On Friday, 9 December 2022, the University of the Philippines Board of Regents is scheduled to elect a new UP president.
Incumbent UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo is a candidate. Many see Nemenzo as a Red sympathizer. During his tenure, UP Diliman became a bastion of rallies and similar events organized by communists or by radical elements.
Observers expect Nemenzo to make UP a staunchly anti-administration state university. That will make the Reds very happy. There will be less classes, less homework, less research, more rallies, more protest movements, more anti-government propaganda, and more historical revisionism, i.e., everything about the family of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. is evil.
It's no wonder that under Nemenzo and outgoing UP President Danilo Concepcion, UP has deteriorated in its international status. According to a recent global study, UP is no longer the premiere university in the Philippines.
Under Nemenzo and Concepcion, anybody in UP identified with the Marcos family or speaks in their favor is subjected to harassment or labeling.
Concepcion himself has been a victim of the anti-Marcos sentiment in UP. In September 2018, Concepcion attended a reunion of the Marcos Sr. era, Kabataang Barangay, then headed by now Senator Imee Marcos. Concepcion was an official of that organization.
Soon after that, radical UP faculty members and militant students demanded Concepcion's resignation for participating in the event. After Concepcion made a public apology, the issue died down. Thereafter, Concepcion was careful about rubbing the campus radicals the wrong way.
All that notwithstanding, a recent press statement published in some newspapers claims that 58 academic personalities, artists, and scientists are endorsing Nemenzo for UP President.
Apparently, the signatories are mostly Red sympathizers, rabid pinklawans, politicized academics, personalities who don't understand communism, or opinionated individuals.
One signatory is a former Secretary of Education. This signatory allowed the wastage of hundreds of millions of pesos of taxpayers' money for the publication of the notorious "sick books," or textbooks with countless factual, substantial, grammatical, clerical, and illustration errors, for use in public schools by unsuspecting pupils.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, while under this ex-Education Secretary's watch, public schools did not get their textbooks delivered on time, and not all public school teachers received their teacher's laptops.
Another signatory is supposed to be an expert in Pilipino, even though some of the signatory's publicized works are in Taglish, or a mixture of Tagalog and Pilipino — mostly "language" many mediocre contemporary local television personalities are notorious for.
At least one signatory has absolutely no tolerance for anything suspected as not gender-neutral, even in a gender-neutral language like English. The signatory wants a UP President who will mount a total overhaul of a language albeit needlessly.
One signatory was once cited by authorities for the alleged unauthorized use of a government vehicle.
One more signatory is a retired official of a past administration, who has written what is alleged to be an inaccurate account of that administration, long after the signatory once supported it.
Still, another signatory has the reputation of being an intellectual snob, and one who is user-friendly, meaning, the signatory is friendly only to those who can help the signatory.
Another signatory is famous for being staunchly against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and his family. This signatory is a known ally of highly politicized priests, Red-leaning party-list congressmen, and radical artists.
These signatories do not represent the majority of Filipino artists and scientists or of current and former UP faculty and officials.
The UP Board of Regents should not be influenced by the highly politicized endorsement of Nemenzo as the next UP president. It should choose a candidate who can, among others, work to restore UP's lost prestige.
