By Aleina Bañez | April 6, 2024
Image: UPB Balay Internasyonal (Carhrihl Yuan Balubar)

The University of the Philippines (UP), a top-ranking university, is hailed across the country as the university. “As its first president Murray Simon Bartlett envisioned it, a “University for Filipinos.” Its campus in Baguio (UPB), is ranked as the top 1 university in the city and the 28th in the country as of February 2024, according to EduRank — an organization that prioritizes research quality next to non-academic competence and “alumni popularity indicators,” in its parameters for ranking. On a surface level, it looks like the university’s Baguio campus has good things to say about itself. But beyond the gleaming “Rank One”, what does the university try to prove to its students and the Filipino masses?

Currently, it seems that one thing on top of the list is how the institution values its visitors. This is not something new to UP, or even to other universities. As hospitable Filipinos are, so is the willingness of such institutions to accommodate new faces, and Balay Internasyonal is the primary example of how far UPB goes in showing hospitality. Apparently, it is meant to support the institution’s internalization program, “as it has 19 units for visiting professors, exchange faculty, university guests, inbound foreign students, faculty, and staff.” It also serves as a venue for affairs with its conference hall and other areas available for community gatherings and other social activities. Now, this is all well and good. It wouldn’t hurt the university if spaces were provided for non-local, or even international outlook. After all, this does add points for a step up in university rankings, doesn’t it? But with this, in being conscious of the state of UP Baguio internally, how crucial to the Iskolar is UPB Balay Internasyonal?

Detaching from a non-UPB Iskolar outlook, student housing is a current issue among the others that have been slow-cooked under pressure. Constructed in 1971, the UP Baguio Residence Hall (UP BREHA) is a female-exclusive student housing provision of the university, which was renovated and reopened in 2014. The construction of UPB Balay Internasyonal began in the same year. With UPB having a population of around 2,700 students, UPBREHA accounts for around 6% of female Iskolars. The residence hall offers female boarders a bed space and amenities for a significantly cheaper price than residing outside campus, for P700.00 to P850.00 per person — that is, relatively cheaper than paying rent of four to five digits.

Residing in UPBREHA would seem like an advantage for female Iskolars, but at the small price they have to pay seemingly comes with more costs — compromise. Now, with appreciation for its affordability, having to compromise is definitely something anyone would expect. USC Basic Student Services Officer Jan Miguel Bersamira said that the “major recurring concerns of the UPBREHA residents revolve around the maintenance of facilities and equipment, dormitory policies, and transparency in records and information,” which, according to a UPBREHA resident, can take days to be fixed. “From what our dorm manager told us, I think this happens because the process of requesting for fixing service from the university requires a lot of approval before they start,” she said.

The University Student Council (USC) has continuously raised student concerns regarding the barely favorable living conditions at UPBREHA and has always committed to its role as a medium for the UPB studentry to make the administration aware of problem areas, yet as USC Vice Chairperson Mar Clarence Quinto said, “the admin is not that proactive in addressing these concerns.”

In recent years, the UPB administration seems to simply enjoy the role of being spectators, detached from the challenges the major constituent of the university has been crawling under for so long. Unfinished construction projects are scattered across campus, UPBREHA continues to be burdensome to its residents, and majorly, a male dormitory still remains simply as a thought despite a proposed budget allocation of P87,900,000.00 on the UPB Master Development Plan (MDP). The USC had already made requests for the then unopened and non-operational UPB Balay International to be converted into a male dormitory, but the administration seems to simply have swept it under the rug.

There is a need for the UPB administration to set their priorities straight. It is high time for the university administration to hear, understand, and act on students’ needs and demands.

UPB Balay Internasyonal seeks to be evidence of the university’s prestige in outlook and reputation, but it cannot minimize the true state of the institution. If UPB has the time and financial resources to focus on its external reputation, with UPB Balay International as a stepping stone, this cannot cover up, or be used as an excuse, to trivialize the issues within the studentry. Not to mention the tendency of the university to adhere to bureaucratic processes, which follow a chain of forms and approvals before the approval of use, proves to be more of a challenge than an advantage for UPB Iskolars — a tendency which can occur at UPB Balay Internasyonal that may not be much of a surprise.

Because behind all the stars on the external reputation of the institution, the true testament of the university’s holistic essence is its accountability to its own people.

For the University of the Philippines to truly embody a University for Filipinos, it should become an institution all its constituents are proud of.