Jea Nicole Jacot

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vetoed the bill seeking to grant national university status to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

Photos Courtesy of PUP/Senate of the Philippines.

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro confirmed on Friday, July 11, that Marcos Jr. rejected the National Polytechnic University (NPU) Bill due to PUP’s non-compliance with some requirements set by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). 

“Ang sinasabi pong bill ay na-veto ng Pangulo dahil nagkaroon po ng direktiba noon pa po noong 2016 na dapat magkaroon ng assessment. At sa ngayon po, lumalabas na hindi po nagkaroon ng compliance para sa assessment ng nasabing paaralan,” Castro said at a press briefing in Malacañang.

She added that the President remains optimistic that the bill would be enacted into law and the university would earn the designation once it can fully comply with the reassessment requirements. 

Senate Bill No. 2669, or the proposed Revised Charter of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, mandates PUP to “support other polytechnic state universities and colleges and serve as a guide in the development and delivery of professional and technical programs.” 

It also seeks to give institutional and fiscal autonomy to the university, and shall exclusively determine its teaching, research, and extension thrust, plans, policies, programs, and standards.

After two years of collective protest, various progressive groups from the PUP community urged a veto of the bill when it was passed in its third reading on February 3.
 
In a press release posted on Facebook, the PUP Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral recognizes the news as a “hard-won victory”  by the students, faculty, staff, and other groups who opposed the bill since it was first introduced in 2019. 

“It was pushed without consulting the primary stakeholders of PUP, the students themselves, who will be directly affected by any institutional changes this bill seeks to introduce,” the press statement read. 

“Marcos Jr’s reasoning for his veto, that PUP has not met the necessary benchmarks for a national status, is entirely erroneous. With or without the NPU Bill, PUP has always proved itself as a state university capable of contributing to nationally-relevant community building,” it added. 

On the other hand, the PUP administration expressed their disappointment over the veto through a Facebook post, where they called the veto a “rejection of the urgent call to expand access to quality, inclusive, and relevant public higher education.” 

It noted that the decision had denied the proposed Php 100 million in annual funding and would pose “real and immediate consequences” to the institution. 

In May 2024, the NPU Bill was repassed by Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Win Gatchalian, and Sonny Angara, and it was sponsored by Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education. 

The bill was expected to become law on July 9 if the President did not veto it.