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UP
and the UPAA are now basically two weaklings.
Both have forgotten their prescribed roles in society.
Both are now part of the rent-seeking society that we all
are.
UP
is now a spineless mendicant, fully dependent on government
subsidy and basically waiting to be told.
UP is no longer independent and does not enjoy the flair to
be listened to. UP
has lost its calling to lead the nation, embarking on the unknown,
trying the untried and leading the crowd in its pursuit to achieve
academic excellence.
UP
has failed to transform its numerous land grants into productive
endeavors and lost its only chance to be economically independent. First to go is the Basilan grant now lost to CARP and other
luminaries. Next is
the Siniloan grant that is waiting for too long to be utilized
somehow. A program has yet to be formulated for its utilization.
DENR & DAR are both waiting to just take over.
The CPDP is another classic case of ineptitude.
And there are so many other idle land grants.
And
the situation is getting worse.
The gap between the university's needs and the dwindling
government subsidy is getting too wide for comfort.
First is the inability of the Univeristy to pay its'
faculty with decent incomes.
Second to go is the upkeep of the University and the
subsequent breakdown of order.
Squatters now dominate the entire UP campus and it would
seem to be unstoppable.
UP
has become the home and recipient of numerous and unrelated
government undertakings just because the vast UP campus is there.
UP may have lost most of its valuable land asset because of
dysfunction. UP
basically would lose what it never planned for.
Now,
it has recently lost control of its' UP police force. The PNP and the Quezon City government have taken over.
UP's much vaunted independence is finally over without
anybody knowing any better. UP
has lost its pride and bearing to be independent in the first
place. UP now is so
politicized.
No
land-use policy was ever established.
Not even a master plan could ever take shape. The UP planners have become victims of their own folly.
The
UPAA mandate to help UP was never taken seriously. The goal to raise ONE BILLION PESOS up to year 2008, the
100th year of UP's existence is more of a show.
It boasts of being 10 times more than the 1983 Diamond
Jubilee Campaign. The amount is, in fact more of a token and would
hardly create a dent in filling up the university's financial
requirement.
WHAT
NEEDS TO BE DONE!
UP
must live to pursue its ideals.
UP as a guiding light or beacon is the only chance for this
country to think correctly to resolve its economic drift.
UP as the University of the People is the one and only
opportunity where that full freedom to do the correct things will
be allowed. UP is endowed with that mandate to start with.
It only needs to exercise that mandate to the tee.
UP
must afford to lead, to be alone and above the rent-seeking crowd.
It can only do so if UP could transform all its idle land
grants into productive endeavors.
UP
at this juncture could not afford to think beyond survival and go
for academic excellence ....
and needs urgent help.
The
irony is, UP is so proud to seek help.
And this is where UPAA fits the role to the tee .... only
if UPAA would just pursue its own mandate to help the Alma Mater. And that is going beyond its puny fund raising campaign to do
and act as the Big Brother to UP in the transformation of its idle
land grants into something productive.
UPAA in the final analysis could render its full support if
it wants to. Upsilon
Sigma Phi could perhaps kindle this need.
With
UP & UPAA working on a tandem, working on the reestablishment
of the UP's moral ascendancy and primacy over everything that is
public becomes doable.
But
UPAA needs to be awakened itself from its deep slumber.
Its leaders must be made aware of its luckluster
performance, reactionary attitude and mediocrity of deliverance.
It is a ticklish issue but necessary to tackle.
In one fell swoop, UPAA could be challenged and confronted
with a decision to take ....
whether to pursue the Sierra Madre Plans or not.
It is that simple.
Unable
to think for itself, survival would seem to be the only goal left
for the University to pursue.
VISIONING is simply absent.
Goal setting is a thing of the past.
UP
is now wholly and fully dependent on "government"
values, priorities or even direction.
The UP campus is now the subject of scrutiny and dictation
by the different government bureaucrats not related to the
University.
Unknown
to most, UP has become a part of the victor's spoils, the quest of
today's politicians.
UPAA
is no better. As it
exists today, UPAA is the microcosm of what has become of
Philippine society. It
is very reactionary, a short-term thinker, a timid firefighter at
best and a leading exponent of the rent-seeking crowd.
It has emerged into an elite social club and functions like
one.
UPAA
has engaged itself into fund raising activities all the time to
support new professorial chairs, scholarship programs, poverty
alleviation issues and its own existence.
It has managed to be in the limelight in practically all
occasions. Somehow,
it has worked out feverishly for its own identity, above and apart
from the Alma Mater. UP
now is more of an excuse for their being rather than the focus of
their attention. UP
seems to be reason for the UPAA's "long wake".
And
just like a boat rower, UPAA could only concentrate and reminisce
with its past and glorious days.
The future can always go hang because that belongs to
somebody else. Live for the present and get the most while the going is
great. UPAA behaves
like any cultural or business Foundation that doles out pittance
for the "atonement" of their "existence".
Their presence or appearance is their primordial concern.
Ironically,
nobody listens to UPAA anymore as a consequence. It has become a non-entity and a social club.
UPAA
is simply devoid of vision and creativity.
It is the last bastion fo Philippine society where leaders
can still work out their dynasties and their perpetual stay in
power. UPAA has
assumed a political hew and a politial turf to protect.
THE
SIERRA MADRE FOUNDATION has its choice of whether to try and win
the public to its cause and gain the "critical mass" in
the process. Or go
the UPAA way seeking Upsilon's help with UP as the main
beneficiary.
The
Sierra Madre plan on the Laguna de Bay is a highly politicized
issue. Going public
would mean involving LLDA, the 30 municipal governments
surrounding the lake, the two provincial governments of Rizal
& Laguna, all the national agencies, Congress and the
Executive branch of government to include President Estrada. The real public in the final analysis becomes mere spectators
only. The
deliberations over the fate of the Laguna De Bay lake would surely
be dominated by all the politicians.
In
spite of being fully prepared, the process to twin that
"critical mass" would be time consuming and costly.
Obstacles thrown along the way could only be satisfied with
more costs. Parrying
unseen and make-believe obstacles would be a daily chore.
Political throngs of "displaced farmers and
fishermen" would be sprouting to be heard.
The operators of the "would be displaced"
15,000-hectare fishpens would be a loud
protesting group. This
whole scenario would be transformed into a big perception game
where the realities would be buried along the tedious
deliberations.
Considering
the present environment where expediency is the rule and logic and
reason get to be sidelined, the approval of the Sierra Madre Plan
could be ascertained but at very prohibitive costs.
All authoritites would have to be paid their "valued
participation". Ironically,
the higher cost of the planned infrastructure negates the very
purpose of the program.. And
what is doubly difficult, if ever is running the finished
infrastructures and its basic services.
Everybody of authority would like to have his share in the
"booty" with the public treated as secondary.
The cost of the basic services would likewise be
prohibitive.
And
the greatest obstacle for the Foundation is answering the
anticipated query of "why you?"
With
UP as the final beneficiary, the Foundation could easily retort
with confidence and say "why not?"
An emancipated UP doing its mandate is a worthy vision to
pursue. Nobody would
dare oppose such a vision for UP.
UPAA included. CPDP
is a start because it is already there.
It only needs to be imbued with the correct purpose.
Laguna de Bay as a national patrimony is next.
The University Town – by the late Leonardo Orendain ‘55
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