BOR) voted today by a vote of 5 in favor, 2 against and one abstention, granting U.P. Diliman Sociology Professor Sarah Raymundo tenure, ending two years of waiting for the professor, when her department initially recommended her for tenure in February of 2008, and whose latest appeal, dated January 15, 2010 finally reached the BOR. Professor Raymundo's case has gained widespread sympathy, both inside U.P. and internationally.

BOR Chairman Emmanuel Y. Angeles, who was present in the meeting, did not vote. The new Student Regent, Cori Alessa Co, who took her oath of office today, and  replaced outgoing Student Regent Charisse Bañez was able to vote; thus restoring student representation to the BOR, as Ms. Bañez was disallowed by the U.P. Administration from voting ever since December 18, 2009 (See Diliman Diary, February 25, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/36gxb9b)

The Diliman Diary observed Regent Abraham Sarmiento and Regent Nelia Gonzales exiting Quezon Hall in U.P. Diliman after the meeting. The total number of regents present in the May 27, 2010 BOR meeting were nine (9) regents, including  U.P. President Emerlinda Roman and BOR Chairman Emmanuel Angeles. There are eleven (11) regents in the BOR. However, Regent Francis Chua left before the voting began, while Rep. Cynthia Villar, representing the House of Representatives sent in a written vote, and Senator Mar Roxas, representing the Senate, did not attend or send in any vote at all.

(Faculty Regent Taguiwalo. Source: 

Facebook page of Laban PGH Movement)

The basis of the BOR decision was a motion made last January 29, 2010 by Faculty Regent Taguiwalo which was tagged by her to the Diliman Diary and which we are reproducing below in full:

"On the appeal for tenure of Prof. Sarah Raymundo

Judy M. Taguiwalo
Faculty Regent
January 29, 2010

As the Faculty Regent my mandate is to represent the faculty, both tenured and untenured, of the University at the Board of Regents.

Prof. Raymundo’s appeal has ramifications vis a vis the parameters of the right of tenured faculty to make judgment on tenure application and the right of untenured faculty members to expect fairness and justice in the tenure process and decisions. In studying the appeal for tenure of Prof. Sarah Raymundo, I am guided by the existing policies approved by the University at various levels and previous decisions made by the Board.

According to the document "Shaping Our Institutional Future: A Statement on Faculty Tenure, Rank and Promotion" (OVPAA, 2004), there are two rights at stake in considering appeals regarding the non-award of tenure, to wit, "the right of tenured colleagues to make a qualitative judgment on the candidate's performance and record and the right of temporary faculty to expect fairness, both in the process by which the tenure decision is reached and in the substance of that decision. The appeal procedure should take into account both these rights." The same document states that the consideration of tenure should be made "solely on academic grounds" and that the use of any other criteria may lead to a "violation of academic freedom" (I.F.4.a).

The UP Diliman University Council in December 15, 2008 upheld the right of all untenured faculty to be informed upon employment of the criteria for their evaluation and to be evaluated on the basis of these criteria. The UPD UC also spelled out the elements of transparency in the tenure process.

The primacy of academic standards as basis for the grant of tenure is affirmed by the Board of Regents’ decision on the case of Lorraine Carlos Salazar. In the BOR meeting of January 27, 2005 the Board reviewed the case of Prof. Salazar and decided that:

Taking note of the department’s definition of collegiality as explained by Prof Noel Morada, Department Chair, in his letter to President Nemenzo, the Board asked about the weight given to collegiality vis-à-vis Prof. Salazar’s academic credentials (e.g. PhD, international publications). The Board was not satisfied with the department’s argument that the best, though, implicit, measure of collegiality is the confidence vote of two-thirds of the tenured faculty. Since the basis of the vote is not explained in the letter, the Board could only conclude that collegiality outweighed academic credentials. The Board maintained that academic credentials should not be ignored.

Why should the BOR intervene on this matter?

As a young UP faculty member, Prof. Raymundo has spent the past nine years serving the university well and has worked hard to fulfill all the requirements for tenure . The justification provided by the Department of Sociology in April 2008 recognizes Prof. Raymundo’s academic qualifications and in fact, the Department approved her promotion from Assistant Professor 1 to Assistant Professor 2 in June 2008.

After initially providing strong justification for the recommendation to grant tenure to Prof. Raymundo, the majority of the tenured faculty of the Department of Sociology then decided to deny the grant of tenure without providing any reason. In a past case, the BOR had overruled a similar refusal by the Political Science department to grant tenure because the Board deemed the reason given (in that case "lack of collegiality") unacceptable as basis for withholding tenure to one who is otherwise duly qualified. If the BOR can pass upon the acceptability of a reason given to withhold tenure, it must pass upon the unacceptability of no reason being given for a similar act. Otherwise, the BOR is telling departments that the way to avoid BOR oversight and intervention is to simply decide without any declared reason. This gives permission for departments to become whimsical and arbitrary in their decisions on the grant of tenure to faculty.

In pursuit of the appeals process, Prof. Raymundo appeals to the University President who denies her appeal by simply asking the department to vote again and to treat the negative vote result as basis for denying the appeal, again without seeking to determine the substantive reasons for the vote. If the appeal process does nothing to determine and weigh the substantive basis for the action being appealed and instead simply repeats the action, for what purpose do we have an appeals process? Is it merely to torture the affected party with the repetition of the act being appealed?

I am thus requesting my colleagues in the Board of Regents to support the following:

• Declare as a matter of policy that the absence of any reason to deny tenure from a temporary faculty who has otherwise met the declared requirements for tenure is not an acceptable exercise of departmental autonomy that should be uncritically respected.

• Given the lack of any substantive reason declared to deny tenure in this case from the original process as well as from the appeals process and given that Prof. Raymundo met the requirements for tenure, grant the appeal for tenure of Prof. Raymundo."

However, Faculty Regent Taguiwalo told the Diliman Diary that dissenting members of the Sociology Department are expected to file a motion for reconsideration to the BOR pleading that Professor Raymundo not be granted tenure. The next meeting of the BOR is scheduled for June 2, 2010.

Outgoing Student Regent Charisse B. Bañez

(Source: Facebook page of Laban PGH Movement)

The new Student Regent Cori Alessa Co

takes her oath of office before Regent

Sarmiento, President Roman and her mother.

 (Source: Faculty Regent  Taguiwalo)