Professor Judy Celine Ick was asleep when it happened. Her phone, which she put on silent mode, had already accumulated missed calls. When she woke up, Ick discovered that a fire had gutted the Rizal Hall, known by many as the Faculty Center (FC). Initially, she was shocked, unable to feel anything. In the years that followed, she would eventually realize the weight of the tragedy. 

“It keeps coming back. When you look for things, you realize you lost it,” she said.

The fire that razed FC on April 1, 2016, incinerated valuable files, memorabilia and academic materials. But for the faculty members of the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, more devastating was the “dignity of space” they lost.

As the chair of CAL’s Department of English and Comparative Literature (DECL), Ick bears witness to their “refugee status” and the faculty's plight. After the fire, they were relocated to a room in Pavilion 1. A year later, they then were provided rooms in the Acacia dormitory, a kilometer away from CAL. Such measures were only supposed to be temporary. But eight years later, these arrangements remain. 

Professor Judy Celine Ick, the chairperson of the College of Arts and Letters’ Department of English and Comparative Literature, bears witness to their “refugee status” and the faculty’s plight. (Darlene Cruz/Philippine Collegian)

Cramped spaces not conducive for work and long walks from offices to classrooms are among the struggles the DECL faculty members lament in the face of constant delays in constructing the new FC and CAL buildings. These conditions, for them, are an indictment of the university administration’s lopsided priorities that are skewed toward commercial interests at the expense of the community’s welfare. 

Constrictions of Space

In Pav 1120, 90 faculty members of DECL are cramped together. It is 48 square meters big, although only four people are supposed to share a 20-square-meter space. With around 15 people seated around a long table, Ick joked: “We’re forced to be friends.”

Although being compressed together forced faculty members to be closer to one another, only around 30 could stay there at a time due to the limited number of chairs and tables. Some would opt to work at home or in coffee shops. Faculty-wide meetings are impossible to hold in this cramped area. 

Only a few faculty members could stay at the PAV1120 at a time due to the cramped space and the limited number of chairs and tables. They are forced into an arrangement not conducive for work and student consultations. (Darlene Cruz/Philippine Collegian)

“Because of the limited space, a lot of people just don’t show up at all. There are months when we don’t see a certain person,” said Assistant Professor Julie Jolo.

Without adequate spaces, student consultations have also taken a hit. Only one couch is available in the room for consultations. Students are not afforded privacy, which Ick said renders honest conversations harder to do. Professors look for empty classrooms, while some resort to consulting along the hallways.  

“That’s especially difficult, say during the pandemic or the aftermath, there have been so many mental health issues. And that’s difficult to deal with without private space. And you don’t want to discuss these things out in the open without privacy,” Ick shared.

These problems were not solved even after some professors were assigned rooms in the Acacia dormitory in 2017. One room, only meant for four people, is occupied by eight teaching associates and fellows. Around 26 members still do not have their spots, while others chose to relinquish theirs due to the long distance between Acacia and CAL, which takes 15 minutes to walk for the able-bodied. 

“Acacia is no longer functional. Dati medyo homey, but the tiles are literally off the floor. Aircon in the room is not working,” Assistant Professor Micaela Manansala-Chua said. “We used to have students go there for consultation, di pa sila takot. Ngayon takot na sila sa building, para siyang haunted.”

Despite all these, they are still mandated to hold office hours—ironic, since they have no office to begin with. 

“We have to publish, we have to get excellent scores, we have to jump all the hoops for our promotion, without considering that we are not getting the same thing and the same privilege as our fellow faculty members,” Ick said. 

Misprioritized

CAL faculty members are now up in arms over these supposed temporary conditions while construction of the new FC and CAL buildings continues to be delayed. The new FC was supposed to be completed in 2020, while the latter should be done within this year. Both, however, are still far from being completed.

“In 2019, at the groundbreaking for the new Faculty Commons, the FC was celebrated as a phoenix, a guide for the whole of UP. In 2024, we don't need platitudes. We need space,” read the statement by DECL.

The new Faculty Center was supposed to be completed in 2020, while the CAL building should be done within this year. Both, however, are still far from being completed. (Sean Marcus Ingalla/Philippine Collegian)

In 2017, a Commission on Audit (COA) report noted that no money was disbursed for the obligated allotment for the new FC construction. A year later, COA once again flagged UP’s non-implementation of FC’s construction. Then, the P75,000,000 worth of funds for the FC construction transferred to the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), UP’s procurement services provider, in 2018 were refunded to UP from PITC in 2020.

UP’s inability to monitor and implement projects with an appropriated budget is a recurring observation by COA. Since the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is the implementing agency of many infrastructural projects of the university, including the FC and CAL building, UP’s lack of control in the implementation process is the primary underlying problem behind the delays in construction, UP Vice President for Development Daniel Peckley Jr. told the Collegian.

Constructions faced further hurdles during the pandemic because contractors had a hard time continuing their operations due to falling revenues and cash flow, Peckley said. 

Both projects were also delayed due to the issuance of variation orders (VOs), the document certifying construction changes due to unforeseen conditions during the planning phase. Extension of contracts due to VOs persists in DPWH’s other infrastructure projects, despite a 2015 department order that sought to address this by instructing more detailed and accurate engineering planning processes, among others. 

“Despite the project status being ongoing, there have been delays [in the construction of FC] accumulated due to revision of plans, late approval of finishing materials, lead time, including the impact of the recent pandemic and delays in the contractor’s procurement of construction materials,” Johnny Protesta Jr., officer-in-charge of the Quezon City 2nd District Engineering Office under the DPWH, told the Collegian through email. 

The new CAL building, on the other hand, is still in its first phase at a 78.56 percent accomplishment rate, according to the DPWH. As a result of this noncompletion, phase two was suspended last year. The department hopes to resume the second phase contract in July, should the first phase finally be completed by then. DPWH has yet to determine the building’s projected completion date. 

Peckley also remains uncertain when the FC and new CAL building will be completed. 

“Buti pa si DiliMall, si Gyud Food, (the construction was) fast,” Ick said.

The DiliMall, a commercial structure being constructed in place of the UP Shopping Center that was also gutted by fire, is expected to be completed this year after four years of construction. Gyud Food Hub, meanwhile, was inaugurated in 2022, three years after construction started. The community criticized both commercial enterprises, especially as they displaced local vendors and small entrepreneurs.

These structures’ faster construction is due merely to the fact that their contractors were quicker in their operations, Peckley said. But for Ick and CAL, this signals a skewed prioritization of both the national and university administrations, which puts little regard to the disciplines and undertakings they do not deem profitable. 

“Hindi nga umabot ng walong taon ang pagpapatayo ng mga komersyal na gusali at beautification. Bakit hindi nabigyan ng parehong prayoridad ang pagpapatayo ng bagong gusali para sa isa sa mga pinakamalaking kolehiyo sa Unibersidad? Hindi maiwasang isipin na repleksyon din itong pagsasantabi sa KAL sa hindi pagbibigay ng pagpapahalaga ng administrasyon sa Humanidades,” the College of Arts and Letters wrote in its official statement on Sunday.

Igniting Resistance

The Office of the Vice President for Development is already exploring means to expedite construction processes and gain more control over the implementation proceedings, said Peckley. The office is in correspondence with the DPWH in charting ways forward.

“Nagkakaisang panawagan ng KAL ang paggigiit ng pagkakaroon ng espasyo at pasilidad para sa Arte at Literatura at pagpapriotisa ng administrasyon sa kapakanan at kagalingan ng akademikong komunidad at hindi ang garapalang komersyalisasyon ng kampus,” read the statement by CAL.

Yet beyond accelerating the construction process, which can still take years to take effect, the administration has to explore more immediate creative ways of resolving the perennial issues the faculty confronts instead of telling them to wait for the new building, said Ick. 

“Have we taken an inventory of spaces in this university? There are massive buildings elsewhere, are all those classrooms being used? Kasi kami, agawan ng classrooms,” she added.

Instead of merely being treated as data and metrics for quality assessments and international rankings, Ick implored the administration to seek and prioritize their experiences. This drive for awareness serves as the impetus for their week-long commemoration of the FC fire through their social media campaign they dubbed #KALbaryo. 

This commemoration, however, is not meant to merely evoke nostalgia. It calls attention to the eight-year-long struggle that the faculty of CAL has been enduring, overlooked by university officials, Ick said. 

“UP cannot expect its teachers to perform at their utmost capabilities when they are treated with such blatant disregard. CAL has been a portrait of resilience for 8 years. We refuse to be resilient in the face of neglect from the university,“ DECL wrote in its opening post for the campaign. ●

This article has been updated to reflect recent developments and include comments from the Office of the Vice President for Development and the Department of Public Works and Highways.