President Duterte has vetoed the bill granting the Polytechnic University of the Philippines the status of a national polytechnic university, citing “serious reservations” regarding its performance and how its appropriations would impact the government.
In his veto message to the Congress dated Sept. 4, 2019, Duterte raised concerns about the suitability of passing the bill.
“While I recognize the noble objective of the measure to promote, foster, nurture, and the right of all citizens to accessible quality education, I have serious reservations on the suitability of the means chosen to attain this end, namely, granting the Polytechnic University of the Philippines the status of a national polytechnic university, with all the benefits and privileges such status entails,” he said.
The President said that despite PUP’s stature in the education sector, he cannot disregard the fact that PUP is just one of the many state universities and colleges in the country. He said further assessment is needed before granting PUP such status.
“Its proposed designation as national polytechnic university needs to be reassessed in light of its current performance ranking among other SUCs,” he said. “The comparative performance of its satellite campuses and extension programs needs to be similarly evaluated before granting the PUP system as a whole such privileged status,” he added.
Duterte also said that a reassessment is necessary since the bill seeks to grant fiscal autonomy to PUP. He said the upgrade would also have effects on the government.
“A reassessment is all the more needful considering that the enrolled bill provides for the grant of fiscal autanomy to PUP, which departs from the adopted policy of granting only institutional autonomy to SUCs,” he said. (Argyll Geducos)
