by Diego Morra
For not respecting previous signed agreements with stallholders at the former UP Shopping Center, UP President Angelo Jimenez and other former and current university officials have been accused of not respecting privity of contracts and practically privatizing the campus and trampling on the right of first refusal accorded to at least 29 stallholders of the shopping center, which was mysteriously razed in 2018.
The fire, like the blaze that burned down CASAA, a popular dining hall at the former College of Arts and Sciences in UP Diliman, happened when the UP administration was mulling to “modernize” the shopping center built in 1976 that housed printing and copying facilities, restaurants, barber shops, beauty parlors, groceries selling meat products, fish and vegetables, an optical shop, boutique and art shops, and outlets selling UP sportswear, T-shirts, jackets and other items. All told, there were 48 stalls.
On Dec. 12, 2025, representatives from various sectors of the UP community, including the UP Shopping Center Stallholders Association, Inc. (SCSAI), Samahan ng Manininda sa UP Campus, UP Transport Group, UP Urban Poor & Residents, and the 2024–2025 University Student Council (USC) banded together under the UP Not for Sale Network and filed charges of graft, corruption and other offenses against Jimenez and former UP officials before the Office of the Ombudsman. They alleged that Jimenez and his underlings allowed UP property to be taken over by private entities that jacked up rents, pushed out stallholders who have served the UP community since 1976, and spurred the new concessionaires to raise the prices of their goods and services.
The filing of the cases, said former USC Community Rights and Welfare Councilor Kristian Mendoza, “is not an attack on UP. This is a defense of UP as the university of the people.” Narry Hernandez of the Samahan ng mga Manininda sa UP Campus assailed the privatization spree of the UP administration while Hermenegildo Laroa of SCSAI assailed Jimenez for not respecting the 2004 MOA with his group that set the framework for the harmonious relationship between Quezon Hall and the stallholders of the former UP Shopping Center. Nolan Grulla of the UP Transport Group and Amalia “Nanay Baby” Alcantara, a UP Diliman community leader, noted instead of helping the stallholders, vendors and students, the privatization of UP property and the imposition of higher leases on restaurants, stalls and small businesses would militate against the interest of students, faculty members, employees and residents.
After being ordered by then UP Diliman Chancellor Roger Posadas in 1992 to vacate the shopping center to pave the way for the “redevelopment” of the commercial hub by a private entity, the stallholders raised a howl and fought tooth and nail to prevent their eviction. The planned redevelopment fizzled out as only one bidder materialized, leading to the declaration that bidding had gone kaput. Two years later, UP filed an eviction case against the stallholders, who organized themselves into the UP Shopping Center Stallholders Association, Inc. (SCSAI.)
SCSAI fought back, telling the court that UP officials wanted to kick them out despite having served the university community since 1976. Students, faculty members and residents backed SCSAI in 1994 and they continue to do so even now. Evicting the stallholders without any provision for relocation smacks of injustice for a university administration that was supposed to be fair and eschews oppression and exploitation. There was a need for the stallholders in 1976 and certainly they were needed in 1994 and even now. The dispute dragged on for years, like the row with farmers in Krus na Ligas (a community that antedated the republic and UP itself), and the courts sustained the position of SCSAI.
Rather than continue with a protracted court battle, the UP signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with UP, represented by then Chancellor Emerlinda Roman, and SCSAI president Eliseo B. Cruz that granted the stallholders the right of first refusal to the SCSAI, thus respecting the vested right of the stallholders to stay in what was contemplated as a new shopping center, and they were even guaranteed a 20% discount on rental for the first five years of operation in the new building and granted office space. Moreover, SCSAI was recognized as the sole representative of stallholders. While under construction, the stallholders were allowed to operate at the site of the shopping center. After the 2018 fire, the stallholders were shunted off to the adjacent but unused tennis court while hoping to secure spaces at the ground flood of the new shopping center called DiliMall.
While the new shopping center sits on UP property, the UP administration privatized its operations and awarded a deal to CBMS Retail Business Development Consultancy (CBMS), which will manage DiliMall and apparently share revenues with UP under President Jimenez. On Sept. 6, 2023, the SCSAI asked UP to comply with the 2004 MOA, assign spaces for the 29 stallholders at the ground floor and abide by promises of lower rents. The letter sent by the association was not acted upon. The row between Jimenez and his subalterns and SCSAI thus worsened.
