Mathematics professor Joel Addawe is the new chancellor of UP Baguio (UPB), despite overwhelming sectoral endorsement for another nominee, fellow mathematics professor Wilfredo Alangui.
Addawe’s term as chancellor officially started on June 3, with the UP Board of Regents (BOR) selecting him in its May 31 meeting. Addawe will be the fourth chancellor of UPB, succeeding economics professor Corazon Abansi.
The BOR’s decision marks a continuation of the administration’s defiance of sectoral endorsements. Alangui was endorsed by numerous student organizations, indigenous people’s groups, and members of the faculty. This included Fidel Nemenzo, who was also denied UP Diliman’s chancellorship last year and the UP presidency the year before despite overwhelming sectoral support.
Addawe’s candidacy was also only made possible in the first place because of an extension of the search for chancellor nominees unilaterally ordered by UP President Angelo Jimenez without consultation from other regents.
The first round of nominations ended with Alangui as the sole nominee after Abansi dropped her bid for a second term, citing personal reasons. Jimenez argued that having a lone nominee is not preferable and that it is within his executive power to extend the search.
Addawe then submitted his bid on the last day of the search on April 15.
The new chancellor now inherits recurring problems from Abansi’s term: the lack of supplies and facilities, unequal access to Student Learning Assistance Services, and attacks on UPB’s democratic spaces. These problems formed the crux of the opposition to an Abansi reappointment before she dropped out of the race.
Addawe’s vision paper instead promised stability, by explicitly aiming for continuity from Abansi’s term as chancellor.
"In an academic landscape with so much uncertainty, ambiguity, and volatility, our goal is to foster stability through a legacy of continuity. At the same time, we will bring about changes and initiate progress towards transformative education in the service of the country especially Northern Luzon and the Cordillera Region," Addawe wrote.
His drive for “transformative education” pertains to a renewed focus on digitalization, with Addawe highlighting several times his vision for UPB to be a “digitally empowered” university. This rhetoric aligns with Jimenez’s own vision for digital transformation for the entire UP system.
But the focus on digitalization and continuity could overshadow the lack of protections for students, especially against gender harassment and red-tagging. While a crisis management committee was created during Abansi’s term, students criticized its slow and ineffective response to red-tagging cases.
When asked about his plans for democratic spaces and anti-red-tagging measures during a public forum, Addawe emphasized that while he would create an anti-red-tagging subcommittee, any action that it would take must preclude that the case has “sufficient evidence.”
UPB University Student Council chairperson Cathleen de Guzman lamented the repeated ignorance of the BOR to the demands of the different sectors of the university.
“Ngayon na may desisyon na, pagtibayin ang pagkakaisa para patuloy na ipanawagan ang mga karapatan at kagalingan. Huwag hayaan na maging bingi ang admin ng UP Baguio sa lumalalang politikal at ekonomikong kalagayan ng bansa,” de Guzman said after the selection. ●
