Around 1,100 members of the UP Baguio community walked out of their classrooms and offices on Wednesday to protest the administration’s P100-million unspent funds and misplaced budget, as reported by the Commission on Audit (COA).

During the Sigwalkout, dubbed as such by the UP Baguio University Student Council (USC), university stakeholders forwarded their 5-Point Budget Agenda that urged the administration to respond to the observations of budget misuse, update the sectors on the delayed infrastructure projects, and uphold better budget management.

“Humihingi tayo ng tulong sa ating administrasyon na sana hindi na ito maulit sa mga susunod pang taon. Sana hindi na ma-cite ang ating minamahal na unibersidad sa budget mismanagement dahil marami tayong kailangang paglaanan ng pondo,” UP Baguio USC Chairperson Eugene Enciso said in a livestream of UP Baguio Outcrop.

But as the demonstrators went to the chancellor’s office, UP Baguio Chancellor Joel Addawe refused to face the mob over fears of being put in a “hot seat” position. This is similar to his excuse for being absent during the town hall meeting organized by the UP Baguio USC and organization leaders to discuss the administration’s budget anomalies on Feb. 21.

“Malamang mapupunta ka sa hot seat kung napakaraming mali sa budget allocation. Marapat lamang na sa dami ng mga estudyante dito ngayon ay ma-pressure talaga ang UP Baguio administration,” said Kabataan Partylist fourth nominee and UP Baguio alumnus Gabriel Siscar.

This is the administration’s second time snubbing the community, as they also missed a planned multisectoral roundtable discussion in January due to “uncertain availability.”

The COA report released in December 2024 revealed that UP Baguio has more than P100 million in unspent funds for infrastructure—a repeating unresolved citation from 2022. The report also flagged the administration’s illegal payment of honoraria to officials, the inability to submit a report on their Gender and Development Plan despite assigning more than P62 million for it, and “risky” investments amounting to more than P741 million.

“Enough with the reason of ‘budget constraints’ as a primary obstacle to addressing student services and faculty demands. … It is not actually a lack of funds that hinders progress, but a lack of urgency, transparency, and sound fiscal management,” Rise for Education - UP Baguio said in their statement.

UP Baguio USC has already requested that their position paper on the university’s budget management be included in the agenda of the Board of Regents meeting on Thursday. The administration has still yet to respond. ●