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TStatement of LABAN UP-PGH MOVEMENT
BARRICADE for PGH Director Joegon: LABAN UP-PGH
February 28, 2010
On the historic day of Feb 25 and the 24th anniversary of the People's
Power Revolution, the UP Board of Regents under the clouds of a walk out
by the student, alumni, faculty and staff regents and a dismissed
temporary restraining order against a decision to remove the student
regent Charisse Banez, declared null and void a board decision that
appointed PGH Director Dr. Jose "Joegon" Gonzales. By a vote of 6 to 5,
Dr.Gonzales was elected over Dr. Carmelo Alfiler on December 18, 2009.
A grave abuse of power has been done in the State University where we were
taught the importance of dissent and critical thinking, where we learned
to love democratic principles and idealism. Spearheaded by UP President
Emerlinda Roman and supported by the three other GMA appointed regents and
Congresswoman Cynthia Villar, CHED Chairman Manny Angeles (CHED Chair
Angeles) made a sudden and very suspicious reversal by following the lead
of GMA's BOR appointees in January 2010. They have oppressed a UPCM
faculty member and employee of the UP-PGH by arbitrarily removing Joegon,
a legally appointed, sworn in, and functioning PGH Director under very
extra-ordinary and highly suspicious circumstances. Civil servants are
protected by law from such arbitrary actions even by the highest governing
body of any institution in the Philippines. To make matters worse, Dr.
Gonzales was replaced by Dr. Eric Domingo, who did not receive a single
vote from the Board of Regents during the initial election for PGH
directorship on December 18, 2009. Ironically on February 25, Dr. Alfiler
did not receive a single vote while Dr. Domingo got all the votes of the
participating regents.
It is time to wake up from our apathy and fight not just for Joegon but
also for what he represent and for what our conscience deems as just and
right. Many have maligned him for his unambiguous stand on controversial
issues in PGH and foremost is the disadvantageous deal made between UP's
BOR and the Daniel Mercado Medical Center that will soon operate a private
laboratory, diagnostics, pharmacy and outpatient clinic within PGH itself.
He has been singled out as the main stumbling block to the estimated
hundreds of millions of pesos in profit that is grossly slanted to favor
only a non-PGH entity.
Therefore on Monday, the first day of March at seven in the morning, we
the LABAN UP-PGH Movement and all our allies will barricade the PGH
Director's office to protect Director Joegon and rightfully keep his
position as PGH Director. The All UP Worker's Union have already committed
to join us. UP students from Diliman, Manila and other units are rallying
their constituents to join this barricade. We are counting on the PGH
Faculty, the UP Medical Students and UP Medicine Alumni to be there.
Anyone who cares for UP and PGH should be there physically or in spirit.
We need all the help we can get. We can no longer afford to sit on the
fence or watch from the sidelines. We need to act now and we need to act
fast.
OUR STATEMENT
Respect the civil service law protecting the tenure of all government
employees including the Director of UP-PGH. The arbitrary attempt toremove
and replaceDirector Jose Gonzalesunder suspicious and extra-ordinary
circumstances is unjust, oppressive, illegal and immoral.
Kung ginawa ito kay Director Joegon maari din itong gawin sa lahat ng
empleyado ng UP at PGH
Ituwid ang baluktot, itama ang mali.
Kung Di ngayon kailan pa
Kung Di tayo sino pa.
Si Joegon naTama na.
LABAN UP-PGH MOVEMENT
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Oppose Roman’s undemocratic governance!
Oppose Malacanang intervention in decision-making in
the University of the Philippines!
Uphold democratic representation in the university, appointments based on
merit and the principles of accountability and transparency in decision
making!
Statement of the UP Democratization Movement, March 3,
2010
Barely two years after the U.P. Centennial Celebration, the Roman
Administration is eroding the cherished valutes of democratic
representation, appointments based on merit and the principles of
accountability and transparency in decision-making in the University of
the Philippines.
President Emerlinda Roman plays the leading role in the weakening of
democratic governance in the university as indicated in her recent
actuations and decisions during the following crucial moments: the Student
Regent’s Disqualification, the deliberations on the expired terms of the
Malacanang-appointed acting Regents, the removal of PGH Director Jose
Gonzales, the UP Mindanao chancellorship, her denial of the appeal for
tenure of Prof. Sarah Raymundo, her continuing inaction on the appeal of
UP Los Banos faculty and students to hold in abeyance the full-scale
implementation of a policy requiring ALL general education, foundation and
legislated courses to be taught in large class mode starting June 2010.
Sec. 3 (h) of the U.P. Charter stipulates that the University “shall
provide democratic governance based on collegiality, representation,
accountability, transparency, and active participation of its
constituents….”. Pres. Roman is reneging on this responsibility, is
twisting the democratic processes, and is leading the maneuvers for the
adoption and implementation of decisions detrimental to the interest of
the UP constituents.
For the first time in UP's 100-year history, students were stripped of
their representation from the UP Board of Regents (BOR) on the basis of a
technicality rather than on failure to meet the academic requirements of
the university.
For the first time in UP's 100-year history, three regents overstayed
their temporary designations to the BOR which lapsed in 2009; yet they
remain regular members of the Board.
For the first time in UP's 100-year history, the appointment of a
University official was revoked without due cause. The sitting UP-PGH
director was removed from his post even though he has been sworn into
office, has occupied that office for over a month and is protected by
Civil Service rules on tenure.
For the first time in UP's 100-year history, all General Education,
Foundation and Legislated courses will be transformed into large class (as
large as 160 to 350) mode at UP Los Banos.
President Roman is turning the BOR into a highly politicized body by
initiating the attack to remove the Student Regent, by conspiring to
reverse a BOR selection of the PGH Director that she did not want, by
acting as the President only of some segments of the university instead of
the whole university. She is demonstrating all the weaknesses of her
appointing authority, which is to divide and confuse instead of leading
and governing. The crisis of the University is really a gross failure of
executive leadership of President Roman.
Pres. Roman has to answer for her leading role in the erosion and
weakening of democratic representation, democratic processes and
accountability in the University through maneuvers that reek of double
standard, the selective use of legal justifications to reward persons
loyal to her and to exclude perceived opponents to her policies and her
administration. We call on the faculty, students, REPS and staff of the
University of the Philippines to oppose the undemocratic moves of the
Roman Administration.
The UP Democratization Movement forwards the following calls:
Ensure student representation in the Board of Regents. Grant the appeal of
the Student Regent for residency!
Recognize Dr. Jose Gonzales the duly appointed UP PGH director from
January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012 in accordance with his December 28,
2009 original appointment!
Oppose Roman’s undemocratic governance! Oppose Malacanang intervention in
decision-making in the University of the Philippines!
Uphold democratic representation in the university, appointments based on
merit and the principles of accountability and transparency in decision
making!
UP Issues website: |
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T Philippine Daily Inqiuirer
Passion For Reason
Unceremonious
unseating of UP PGH director
By Raul Pangalangan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:39:00 03/04/2010
I AVOID writing about faculty
intramurals in the University of the Philippines, preferring to talk
instead about the more benign politics of murders, massacres and wars.
However, the recent unceremonious ouster of a sitting hospital director
smacks too much of Malacañang-style politics that writing about it, come
to think of it, is just like writing about President Macapagal-Arroyo.
On Dec. 18, 2009, the university’s Board of Regents appointed Dr. Jose
Gonzalez as the new director of the UP Philippine General Hospital. I do
not know Gonzalez, have never met him, have never spoken to him. I also do
not claim to evaluate his qualifications or platform. I write solely about
the sheer brazenness of his ouster.
The university is governed by the 11-member BOR, consisting of two
co-chairs (the Commission on Higher Education chair and the UP president),
two seats for Congress (one each from the House and Senate), four organic
members each chosen respectively by the faculty, students, staff and
alumni (“organic” in the Gramscian sense), and three non-organic members
or as the Philippine Collegian loves to call them, “the Malacañang
appointees” (a four-letter word in Diliman’s lexicon, as you can imagine).
Gonzalez won by a 5-4 vote (should be 6-5). He got the vote of all the
four organic regents plus the tie-breaker by the CHEd chair.
On Jan. 4, 2010, the first working day after the long Christmas holidays,
the BOR officially announced Gonzalez’s appointment. This is where the
story starts to get exciting. The next day, at around noon, UP president
Emerlinda Roman announced that one of the non-organic regents, former
Supreme Court Justice Abraham Sarmiento, had filed a protest letter to
strike out the vote of the student regent, Charisse Bañez, on the ground
that she did not enroll for the second semester. On that basis, Roman
appointed an officer-in-charge for PGH, which provoked opposition. On Jan.
7, the long-delayed formal appointment of Gonzalez as PGH director was
finally released and on that same day, he took his oath.
In its January meeting, the BOR upheld Sarmiento’s motion to declare the
seat of the student regent vacant and to nullify her vote in the earlier
decisions. The organic regents walked out: faculty regent professor Judy
Taguiwalo, staff regent Clodualdo Cabrera, and Charisse. Alumni regent
Alfredo Pascual, president of the UP Alumni Association, did not
participate in the vote.
In its February meeting, the BOR nullified the appointment of Gonzalez and
elected Dr. Rolando Domingo as the new PGH director. To start with, why the tangled legal
attempts to block Gonzalez? Why try to appoint an OIC when there was no
vacancy? How can the vote of a collegial body be set aside without a
collegial decision, and on the basis of a letter by one regent? Is there
such a thing as a super-regent whose solitary vote overrides those of his
colleagues?
Gonzalez is entitled to hold office
for the duration of his term. In the archaic language of the law of public
officers, the “termination of official relations” occurs only upon death
or disability, retirement, resignation, expiry of term of office,
abandonment, abolition of office, recall or removal for cause. Not a
single ground is present in this case.
The entire ouster of Gonzalez was
actually carried out by first ousting yet another person, Charisse Bañez.
Indeed Charisse wasn’t enrolled, but there are two important issues here.
One, when her vote was counted in favor of Gonzalez on Dec. 18, the BOR
fully debated her enrollment issue (even asked her to step out then) and
decided that she could vote. I recall the joke during martial law. Marcos
was complaining: Filipinos are so demanding—I already let them vote, now
they want their votes to be counted! The BOR must respect its own
decisions, and not reverse it only after they discovered that Charisse
voted for Gonzalez.
Two, Charisse has a pending application for residency as a student, which
is routinely approved for others but which has been kept hanging for
Charisse who, not surprisingly, has been harassed by a series of
disciplinary cases filed for her activist work. Again, I do not know where
she stands ideologically—and I have my own criticisms of the dogmatic and
doctrinaire—but the students have chosen her as their regent and the
school administration cannot frustrate the students’ choice by harassing
her with disciplinary cases.
Irony of ironies, it now turns out that the three Malacañang appointees
all have expired appointments. President Arroyo appointed them merely as
“Acting Member, Board of Regents.” However, the Administrative Code,
Executive Order 292, provides that “in no case shall a temporary
designation exceed one year.” All three had exceeded one year. Sarmiento
himself was appointed on Sept. 29, 2008. They were all essentially
impostors on Dec. 18, trying to oust the student regent who enjoyed an
authentic mandate.
The BOR has pooh-poohed that argument, saying that “acting” is different
from “temporary.” In what way, I ask? That is a cockamamie legal
distinction. I ask the BOR: What is the difference between an “acting”
regent and a “temporary” regent? The “acting” designation is as temporary
as it gets.
What I have chronicled here is familiar to us by now: the Machiavellian
manipulation of technicalities to justify just about anything and to
maneuver events to get precisely the desired result. It is a mindset, a
way of life, that I identify with the Arroyo administration, and I am
saddened when I see it practiced in a university that has become a part of
my life since I entered as a freshman 36 years ago.
(Comments to
passionforreason@gmail.com)
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