There is a Need to Amend R.A. 9500 or the 2008 University of the Philippines Charter

By Chanda Shahani

The Chief Officer of at least one state body may be removed for a reason, such as for “neglect of duty; abuse of power; oppression; incompetence; unprofessional, unethical, immoral or dishonorable conduct; commission or toleration of irregularities in the conduct of examination or tampering of the grades therein, or for any final judgment or conviction of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude.”

This writer is currently taking a two-month seminar at the Urban Institute of Real Estate at Makati City and has been introduced to Republic Act 9646, which is an act regulating the practice of real estate service in the Philippines (see: http://tinyurl.com/2adzk5r). The removal of the Chairperson or Members of the Board the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Services (PRBRES) is fairly straightforward, and allows its very head to be removed for cause. As a standard tool to put in a system of checks-and-balances in the PRBRES, this seems reasonable. In fact it would seem to be reasonable to have such a system for any entity made up of men and women

But the University of the Philippines System has no such clause in Republic Act 9500 or the 2008 University of the Philippines Charter (see: http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2008/ra_9500_2008.html) which outgoing U.P. President Emerlinda R. Roman lobbied extensively for in both Houses of Congress. The lack of such a standard clause in the draft bill, made by U.P. itself, should have, for fairness' sake, specifically allowed the U.P. Board of Regents to remove a sitting U.P. President, and is a major flaw in the U.P. Charter and had it been present, could have ameliorated many of the massive protests against the administration of President Roman for what many say is her six-year track record of “undemocratic governance.” At the very least, the threat of removal by the BOR should have tended to water down the vigor with which many of the objectionable decisions were carried out under the outgoing Administration.

Even Philippine Normal University, a comparably equivalent State University with its own Republic Act 7168 which is an act converting the Philippine Normal College into a state university allows for the removal of a President “for cause” (http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1991/ra_7168_1991.html)

by the Philippine President upon the recommendation of PNU's BOR.

But the Philippine President no longer wields the power to exercise command votes within the BOR to choose whom he or she wants to be the next U.P. President. R.A. 9500 virtually guarantees that an independent BOR is made up of many different stakeholders with none commanding a majority of the vote. Unfortunately, as can be seen in the case of the outgoing U.P. Administration, the temptation to wield dictatorial powers was too great to withstand, and so the outgoing administration found itself meddling in the composition of the BOR itself in order to sustain decisions that are now being called into question.

This writer will be discussing more of the global implications of the past actions of the outgoing U.P. Administration in its upcoming article, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Then and Now” (see: http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2011/01/coming-soon-decline-and-fall-of-roman.html).

But in the meantime, this writer ends this article with the observation that R.A. 9500 needs to be amended via a piece of legislation filed in Congress and that among other issues, it needs to include the insertion of a provision allowing for the removal of a sitting U.P. President if we are not to repeat the same mistakes and debacles of the past six years. This is necessary for structural reasons as the insertion of such a provision helps put the necessary mental pressure on any sitting U.P. President to hew more closely to the straight and narrow path. This provision, coupled with constant oversight by vigilant sectors, acts as the necessary check-and-balance on that huge and unwieldy organism known as the U.P. System.

Commentary: U.P. Manila University Council to U.P. President Emerlinda Roman and Palace Regents: "We uphold Dr. Jose Gonzales as PGH Director."

College of Arts and Sciences, University of the

Philippines Manila showing the Oblation (Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardbchua/144979957/)

The website U.P. Issues has just posted an update on developments in U.P. Manila with respect to faculty support for deposed University of the Philippines (U.P.) Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Director Jose Gonzales. The website states: "The University Council of UP Manila resolved (on April 13, 2010) to uphold the UP College of Medicine College Council resolution upholding Dr. Jose Gonzales as PGH Director. (U.P. Manila) Chancellor (Ramon) Arcadio wants to conduct a referendum on the matter. If Arcadio wants… a resounding approval of Dr. Jose Gonzales then let’s give him a wake up call."
(http://upissues.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/upm-uc/).

With this development, U.P. President Emerlinda Roman and the Malacañang Regents are now presented with a classic dillemma with respect to their recent railroading of a decision to depose Dr. Gonzales as the duly selected Director of the PGH and replacing him with a more malleable but more junior Dr. Enrique Domingo, who has publicly stated that he is in favour of the continuation of the project to privatize portions of the PGH through a contract signed last July 2009 by President Roman with the Daniel Mercado Medical Center (DMMC). Dr. Gonzales says that he opposes the project in its present form. The Department of Justice is against the project because it says it is contrary to existing laws, and has pointed out that the U.P. Charter (R.A. 9500) requires that thorough public consultation of affected constituents needed to be done rather than through a legal sleight-of-hand where the U.P. Administration is essentially stating that since negotiations began before the passage of R.A. 9500 into law, then the more rigorous requirements of the U.P. Charter did not apply to the DMMC contract (see Diliman Diary, March 3, 2010: http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2010/03/department-of-justice-up-board-of.html).

On the one hand, President Roman, who voted for Dr. Domingo, and the Malacañang regents, can collectively be expected to be in favour of retaining Dr. Domingo since they are essentially the same proponents of the PGH privatization, and Dr. Domingo can be expected to act as their strong right arm in U.P. PGH to ensure the project is followed to the letter.

On the other hand, President Roman and the Malacañang regents are also guided by clause 3h of R.A. 9500 (http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2008/ra_9500_2008.html) which states that the University shall:

"Provide democratic governance in the University based on collegiality, representation, accountability, transparency and active participation of its constituents, and promote the holding of fora for students, faculty, research, extension and professional staff (REPS), staff, and alumni to discuss non-academic issues affecting the University."

President Roman's conduct and behavior in the case of the PGH Director is also guided by Section 14 of R.A. 9500 which states that, "The President of the University is the chief academic officer, head of the university faculty and the chief executive officer of the University." Thus, as the chief academic officer and head of the university faculty, she cannot ignore the academic freedom of the U.P. Manila University Council who voted in the majority to uphold the selection of Dr. Gonzales as PGH Director.

Observers state that Dr. Gonzales was targeted for removal by elements within the BOR for his uncompromising stand on rejecting the rampant commercialization of PGH at the cost of denying much needed revenues to revenue generating units  such as PGH's pharmacy and diagnostics center; by allowing DMMC to directly compete against them. Dr. Gonzales says that given the annual budgetary shortfall of PGH, the cannibalization of mission-critical revenue generating units had to be opposed since the funds were needed to augment the budgetary shortfall of the PGH, which services up to 500,000 indigent patients a year. PGH's budgetary shortfall in 2008 reached PhP 1.7 billion, according to the Commission on Audit.

However, for standing up for his principles and paying the price by being deposed as PGH Director by the BOR , observers state that Dr. Gonzales has essentially been stripped of his academic freedom by President Roman and the BOR. Scholars worldwide cite how Academic Freedom is repeatedly under attack in several fronts by bureaucrat-capitalists in the academe. For example, proponents of academic freedom believe that "the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy," and that Dr. Gonzales should not have been persecuted for merely expressing an opinion.

An article on Academic Freedom in Wikipedia stated that: "(Proponents) argue that academic communities are repeatedly targeted for repression due to their ability to shape and control the flow of information. When scholars attempt to teach or communicate ideas or facts that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities, they may find themselves targeted for public vilification, job loss, imprisonment, or even death. For example, in North Africa, a professor of public health discovered that his country's infant mortality rate was higher than government figures indicated. He lost his job and was imprisoned."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom).

It still remains to be seen as to whether President Roman will undertake the harder right -- which is to close ranks with -- and respect the Academic Freedom of the U.P. Manila University Council to uphold the selection of Dr. Gonzales by the BOR in December 18, 2009 or at the very least initiate a new round of votes in the BOR for a "sudden death" vote between Dr. Gonzales and Dr. Domingo -- or whether she and the Palace regents will succumb to the pressure of commercial interests and pressure from the Palace to retain Dr. Domingo -- and -- thereby -- wholeheartedly embrace -- the easier wrong .

UPDATE:

The draft of the resolution can be accessed through the website, U.P. Issues which was posted on April 17, 2010: http://upissues.wordpress.com/