2 UP officials face raps over suicide

MANILA, Philippines - Two top officials of the University of the Philippines-Manila are facing criminal charges before the Office of the Ombudsman related to the suicide of 16-year-old freshman Kristel Tejada last week.

In their complaint, lawyers Dean Rudyard Avila III and Argee Guevara accused UP-Manila chancellor Manuel Agulto and vice chancellor for academic affairs Marie Josephine de Luna of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

“Two days before she killed herself, 16-year-old Kristel Pilar Mariz Tejada – a Behavioral Sciences student at UP Manila – was forced to take a leave of absence for the second semester after she failed to pay her tuition due to her family’s dire financial situation,” read the complaint. “The ‘forced leave,’ as numerous media outlets described the UP-Manila policy, was an offshoot of the UP-M officials’ insistence that the University code mandates strict compliance with the payment of tuition, almost without exceptions.” 

The complaint said professor Andrea Martinez, Kristel’s program advisor and psychology professor, described the strict enforcement of the no late payment scheme as “a blow to (the student’s) self esteem.”

“The manner in which the cruel policies of De Luna and Agulto had insidiously contributed to her low sense of self-esteem is described in an editorial on Kristel’s death,” read the complaint. 

“The acts of respondents were clearly contrary to law, morals, good custom or the clear public policy of democratic access embodied in the University of the Philippines charter.” 

Avila and Guevara said Agulto and De Luna must be held liable for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations” by issuing the October 2012 memorandum.

“Reflecting this spirit, the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act clearly has no patience for public officials who are predisposed to cause ‘any undue injury to any party, including the Government... in the discharge of his official administrative ...functions’,” read the complaint.

“In their official intransigence, respondents Agulto and De Luna, like Shylock of Shakespeare’s lore, may have extracted their proverbial ‘pound of flesh’ and, possibly, snuffed out the life of someone so young in life, not to mention the dreams of hundreds of students who may have been injured by their indiscretion.”  

Students march for Kristel

Students from different schools and universities in Manila marched to the UP Manila in Padre Faura yesterday to pay their last tribute to Kristel.

Students from the Manila Science High School and Philippine Normal University joined the vigil and the funeral march to return Kristel’s remains to the Sanctuary Funeral in Sta. Cruz, Manila before she is buried at the Manila North Cemetery today.

Kristel’s remains were brought to the Rizal Hall of UP-Manila on Wednesday and classes were suspended to give way to the necrological services and vigil.

Tony Leachon, UP-Manila information, publications and public affairs director, said the UP community hopes that Kristel’s death will not be in vain and changes would soon come because of what happened.

“We heard that several lawmakers who graduated from UP are planning to raise P100 million from their pork barrel allocations to put up an assistance fund for poor UP students,” he said.  

UP to amend assistance program

Amendments to UP’s socialized tuition and financial assistance program (STFAP) might be approved next month and implemented starting next academic year. 

UP assistant professor Richard Philip Gonzalo said the proposed amendments were presented to the UP Presidential Advisory Council on March 14, a day before Tejada committed suicide.

“Some were claiming it was a knee-jerk reaction by the UP administration (to the suicide) but it was not,” he said.

The first draft of the proposal was presented in November 2012, he added.

Gonzalo was part of the group that studied the revision of the STFAP that UP president Alfredo Pascual had ordered.

Gonzalo said attempts were made to look into the STFAP years before, but the concrete moves for revision started in October 2012.

“Next week the proposal would be ironed out and would be presented to the Board of Regents on April 12 for approval,” he said.

Pascual told reporters on Monday that the STFAP  needs to be revised due to the long application process. 

The centralized process of classifying the students has caused delays in decisions on the bracketing to determine the financial capability of each scholar, he added. 

Pascual mentioned the mismatch between the indicators and the actual financial needs of the students. 

The allowance for those classified under the lowest bracket needs to be increased, he added. 

A brief from Pascual’s office said the increase in tuition and miscellaneous fees necessitated the adjustment of benefits under the STFAP to better serve the needs of the students.

Among the proposed changes is the integration of income information in the application to take the UP College Admission Test.

It was also proposed that a random sampling of home visits be conducted to verify the financial standing of students. 

A penalty would be imposed for misdeclaration.

Pascual proposed the automation of application for student loans to speed up the process and increase slots for assistance. 

Students belonging to Bukluran UP System proposed the following:  Transparency in the STFAP by explaining to students by letter how their brackets were assigned; Flexibility by reducing the proposed two-year bracket renewal period to one year; Online STFAP application with the submission of electronic, instead of physical, documents for verification;  Equal application of STFAP bracketing for second-degree and graduate students without hiking tuition levels;  Yearly review of the STFAP by the administration and students; Mode of payment in installments; Deferred payment option without interest; 100 percent tuition coverage of the existing student loans program; and  Transportation allowance for UPCAT passers from distant areas.   â€“ With Rey Galupo, Reinir Padua, Paolo Romero