No Commentary is Really Needed: For One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

(To enlarge the graphic, just click on it)

Editor's note: The following is a scan of the top half of the front page of the November 22, 2008 edition of the Manila Times showing a picture of the November 21, 2008 inauguration of the UP-AyalaLand Technohub along Commonwealth Avenue in Diliman, Quezon City. In the picture are former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Ayala Land Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Outgoing U.P. President Emerlinda R. Roman. We have uploaded this scan for its historical interest, as R.A. 9500 or the 2008 University of the Philippine Charter was signed by then-President Arroyo into law on April 29, 2008 which required transparent and public consultations among U.P.'s stakeholders which were not properly carried out. 

And history could have repeated itself again in what could constitute an even broader pattern of a lack of transparency in U.P., as more land deals were approved on January 27, 2011 by the U.P. Board of Regents (see: http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2011/01/last-minute-orgy-of-approved-land-deals.html), which Student Regent Jaque Eroles and Staff Regent Clodualdo "Buboy" Cabrera have opposed, as lacking the necessary requirement of having to undergo public consultation as required under R.A. 9500. 

If these land deals were approved but were not in accordance with the law, then they are -- especially in these more interactive times -- open to legal challenge from various interest groups, civic organizations, general members of the public or even the myriad numbers of bloggers populating the Diliman area.