President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Speech during the University of the Philippines (U.P.) Charter Bill Signing Ceremony

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Speech during the University of the Philippines (U.P.) Charter Bill Signing Ceremony
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
U.P. Cebu Library Conference Hall, UP Library Bldg., Cebu City, Cebu

Daghang salamat, UP Cebu, ang atong host karon, ang alma mater og akong inahan sa iyang pre-med.

It is an honor to mark the year of the UP centennial anniversary by enacting the law to "Strengthen the University of the Philippines as the National University."

There is no greater pleasure for a UP alumna and former faculty member like me, than to be able to sign into law what will confer on our alma mater the enhanced capability to fulfill its mission and spread the benefits of knowledge to our people.

Surely the pride and honor are shared by the legislators who authored, co-authored, sponsored, co-sponsored and refined the bill that now becomes law. Most of them graduated from UP, or have children attending UP. All of them believe in the mission of the University of the Philippines. To all our authors and sponsors and all who voted for the law, thank you.

UP has been the training ground of the country's top leaders in government including many of our Presidents, pillars of business and various professions, and of a great number of our intellectuals past and present.

Strengthening the UP Charter now is timely, not only because the University turns a hundred years old this year, but also because new challenges in the 21st century call for new ways of thinking and new approaches to modern situations.

The new Charter ensures that the revenues of UP will be plowed back into its programs. It safeguards the University's physical assets and exempts its earnings, including donations and grants, from taxes. It exempts UP personnel from the Salary Standardization Law.

By providing institutional autonomy, the UP Charter protects students' democratic access, strengthens the University's administration through the Board of Regents and upholds academic freedom.

It recognizes the effectiveness of the UP System, which has set up constituent universities in strategic parts of the country, including our host campus today.

Furthermore, as a centennial gift, this law provides for the allocation of P500 million to the University of the Philippines, to be released over five years.

This is in addition to the P200 million we gave the PGH in 2006 and 2007 and in addition to the P500 million for the science and technology complex in Diliman.

We set up the science in technology complex because in 2004 UNESCO found that the number of researchers, scientists and engineers in a developing country is 340 per million of the population. In our country we have only 48 per million Filipinos. To achieve the UNESCO benchmark in the shortest possible time and to boost our effort at global competitiveness, the Philippine government is investing P3 billion from budget and off-budget sources in Engineering Research and Development Technology, including the UP Science and Technology Complex, between 2007 and 2010. This is to promote engineering R&D activities in the country at a significant scale in order to modernize every aspect of the economic underpinnings of the Philippines, including agriculture, to propel economic growth. Modernization will need a critical mass of R&D-capable manpower that will attract technology-based investors to the country. Since last school year, seven universities led by the UP College of Engineering have been offering scholarships for masters and doctoral degree programs in all fields of engineering.

The consortium steps up the creation of a favorable environment for science and technology to flourish. We can do it; we have the knowledge to build the basic industries that engage in high-value added activities such as design, R&D, product conceptualization, product development, and innovation. Investors know our caliber; our manpower is world class. At the forefront are our engineers; they are indeed the engines for national growth as they help spawn high-tech companies. With engineering R&D, led by the University of the Philippines, we further hone their skills and create our own technology roadmaps that will bring science and technology right at the doorstep of the Filipino nation.

With UP as the National University, the primus inter pares among state universities in our country, the leader in academic standards, and the primary seat for advanced studies, research and advancement of intellectual thought, this law ensures the hundred-year tradition of producing the best minds.

With this law, may the minds produced by UP become modern-day exemplars of the famed Oblation, that enduring symbol of the University’s offering of itself to the Filipino people.

To the UP students, faculty, staff and officials in all of its campuses, and to the authors of the strengthened UP Charter, congratulations!


source:
http://www.op.gov.ph/speeches.asp?iid=1234&iyear=2008&imonth=4