UP Newsletter April 2011

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Wired UP

UP Gazette online Past issues of the UP Gazette, official quarterly publication of the Office of the Secretary of the University (OSU), are available online as PDF files at h t t p : / / o ff i c e o f t h e s e c r e tary. w e b s . c o m / g a z e t t e . h t m . Currently available are UP Gazette issues from 2005 to the first quarter of 2010.

University of the Philippines Community Newspaper VOLUME X X XII NUMBER 4

DILIMAN, QUEZON CITY

APRIL 2011

Read UP Newsletter online at http://www.up.edu.ph/upnewsletter.php

Ouster of UP Cebu dean demanded Left photo: Alya Simone Mongaya/NKE UPVCC; right photos: Jonathan Madrid

Top: Protesters call for the ouster of Avila on March 11. Right, top: VPA Maragtas Amante addresses the protesters during a consultation on March 11. Right, bottom: UP President Alfredo Pascual talks to officials of the All-UP Workers Union on March 17 after a noise barrage at Quezon Hall, UP Diliman.

A series of protest actions that started last March 1 is asking for the relief of UP Cebu College (UPCC) Dean Enrique Avila. Avila, along with Budget Officer Alsidry Sharif and consultant Ernesto Pineda, is facing a list of complaints including denying tenure to qualified faculty members and unjustly terminating UP personnel. The protest actions by UPCC students, faculty and staff, held last March 1, 8 and 11, were sparked by the allegedly “unjust” termination of 15 security guards assigned to UPCC last February. Subsequently, a

number of other complaints against Avila, Sharif and Pineda emerged including the removal of student representation in UPCC’s executive committee, the highest policy-making body in the college. In a statement to the UP Newsletter last March 17, Avila, citing the termination of the guards as “the root cause of, or the trigger of the resulting rallies,” said that his office never negotiated for the absorption of the 15 security guards from their old agency into the new agency that won the contract, as it was “not a common practice

in UP Cebu.” “It is being insinuated widely that [my office], after allegedly allowing the past Fisher [Security Agency] guards to be absorbed and deployed by Café [Security and Investigating Agency] in UP Cebu, had caused them to be dropped from the roster at the last minute by Café without due process. This insinuation is baseless since the Office of the UP Cebu Dean did not cause the Fisher guards to be absorbed by the Café Security and Investigating (Continued on page 11)

Volcanic eruptions, weather patterns must be closely monitored – UP prof KIM QUILINGUING

Is there a relationship between volcanic eruptions and weather patterns? Dr. Graciano Yumul said during a symposium last February at the PHIVOLCS auditorium, CP Garcia St., UP Diliman, Quezon City that there indeed is a close relationship between the two. Aside from being a UP professor, Yumul is undersecretary for research and development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and officer-in-charge of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAG-ASA). To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the University of the Philippines Center for International Studies (UP CIS), in coope(Continued on page 11)

UP Diliman Center for International Studies helps in giving words of encouragement to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Admin looking into UP Cebu row—Pascual JO. FLORENDO B. LONTOC

UP President Alfredo Pascual met with protesters who gathered at the steps of Quezon Hall in UP Diliman (UPD) last March 17 to assure them that his administration is looking into complaints against the UP Cebu College (UPCC) administration. The All-UP Workers Alliance and UP Kilos Na-Diliman held a lunchtime sympathy protest and noise barrage in solidarity with their counterparts in UPCC who were also staging a protest action at the same time. They were prompted by reports that the UPCC administration continues to harass those who are involved in protest actions calling for the ouster of Dean Enrique Avila. The protest actions at UPCC, which started in early March, included a wholeday strike last March 8. Pascual, together with Assistant VicePresident for Public Affairs Danilo Arao, met with the protesters at the Quezon Hall lobby to assure them that his administration is investigating the matter. Among those who joined the sympathy lunchtime protest were Staff Regent Clodualdo Cabrera and former Faculty Regent Judy Taguiwalo, as well as union members and students. The protesters spoke against the alleged harassment of staff and faculty and unfair labor practices by the current UPCC administration. The complaints included “barkadismo in appointments” involving an administrative officer and a consultant. Pascual said that when news of the UPCC protests reached him early in March, he immediately sent Vice-President for Administration Maragtas Amante to Cebu to look into the complaints. Pascual said he received Amante’s report last March 16. He also announced the receipt of the formal complaint filed by Prof. Lawlita Cabahug on the same day, a copy of which is now with Vice-President for Legal Affairs Danilo Concepcion. (Continued on page 11)

I N S I D E

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UP ITTC, JICA end 5-year HRD project

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UP Diliman student claims gender discrimination

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Reproductive health forum draws RH bill supporters

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Scholars recall 1971 Diliman Commune


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