On March 25, Edgardo Carlo Vistan II succeeded in his second bid for the UP Diliman Chancellorship. With his first term nearing its end, the university reflects on an administration marked by long-standing issues and increasing demands for more decisive action.
Tinig ng Plaridel outlines the challenges that have defined his time in office so far, setting the stage for the scrutiny of his ongoing leadership and continuing administration.
Lacking learning assistance
Delays in the Student Learning Assistance System (SLAS) have hindered timely access to financial aid, forcing students to navigate prolonged applications and appeals before receiving subsidies.
According to a 2024 Collegian report, Office of Scholarships and Grants staff face heavy workloads processing thousands of applications, often working extended hours to address incomplete submissions and appeals.
Bureaucratic hurdles, opaque evaluation criteria and delayed release of results have left some students uncertain about their enrollment status and financial capacity to continue their studies.
In the meeting minutes of the 2025 Diliman consultation with Vistan, then University Student Councilor (USC) Joaquin Buenaflor raised concerns about the lack of transparency and the stringent guidelines for SLAS applications.
Former USC Chairperson Sean Latorre also noted the volume of appeals, tallying around thousands.
Nearly half of SLAS recipients filed appeals. Philippine Collegian reported hundreds of unresolved cases that underscored the systemic strain in evaluating aid requests and finalizing grant decisions.
Axed reading break
Vistan’s chancellorship saw the removal of the mid-semester reading break in the UP Diliman academic calendar, drawing mixed reactions from the community.
Vistan maintained his stance against the return of reading break, proposing instead to shorten the academic calendar during the public forum for the chancellor selection process on March 4.
The approved calendar for A.Y. 2024 to 2025 was released without reading breaks in any semester, merging the holiday and semestral breaks into a single 31-day break, spanning from Dec. 19, 2024 to Jan. 19, 2025.
For the second consecutive year, no reading breaks were included in the A.Y. 2025 to 2026 calendar.
This drew mixed responses from students, with the USC noting that some supported the move as it aligns with their academic culture and traditions, while others called for the reading break’s return for genuine rest.
Student leaders have sought a genuine wellness break since its removal, but to no avail.
Vistan rejected the USC’s push for a wellness break in Nov. 2025, despite more than 7000 students signing the petition amid rising influenza cases and mental health concerns.
READ: tinigngplaridel.net/timeline-up-welfare-break
The reading break was first introduced in 2020 to help students and faculty cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scarce spaces in a ‘cultural haven’
The lack of conducive spaces for student organizations and formations remains prevalent contrary to Vistan’s claim of the university becoming a “cultural haven” in his term-end report.
The Student Union Building’s facilities remain limited, with some areas showing “substandard construction” such as leaking ceilings, flooding during heavy rains, frequently malfunctioning elevators and visible wall cracks. This is despite the building having been open for only three years.
From A.Y. 2020 to 2021 until now, provincial organizations have also dwindled due to struggles in spaces, manpower and recognition. They have long served as spaces for cultural representation within campus grounds.
READ: tinigngplaridel.net/gasc-56-unitreports/
Tabled sexual harassment cases
The Office of Anti-Sexual Harassment counted 53 out of 119 sexual harassment cases from 2019 to 2024 are still awaiting formal action from the Office of the Chancellor, the Collegian reported.
These include unresolved abuse, harassment or rape (AHR) cases within the political party STAND UP and the “hazing-like” application processes of UP Junior Marketing Association, UP Economics Society and UP Gears and Pinions.
READ: tinigngplaridel.net/upjma-ecosoc-dares
A UP Diliman student survivor also forwarded their concerns in handling sexual harassment cases during the sectoral-led forum on March 13.
They noted the distress caused by the nearly one-year delay of their complaint despite multiple in-person follow-ups. Some perpetrators even graduated without facing sanctions, they added.
Vistan acknowledged his office’s delays in processing the cases, admitting the ‘inefficiency’ of the system and that he has yet to issue a decision.
He proposed keeping sexual harassment cases involving UP faculty and personnel under the Chancellor’s office, while student complaints would be referred to other units that handle student offenses.
Delayed infrastructure projects
Vistan’s three-year term also oversaw the delayed construction of academic infrastructures. According to his end-of-term report, 45 construction projects were completed while 54 others remain in progress.
Worth P2.5 billion in total, these delayed projects include the Php 565-million College of Arts and Letters (CAL) Building Phases 2 and 3, the Php 576-million Faculty Center, the Php 401-million Main Library renovation and the Php 123-million renovation of the College of Music.
Most of these were handled by contractors previously flagged for negligence in other government contracts or linked to the flood control probes, including Elite General Contractor and Development Corp., a Discaya-owned firm.
On September 12, 2025, UP said its officials met with Campus Maintenance Office (CMO) employees to discuss the “planned turnover and completion” of infrastructure projects in UPD, including the Faculty Center and Main Library.
The UP Academic Employees Union criticized the planned move, saying that transferring contractors’ responsibilities to the CMO is an inadequate solution.
In his second bid for chancellorship, Vistan expressed his intention to prioritize the continuation of infrastructure projects under Diliman’s purview.
Regularization of contractuals remains elusive
Contractual employees in UP Diliman faced threats of salary deductions in early 2024 to cover expanded withholding tax (EWT) deficiencies. This further strained workers who are already coping with low pay and job insecurity.
EWT is a tax withheld from employees’ salaries and paid by their employer to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
After mounting pressure from labor groups, Vistan met with the Alliance of Contractual Employees – UP (ACE-UP) on March 26, 2024, resulting in concessions that permanently suspended deadlines for EWT payments.
Despite this relief, workers continue to grapple with systemic issues of delayed wages, limited benefits, contract renewals dependent on management discretion and reports of workplace abuse.
Vice Chancellor Adeline Pacia acknowledged the accounting office’s withholding tax errors during a consultation with the Office of the Vice Chancellor Administration, the ACE-UP and the All UP Workers Union.
Expansion of campus commercialization
Following Vistan’s vision of a ‘sustainable environment’ is the reconstruction of the old UP Shopping Center (SC) into DiliMall in 2024, further commercializing the campus with private establishments while stallholders take the back seat.
This was met by protests from multi-sectoral groups, launching the “UP Not for Sale Network” who leads the campaign against the conversion of academic spaces into commercial areas.
READ: tinigngplaridel.net/up-dilimall/
Former SC stallholders expressed their disappointment at the lack of dialogue and fear of replacement due to high rental rates and reserved spaces for private establishments.
READ:tinigngplaridel.net/robinsons-easymart-dilimall
Cultivating a ‘sustainable environment’
Residents of Pook Aguinaldo, Area 17 and Pook Malantic in Brgy. U.P. Campus are also facing the threat of displacement and loss of livelihoods, as plans to construct the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Park continue.
The SDG Park is the University’s flagship sustainability project. It seeks to “demonstrate innovative solutions for urban living that address environmental challenges, promote and enhance public wellness and empower marginalized sectors.”
However, armed surveillance of Pook Aguinaldo’s farming lands and residences has heightened the tension between farmers and the administration.
Pook Aguinaldo residents considered the consultation with the administration insufficient, following the participation of the Office of the Vice President for Development (OVPD) in a meeting between residents to introduce a survey.
Recently, ACE-UP also exposed that OVPD claims consultations about housing for contractual workers as consultations for the SDG Park, thus giving the impression of participation and support.
Increased presence of state forces
In his end-of-term report, Vistan did not mention any partnerships with state forces despite the increase in police and military personnel within campus, especially since the termination of the UP-DND accord in 2021.
In the UPD USC unit report during the 60th General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC), they said police mobiles enter University grounds without prior notice.
The National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) had reported more than five incidents, including accounts of surveillance from police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
UP President Angelo Jimenez had previously signed a declaration of cooperation with AFP in 2024 without consulting students, faculty and staff.
READ: tinigngplaridel.net/up-afp-declaration/
He said the declaration aims for “collaborative research, publications, and capacity building initiatives,” allowing visits, exchanges and research fellowships in the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS).
READ: tinigngplaridel.net/up-afp-declaration/
Vistan also signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the College of Human Kinetics (CHK) and the PNP-Special Action Force on January 27.
This agreement entailed a collaboration with the CHK faculty to prepare for an international special weapons and tactics competition.
Vistan maintained the decision to uphold the MOA despite sectoral contensions, promising better transparency efforts by submitting agreements through the recently formed UP Diliman Committee on the Protection of Freedoms and Rights.
“Walang dapat [na] pangamba sa mga MOA na ‘to. ‘Yong sinabi mo sa CHK, karamihan ng gagawin diyan sa Sta. Rosa gagawin,” Vistan said.
“It’s not a threat. But naiintindihan ko [ang issue] of transparency [para] ma-review at maka-comment ang mga stakeholders,” he added.
Another term ahead
While UP Diliman students, faculty members, and personnel cannot vote to elect the next Chancellor as per the UP Charter of 2008, they outlined their demands and expectations for the incoming Chancellor.
Among the calls are fighting against corruption, asserting a higher budget for education, opposing campus privatization and junking the proposed SDG Park project.
Vistan signed the pledge to forward students’ demands, as well as the calls of UPD faculty members, staff and communities within the campus during the sectoral-led forum.
Sectoral representatives stressed, however, that the next Chancellor must also demonstrate more than a willingness to listen to constituents’ concerns and take decisive action.
“[U]nder a state of national emergency brought upon by diminishing oil supplies and the prices of basic commodities under the threat of soaring inflation, now is the time for principled leadership that is anchored on genuine service to the Filipino masses,” Bahagui Nating Isko said in a statement.
Vistan contrasted the fate of his predecessor, Fidel Nemenzo, who failed to secure his second bid for the UP Diliman Chancellorship in 2023.
Before Vistan, former Chancellor Michael Lim Tan was the last Chancellor who successfully ran for two consecutive terms from 2014 to 2020.
Vistan’s first term is set to conclude on April 2.
