Campus press under siege
Printing Fund Row Shuts Down Collegian

Instead of copies of the Philippine Collegian, there are now several position papers on the bulletin boards of all colleges denouncing the UP administration’s suppression of the publication’s autonomy.

By MARK JOSEPH UBALDE
Contributed to Bulatlat

Copies of the weekly Philippine Collegian (official student publication of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City) are usually available either on Tuesday or Thursday. Passing by the lobby of UP’s colleges, students would hurriedly grab a copy on their way to class to read burning issues of the day in UP and beyond.

However, things changed after the UP Diliman administration last April decided to strictly implement Republic Act No. 9184, also known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, which requires procurement amounting to P250,000 ($5,000, based on an exchange rate of P50 for every U.S. dollar) and above to go through public bidding. Since the start of the semester in June 2006, the Philippine Collegian has not received printing funds given its refusal to subject to a UP administration-led public bidding the choice of printing press.

Despite the withholding of printing funds, the editors and staff of the Philippine Collegian still managed to publish eight issues this semester by promising to the printing press that the latter will be paid eventually once the impasse with the UP administration is resolved. The arrangement, however, proved to be untenable and the printing press demanded that the accumulated debt in printing expenses be settled first.

Clash of policies

The UP administration said it was compelled to implement the law to avoid administrative and criminal charges. The editors and staff of the Philippine Collegian, however, stressed that press freedom is again under siege.

“It is not our intention to repress the freedom of expression, “said UP Diliman Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Elizabeth Enriquez. “If we follow the liberal interpretation, we could (even) be charged with graft.”

Enriquez said that while the UP Diliman administration respects the Philippine Collegian’s editorial autonomy, the financial independence of the publication is something else. According to her, RA 9184 was passed in 2003 to curb corruption on the procurement of the national government and its various departments, corporations, bureaus and schools through a competitive and transparent public bidding.

The law was supposed to have been implemented in 2005 but government units were given a one-year grace period to adjust. As the grace period ended in 2006, the printing funds of the Philippine Collegian had to be subjected to the new law, Enriquez said.

Karl Fredrick Castro, editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, challenged the UP administration-led public bidding since this was supposedly “the job of the editorial board and not the administration.”

Even if the publication funds were collected by the administration during enrolment, it still cannot be classified as government funds. Castro said that the collection of publication funds is the least the administration can do in upholding campus press freedom. He disagreed with any proposal that the editors and staff themselves initiate the collection. “The student’s fund is the only thing that sustains us. When the students start collecting the fee it is ineffective,” he said.

If the UP administration is invoking RA 9184, the editors and staff of the Philippine Collegian use as basis for asserting its autonomy the Campus Journalism Act (CJA) of 1991. The CJA’s implementing rules and regulations state, “The printing of the student publication by a private printer shall be conducted by the editorial board and the student publication staff through canvass or public bidding.” (Rule IV, Section 4)

For the UP administration, however, RA 9184 is a more recent law and therefore should be the one followed.

Prior consultations

Asserting its autonomy, Castro said that the editors and staff decided to do their own bidding as has been done in the past. They sent a copy of the bidding process along with the receipts to Enriquez.  The UP administration, however, refused to recognize this and went on to hold the release of the printing funds. 

“(Withholding the funds) is a more effective tool to silence the publication,” Castro said, “Even if they cannot censor our articles, we cannot come up with an issue.”

Enriquez, a former media practitioner, said that she has been supportive of the Philippine Collegian’s autonomy and would do everything to help preserve its independence. She even regularly maintains communication with the editorial board and reminds them of certain deadlines with the bidding.

For her, the only way the Philippine Collegian would be able to get around RA 9184 is if the court gives it an exemption. “Until that happens, our hands are tied,” she said.

Meanwhile, Prof. Luis Teodoro, former editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, said that the administration should have been more liberal in its interpretation of the law. “They could have gone on the side of the student’s press freedom... (And) they could have interpreted these not as government funds but as student funds.”

He added that if the funds of the Philippine Collegian could be considered student fund, the CJA of 1991 would prevail over RA 9184. 

Teodoro also said that faced with the same situation, he would also question the administration’s move.  However, he disregards the issue that the administration did this on purpose to keep the Philippine Collegian from being critical of the government. “I cannot tell if it’s intentional. Maybe they were just being extra careful.”

The future of the Collegian

Several pressing issues have been left unreported or unnoticed by a majority of the UP students after a month of the Philippine Collegian’s absence. In its last issue, the UP-wide tuition hike was just UP President Emerlinda Roman’s proposal.  Now, the UP administration officials seem to be pushing it forward in the absence of the publication.

“It’s a great injustice if there isn’t a student’s voice in this issue before the year ends,” Castro said.

To keep the student’s informed, the Philippine Collegian has made available its issues online (http://philippinecollegian.net/). For now, the editors and staff are still holding meetings with UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao, as well as their own lawyers. The Collegian also teamed up with the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Solidaridad, and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) for an awareness campaign not only throughout UP but also among other state universities.

“We are not going to back down… we are going to continue.”  Castro said.

Instead of copies of the Philippine Collegian, there are now several position papers on the bulletin boards of all colleges denouncing the UP administration’s suppression of the publication’s autonomy.  Talks between Castro and Cao are also continuing.  But until then, the students have no Philippine Collegian to look forward to on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Bulatlat

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