Student councils throughout the University of the Philippines (UP) System urged the university administration to uphold budget accountability and transparency amid years-long delays in the construction of academic spaces across UP campuses.
In a resolution adopted during the 59th General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC), they cited UP’s “lack of transparency” as the reason behind budget cuts that have stalled various infrastructure projects in the university.
Earlier this month, the Department of Budget and Management proposed a P25.82-billion allocation for UP under the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), only a little over half of the P46.85 billion the university requested.
READ: Gov’t proposes UP to receive only half of requested funds in 2026 NEP
If UP’s NEP 2026 allocation is carried over as is to next year’s General Appropriations Act, the university’s capital outlays (CO) will increase to P950 million from 2025’s P431.53 million — the lowest in 13 years.
CO are funds used by the university for the construction, renovation or acquisition of capital assets, including buildings, facilities and research equipment, among other resources.
READ: Gov’t cuts UP budget by P2.076-B; infra funding hit 13-year low
Despite “evident” budget allocations for infrastructure projects, the student councils raised concerns over the university’s “tumultuous budget implementation for ongoing renovations and constructions.”
“Maraming budget ang nasasayang sa hindi matapos-tapos na konstruksyon. Maraming budget po ang hindi natin alam kung saan napupunta dahil patuloy na nagpapatayo ‘yong ating mga administrador ng espasyo kahit mayroong ongoing na delayed infrastructures sa loob ng ating mga pamantasan,” said UP Baguio University Student Council (UPB USC) Chairperson Karlo Ancheta during the resolution-building.
A systemwide struggle
Across the UP system, unfinished infrastructure projects continue to affect the learning and working conditions of students and faculty members.
In UP Diliman (UPD), the Main Library has remained closed since renovations began in 2019, missing its original October 2020 target completion.
The new Faculty Commons, set to replace the Faculty Center destroyed by a fire in 2016, was also initially set to rise in 2020 but has yet to open.
With no dedicated space, some faculty members of the UPD College of Arts and Letters (CAL) have already spent nearly a decade squeezed into what were meant to be temporary offices in Palma Hall’s Pavilion 1 and some rooms in the Acacia Dormitory since the fire.
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“‘Yong mga faculty members namin, we have almost 200 members sa kolehiyo namin. May limang rooms lang na nakalaan para sa every department ng kolehiyo namin. Nagsisiksikan lang sila doon [sa Palma Hall],” UPD CALSC Chairperson Reina Hortel said during the convention.
A decade has also passed since the renovation of the UPB auditorium started, yet the facility remains non-operational for academic use. Construction delays in some UP Mindanao colleges have likewise left the growing student population with scarce spaces.
Meanwhile, safety issues from ongoing constructions continue to beset the UP Manila (UPM) community.
“[T]he simultaneous construction projects have not only failed to meet reasonable timelines, but have also raised safety concerns among students and employees, with reports of harassment by construction workers — further pointing to a lack of oversight and accountability,” the resolution reads.
Amid such delays, student councils called out the “swift” construction of commercial spaces in the university, including UPD’s GyudFood and Dilimall, which took only three to four years to be completed.
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The resolution said these “exhibited a stark contrast to the slow development of academic infrastructures throughout the years, raising the question of the university’s prioritization over its constituents’ needs.”
Concrete accountability
After testimonies of systemwide struggles with academic spaces, the student councils vowed to press UP for progress reports and budget utilization documents for ongoing and discontinued infrastructure projects.
“The primary factor behind delayed and discontinued constructions in the UP System is the annual budget allocation and its improper implementation on various infrastructure projects in different constituent universities,” the resolution reads.
In its 2022 report, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged UP over alleged deficiencies in the university’s investment undertakings totaling P15.05 billion. COA said the university placed P400 million worth of allotments and trust funds in time deposits instead of using them for their intended purposes.
It added UP put P18.05 million of reprogrammed funds under the General Fund and P10.32 million unutilized trust funds in time deposits.
The audit body also observed a lack of transparency in the source of UP’s invested funds, its non-submission of bank documents confirming fund receipts and the absence of clear guidelines on how the university would utilize income from time deposits and investments.
UP later refuted COA’s claims, saying the university puts funds received before the required time of payment for projects into “short-term placements” to ensure their availability during disbursements.
“[A]ll income earned from such investments is also used for or in support of educational purposes,” UP Vice President for Planning and Finance Iryn Balmores said in a July 2023 statement. “Investing the funds in short-term placements is not equivalent to using the funds.”
“We respectfully disagree with the COA’s statement that there is a lack of transparency in the placement of these funds as these placements have gone through proper and complete documentation and approval,” she added.
Following such “numerous ongoing, yet delayed” construction projects in UP, the GASC plans to join alliances spanning local college-wide to UP System-wide networks, such as the Kailangan ng KAL ng Espasyo, or “KKALAS,” Coalition.
“Gusto namin na mas mapalawak ito across different constituent units. Hindi lang sa [UPD] [kundi] pati na rin sa iba’t ibang constituent units sa ating UP system,” UPD CALSC Chairperson Hortel said during the resolution building.
The resolution was authored by the UPD CALSC, UPB USC and UPM College of Public Health SC during the 59th GASC convention at UP Los Baños from Aug. 7 to 9.
