UP urged to rethink 300-percent tuition hike plan

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Aurora Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo has asked the administration of her alma mater the University of the Philippines (UP) to take a second look at its plan to raise tuition and other fees which, when implemented, would triple the cost of sending an undergraduate student to the state university.

Angara-Castillo said it may not be the proper time for the UP administration led by president Emerlinda Roman to push for a 300-percent increase in tuition and miscellaneous fees.

"I suggest that the UP administration led by Dr. Roman should take a second look at the proposal. They should undertake a serious study of it," Angara-Castillo told The STAR during the launch of the 1st North Philippines International Tourism Fair (NPITF) at the Events Center of SM-Clark here Friday, where her province was one of the participating districts.

Under the scheme, tuition will be raised from P300 to P1,000 per academic unit at UP’s Diliman, Manila and Los Baños (Laguna) campuses.

At the Baguio, Visayas and Mindanao campuses, tuition will be raised from P200 to P600 per unit.

The controversial proposal has touched a raw nerve among UP students, who boycotted their classes last Thursday in the first of a series of protest actions over the tuition increase, the first since 1989. — Manny Galvez