Discussion Points for Dialogues with Student Councils What is the Student Regent?

The Student Regent is the lone student representative to the Board of Regents (BoR) the highest policymaking body of the University system. Its legal basis can be found in the University of the Philippines Charter of 2008: One Student Regent, to serve for a term of one (1) year, chosen by the students from their ranks in accordance with rules and regulations approved in a referendum by the students. (Sec. 12 [g], R.A. 9500) The Student Regent, the Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education, the President of the UP System, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, the Chair of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, the President of the UP Alumni Association, one Faculty Regent, one Staff Regent, and three presidential appointees constitute the 11-member BoR. What does the Student Regent do? As a Regent, the SR sits in all regular meetings of the BoR, where s/he represents the interests of the students in matters which concern the body, as well as in the deliberations, discussions, and decision-making processes within it. The BoR has the following powers: Define the thrusts of the National University Preserve the Universitys integrity Approve the institution, merger or abolition of academic programs Approve the graduation of students Confer honorary degrees Approve rules on student discipline Create organize, merge, or abolish administrative units Establish professorial chair awards Provide fellowships, scholarships and grants Elect the president of the university Appoint faculty members, officials, and employees Extend the tenure of retiring faculty members Fix the tuition fee Receive and appropriate government funding Authorize construction, maintenance or repair of university facilities Authorize the purchase of properties and necessary supplies, materials and equipment Receive gifts and donations Authorize faculty and staff to travel for academic purposes Exercise the general powers set out in the Corporation Code Delegate any of its powers to the University President or other officials Prescribe rules for its own government and the discipline of faculty and other personnel Exercise other powers it may deem necessary

Additionally, the Student Regent conducts consultations with the students of the various UP units and coordinates with the different student councils within the System. Over the decades that the Office of the Student Regent has existed, it has launched many activities and campaigns which concern the welfare and interest of students. These include, but are not limited to: 1983 Committee to Review Academic Programs (CRAP) under UP President Edgardo Angara Campaigns against human rights violations Assertion and lobbying efforts for greater budget for education System-wide campaign on the Revised General Education Program (RGEP) Consolidation of efforts against commercialization schemes Campaigns against Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI)

History of the OSR 1969 Gerardo Barican, then Chairperson of the UP Student Council was appointed by the BoR as a student observer in meetings without voting power. 1972 President Marcos declared Martial Law, abolishing student councils and organizations. On the same year, Marcos signed Presidential Decree 58, amending the structure of the Board of Regents to include one regent to represent the student body. In the absence of student councils, no Student Regent served until after the lifting of Martial Law. 1980 USC-Diliman and other SCs were reestablished. 1981 USC-Diliman convened all university and college SCs, leading to the formation of the Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) a national alliance organized to spearhead the reinstatement of an SR in the BoR. 1982 KASAMA sa UP was formally launched as a political alliance initially composed of 25 SCs across the UP System. USC-Diliman Councilor Laudette Almazan was elected as its first chairperson. 1983 USC-Diliman Chairperson Leandro Alejandro was elected by the National Assembly of Student Leaders convened by KASAMA SA UP and subsequently appointed by UP President Edgardo Angara as SR, serving 1984 without being allowed to vote. 1987 President Corazon Aquino signed Executive Order 204-A, amending the composition of the BoR to include an SR with voting powers appointed by the Philippine President to represent the interests of the students. KASAMA sa UP selected outgoing USC-Diliman Chairperson Francisco Pangilinan as its SR nominee. 1988 KASAMA sa UP established the National Alliance of UP Student Leaders (NAUPSL), composed of all SCs in the System, which then selected outgoing USC-Diliman Chairperson David Celdran as its nominee. 1989 KASAMA sa UP abolished NAUPSL, reverting the power to select the SR back to itself, and subsequently selected outgoing USC-Diliman Chairperson Gonzalo Bongolan as its SR nominee. 1991 KASAMA sa UP named USC-Los Baos officer Jose Ilagan as its choice for SR. UP President Jose Abueva recommended USC-Diliman chairperson Angelo Jimenez instead for appointment as SR. Jimenez accepted the position. KASAMA sa UP refused to recognize Jimenezs regency.

1996 The Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection (CRSRS) was approved amid protests from SCs led by USC-Diliman and USC-Manila. They questioned provisions on the CRSRS on the qualifications of nominees, on the continued role of KASAMA sa UP in the selection process and the voting allocation among UP units. 1997 OSR formed the General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) to involve all SCs, KASAMA sa UPmember or not, in the selection process. USC-Diliman et.al, protested KASAMA sa UPs dominance in the GASC. 1998 GASC selected Dennis Longid as its nominee, while USC-Diliman nominates John Pineda for appointment. Longid gets appointed. 1999 GASC-nominated Ferdinand Zafranco clinched the SR appointment. SCs led by USC-Diliman protested the appointment on the basis of academic qualification (already dismissed from UP Manila), forcing the UP Administration and The Philippine President to withdraw Zafrancos appointment and extend Longids term. 2001 KASAMA sa UP chairperson Kristine Clare Bugayong was selected as SR. 2000 SR Hanna Eunice Serrana got embroiled in the alleged malversation of PhP15 million in public funds originally intended to renovate Vinzons Hall. 2002 Former KASAMA sa UP Secretary General JPaul Manzanilla was nominated by the GASC, and subsequently appointed SR. 2005 The GASC passed amendments to the CRSRS instituting a minimum academic requirement for nominees, a one-college one-vote system of voting allocation, and the removal of KASAMA sa UP from the SR selection process. Raffy Jones Sanchez is selected by the GASC as its nominee for SR. 2006 Amendments passed the year before are repealed. The GASC nominates James Mark Terry Ridon of UP Manila as the next SR. 2008 The 2008 UP charter was passed. SRs shall no longer have to be appointed by the Philippine President. Instead, students shall choose the SR from among their ranks through internally-created and -approved mechanisms. By virtue of these new provisions, a referendum on the CRSRS is held under SR Shahana Abdulwahid. The GASC selects Charisse Bernadine Baez from UP Los Baos as the next SR. 2010 Charisse Bernadine Baez ousted from Regency due to enrolment technicalities with months left in her term. The GASC selects Cori Alessa Co of UP Baguio as the next SR. Just a few months into her term, Cori Alessa Co was also ousted from Regency due to, again, academic-related problems. Jacqueline Eroles of UP Diliman succeeds Co as the second SR nominee. 2011 The GASC selects Ma. Kristina Conti of UP Diliman as SR. What is the CRSRS? The Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection (CRSRS) governs the process by which a Student Regent is selected by the students. It enumerates the principles, policies, and process of the selection, the qualifications of nominees, etc. It exists in fulfilment of the Charter provisions on SR selection, which mandates the use of student-drafted rules in selecting our regent. Who may be nominated? Under the current CRSRS, any individual who satisfies the following may be nominated:

Must be an enrolled student at the time of nomination Must have accumulated a residency of 1 year (residency and LOA included) Must be a Filipino citizen Must have a track record reflective of his/her commitment to serve the studentry

Nominees may be disqualified if found guilty, at anytime during his/her stay in the University, of any of the following: Gross misconduct or misbehavior Violence inflicted towards another person or any property that is not his/hers Dishonesty Graft and corruption Any criminal offense involving moral turpitude How is one nominated and selected? Any student, group, or organization may nominate anyone from any constituent unit or extension program of the University. Nominees shall be informed of their nomination, and asked to sign a Certificate of Acceptance. S/he must submit the following documents: Vision statement Curriculum Vitae Biodata

College Wide Process. The College Student Council will act as the College Search Committee (CSC) for the SR selection. It is in-charge of everything, from publicity to deliberations in choosing the official college nominee(s), whose name shall be submitted to the University Student Council. University-wide Process. The University Search Committee (UC) for the SR is composed of the members of the respective University Student Council and the representatives of the UP units CSCs. Just like in the college-wide process, the UCs are also responsible for information drives on the selection process as well as the convocation for presenting the nominees to the student body and the deliberations from selecting the UP units official nominee(s). Upon arriving at a decision, they will then forward the official nominee(s) to the OSR for the System-wide selection. System-wide Process. The GASC shall convene. This is where the final batch of nominees will be placed upon the deliberation of the SCs present. Each constituent unit is entitled to a set number of votes. CSCs and USCs from one constituent unit will have to deliberate among themselves on which of the nominees shall be given their units vote. The votes are broken down as follows: UP Baguio 2 votes UP Diliman 2 votes UP Los Baos 2 votes UP Manila 2 votes UP in the Visayas 2 votes UP in Mindanao 2 votes UP Extension Program in San Fernando, Pampanga 1 vote UPV College Cebu 1 vote UPV Tacloban College 1 vote UP School of Health Science in Palo, Leyte 1 vote UP Manila School of Health Sciences in Baler 1 vote

The nominee able to secure 2/3 of the total votes cast shall be declared Student Regent-elect. How were these rules formed? As stated in the history section of this document, these rules were borne out of the efforts of student councils within the UP System. Through the years, provisions were modified and/or refined through student council-sponsored revisions proposed and deliberated on in conventions and, more recently, in the General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC). Are these rules permanent? No. The CRSRS is a flexible body of rules capable of changing in accordance to the needs of the times and the perspectives of the students. Its provisions can be adjusted if deemed fit by the GASC and the student councils which comprise it. How can it be modified? Student councils are given the option to propose changes in any of the provisions of the CRSRS. They may submit such proposals on or before October 1 of every year for them to be considered in a GASC called for the purpose. These are subjected to deliberations and may be approved through a majority vote of all student councils in the UP system. What amendments to the CRSRS are we pushing for? Minimum Academic Qualification. While it is arguable that academic competence translates to effective leadership style, instituting such a concrete mechanism supplements the assurance that the leader we are going to ascend in the position will work and, as a more minimal requirement, stay in office and not be ousted like the cases of Ferdinand Zafranco and Cori Alessa Co. Moreover, the Student Regent must embody UPs principle of excellence. Thus it could not be argued that a student leader must work for leadership functions alone as s/he is also a student and therefore must be a genuine example for the entire student population. Hence, the nominee must meet the minimum academic requirements in that s/he is not academically delinquent. The student must not be in the probation status or graver as defined by the University Code, the barest academic requirement for all students of the UP System, the semester prior to his/her nomination. One college, one vote. The current voting allocation system is terribly disproportional to the actual number of students per unit. For example, while UP Diliman has around 50% of the total student population of the entire UP system (around 25,000 out of 50,000), the weight of its vote is only 11.76% (2/17) of the total votes. Thus, around 38% of the entire UP student population is being disenfranchised in this current system. Further, as presented in a letter addressed to CSSPSC 2010-2011 Chairperson Oyie Javelosa, Robert Go, a student of MA Political Science in UPD and former UPM USC Chairperson, also observes the discrepancy between votes and student population per campus. According to him, in the first semester of AY 20082009, UP Manila (UPM) had 4,939 students enrolled while UP School of Health Science in Palo, Leyte had 185. UPM had 2/16 votes while UP Palo had 1/16. This means that, at least in that semester, each UPM student had 0.00253% of the vote for the SR while each student in the Palo campus had 0.03378%. Notice the more than 1,235% increase of voting power per student if a student should transfer from Manila to Palo. (Note: Some of Go's calculations have been adjusted for accuracy.) Truly empowering ones vote entails allowing it to ultimately affect the final decision regarding the matter at hand and, in this case, it is the selection of the student regent. The college and university

councils have been directly voted by the students; therefore it has the direct mandate of the students. By clustering them into units, the direct accountability is no longer achieved. Also, the current system merely considers the majority vote of all councils in every constituent unit, the minority dissenting have been underreported and undermined even if it may have huge potential of challenging this legitimacy of the final decision. When you count the vote of each council up to the final stage of deliberations, the system-wide selection, you enable each council to register their voice and therefore achieve the mandate more directly. Moreover, the minority of each unit will be given the opportunity to seek support from other councils from other units. In this manner, both sides of the deliberation and not just one stand are empowered up to the final process of selection. Removal of KASAMA sa UP. Although this proposal recognizes the historical role of Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) in helping re-establish the Office of the Student Regent, we find that the existence of a provision in the CRSRS for KASAMA sa UPs role in the SR selection is unnecessary for the following reasons: 1. We affirm the historical role of the alliance, but there is no need to mention this in the CRSRS which basically institutionalizes rules on the selection process. This provision goes beyond the purpose of the CRSRS. History can be declared or written by anyone but there is no need to place it in rules governing the SR selection process. 2. Acknowledging the efforts to establish the Office of the Student Regent must be given first and foremost to the students and not primarily to the alliance. The establishment of the OSR is a collective effort of the students to have representation in the BOR, not the monopoly product of any single student group. 3. Article V, Sections 3b and 3c, which states that the alliance has the responsibility to inform all students and student organizations regarding the SR selection process through organizational memoranda, personal orientation and other similar means and to ensure maximum participation of all the students to the selection process by conducting symposia or similar activities. This is exactly the same as the role of university and college student councils in Article V, Sections 2a and 2e, thereby producing redundancy in functions and roles. 4. KASAMA sa UP is NOT composed of all university and college student councils. Therefore, having such a provision excludes student councils that are not part of the alliance. Removing the provision in the CRSRS disables alienation which, in turn, ensures genuine representation and maximum participation. In this light, we propose that the GASC serve as the Secretariat since the membership of the GASC constitutes all CSCs and USCs in the entire System.

References University of the Philippines Charter of 2008 (R.A. 9500) Codified Rules for Student Regent Selection, last amended at the GASC, UP Mindanao, Davao City , October 24-25, 2007 OSR History and Struggles, Office of the Student Regent Getting the Cat out of the Bag, CSSP Student Council 2005-2006 Primer on the CRSRS. What is Representation, CSSP Student Council 2009-2010 Primer on the CRSRS. Prepared by Oyie Javelosa Edited and updated by Antonio Lapid