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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