Last June 11, a score of De La Salle Araneta University (DLSAU) students, led by Supreme Student Council (SSC) President Robert Gatbonton, assembled in front of the university’s gates to call for the resignation of DLSAU President Br. Narciso “Jun” Erguiza FSC.
The publicly disseminated manifesto consolidated by the SSC, with the assistance of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), revealed five primary concerns demanding immediate action from the administration of DLSAU: the school’s “no permit, no exam” policy, student representation policies, the increase in tuition fees for incoming first year students, the alleged maltreatment of scholars in the school’s Salikneta farm and issues in the teaching load and qualifications of DLSAU faculty.
Gatbonton states that for these concerns, the SSC had sought to dialogue with Erguiza and the administration, but complains that the school’s administration is uncooperative in the discussion. “When we spoke, their position is ‘You have your point, and I have mine. Gawin mo ang gusto mo pero ako gagawin ko din ang gusto ko [Do what you want, we’ll do what we want],” shares Gatbonton.
Erguiza, formerly President and Chancellor of DLSU, claims that he has for four times invited the SSC president to discuss the concerns presently being raised, but the latter had always been ‘busy and unavailable for meeting’. “I told Robert, ‘You can disagree and I will fight for your right to disagree, but please don’t end up disagreeable.’”
He says that the students protested in an ‘orderly’ manner, and he would have personally listened had he been there. “I was in Salikneta during that time, with the Board of Trustees. They must have presumed that we would be in Araneta [at the time they held the demonstration].”
No permit, no exam
Gatbonton shares that the main bone of contention for the ‘no permit, no exam’ policy of the university is that students who are unable to pay the fees required for the course are not permitted to take their final exams. Students are allowed to avail of promissory notes (IOUs) which may lessen their liability, but says that students remain unable to pay.
“We are permitted to avail of IOUs, but the IOUs run up to only fifty percent of partial payment for courses,” says Gatbonton. “For many students, they cannot even pay up to fifty percent.”
He also makes reference to CHED memorandum order no. 2 series of 2010, which orders institutions of higher education in the country to be flexible in the enforcement ‘no permit, no exam’ policies should it apply, and extend all possible assistance to students with outstanding balances in tuition and fees due to financial difficulties.
In addition to CMO no. 2 s. 2010, CHED also released a more recent memorandum no. 9 series of 2013, which orders higher educational institutions (HEIs) to stop enforcing “no permit, no exam” policies.
The official response of the DLSAU administration, as compiled in a university statement circulated online, affirms that despite having a ‘no exam, no permit’ policy the year prior to the issuance of CMO no. 9 s. 2013, “there has never been any student who, on account of not being able to pay his or her dues, was not allowed to take his or her exams.”
Student representation
Gatbonton also points out that there is a need for greater student representation, as he claims that not all student councils are represented in multi-sectoral committees. The SSC expresses in its manifesto that the university also did not consult students in the reorganization of its administration’s organizational chart, as well as in the administrative appointments to fill positions in said chart.
Erguiza recalls, “[Gatbonton] wanted all five colleges to be represented. We suggested to him, ‘Why don’t you come up with a united stand, like other [forms of] representation?’ So you don’t have to get everyone [from all colleges]. Then as president you represent them. Which he did, he did very well. We didn’t increase tuition [for upperclassmen].”
Erguiza also believes that students are able to voice out their concerns through other means, such as faculty evaluation. “[His] point is to have more participation. I have nothing against participation, especially in areas where they are directly concerned.”
Tuition and other fees
Another concern of the SSC is that administration does not disclose where it spends the revenues from the 10 percent tuition hike – the rate of increase for the past two years – as well as the redundancy in certain miscellaneous fees. “For instance, we have a athletic fee as well as a fee for sports development. They seem to be the same thing.”
“We also have an internet fee of Php 770, which allows us to use internet for 20 hours.” He adds that during the summer, there is no internet in campus, but the charge remains for summer enrollees.
Noted also by the SSC is the five percent tuition fee increase for first year students, which supposedly contradicts the agreement by the multi-sectoral committee on tuition that there will be no tuition fee increase at the college level. The SSC had, according to Gatbonton, not been consulted.
Erguiza says that miscellaneous fees could be explained should anyone request it. “[We can say that] this is the collection, this is how much we collected, and these are our expenses,” he elaborates.
He also says that administration, after consulting with the multi-sectoral committee, did not increase tuition fees for the college level, although he says that incoming freshmen will have to pay higher tuition and fees.
“We did not [increase tuition for the college level]. Robert was in the multi-sectoral committee, with parents, teachers, administrators. But the increase was for the freshmen. If you increase for the freshmen, since they are not yet there, you don’t represent them. You post the increase in tuition for new students. That’s what we did, we posted, so that the students, when they go to the school, if they don’t want to come here if tuition is high or low, then they don’t.”
CMO no. 3, s. 2012 states that where student representatives should be consulted by HEIs about tuition fee increases, incoming freshmen are not covered by said guidelines for representation, although HEIs must make known agreed increases in tuition fee in conspicuous places in their premises prior to the beginning of the academic year where such increases will apply.
A question of labor
Salikneta, short for Saliksik sa Araneta [Research in Araneta], is a 63 hectare farm that serves as an extension campus of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Agricultural Sciences (CVMAS) in DLSAU. The supposed poor treatment of BS Agriculture scholars who reside in Salikneta serves as one of the principal reasons in the students’ call for Erguiza’s resignation.
Salikneta Farm has according to Erguiza been stagnant, and most infrastructural developments in the farm were undertaken when Erguiza took over as president. “The Agricultural program, as it is true for the whole country, has really dwindled [prior to last year]… I said, this program is going to die if we do not do anything about it.”
The farm accepts high school students from nearby communities, as well as tertiary level students for its BS Agriculture program. Nearly all of the college students are full scholars who come from all over the country, most from the La Salle schools in different provinces, and they are provided with food, lodging and uniforms.
Jomer*, one of the BS Agriculture students who participated in the SSC demonstration, shares that the farm staff were culpable for the maltreatment of scholars. “When we are late, we are asked to do push-ups,” he states in Filipino. Jomer adds that the staff who direct the students are harsh and have a tendency for verbal abuse.
Erguiza affirms that the said personnel have already been spoken to and dealt with. “Maybe the staff in the farm, they may have been a little harsh. The students, they had been indignified by the remarks. I had a talk with the person concerned, and it was true but it wasn’t intended as a way to demean the person. You look at it in context. In a community like that, some person might have said some not-so-nice words to the student, the student takes it badly, you sympathize with the student, you talk to the director, resolve the issue.”
Dr. Florencia Claveria, former dean of the College of Science (COS) in DLSU and current Salikneta farm director, says that no corporal punishment exists in the farm, although she adds instances when certain scholars would be playing basketball where their fellow scholars would be working. “Of course I would have to [be firm] with them… I can’t just plead and say, Makikiusap naman [Please hear me out]. Why should they be just playing around while their fellows are working?”
The scholars, by nature of their designation, are obliged to render service hours doing community work. “What has been emphasized is the whole idea that the farm is yours,” shares Erguiza. “You work for it because if you don’t, nobody else will.” The scholars do work to maintain the farm as an agri-tourism hub, look after the vegetation and livestock, and apply agri-technology skills involving some irrigation and welding among other tasks. Erguiza adds that there is someone who helps the scholars in the tasks. “Someone who is involved in the process [guides them]. Of course there are workers hired who do the more difficult jobs.”
The situation differs in the DLSAU main campus, where the service clause for scholars mandates students to perform housekeeping duties before they move on to office and clerical work. Ayson*, a scholar in the main campus, shares that he performs manual work during weekends and during off-hours on weekdays, doing gardening duties as well as occassional janitorial work. The SSC assembly is one in protesting the implementation of said housekeeping work.
Erguiza responds, saying that such practices may be found in other La Salle schools. “There are office assistants, and then there are the working assistants. In [La Salle University in] Ozamiz, you have students who do work, they clean the classrooms, they clean the toilets, and they’re proud. I don’t know if cleaning the room makes one lose his sense of pride. I think that being involved in manual work gives one a sense of pride.”
Faculty qualifications, specialization
The concerns stated above not only involve students but also other stakeholders, such as faculty. Section D of the SSC’s manifesto writes of the ‘drained academe’, which says that faculty in DLSAU are asked to teach subjects for which they do not have credentials, as well as the lack of a Masteral degree from some faculty.
Gatbonton cites the example of a theology professor asked to teach other humanities courses, as well as teachers of physical education holding a degree with no apparent relation to the discipline being taught.
Erguiza explains that such situations are inevitable in the academe, usually resulting from the lack of professors and increasingly specialized classes, “Some of the faculty are probably teaching other subjects in different fields … but these are sort of internal academic problems that could easily be addressed.” He also affirms that some of the faculty of DLSAU do not hold Master’s degrees, but says that most are in the process of obtaining them.
All of the professors handling classes in Salikneta, however, hold PhDs in their respective fields. Many of them are sourced from Central Luzon State University, while a number of professors from DLSU also handle courses in Salikneta, usually in the basic sciences and general education subjects such as English, among others.
At present, Erguiza is engaging in dialogue with the affected stakeholders in trying to resolve their concerns individually. Gatbonton has also elevated the manifesto’s points to Br. Jose Mari “JJ” Jimenez FSC, Sector Leader of the Lasallian East Asia District. He recalls that Jimenez’s answer was to push through with ‘continuous dialogue’ with the administration.
“He got to meet [Jimenez] once, and to present some of his concerns,” shares Erguiza. “And I think Br. JJ told him, ‘No’, that these concerns should be discussed with Br. Jun. These concerns are not difficult to solve. But he never saw me. But Br. JJ talked to me about it. It was this summer, and then I called for [Robert], but he never showed up, always had an excuse, always busy with this and that.”
Gatbonton and Erguiza have as of Wednesday, June 19, met to try and resolve the SSC’s concerns. However, according to Gatbonton, no concrete resolution of the issues has been agreed upon by both parties.
