University of the Philippines Charter Strengthening

Policy: national university and education rights

Section 2 declares the University of the Philippines as the national university.
Section 2 directs the State to promote, foster, nurture and protect the right of all citizens to accessible quality education.
Section 2 adopts the policy of strengthening the University of the Philippines as the national university.
Section 2 frames University strengthening as a State objective tied to education access and quality.

Core purposes and institutional functions

Section 3 provides that the University of the Philippines is a public and secular institution of higher learning and a community of scholars dedicated to the search for truth and knowledge and the development of future leaders.
Section 3 requires the University to lead in setting academic standards and initiating innovations in teaching, research, and faculty development across defined fields: philosophy, arts and humanities, social sciences, professions and engineering, natural sciences, mathematics, and technology, and to maintain centers of excellence in such disciplines and professions.
Section 3 mandates the University to serve as a graduate university providing advanced studies and specialization, especially for scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and professionals, including those who serve on the faculty of state and private colleges and universities.
Section 3 requires the University to function as a research university through basic and applied research and development, promoting research in other colleges and universities, and contributing to dissemination and application of knowledge.
Section 3 requires the University to function as a public service university through community, public, and volunteer service, and scholarly and technical assistance to government, private sector, and civil society while maintaining excellence standards.
Section 3 requires the University to protect and promote the professional and economic rights and welfare of its academic and non-academic personnel.
Section 3 requires the University to provide opportunities for training and learning in leadership, responsible citizenship, and democratic values, including sports and the enhancement of nationalism and national identity.
Section 3 requires the University to serve as a regional and global university through cooperation with international and scientific unions, networks of universities, and scholarly and professional associations in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.
Section 3 requires democratic governance based on collegiality, representation, accountability, transparency, and active participation, and requires the holding of meetings (REPS, staff, and alumni) to discuss non-academic issues affecting the University.

Academic freedom, excellence, and national development

Section 5 grants the national university the right and responsibility to exercise academic freedom.
Section 6 assigns the national university the responsibility to maintain and enhance high academic standards in instruction, research, extension, and public service.
Section 7 requires the national university to harness expertise to regularly study the state of the nation in relation to national development, identify key concerns, formulate responsive policies, and provide advice and recommendations to Congress and the Philippines.
Section 7 authorizes Congress, the Supreme Court, other lower courts, other government agencies and instrumentalities, and any constitutional body to request research or advice from the national university on matters of public policy.
Section 7 requires funding for such research or advice to come from the appropriation of the requesting public agencies.
Section 8 requires commitment to serve the Filipino nation and humanity, relating activities to Filipino needs and aspirations for social progress and transformation.
Section 8 allows the national university to provide venues for student volunteerism.

Democratic access, religion-state separation, sports

Section 9 requires affirmative steps to enhance access of disadvantaged students, including indigenous peoples, poor and deserving students (including valedictorians and salutatorians of public high schools), and students from depressed areas.
Section 9 prohibits denial of admission based solely on age, gender, nationality, religious belief, economic status, ethnicity, physical disability, or political opinion or affiliation.
Section 9 recognizes the separation of Church and State.
Section 9 guarantees religious freedom and prohibits discrimination based on religion.
Section 10 requires the national university to undertake and support comprehensive sports programs.
Section 10 requires sports programs to promote physical education, uphold excellence, encourage competitive sports participation, instill school identity and solidarity, cultivate pride, self-discipline, and teamwork, and serve as a foundation for active participation in nation building.

University system structure and governance

Section 4 provides that the University of the Philippines is a university system composed of constituent universities established solely by its Board of Regents upon recommendation of the President of the University.
Section 4 identifies the existing constituent universities: University of the Philippines Diliman; University of the Philippines Manila; University of the Philippines Los BaAos; University of the Philippines Visayas; University of the Philippines Mindanao; University of the Philippines Baguio; University of the Philippines Open University; and those that may be created in the future.
Section 4 states that the University system is referred to in the law as the “National University.”
Section 11 establishes institutional autonomy as the national university by requiring that service-wide agencies treat the national university consistent with its institutional requirements.
Section 11 requires the national university to exclusively determine its teaching, research and extension thrusts, plans, policies, programs and standards, and to recommend its annual budget to the President and Congress based on those determinations.

Board of Regents: composition and authority

Section 12 vests governance in a board of regents called the “Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines System.”
Section 12 fixes the Board membership as follows:
- The Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education as Chairperson.
- The President of the University of the Philippines System as Co-Chairperson.
- The Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture.
- The Chairperson of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.
- The President of the U.P. Alumni Association as Alumni Regent during incumbency.
- One Faculty Regent representing teaching personnel, chosen in accordance with constituent university council rules, serving two (2) years.
- One Student Regent, serving one (1) year, chosen by students from their ranks under referendum-approved rules and qualifications.
- One Staff Regent representing full-time permanent REPS and administrative personnel, serving two (2) years, chosen under recognized organization rules and qualifications.
- Three (3) other Regents appointed by the President of the Philippines, with the Board’s recommendation considered; at least two (2) must be alumni; each serves two (2) years.
Section 12 provides a transitional rule: Regents holding office at effectivity continue serving until expiration of appointments under Executive Order No. 204 issued July 15, 1987.
Section 12 provides rules on vacancies and continuity:
- Vacancy filling (except for the President of the University) follows the manner provided for predecessors, with the appointee serving the unexpired portion of the term.
- For a sectoral Regent, membership ceases upon suspension, separation, or recall.
Section 12 provides that Board members serve without compensation other than reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses.
Section 12 sets meeting and quorum rules:
- Special meetings may be called by the Chairpersons, with members notified in writing at least ten (10) working days prior, and notice must contain a brief description of agenda items.
- Quorum is a majority of all members holding office at the time the meeting is called.
- Board-appointed representatives cannot act for others; Congress ex-officio members may participate and vote through teleconferencing or equivalent verifiable means.
Section 13 vests administration and corporate powers in the Board.
Section 13 authorizes the Board to:
- Define thrusts and adopt broad policy guidelines.
- Preserve integrity of the national university.
- Approve institution, merger, or abolition of academic programs upon recommendation through the President.
- Approve graduation and grant of honors upon recommendation through the President.
- Confer honorary degrees without payment, gift, or valuable consideration, upon recommendation of a committee created by the President.
- Approve student discipline rules recommended through the President, while retaining review power and final judgment on student disciplinary cases.
- Create, organize, reorganize, merge or abolish constituent universities, colleges, institutes, and other academic and administrative units.
- Establish professorial chair awards.
- Provide fellowships, scholarships, and grants, including athletic grants, and award them to faculty, staff, and students having evidence of merit, especially poor and deserving students.
- Elect the President of the University for a single term of six (6) years through democratic consultation; fill vacancies by election for a full term; allow a Chancellor to act as Officer-in-Charge while search is in progress; require that search and election of the next President not be longer than ninety (90) days from the date a vacancy occurs.
- Appoint faculty and other officials and employees, classify positions and compensation, set salaries and benefits (faculty salaries and benefits must be equivalent to private sector counterparts), determine hours of service and employment terms, grant leave under Board regulations (notwithstanding other legal provisions to the contrary), and remove for cause after due investigation and proper hearing.
- Extend faculty tenure beyond compulsory retirement age upon recommendation/endorsement, notwithstanding other laws, but no extension beyond the age of seventy (70).
- Fix tuition fees and other necessary school charges after due and comprehensive consultation with concerned students; treat these fees and charges (including government support and other income generated by the national university) as special trust funds deposited in an authorized government depository bank; direct all accrued interest to form part of the same funds for use by the national university.
- Retain and disburse incomes generated by the national university or its subsidiaries at the Board’s discretion for enumerated purposes: professional growth and development, health, welfare, other benefits of students and personnel; acquisition/construction/maintenance/repair of urgently needed instructional and auxiliary facilities and infrastructure; and expenses necessary for attainment of approved program objectives.
- Authorize use of appropriated funds for reasonable necessary and urgent purposes when the University cannot pursue a project for reasons beyond its control; prohibit reprogramming of funds collected from students for a specific purpose to other expenditures.
- Receive and appropriate all sums provided by law and other sums in the manner the Board determines.
- Authorize construction, maintenance, and repair of buildings, machinery, equipment, facilities, and acquisition of real and personal properties and supplies.
- Receive in trust legacies, gifts, and donations of real and personal property of all kinds and administer and dispose subject to donor instructions.
- Authorize faculty and staff travel abroad for study, papers, conferences, and research dissemination if the fellowship, scholarship, or grant is authorized by the Board; require research and other activities funded by the national university to undertake fields/topics with promising commercial applications; allow faculty and staff in such research to participate in financial and economic benefits.
- Exercise general powers under the Corporation Code.
- Delegate any powers to the President or other officials as necessary.
- Prescribe rules for self-government and discipline of faculty and other personnel and enact policies consistent with the Act.
- Exercise powers proper and necessary to carry out the Act’s objectives.

President, Board Secretary, and academic bodies

Section 14 establishes the President of the University as the chief academic officer, head of the university faculty, and chief executive officer of the University.
Section 14 requires the President to exercise powers provided in the Act, those determined by the Board, those pertaining to the university presidency office, and those related or necessary to University functions.
Section 14 requires the Board to determine the President’s compensation.
Section 14 provides that the President is appointed by the Board and serves a single term of six (6) years.
Section 15 provides for a Secretary of the University appointed by the Board who also acts as the Secretary of the Board, and keeps records designated by the Board.
Section 16 provides that each constituent university has a University Council chaired by the Chancellor and comprising all faculty members holding assistant professor rank and higher.
Section 17 makes the University Council the highest academic body of each constituent university and assigns it powers to:
- Fix admission requirements, graduation requirements, and honors, subject to minimum system-wide requirements.
- Prescribe academic programs, including institution, revision, abolition, and merger, subject to Board approval.
- Recommend graduation and honors to the Board.
- Exercise student disciplinary power through Chancellors or appropriate committees, subject to President of the University review under system-wide student discipline rules.
- Undertake periodic review of academic courses, programs, standards, thrusts, and policies.
- Adopt internal rules of procedure consistent with the Act.

Chancellors, Deans, faculty rights, and student councils

Section 18 vests administration of each constituent university in the Chancellor insofar as authorized by the Board and the President.
Section 18 provides that the Chancellor is elected by the Board upon nomination of the President, after consultation with constituent stakeholders of the constituent university under Board standards and guidelines.
Section 18 requires Chancellors to report to the President and perform duties/functions stated elsewhere in the Act and usual related functions of the Chancellor’s office, subject to Board policies and rules.
Section 18 requires the Board to determine the Chancellor’s term and compensation.
Section 18 provides that if a Chancellor cannot complete a term, the President appoints an acting Chancellor while search proceeds; the search and election of the next Chancellor must not be longer than sixty (60) calendar days from vacancy.
Section 19 provides that each college’s teaching staff constitutes its faculty, presided over by a Dean.
Section 19 provides that the Dean is elected by the Board upon nomination of the President and recommendation of the President and Chancellor, after consultation with college constituents under Board standards and guidelines.
Section 19 provides acting-dean and timing rules: if a Dean fails to complete the term, the Chancellor appoints an acting Dean while a search proceeds, and the search and election of the next Dean must not exceed sixty (60) calendar days from vacancy.
Section 20 exempts faculty members and REPS of the national university from civil service examination or regulation as a requisite to appointment.
Section 20 provides that licensing requirements for professional regulatory boards do not affect appointments to faculty positions.
Section 20 prohibits applying any religious test in appointment of faculty and prohibits examination or inquiry into religious or political opinions or affiliations of faculty members.
Section 21 requires student councils:
- A college or institute student council for every college and degree-granting institute.
- A university student council for every constituent university.
- A general assembly of all student councils for the University System.
Section 21 provides that student councils consist of elected students of definite academic units; each member serves one (1) year, without prejudice to reelection.
Section 21 designates the student council as the primary student body to advance students’ interests, welfare, and aspirations and authorize adoption of internal rules of procedure consistent with the Act.
Section 21 requires, subject to due and comprehensive consultation with students, establishment of a student publication in every constituent unit and college funded by student fees, guaranteeing freedom of expression and autonomy in editorial and fiscal policy, especially in the selection of editors and staff.

Land grants, real property, and revenue use

Section 22 directs the State to support the University of the Philippines System as national university through lump sum amounts via general appropriations and other financial benefits, and in kind through land grants and donations and use of other real properties.
Section 22 requires that income derived from development of all land grants and real properties be used to further the ends of the national university as decided by the Board.
Section 22 declares land parcels ceded by law, decree, or presidential issuance to the University of the Philippines reserved for intended purposes.
Section 22 confirms the national university’s absolute ownership over these landholdings, including those covered by original and transfer certificates of title in the name of the University of the Philippines and their future derivatives.
Section 22 orders expediting of pending title issuance within six months from effectivity if all registration requirements necessary for the titles have been submitted and complied with.
Section 22 allows the Board to plan, design, approve, and/or implement land leases that:
- Sustain and protect the environment in accordance with law.
- Are exclusive of the academic core zone of UP campuses.
- Do not conflict with the academic mission.
Section 22 allows the Board to allow use of income from real properties as security for transactions to generate additional revenues when needed for education purposes.
Section 22 allows the Board to approve joint ventures, but only the income derived from use of the real properties shall be the subject of UP participation or obligation.
Section 22 prohibits joint ventures resulting in alienation of real properties of the national university.
Section 22 requires programs/projects/mechanisms generating revenues from land grants and real properties to be consistent with academic mission and orientation and to protect the national university from undue influence and control of commercial interest.
Section 22 requires Board approval of such programs/projects/mechanisms through a transparent and democratic process of consultation with constituents.
Section 22 prohibits funds generated from such programs/projects/mechanisms from replacing, in part or in whole, annual appropriations provided by the national government.

Asset safeguards and procurement procedures

Section 23 requires primordial consideration of preserving the value of national university assets.
Section 23 prohibits sale of any existing real property of the national university.
Section 23 allows alienation of real property donated after effectivity if the donation terms specifically allow it.
Section 23 subjects the lease of more than five (5) years of national university assets and transactions referred to in Section 22 to specific conditions and procedures.
Section 23 requires that before a decision, transactions be discussed with Board members in a formally convened regular or special meeting at least one (1) month before decision.
Section 23 requires that transactions be based on a multi-year comprehensive development plan crafted by qualified urban planning professionals with at least five (5) years experience, with prior consultations and concurrence of third-party experts, and approved by a majority vote of all Board members.
Section 23 requires competitive and public bidding as provided under Republic Act No. 9184, the “Government Procurement-Reform Act.”
Section 23 provides a fairness-opinion mechanism after two failed biddings and negotiated transactions:
- The Board must secure a fairness opinion report from an independent third-party body when considering approval of any such transaction.
- The body must have five (5) members, with three (3) nominated by Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), Investment Houses Association of the Philippines (IHAP), Trust Officers Association of the Philippines, or Financial Executive Institute of the Philippines (FINEX).
- Members are entitled to reasonable per diem as the Board specifies.
Section 23 requires the fairness opinion report to contain an opinion on fairness to the national university of proposed transaction terms, particularly financial terms, including review and analysis of the proposed transaction, financial statements, industry information, economic condition assumptions using management projections and assumptions used therein, and comparison of similar transactions.
Section 23 requires written justification and public availability to the national university community if the Board differs from the fairness opinion report.
Section 23 excludes from these procedures leases granted to faculty and staff as part of their benefit and those for academic purposes.
Section 23 requires heightened approval for high-value transactions:
- If a contract or transaction involves an amount more than Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000.00), it must be approved by three-fourths (3/4) of all Board members.
- Prohibits splitting contracts to circumvent this threshold by breaking into smaller quantities/amounts or dividing implementation into artificial/arbitrary phases or subcontracts.

Funds management and independent trust committee

Section 24 creates an independent trust committee composed of the President of the University as Chairperson, and one representative each nominated by Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), Investment Houses Association of the Philippines (IHAP), Trust Officers Association of the Philippines (TOAP), and Financial Executive Institute of the Philippines (FINEX).
Section 24 provides that committee members receive reasonable per diem as the Board may specify.
Section 24 requires the independent trust committee to recommend to the Board five (5) universal banks selected on a prudent basis whose trust departments shall manage corporate and other funds through trust agreements on a non-directed basis.
Section 24 limits trust agreements to a period of not more than two (2) years.
Section 24 requires the independent trust committee to provide the Board direction on appropriate investment objectives and permissible investments to preserve value while enabling the University to earn a reasonable return.

Tax treatment and academic awards

Section 25 grants tax exemptions notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary.
Section 25 exempts all revenues and assets of the University of the Philippines used for education purposes or in support thereof from all taxes and duties.
Section 25 exempts gifts and donations of real and personal properties of all kinds from donor’s tax and treats them as allowable deductions from the donor’s gross income under the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.
Section 25 sets the deduction equivalent at 150 percent of the value of donations.
Section 25 requires valuation of assistance other than money based on acquisition cost and taking into consideration depreciated value if the property has been used.
Section 25 exempts importation of specified books, supplies, and materials (economic, technical, vocational, scientific, philosophical, historical and cultural) duly certified by the Board, including scientific and educational computer and software equipment, from customs duties.
Section 25 requires that the University pays 0% value-added tax for transactions subject to VAT.
Section 25 exempts all academic awards from taxes.

Reporting and auditing

Section 26 requires the national university to submit an annual report to Congress containing:
- Financial statements,
- Statement of assets and liabilities,
- Actual projected income from tuition fees and other revenue sources,
- Contracts and investments entered into pursuant to Section 22 (c),
- Programs of expenditure.
Section 26 requires all accounts and disbursements of the national university to be audited by the Commission on Audit.

Construction, appropriations, separability, repeal

Section 27 requires that no statutory or other issuances diminish powers, rights, privileges, and benefits accorded to the national university under this Act or enjoyed under other issuances not otherwise modified or repealed, unless subsequent legislation expressly provides repeal, amendment, or modification.
Section 27 requires resolving any case of doubt in interpretation in favor of the national university’s academic freedom and fiscal autonomy.
Section 28 provides that implementation costs are charged against the current fiscal year’s lump sum appropriation and other internal funds.
Section 28 provides that thereafter, the government’s responsibility for continued growth, operation, and maintenance is included in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Section 28 allows the national university to use unexpended balances in any appropriation for purposes determined by the Board.
Section 28 requires a centennial fund of One Hundred Million Pesos (P100,000,000.00) per year for five (5) years, included in the annual GAA in addition to regular appropriations and increases.
Section 29 provides separability: if any provision is declared unconstitutional, it does not affect validity of other provisions.
Section 30 repeals or modifies Act No. 1870, as amended, and all laws, decrees, orders, rules, and regulations or other issuances or parts inconsistent with the Act.