As mentioned in a previous editorial, the University of the Philippines Board of Regents will be electing a new UP president next month. The UP BOR is composed of 11 members. At least six votes are needed for a candidate to win.
At a forum recently held in UP Diliman, the six candidates for UP president presented their respective platforms to an audience composed mainly of radical students and university bureaucrats who dislike the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
Two candidates dominated that forum.
One of them is Fidel Nemenzo, a known anti-establishment personality who is currently the Chancellor of UP Diliman. Though he is just on his first term as chancellor, the ambitious Nemenzo already wants to be UP President.
Right after he was elected UP Diliman Chancellor in 2020, Nemenzo stepped out of UP Diliman's Quezon Hall raising a clenched fist to his radical supporters. The clenched fist has been traditionally associated with red elements.
Under Chancellor Nemenzo, communist groups and similarly-minded organizations are allowed to hold protest activities in UP Diliman. Those groups sympathetic to the government are virtually prohibited from doing so.
Nemenzo's father, former UP President Francisco Nemenzo Jr., has connections with the original communist party in the country, the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas, founded in Central Luzon.
It's obvious that Fidel Nemenzo is staunchly anti-President BBM. If elected, Nemenzo is expected to continue the anti-Marcos administration stance of the radical and left-leaning sectors of UP.
Sources say Nemenzo has the support of several members of the UP BOR, namely, the regents representing the UP faculty, student body, and administrative personnel.
The other candidate is Angelo "Jijil" Jimenez, a former member of the UP BOR. A staunch pro-Aquino and anti-Marcos partisan, Jimenez owes his appointment as UP regent to then President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.
Jimenez was a member of the UP BOR when UP allowed the use of more than a hectare of its prime real estate in UP Diliman to host the controversial Martial Law Museum.
The museum will showcase the alleged evils of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his martial law regime. It will also highlight President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino as the purported "savior" of democracy in the Philippines.
Jimenez enjoys the support of Senator and ex officio UP Regent Francis "Chiz" Escudero. They are members of the same UP fraternity, which has anti-Bongbong Marcos sentiments.
Malacañang knows Senator Escudero is anti-President BBM. When Escudero ran for vice president against Bongbong in 2016, Escudero called Bongbong the son of an evil dictator. Escudero obviously wanted to court the anti-Marcos votes just to attain power.
Ironically, Escudero's late dad Salvador Escudero was a die-hard Marcos loyalist.
Sources say Senator Escudero has succeeded in getting outgoing UP President and fellow regent Danilo Concepcion to vote for Jimenez. Concepcion seems to believe he owes his UP presidency to Escudero.
Under Concepcion's watch, UP lost its status as the premiere Philippine university, based on a report by an international educational ranking study. UP will probably deteriorate further under Jimenez, who has no actual experience as a UP administrator.
Regent Prospero de Vera, Chair of the Commission on Higher Education, seems to support Jimenez. De Vera is suspected to have anti-Marcos sympathies.
Likewise, sources say Regent Francis Laurel is also voting for Jimenez, because of the latter's anti-Marcos behavior.
Word has it that Laurel is eyeing re-appointment as UP regent by President BBM next year. If that is so, why then is Laurel voting for Jimenez, and indirectly, for the completion of the Martial Law Museum?
President BBM cannot let either Nemenzo or Jimenez become UP President.
Three UP Regents are appointees of the President of the Philippines. President BBM should advise them not to vote for either candidate. If they don't heed the president's advice, they should be replaced at the end of their terms next year.