The meeting was called to order by the President at 3:50pm.

 

1.               BACKGROUND

Dr. Ereno started out by saying that there has been no official statement yet. He also added that these directives may be inspired by instructions from the top. He then proceeded to explain the UP Cebu High School situation.

 

a.               AUTONOMY

UP Cebu College (UPCC) is striving for autonomy. Right now, UP Cebu is only part of the autonomous UP in the Visayas in Iloilo. UP Cebu is so small, it cannot keep pace with developments in Central Visayas. Hence, Pres. Emerlinda Roman considered UP Cebu as her Centennial Project. Autonomy for UP Cebu has to happen in Pres. Roman and PGMA's term. Hence, the urgency. The pressure is from the top.

 

As such, UPCC is preparing to be a 4-college university. The 4 colleges are (i) College of Computer Science, (ii) School of Design, (iii) College of Management, and (iv) College of Arts & Sciences. It is the latter college that the Professional Education Division (PED) will belong. Note that the UP Cebu High School is under the Professional Education Division.

 

In order to be autonomous, the 4 colleges must already have existing programs and faculty. And the faculty must have items (discussed below). Pres. Roman is asking for infrastructure plans from UP Cebu by October. This means that the academic programs must be in place before then. So now, the Dean is pressuring the divisions to come up with academic programs. Hence the Dean's memo, dated September 5, asking UP Cebu High School to "focus on the strengthening of the graduate program or programs of the Professional Education Division (PED) and recommendations for the steps to be taken by the PED to veer away from implementing secondary education". Again, urgent.

 

The issue of autonomy has highlighted the problem of UP Cebu High School. Other UP high schools are also threatened but not as serious nor as urgent as us.

 

b.              ITEMS

As mentioned above, UPCC needs existing items in order to form their four colleges. Faculty cannot teach in UP without items. The PED has the most number of teachers, hence, the most number of items, in any division in UPCC. However, most of the faculty in PED are in the high school. Hence, the high school is again singled out as a burden—that the high school is not part of UP's mandate, and especially, in the new UP charter.

 

Faculty items are not easy to get. This would mean an increase in the budget. New items would mean a request to Congress and the DBM. But again, to apply for autonomy, these items must already be existing.

 

The Dean has issued a new policy that the high school cannot hire new faculty unless he/she can teach in the Master of Education program of the PED. High school teaching load should only be secondary. With the retirement of UP High's teachers, a lot of the items in the high school are now with the college.

 

Historically, UP Cebu re-opened in 1963 as an extension of UP Diliman, offering Master of Public Administration, Master of Business Administration and Master of Education. In fact, in the deed of donation of the UP Cebu lot given by the province, these 3 offerings were stated as requirements. In the early 70s, UP Cebu was threatened for closure because its impact in the community was not felt. In order to save UP Cebu then, they opened the high school. UP Cebu High School was given items from Diliman. We owned the items from the very start. Note that when the high school opened in 1972, there were no undergraduate programs yet. Now, ironically, they are saying that the high school does not deserve these items and they are now being siphoned back to the college.

 

c.               BUDGET/RESOURCES

With the passage of the Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988 (RA 6655), UP High School students no longer pay tuition. Hence, the high school has no income. Basically, the College is subsidizing the operations of the high school. How can we justify then, the use of tuition collected from undergraduate and graduate students, to pay for the MOOE and operation expenses of the high school?

 

Teachers' salaries however, come from the DBM, through CHED. Again, items.

 

d.              DEMOCRATIZED ACCESS

When CHED questioned the existence of high schools in UP, suggesting that either UP turn over their high schools to DepEd or close it, Pres. Nemenzo devised the democratized access scheme. This meant changing the admission policy to only accept the poor. UP did not want to turn over the high schools because it meant turning over all physical facilities as well.

 

Previously, the Board of Regents (BOR), in 1989, accepted this as our mission, and hence, allowed the continued existence of high schools in UP. Now, this mission is no longer accepted. Open admission is plausible. If only we can work around the legalities of RA 6655, so we can charge tuition.

 

2.               PLAN OF ACTION

We have to provide non-sentimental and non-personal reasons for keeping the high school open. Nostalgia will not work. We have to provide reasons on an intellectual level.

 

We need pressure points, not coming from the faculty, but coming from the community. Who are UP High's stakeholders? Is UP High still relevant to the community? Support must come from the community, from the alumni.

 

The threat of closure is always present. How do we completely eradicate this threat? We need ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS.

 

a.               UP High School's proposed plan

UP High must "connect" to tertiary education, in order to stay open. Right now, PED is only offering Master of Education (M.Ed.) programs. However, the M.Ed. is not enough to justify the existence of the high school as a laboratory.

 

Hence, the proposal to open a Bachelor in Basic Education/Master of Basic Education (BBE/MBE) program. This is a ladderized program, offering a 4-year BBE college course, with an option to proceed directly to a Masters degree for an additional 1 year, MBE.

 

Rationale: Central Visayas is performing poorly in national achievement tests. Hence, there IS a need for quality teachers. Other schools, like CNU, have been providing teacher training courses but have not made a difference in the performance of public elementary and secondary schools. We believe that UP PED with its BBE/MBE program can make a difference. Our community needs good teachers. And UP PED can serve as an "incubator farm" for these teachers.

 

A teacher training program like the BBE/MBE needs a high school. An education program cannot open without a laboratory. We have to start training them in-campus before sending them out. Hence, 1 section per year level is not enough. We need 2 sections in order to pilot our educational programs, otherwise, the quality will suffer.

 

This way, we are helping EDUCATION and we strengthen the existence of the high school.

 

Note, however, that opening a new program would again, require resources.

 

b.              What makes UP Cebu High School unique?

UP High Cebu serves as a gateway for Visayas and Mindanao. Counterargument: But we are only accepting 60 students per year. EMangubat pointed out that this is not a matter of scale. No one is servicing this area.

 

Entry to UP College. A UP High education increases a student's chances of passing the UPCAT. Counterargument: Other science high schools are doing this, offering the same access to UP and other colleges.

 

UP High trains its students in leadership and critical thinking. Branding, the UP branding, we alone have this claim. This is a unique point, that only UP Cebu High School can provide.

 

c.               Help from government

The Provincial board has already passed a resolution to stop UP Cebu from closing UP High, initiated by Agnes Magpale and Peter John Calderon, both UP alumni. The City Council may also pass a similar resolution. Councilor Jakosalem stated that they would need irrefutable causes for such a resolution.

 

With the approval of the BBE/MBE program, the PED would need the support of LGUs, cities, towns, and municipalities to bring in scholars to enrol. Sponsoring a student would require a maximum of P20,000 per school year. The PED is targeting acceptance of 25 students for each of the 3 specializations it plans to offer: Math, Science, and English. This would mean a total of 75 students per year level.

 

d.              Budget

Hon. Abinales pointed out that the problem is money. How do we go about asking for more budget? and How much do we need?

 

There are 2 ways to get money in UP, either go through the bureaucracy or go to congress directly.

 

For faculty items, the basic salary for a faculty member is P300,000 per year. This would definitely go up next year with the new charter freeing UP from the SSL. Dr. Ereno reported that PED would need 30 teachers for the whole division, including tertiary and high school. This would mean approximately P30million per year. Specifics are needed.

 

With regards to MOOE. Can we bring back tuition? Especially if we are going to be autonomous? Are there provisions for local government to put in money to UP High? We need the specific amounts, while we are working out the legal problem (RA 6655) of asking tuition from students.

 

e.              Location

In the initial campus plans, UP High is located in an area occupied by informal settlers. Councilor Davide pointed out that there was a supreme court ruling for eviction. However, UP was not able to implement this.

 

The current UP High has been identified to be demolished first because its buildings are "easier" to demolish. The ballpark figure for constructing the proposed UP High building is P50million.

 

We should not move. We should stay where we are now.

 

f.                Awareness

Generate public awareness through the media. Campaign. Write about it. Maybe something similar to Philippine Star's Kwentong Peyups.

Initiate round table discussions.

 

g.               Influence the right people

Who do we have to convince? Internally, the administration is not convinced that UP High is worth it. We have to convince them that UP Cebu High School is important. The lack of resources was always a problem in UP. Why now? We have to convince them that UP High is a strength and an untapped resource. It is the high school alumni that keeps a school alive, not the college alumni.

 

We have to talk to the Dean, Dr. Enrique M. Avila, and the members of the Executive Committee (Execomm) composed of the following:

 i.      Dr. Primitivo G. Ereno, Associate Dean

 ii.      Prof. Teresita J. Rodriguez, College Secretary

 iii.      Dr. Robert R. Roxas, Computer Science Dept. Chair

 iv.      Prof. Raymund Fernandez, Humanities Division Chair

 v.      Dr. Mary Gretchen F. Chaves, Management Division Chair

 vi.      Dr. Richelita P. Galapate, Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division Chair

vii.      Dr. Rhodora M. Bucoy, Social Sciences Division Chair

viii.      Prof. Rosario Y. Montaño, Professional Education Division Chair

 ix.      Dr. Jonnifer R. Sinogaya, Office of Student Affairs Chair

 x.      Mr. Alsidry S. Sharif, Administrative Officer

 

We need to talk with the members of the Advisory Council one on one. This council was created by Pres. Roman herself. The full list is as follows:

 i.      Dr. Jose Abueva

 ii.      Chancellor Glenn Aguilar

 iii.      Dr. Magdaleno Albarracin Jr

 iv.      Mr. Jesus Alcordo

 v.      Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr

 vi.      Atty. Manuel Go

 vii.      Mr. Robert Go

 viii.      Dr. Francisco Nemenzo

 

h.              Immediate Plan of Action

The alumni will pass a resolution stating its support for the plans of the Prof. Ed. Division for UP Cebu High School. We can hold a big event to show our support. Invite media.

Before the end of the meeting, alumni present signed their support on pieces of blue paper.

 

Already, UPCC is having meetings tomorrow and Monday, to finalize academic programs and infrastructure plans respectively. The alumni needs to show its support now.

 

The Execomm meeting tomorrow will be at 9am at the Management Division Office. It has been agreed that we, the alumni, will gather tomorrow at 10AM. We will wait outside. Wait for an opportunity to be invited inside to their meeting and be introduced one by one to the Execomm members. We will express our position and be polite.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:51pm.

 

 

Prepared by:

 

 

May Christina G. Bugash

Corporate Secretary