Another Crack at the U.P. Charter Change

The proposed new U.P. charter which seeks to exempt UP from the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) has been given new life as its possible approval is again being discussed in the Senate.

This exemption would give UP the ability to use its financial resources (or gains from various UP properties) to improve the the salaries of faculty and employees.

If you remember, this is the same proposed new U.P. charter that was obstructed by Senator John Osmena amidst a well publicized feud with U.P. President Francisco Namenzo. Osmena had even taken out full page newspaper ads to attack Nemenzo's character while Nemenzo himself crafted an open letter addressing the feud which was widely circulated through newspapers and the internet. (Click here to refresh your memory).

This time the proposed new U.P. charter does not seem like it will have a better chance to be passed with another senator seemingly hell bent on giving its proponents a hard time in the senate sessions. Again it is because of the senator's personal issues with U.P. personnel.

Here is an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer that reported on this:

Santiago to UP law professors: I’m ‘physically dangerous’

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago warned law professors at the University of the Philippines on Tuesday that she was “physically dangerous,” referring to her target shooting practice.

Santiago issued the warning at a Senate hearing on the proposed revisions on the UP charter in which the discussions had reminded her of her son, Alexander or AR, who committed suicide after he failed to enter the university from which his mother had graduated.

“The smallest movement in world politics and you’re talking a mouthful as if the Philippines were a world power,” Santiago said addressing professors of the state university.

“But faced with a moral issue, all they can do is to keep their silence in their graves,” an incensed Santiago said in the hearing, a portion of which was aired on GMA Network’s radio station dzBB.

Santiago’s son shot himself in November 2003 after he failed a subject on constitutional law at the Ateneo de Manila University.

He was also not accepted in UP where Santiago claimed its professors had asked him if she was crazy and if his father was hooked on cock fighting.

It was at this point that the lady senator issued the warning.

Senator Francis Pangilinan was not spared from Santiago’s temper, the report said.

Pangilinan noted in his speech that Santiago was his former professor at UP, the report added.

But Santiago berated Pangilinan, saying her teachings “did not show” on her former student, the report said.