Faculty members from all campuses of the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) are opposing the inclusion of USEP, the lone state university in the Davao region, in the Davao Regional State University System (DRSUS) as proposed by Davao City Rep. Isidro T. Ungab.
The DRSUS bill aims to integrate USEP, Davao Oriental State College of Technology, Davao del Norte State College, and Southern Philippines Agri-Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology.
The USEP Faculty Association (USEPFA) Board of Trustees, represented by the presidents of different colleges/campus faculty clubs, approved a resolution last March requesting Patricia B. Licuanan, chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), to exclude USEP from the proposed amalgamation of four state university and colleges (SUC) in the region.
“We have agreed to campaign against DRSUS and remain vigilant because, although Sir Ungab is not really active for it anymore, there might be a chance for him to bring that issue up again. We have to always be on guard,” Milagros M. Villas, USEPFA secretary, said in an interview.
House Bill 5311 or an act creating the integration of four SUCs in Region 11 to be known as DRSUS, filed by Ungab last September, has not been discussed in the House Committee yet.
While the bill is still about to be discussed in Congress, Villas said, USEP teachers and students are campaigning against it.
Ungab, noting that all USEPFA members are against the bill, has stopped campaigning,Vilas said, “Murag narevive na pud daw (it seems to have been revived), adding that ”
She mentioned that the student council and publication of USEP also registered opposition to the bill.
Florencio S. Chua, USEPFA treasurer, said Rep, Teddy Casiño assured the USEP faculty that he would block the passage of the bill because “no college can just be instituted by the legislature but it must undergo a process like how USEP was established.
Weng C. Nuera, USEPFA member and head of the anti-DRSUS movement, said budget concentration and no duplication of courses are among the reasons for amalgamation of the SUCs as stated in HB 5311.
USEPFA says there may be chaos and disruptions if USEP is included in DRSUS, considering that it has many programs accredited while other SUCs have different development levels.
Meanwhile, the USEP council of deans also passed a resolution strongly supporting amalgamation of the three state colleges and for USEP to br left alone being one of the top five universities in the country as per evaluation by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
The university was cited as in the top five of 15 Philippine universities included in the QS 2011 list of top Asian universities, following the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, and De La Salle University in descending order.
The association also states that the region, having a big population, should have more schools to protect the right of stakeholders to accessible, equitable and quality education, rather than reducing the existing schools into one university system.
The faculty members cited that the budget allocation for the entire region is only 1.28% in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2012 for the four SUCs, the second lowest budget, followed by Region 13.
Based on GAA for 2012, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, having only three state colleges, is allocated 8.3% of the total SUC regional allocation of P22,093,503,000.
DRSUS will also deter the chance to expand quality education in Compostela Valley where there is no state college/university, USEPFA said. [Lorie A. Cascaro]
