Save UP High Cebu, a letter from Prof. Purita T. Baltazar
Mierkoles, Disyembre 19, 2007
To All UP High School Cebu Alumni:
We are very happy and touched by the immediate response from the alumni. Your concern and support have strengthened our resolve to fight for the high school. We have already written to the Dean and to the UP President Emerlinda Roman regarding our stand. We have requested for a dialogue with them. I believe we will be provided that chance for a dialogue this January.
I have been receiving emails from alumni stating your support to the high school. Letters from you are highly appreciated. We would like to compile them as testimonials for the high school and present them with other documents to UP Pres. Roman when she and other officials come to Cebu in January.
We would appreciate a resolution from the alumni attesting its support for the High School. Even individual testimonials of how UP High has helped them would be a great help.
It is only UP High School Cebu that is facing this problem. UP High School Iloilo is not being downsized to one section.
Should we be able to charge tuition, we want to follow socialized tuition. We still want to be able to serve more economically-disadvantaged students. That is the mission of UP High School Cebu and we believe in that mission.
We are also making a proposal for a new tertiary program for basic education which is interdisciplinary in nature and relevant to today's global environmental concerns. This unique program will further justify the need for the high school.
If there is anybody who would know how to contact Ambassador Paynor, that would be great. I met him during the Garbo sa Sugbu awards where UP High was among the awardees. He was full of admiration for our students. He told me that should the high school need his help, we can always contact him. He is now consul general at San Francisco, California. He might also be able to give a letter of commendation or a resolution.
We believe resolutions of support from all sectors of the community will convince the administration that UP High School Cebu is relevant to the community.
DAGHANG SALAMAT KANINYONG TANAN! Merry Christmas!
Prof. Purita T. Baltazar
Principal, UP High School Cebu
Additional information:
Fact: In the late 1980s, with the passage of a law making public elementary and secondary education tuition free [Republic Act 6655, otherwise known as "Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988"], the Board of Regents decided to turn over all UP-affiliated pre-collegiate schools (except UPIS) to the DECS.
UPIS Diliman was not included in the plan to turn over UP High Schools to DECS for two main reasons:
1. UPIS is the laboratory school of the College of Education. It was the only high school that fulfilled that function.
2. UPIS served the personnel of UP Diliman. Most of its students were dependents of UP personnel.
Fact: CHED Memorandum Order No. 27, series of 2000
"3.2 Elementary and Secondary Education programs shall be gradually phased-down or phased-out in accordance with existing CHED Orders and/or Special Provisions relative to basic education offered by State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), pursuant to:
3.2.1 CHED Order #4, s. 1996 (Phase-Down of Secondary Programs to a Maximum of 500 students for Laboratory School of CHED-Supservised Institutions (CSIs) Offering a Teacher Education Program);
In compliance with the CHED memorandum, UP High Cebu downsized its population to two sections per year level in SY 2001-2002. Since UP High School Cebu and UP High School Iloilo belong to the same autonomous unit, UP Visayas, we had to share the maximum size of 500 enrollees. This means UP High School Iloilo and Cebu will have 250 students each.
Fact: Supreme Court ruling on the closure of UP College Baguio High School (UPCBHS). summary below—
UP v. Ayson , 176 SCRA 647 (1989)
In 1972, the UP BOR approved the establishment of the UPCB Highshool to serve, among others, "as a laboratory and demonstration school for prospective teachers - provided that UPCBHS must be self-supporting." However, the Dept. of Professional Education in Baguio was never organized. So, the BOR decided to phase out UPCBHS for failing to attain the conditions for its creation. The UPCBHS Foundation Inc. sought to restrain the University from phasing out the UPCBHS.
ISSUE: Is secondary public education demandable in an institution of higher learning such as the UP?
RULING: NO. UP invokes its exercise of academic freedom. Private respondent invokes the right to quality education and to free secondary education.
The rights invoked by private respondent may be asserted only as against the Government through the DECS. UP was created under its charter to provide advanced tertiary education. An institute of higher learning cannot be compelled to provide for secondary education.
It is beyond cavil that UP as an institution of higher learning enjoys academic freedom. UPCBHS was established subject to a number of conditionalities. Failing on such conditions, UP can order its abolition on academic grounds.
full text can be found at
an excerpt follows—
At this juncture, it must be pointed out that UPCBHS was established subject to a number of conditionalities, e.g., it must be self-supporting, it can serve as a feeder for the UP at Baguio, it can serve as a laboratory and demonstration school for prospective teachers , failing in which the University can order its abolition on academic grounds, specially where the purposes for which it was established was not satisfied.
Specifically, the University of the Philippines was created under its Charter (Act No. 1870 [1908], as amended) to provide advanced tertiary education and not secondary education. Section 2 of said Act states that "the purpose of said University shall be to provide advanced instruction in literature, philosophy, the sciences, and arts, and to give professional and technical training."
It is apparent that secondary education is not the mandated function of the University of the Philippines ; consequently, the latter can validly phase out and/or abolish the UPCBHS especially so when the requirements for its continuance have not been met, Rep. Act No. 6655 to the contrary notwithstanding. The findings of facts by the Board of Regents which led to its decision to phase out the UPCBHS must be accorded respect, if not finality. Acts of an administrative agency within their areas of competence must be casually overturned by the courts. It must be emphasized that UPCBHS was established as a component of the tertiary level, i.e., the teacher/training program. As it turned out however, the latter program was not viable in UPCB thereby necessitating the phasing out of UPCBHS, the rationale being its reasons for existence no longer exists. On this score, UPCBHS differs from the other UP high schools in Iloilo, Diliman, Cebu and Los Baños. The latter schools serve as laboratory schools for the College of Education in said areas, whereas, in Baguio, there is no College of Education.
A careful perusal of Rep. Act No. 6655 could not lend respondents a helping hand either. Said Act implements the policy of the State to provide free public secondary education (Sec. 4) and vests the formulation of a secondary public education curriculum (Sec. 5), the nationalization of public secondary schools (Sec. 7) and the implementation of the rules and regulations thereof (Sec. 9) upon the Secretary of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). Rep. Act No. 6655 complements Sec. 2 (2), Article XIV of the Constitution which mandates that the State shall establish and maintain a system of free public secondary education. However, this mandate is not directed to institutions of higher learning like UP but to the government through the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). As an institution of higher learning enjoying academic freedom, the UP cannot be compelled to provide for secondary education. However, should UP operate a high school in the exercise of its academic freedom, Rep. Act No. 6655 requires that the students enrolled therein "shall be free from payment of tuition and other school fees."
UP High School Cebu is still a feeder to the college. More than half of the graduates enroll at UP for their tertiary education. Our students are doing very well at UP Cebu College. In fact, in 2005 and 2006, the class valedictorians for UP Cebu College were both valedictorians of UP High School Cebu. In 2005 and 2006, representatives of UP Cebu to the Statistics Quiz were alumni of the high school. The President and Vice-President this year of the UP Cebu College Student Council are alumni of the high school.
In the systemwide conference of UP High Schools held in Los Baños in 2004, the definition of ' laboratory' was extended to include not just laboratory for student teachers but laboratory for the development of innovative teaching methods and instructional materials. UP High School has fulfilled this function. The faculty has conducted several researches testing innovative teaching methods and instructional materials. These methods and materials have been shared to the Department of Education. In fact, we have a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education Cebu City Division and the Cebu City Government for a collaboration for the improvement of basic education. Under this MOA, the Professional Education Division through the high school conducts annual trainings and seminars to the DepEd teachers.
Note: Starting in 1995, Masters of Education courses with concentrations in Biology, English, Math, Physics, & Social Studies, were offered in UP Cebu under the Professional Education Division with UP High School Cebu under its wing.
The only other remaining concern is "self-supporting". Hence, the attempts at devising a socialized tuition fee scheme for the high school similar to what the college has and find a way to get around Republic Act No. 6655, the Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988.
~mic2 bugash '89
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