A Humble Offer

By Caesar Saloma
15 January 2014

I humbly offer myself to continue serving as Chancellor of UP Diliman for another three-year
term starting 2 March 2014.

While our administration has faithfully pursued a vision for UP Diliman that I first articulated
to our community in early 2011 [1], it needs additional time to evaluate and enhance the
various programs that are already in their various stages of implementation. The said
programs are inclusive and are designed to build a campus that is more nurturing and
enabling not only for our students, faculty, and staff but also to other stakeholders of an
academic institution that is public and national in character and influence.

The Office of the Chancellor will soon release an End-of-Term Report (ETR) that provides a
detailed assessment of the performance of its various offices. The ETR will illustrate that our
administration has pursued the Vision with verifiable consistency and a clear sense of
purpose. In addition to enumerating the programs and initiatives that were undertaken, the
ETR presents details that improve our understanding of campus operations. As a reliable
reference for future UP administrations, the ETR aims to strengthen institutional memory,
instill loyalty to UP, and strengthen the practice of academic collegiality and self-regulation
that allows us to enjoy academic freedom in the campus.

Aside from implementing existing University policies dutifully and fairly, our administration
has introduced innovations that would enable UP to accomplish its stated purpose as the only
national university of the country (RA 9500, Section 3). Many of these changes are practical
and long overdue but a few maybe considered bold ones. They are applied and implemented
across various facets of CU life including in the selection of academic administrators,
assessment of academic programs, review of student admission, assistance & service
programs, development of comprehensive campus safety & maintenance culture, greater
access & more efficient dissemination of reliable campus information, introduction of
inclusive incentive, support and professional development programs for employees,
constructive engagement with direct & indirect stakeholders including concessionaires, and
market-based evaluation of campus assets. To ensure that they serve their intended
purpose, these innovations are continuously tested and critically refined.

It is sensible to argue that the University would not accomplish its stated institutional
purpose if UP Diliman itself is unable to realize its true worth as the CU with the most
number of PhD faculty members and students as well as the one with the most
comprehensive offerings of academic and research programs.

UP Diliman is a true graduate CU when it produces more PhD graduates out its existing
number of regular PhD faculty members (about 33% or close to 500 in a given semester). The
present rate is only seventy-four (74) PhD graduates per year from its 46 doctoral programs.

It is a successful research CU when its scholars, scientists and researchers are publishing
consistently in high-impact journals where articles have greater chances of future citations.
It is only recently that UP Diliman is able to respond and resolve properly and promptly to
allegations of scientific misconduct (plagiarism, fabrication of data, falsification of data) by
its faculty and researchers.

UP Diliman functions as a real public service CU when it provides feasible solutions to the
many complex challenges that confront our country today. There is urgent need for off-
campus communities from across the archipelago, to benefit from the results of publicly
supported R&D initiatives and creative endeavors that are carried out successfully in the
campus.

It is a true regional and global CU when its programs attract and retain the best scholars,
scientists and researchers of the world, and its own scholars and scientists are highly
regarded by their colleagues and peers in the international community.

The overall worth of UP Diliman is more than the sum of the separate successes of its
employees, academic units and line offices. Its faculty, staff and students need to work
together in a campus that allows them to develop their talent and hone their skills in order
to accomplish commonly shared goals. Such an environment is built on the principles of
competence, transparency and predictability in addition to selfless dedication.

UP Diliman faces a number of complex multidimensional challenges, many of them related to

day-to-day campus operations community safety, campus maintenance, reliable services,
etc. The rest are strategic and generally pertain to the task of accomplishing the stated
purpose of UP as the national university. Whether operational or strategic, the said
challenges are equally difficult to address the former require consistency, technical
competence and attention to detail while the latter demand patience and foresight. They
require evidence-based solutions that are obtained from critical thinking and the scientific
method.

Administration is difficult work. Caution may be misconstrued as bureaucratic rigmarole,

single-mindedness as one-dimensionality, consistency as inflexibility, and input (hypothesis)
as the output (experimental validation) itself. The implementation of existing rules and
regulations is not simple since its impact is usually asymmetric - personal to those affected
while a matter of duty to those authorized to make decisions.

But we have gained new insights and learned valuable lessons during the course of
performing our duties as administrators in the past three years. This new knowledge will
serve us well and the University in the future.

Thank you.

1. 2011 Vision Statement and other materials are printed in: UPdate Diliman, pp 2-3 (June
2011). Also available in: http://www.upd.edu.ph/~updinfo/jun11/articles/UPDATE-
SALOMA%20SPECIAL%20ISSUE.pdf
THINGS TO DO (SUMMARY)

On Building an Enabling and Nurturing Environment. A secure and properly maintained UP

Diliman campus requires the services of highly trained, well equipped and disciplined staff in
Campus Maintenance Office, UPDP, Office of the Campus Architect, SPMO, UPD Legal Office
and the UP Health Service. Programs in this regard are already implemented and will be
improved.

We would accomplish an energy efficient (green) campus through greater appreciation and
attention to detail in the utilization of available avaialble resources including the generosity
of our alumni, supporters and friends.

We continue strengthening our administrative partnerships with LGUs and other government
offices (Barangay UP Campus, QC Government, Office of the House Speaker, MMDA, etc) in
order to be more effective in dealing with social issues involving public health, sanitation,
traffic, and informal settlements.

On Governance. The organizational structure of the Office of the Chancellor would be

enhanced to achieve greater efficiency and quality in the allocation of University resources,
provision of services, processing of documents and requests, implementation of University
policies and in the implementation of infrastructure projects and equipment acquisition.

We continue assisting colleges and institutes enhance the quality and implementation of
their academic programs through greater faculty, staff and student involvement and better
dissemination of reliable and accurate information.

We continue finding better ways of selecting and training future academic administrators at
different levels of the UP Diliman organization.

On Academic Freedom and Collegiality.

Academic freedom and collegiality are best enjoyed and protected in a community that is
able to regulate itself fairly and responsibly. The unfailing practice of these values are
crucial in the success of UP Diliman as an academic institution.

UP Diliman has already improved its capability to handle allegations of scientific misconduct
by its faculty members properly and promptly. A new Code of Student Conduct is now waiting
for the requisite BOR approval after almost eight years of painstaking work by many. The
next step is to formulate administrative procedures to ensure their successful
implementation.

On Transparency and Accountability.

We continue enhancing the capability of our offices to collect, record, store and organize
data into useful information. A reliable information management system is essential in
evidence-based decision-making and critical thinking.

UP Diliman as a Great Institution of Learning.

I have always believed that Filipinos are highly capable of becoming great artists,
researchers, scientists, researchers and scholars when they are provided with an enabling
and nurturing environment. Our University is destined to be one of the great institutions of
learning in the ASEAN and the world.

I have tried my best to demonstrate by example that tenable progress could be achieved by a
Filipino scientist even under unfavorable socio-economic conditions of an emerging economy
like the Philippines.
 My vision for UP Diliman
By Caesar Saloma
31 January 2011

I envision a University of the Philippines that is recognized and respected internationally as a

great university in the Asia-Pacific region. Our nation deserves a national university that
nurtures and harnesses the artistic, creative and scientific talent of our people.

Research is the key that enables UP to perform its distinct role as the national university of
the country and sets the highest standards of academic excellence and scholarship for the
Philippine higher education system.

Sustained excellence in research is the defining element of a great institution of higher

learning and UP must constantly strengthen its research capability in order to fulfill its other
critical functions as a graduate as well as a public service university.

Our country is confronted with complex challenges that are multidimensional in nature.
These challenges require interdisciplinary solutions that are best found through research and
innovation as well as fruitful collaboration and constructive engagement among and between
scientists, researchers, scholars, humanists, and artists.

UP Diliman is the main campus of UP. It is home to more than 52% of the graduate student
population and 52% of PhD faculty members in the entire UP System. It sustains the highest
concentration of the most promising talents, most creative minds, and the most
accomplished individuals of the country in the arts and culture, natural and social sciences,
engineering and architecture, business and economics, humanities, law, international affairs,
sports and the performing arts as well as in education and home economics.

Clearly, the international stature and transformational relevance of UP are critically hinged
on the enduring capability of UP Diliman to produce new knowledge and original creative
works that enable us to better understand the natural world and our society as well as
celebrate and enrich our culture, history and national heritage. The true worth of UP to the
Filipino nation is also measured by its ability to train the next generation of artists,
researchers, scientists and scholars of the country.

Graduate degrees are research degrees and the awarding of a PhD degree requires the
contribution of new knowledge by its recipient. Critical thinking also helps artists and
scholars discover new techniques, perspectives, and genres that would make their creative
works more precious and profoundly original.

Tangible gains in productivity have been realized in the last decade in both the arts and
sciences as a result of sensible investments and programs that were initiated and
implemented by previous UP administrations.

But there is still considerable work that has to be done.

UP Diliman continues to perform below its true potential. Its graduate programs are still
unable to produce the reasonable number of PhD graduates in proportion to the number of
UP faculty members with PhDs. This is due to the lack of qualified and committed mentors
to direct and guide graduate students.

UP Diliman remains unable to consistently generate new knowledge and creative works that
could find their way into the most influential peer-reviewed technical journals, conferences,
fairs and art exhibitions in the world.

UP Diliman has yet to train the critical number of graduates with the pertinent skill sets and
core values that would allow them not just to land better paying jobs in a knowledge-based
economy but more importantly, to solve the difficult problems that continue to confront
Philippine society.

Any future improvement in academic performance is invariably anchored on our collective

ability to turn the 493-hectare UP Diliman campus into an enabling and nurturing
environment for its faculty members, students and staff. The campus must be maintained
and operated properly to protect and preserve its physical beauty and territorial integrity as
well as to ensure the safety and security of the academic community in a rapidly expanding
metropolis. We pay greater homage to our iconic edifices and art works on campus by
maintaining them correctly instead of merely knowing their histories.

Lasting success in this difficult but necessary task requires strategic vision and executional
diligence on the part of duly appointed officials within the UP Diliman organization.

We need to explain with greater clarity, the duly approved UP Diliman Land Use Plan to the
UP Diliman Executive Committee, the University Council, and other relevant stakeholders. All
of us must understand the necessity of a land-use blueprint that must also be implemented
scrupulously.

The territorial integrity of our campus has been long endangered not only by the incursion of
informal settlers but also by the conversion of campus streets into national roads. National
roads (e.g. CP Garcia Avenue, part of Commonwealth Avenue, part of C-5 adjacent to UP
Integrated School) that permit the transit of huge trucks and trailers, directly threaten the
wellbeing of our academic community. The Land Use Plan needs to consider the socio-
economic impact of allowing such roads to cut through the belly of the UP Diliman campus.

We need a coherent and comprehensive strategic plan for dealing with informal settlers and
urban sprawl in UP Diliman. Such a plan requires an inclusive understanding of the dynamics
of urbanization in an emergent economy and a conscious acceptance by all stakeholders that
campus land should not be parceled out for private ownership and unregulated personal gain.

The University Council and the UP Diliman Administration need to continue refining and
strengthening objective measures of creativity, scholarship and scientific productivity.
There are valuable lessons to learn from our neighbors such as Taiwan, South Korea,
Singapore and China which have invested seriously in their universities despite unfavorable
socio-economic conditions.

Peer-review and self-regulation are the principles that would guide our constant effort to
improve the performance of our faculty members and academic units. We need reliable
measures to benchmark any noteworthy progress in the future and to build a dependable and
lasting institutional memory for UP Diliman.

Transforming UP Diliman into a great academic institution in Asia Pacific requires a serious
financial commitment. We need to determine precisely and accurately the cost of operating
such an institution and to elicit the corresponding assurance from all stakeholders especially
those who prepare, approve, and release the UP Budget.

As Chancellor, I will engage pro-actively and work closely with the UP President and the
Board of Regents by providing them with incisive reports about the state of UP Diliman.
There is an immediate need to craft the implementing rules and regulations of RA 9500 so we
can clearly define the operational meaning of fiscal autonomy.

It may be necessary for us to do things (a little bit) differently to achieve better results. The
quintessential scientist, Albert Einstein, earlier realized that craziness is doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

UP Diliman is greater than the sum of its component stakeholders. As a community we can
scale greater heights by working together for a common purpose: to make UP into one of the
great universities in this part of the world by the end of this new decade. This is a vision
that is worth striving for.

Thank you for your kind attention.

END.