The Collegian interviewed the three nominees vying to become the next UP Diliman chancellor. Former Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo’s interview took place on March 29, Archaeology Professor Victor Paz had it on March 28, while Law Dean Edgardo Carlo Vistan II was interviewed on March 30. The interviews took place in the Collegian office.
Q1: In a recent consultation with REPS and research assistants, STEM Alliance reported concerns of contractual employees regarding delayed wages and lack of hazard pay. How will your administration resolve workers’ longstanding concerns and expand economic benefits for contractual employees?
Fidel Nemenzo: First of all, we need to do all effort to get rid of contractualization. It’s bad for employees, it’s bad for employees, it’s bad for the university. I think it’s in the long-term interest of the university, the staff, faculty, and students that we have employees that belong to the university that enjoy the full set of benefits and privileges. But as for contractual workers who had delayed salaries, this is also a source of frustration for me. I know there are a lot of constraints in the past three years. We’ve been doing our best to identify the bottlenecks and find solutions for these.
Victor Paz: My view of this question, I think I can take it in two levels. First, the question of delayed wages, and that can be addressed with better efficiency in bureaucratic workings of the university. But more importantly, is the question of contractualization. Well, first, we can get more UP contractuals rather than non-UP contractuals. And second, and more long-lasting, we should get more items for support staff.
Edgardo Carlo Vistan II: Isang balak ko talagang pagtuonan ng pansin ay yung pagpapaikli ng proseso at pagpapaaga ng preparasyon ng mga pasweldo at iba pang bayarin sa ating mga kontraktwal na empleyado. Matagal nang problema ‘yan, nararamdaman namin sa kolehiyo. At ang solusyon na tingin ko ay dapat pag-aralan ang ating mga proseso, kauntian at iklian ang mga ito, at mas maagang paghandaan ang mga rekisito para mabayaran kaagad ang mga kontraktwal na empleyado. About the hazard pay and other benefits, we really have to clamor and work with the UP system to increase these benefits kasi hindi ito nasa ating kamay.
Q2: Informal settlers in UP communities have long grappled with bureaucratic steps just to gain access to basic social services like electricity, water, and sanitation. How will you deal with communities' concerns about their constantly imminent displacement, waiting for the university's approval just to undertake house repairs, and even get water or electricity connection?
Nemenzo: As I’ve always said, the informal settler families are part of our community. They provide services, they provide housing for a lot of our employees, and our students actually live in the border of these areas, so they’re part of the community. But at the same time, I’ve always also asserted that UP land is to serve our mandate as an institution. So this is a balancing act. We need to find solutions to the housing problem by coordinating with the LGU and barangay because we need to ensure housing for everyone in this area. But at the same time, we also need to provide housing for our employees and students.
Paz: Now, that's a difficult problem given that I'm in for the concept of space and space-making. But let's be clear. Informal settlers, like all of us, don't have any rights to be in this space forever. Now, in terms of access to basic facilities and services, that must be in coordination with the barangay and any development within the campus really must be managed well, be it informal or not. And so, at the end, the long term is to resettle informal settlers in better places outside the university.
Vistan: The problem with respect to the informal settlers needs long-term solutions that focus on compassion and equity. Our informal settlers must be made to realize na hindi pwedeng magtagal talaga in the long-term. So we must work on giving them a time period to find a possible relocation sites, we can help them with that, whether they are employees or not. But in the meantime, we will give them a period where they can work on this, be integrated to our communities, so they can earn wages and income.
Q3: Earlier this year, the UP Diliman Food Hub opened and to the dismay of many maninindas, they were not given promised stall slots. As the Shopping Center (SC) is expected to reopen soon, how will your administration work to ensure that maninindas are given stall slots or space in the new SC?
Nemenzo: Bahagi na ng UP, ng tradisyon ng UP, ang mga manininda. Marami sa atim amh naging bahagi ng karanasan bilang estudyante at faculty. Kumain ng fishball, kwek-kwek, et cetera. Kaya ayokong mawala ang mga manininda, kailangan lang ma-regulate sila para hindi masyadong dumami dahil kapag dumami sila, kumpetisyon ang pasakit sa kanila. Ire-regulate din sila para panatilihing maayos ang food safety. Ang bagong shopping center ay kailangan nating siguruhin na isa itong service-oriented center. It should not be an income-generating hub.
Paz: Okay. The build-operate-transfer agreement with UP Food, Good Food, is different from Dilimall. And in Dilimall, of course, we like to think that it is for the service of the community and it has a different business ethos. The Maninidas, on the other hand, are always welcome to get stalls within Dilimall, but by nature, they are small-scale entrepreneurs. I support the existence of the Maninidas as a parallel source of food services for our community.
Vistan: To solve or help the plight of our maninindas in relation to the new shopping center, or Dilimall as they call it, we must work with the UP system and the third-party leasing agent that they got to ensure that some of the spaces there will be given to our maninindas and other food and service providers who are based in our communities. Beyond that, however, I think we should be looking beyond the Dilimall or shopping center, and go looking for feasible sites where they can be located.
Q4: In the past months, student athletes have voiced concerns about the treatment and support they are receiving from the university. If appointed chancellor, what will you do to improve existing support programs for student athletes?
Nemenzo: I actually like it that the student athletes are speaking out. I was also a student athlete before, and I know the conditions under which they study and train. And it’s about time that UP gives them the support that thet deserve. This is why UP approved the creation of an office call the Office for Athletics and Sports Development. 2015 pa ‘to, pero ngayon lang natin in-implement, medyo naantala rin dahil sa pandemya. The purpose of the office is to create a comprehensive program of support, an institutionalized mechanism of support, a mechanism for fundraising and support for all student athletes—from training, to housing, to academics.
Paz: Regarding our student athletes, we do, of course, want to support all types of varsity athletics, from basketball to chess, and what is important is that they know this. And the fundamental thing that we can do as administrator is to support the College of Human Kinetics in supporting the varsity program. And on top of it, the new office that supports the varsity program across the board, which then draws a lot of our alumni who are now bringing in a lot of resources to support the varsity.
Vistan: To improve the condition and performance of all our athletes, we need to talk to them; find out what their needs and complaints are. Then, we have to centralize all our efforts in one office. We have to assign a fix set of people who will take care of this and work with our alumni. And we should deliver a clear message to our alumni in the community, in the office, in UP Diliman, that perhaps, all of the university is here for all our athletes, not only for the famous teams and sports.
Q5: Last year, UP security guards experienced unfair labor practices from the former security service provider. How will your administration ensure that UP’s front line workers are treated fairly and that similar incidents never occur again?
Nemenzo: Ang proseso ng pagpili ng security agent ay dumaraan sa bidding. In a sense, may built-in constraints tayo. Ito yung procurement law. Maiiwasan ang nangyari last year kung mayroong isang masinop na review ng terms of reference. Natututo tayo sa bawat karanasan, karanasan with the security agencies. We will undergo a more thorough review in terms of contract and reference with the security agencies. And we will be very strict with the implementation of these terms. Actually, I just terminated the security agency because of its violation of the terms of contract.
Paz: At one level, we must learn the right lessons in contract signing. And so the oversights that we had in the last contract must not be repeated. More importantly is the vigilance of different sectors of our community, and that is the best guarantee that things like this don't happen again in the future. If everyone's vigilant, then we will be aware that there's a problem even before the problem explodes.
Vistan: For our frontline workers, many of which are contractuals, kailangan nating siguruhin na konsultahin what they want, what they need, as well as the benchmarking of against the competitive rates in other institutions, and put this in clear terms of reference before we bid out their contracts. Isa pang kailangan asikasuhin dito ay siguruhin na kung sino man ang mananalo sa mga kontratang ito, susunod at may kakayahang sumunod sa termino natin. Kung pwede ring maging permanente sila, gagawin natin iyon.
Q6: Over the past few months, we have seen incidents of students experiencing being followed or robbed inside the campus. The recent arrest of Melania Flores also brought about concerns in campus security. What will you do to improve campus security and ensure that members of the UP community are safe?
Nemenzo: I know some members of the community who are against surveillance cameras, or CCTVs, but I really want our university to invest in CCTVs because it helps us monitor in security situations. I want a stronger UP Police Force. Hindi ‘to contractual, but a police force. In fact, I’d like to call it as UP Community Police Force who will ensure the safety and security of the community, but also defend the idea of the community like academic freedom. But the best safeguard against all these threats is really a vigilant UP community. So I want the community organized, and we need to conduct a community summit on security to see how we can best mobilize all members of the community to safeguard the security of the campus.
Paz: The quicker response to this kind of problem would be to increase the visibility of the SSB, to put in strategic places high-resolution CCTVs, to improve the lighting of dark places in the campus, and more importantly, to get the cooperation of the UP barangay and the UP community to vigilantly look out for each other inside the community and outside. Those are the things that we can do.
Vistan: Una sa lahat, kailangan natin na maisaayos ang sitwasyon ng ating mga security guard. At damihan pa, kung maaari. Gawing visible ang ating mga pulis—na pareho na rin namang mga security guard. Nabanggit sa tanong na six months ang binibilang sa pag-increase ng mga insidente. Nagtutugma ito sa mga panahong hindi nakauniporme ang mga security guard natin dahil may problema sa kontrata mula sa ating nakuhang contractor. Tingin ko, dapat maayos iyon upang makapagsuot na sila ng appropriate uniform, na magiging panakot sa mga gustong mang-harass at gumawa ng kasamaan sa kampus.
Q7: Since in-person classes returned, the campus has seen an influx of private vehicles which causes traffic congestion, especially during rush hours. What policies will your administration implement to improve mobility inside the campus and reduce the community’s reliance on private modes of transportation?
Nemenzo: First of all, let me say that cars and vehicles are not regulated. In fact, there’s a lot of incentives for people to buy cars, so everywhere in the city, may sasakyan. And because we cannot close the campus, naaapektuhan tayo nito. May mga kotseng dumaraan lang, may mga kotse na pagmamay-ari ng mga miyembro ng komunidad, at mayroon namang mga kaibigan ng mga miyembro ng komunidad. At marami nang business establishments. Lahat sila, pumapasok dito. All of them feel entitled to entry in the university. We really need to think hard about this because this is not a simple problem of restricting entry in the campus. We will need to look at the data and come out with a multidisciplinary look at the problem of campus transport and traffic.
Paz: So this is a very important question in managing the campus because it is our common space and it's a public space. And I think it can be addressed by having centralized parking areas, investing in it, connected via e-transport that shuttles students and guests from those centralized parking areas into public spaces or academic buildings of the university. Second is that we must have better traffic management. Simply put, open more portals. Make sure that there's more than one portal open at any given time. And then third is to have more public bicycle access for students and members of the community.
Vistan: One of the solutions that I think is achievable is decreasing the dependence of the community on the use of private vehicles within the campus. Yung pagpunta sa kampus, medyo mahirap nang i-address yun. Pero yung paggamit ng sasakyan sa kampus can be addressed by increasing multi-level parking in key locations within the university. Spacing them out appropriately so people can park and walk short distances to places they want to go to. Also, by increasing the utility of public vehicles inside the campus and maybe even sponsor some of these vehicles by making arrangements with the drivers and operators.
Q8: At the height of the pandemic, UP Diliman was deemed a safe space for dissent and protests. How will your administration ensure that the campus remains a space where free speech and expressions of dissent are protected?
Nemenzo: This is why I am strongly for upholding the existing agreements between UP and DILG. I want this not only upheld, I want this strengthened. Kailangan nating ibalik ang kasunduan sa pagitan ng UP at DND. In fact, I want this institutionalized so that these safeguards for protection of academic freedom are enjoyed not only by people in UP, but all SUCs. As I said, we need a vigilant UP community. We need to be uncompromised and uncompromising in our defense of the freedom of speech in our campus because this is very important in the type of UP education that we value.
Paz: Well, we are lucky that it's ingrained or really placed in its center in the UP Charter to protect academic freedom. An administration of UP Diliman must see itself as the manager of contesting ideas, of contesting ideologies. We must allow all types of persuasions to express their ideological or their political views. If you are against it, if I'm against it, that's one thing. But if you really don't like the other view, then do a counter-protest or do a counterpoint. But definitely we will not curtail any ideological views in campus.
Vistan: Una sa lahat, kailangan sabihin natin sa komunidad. We should deliver a clear message na we are a campus where academic freedom, and all basic freedoms are respected, especially the freedom to express oneself and to assemble to air grievances. Ayan naman ay nasa Saligang Batas, at ang aking karakter ay napakaliberal. Hindi ako repressive na tao. I always allow our students and community members to express themselves. Yun ang kailangan mapahatid. At the same time, we must secure those activities. We must be able to protect those who will undertake such activities and address any red-tagging incidents that may arise because of them.
Q9: Should you be the next chancellor, what kind of relationship should UP Diliman foster with the Marcos administration, given the university’s history of resistance against the Marcos family?
Nemenzo: Because we are a national university, we do have our responsibility as a government institution to contribute to nation-building. Medyo kakaiba itong history ng UP. We have a history of resistance, and at the same time, cooperation, because we are part of the government, and a lot of government officials come from UP. It’s part of our responsibility to help the government craft a good pro-people policies to advance the economy, to advance the living conditions of the people. But it is also our responsibility to act as a social critic. We call out the government if there are excesses, if there are things being done wrong in the government. We need to be the fiscalizer of the government every time we feel that it is not doing its job well.
Paz: One must distinguish the persona of an individual from its private and its public form. As a private individual, I am very clear of my protest and my dissent against what happened in Philippine history, against authoritarianism, against the old Marcos regime, and against the ills of Philippine society. As an administrator of this university, I must think of the entire system, the UP system, and the entire campus. I do not represent myself anymore, but represent a larger community. And therefore, that it means that in each case, we must really think carefully of our position concerning the current administration.
Vistan: I believe that if I become chancellor, we will work with the government like it’s any other government. UP is here as the national university to serve the people. Likewise, the government is also there to serve the people. So if the government’s agenda serves the best interest of the people, of the majority especially the poor and the underprivileged, then we will work with them. But at the same time, I hope that the whole UP Diliman will not lose its role as a critic of the government. But this criticism should be delivered on an atmosphere of constructive dialogue for the best interests of our people.
Q10: With a new UP System leadership, how will you work with system officials to harmonize your vision and that of the UP president’s?
Nemenzo: I actually like President Jimenez’s vision of academic excellence, public service, digital transformation, and learning center of education. There’s really a lot of areas where UP Diliman and UP System work. The latter is in charge of policies and directions, but they do not do this alone. They do it with various consultations with CUs. But it is really the task of CUs, in this case, UP Diliman, to implement this vision based on the specific conditions we find ourselves in. So the UP Diliman and the UP system should and must work as a team.
Paz: That's an easy question to answer because from the get-go, I saw that the direction of UP Diliman must not veer away from the system's vision. And the system's vision is to make UP a world-class university for the Filipino people. As long as the system is also loyal to this vision, I don't think there's going to be any problem between Diliman and the system.
Vistan: I think that it is essential for the next chancellor of UP Diliman, or any chancellor of a constituent unit of that matter, to be working and engaging constructively with our UP system administration. Una sa lahat, kailangan alamin natin from our various sectors—students, staff, faculty, community—ano ba ang mga naging hinaing natin sa dating ginawa at polisiya ng UP system? Sa ngayon naman, nakakatrabaho ko na ang ngayo’y UP President and his administration, at nakikita ko namang nakikinig talaga sila. So I think we just have to consolidate our complaints and issues, and then ipahatid natin ito sa kanila. Ako naman ay naniniwala na magagawan ito ng paraan ng parehong sides.
