While students cheered the veto as a rejection of privatization, many stressed that the core crisis remains: PUP is still underfunded.

By Pajo Albano
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vetoed the proposed National Polytechnic University (NPU) Bill, halting what would have been a landmark charter conversion for the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

Malacañang justified the move by citing PUP’s non-compliance with the required comprehensive readiness assessment, according to Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro.

“No compliance for the assessment,” Castro said during a public briefing, clarifying that the veto was not related to the bill’s substance.

Still, the explanation did little to appease students, faculty, and advocates who viewed the NPU Bill as a critical step toward institutional strengthening—and who now fear it may open the door to privatization and commercialization of the country’s largest polytechnic university.

While the administration says the bill may still be refiled once the university fulfills technical criteria, the timing, framing, and implications of the veto have reignited long-standing fears about the state’s abandonment of public education.

No to corporate rebrand 

Inside PUP, the veto is being celebrated as a collective win against creeping neoliberal reforms masked as university empowerment.

“Since 2019, we’ve been opposing this bill because this is not the primary solution to the needs of the community,” said Kabataan Partylist PUP Coordinator Jade Tamayosa.

She called the bill a “Trojan horse” that promises national recognition but hides provisions enabling corporate takeover through public-private partnerships and so-called “income generating projects.”

For one, Wellyssa Torne, secretary general of the College of Political Science and Public Administration (CPSPA) Student Council, pointed to the rising cost of food on campus and the displacement of small vendors at PUP’s Lagoon area as early signs of how privatization operates.

“Even now, many well-known food brands are already entering the campus,” Torne said in Filipino. “Just the prices alone are already unaffordable for students.”

Torne called the bill “a rebrand” that would grant unchecked fiscal autonomy to administrators without accountability to students — many of whom were not consulted during the bill’s drafting.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Renee Co echoed those concerns on the national level, calling the bill a “Neglect and Privatization of Universities” policy masquerading as reform

“Marcos Jr. denied signing the bill to make sure PUP meets ‘global standards’ — not because he supports the community’s fight against commercialization,” Co said.

She warned that the veto, while welcomed, could still signal to PUP administrators that the loyalty to the regime may be rewarded with future funding. 

Not the end

While students cheered the veto as a rejection of privatization, many stressed that the core crisis remains: PUP is still underfunded.

In a statement, the university administration lamented the lost opportunity to secure sustained national funding and shield campuses from political interference.

“This is not merely a legislative setback—it is a rejection of the urgent call to expand access to quality, inclusive, and relevant public higher education,” the university said.

According to the university, several satellite campuses — including those in Bataan, Quezon, and Cavite — now face possible closure due to insufficient support.

The statement also highlighted PUP’s academic credentials, noting it received a 3-star institutional rating from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), an international university ranking body, and climbed 20 spots in the 2025 World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI), where it now ranks 250th globally.

PUP defended its push for institutional autonomy, not as an attack on the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), but as a means to modernize while remaining accountable to national goals.

But for student organizers like Torne, real reform must begin with consultation and democratic participation, not technocratic redesigns.

“No consultation, no consolidation — that’s the problem with this proposed measure,” she said in Filipino.

Tamayosa added that while the veto is a major win, it’s only one round in a longer fight for free, quality, and accessible education.

“We expect the bill to return to Congress, so the fight continues,” she said in Filipino. “We won’t allow the government to escape its responsibility to us.”

The PUP Budget Increase Network, a broad coalition formed in 2023, is now preparing for another wave of lobbying and campus consultations in time for 2026 budget deliberations.

Student groups have vowed to amplify calls for full state funding and push back against any new attempts to outsource education to corporate actors.

“The parliament of the streets continues,” said Tamayosa in Filipino. “Marcos should expect that we will bring this from the classrooms to the streets.” (AMU, RVO)