An enraged University of the Philippines (UP) community wants its president, Angelo Jimenez kicked out of his perch, especially after the soft launch of Robinson’s Easymart at the former site of the UP Shopping Center in Area 2, displacing scores of vendors who have provided food, goods and the services needed by students, faculty members and employees.
Jimenez, who was similarly denounced for entering secretly into a collaboration deal with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), was roundly condemned for keeping the lid on the agreement, which calls for “sharing resources” to enhance the quality of articles published in its policy journal. Jimenez himself signed the deal, after which a clumsy creature at AFP published a copy of the agreement on Facebook. His lame excuse for keeping the lid on the deal was that it wasn’t ‘binding,” so what the hell compelled this lawyer to sign it?
Moreover, this is the same Jimenez who hasn’t raised a whimper when the Department of National Defense (DND) squashed an agreement signed in 1989 that barred the military and the Philippine National Police (PNP) from intruding into the more than 500-hectare campus, including the Ayala Technohub, for their surveillance and intelligence gathering operations. UP needs Jimenez like a hole in the head. He operates like the lawyers at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) who promise to protect the rights of workers only to sell them down the drain to the delight of corporate bosses.
Yet, what should really alarm the UP Community, including sensible alumni and alumnae, is that UP Diliman is now reportedly being treated by Jimenez, UP Diliman chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, and Dr. Raquel Florendo, UP Diliman vice chancellor for planning and development as a precious piece of real estate that can be leased out and renewed repeatedly since not a single square inch of the campus can be sold. Indeed, nowhere else in the National Capital Region (NCR) can any property developer find more than 500 hectares of contiguous land than in Diliman.
Yet, the UP administration under Jimenez, Vistan, and Florendo can craft their own development plans for the campus and parcel out tracts of land for real estate companies to build their residential condominiums and lease out spaces for offices and commercial ventures. These companies would thus perform the functions of property managers. Florendo, an interior designer, chairs both the UP Diliman Infrastructure Bids and Awards Committee and the technical working group of the UP Planning and Development Committee (Land Use.) She is also a member of the Centennial Dormitory Oversight and Committee of the Office of the UP President and the Dormitory Oversight and Committee. She served as director of the Business Concessions Office (BCO) from 2010 to June 9, 2019.
The UP Community had earlier questioned the “donation” of structures on campus by businessmen who had their names festooned on these buildings, with one functioning as a theater, and another one at the site of the women’s pool and the former UP drive-in restaurant now being rented out for weddings, birthday parties and other celebrations, directly competing with the UP Hotel not even 200 meters away. Not so many years ago, the UP administration rejected a bid by a government functionary to plant jatropha at Diliman in support of the biofuel program even if the university were guaranteed a decent income. Today, the Ayalas have cornered the site of the former UP High School, now the UP Town Center, and the TechnoHub, where buildings have sprouted like mushrooms. UP is supposed to earn P500 million annually from TechnoHub but the administration has not said if the Ayalas have been prompt in their payments. The same holds true for UP Town Center.
Now, a UP official has accused two UP fraternities—Alpha Phi Beta and Upsilon Sigma Phi– of conspiring to earn money using the assets of UP Diliman. Jimenez is a member of the Alpha Phi Beta while Vistan belongs to Upsilon Sigma Phi. “Since UP land cannot be sold, they subcontract these spaces to an entity which will act as a property management body. This entity will also pay for the building construction. In the case of the newly-opened Dilimall, the Gokongwei Group is the entity. They pay rent to UP, which will also get a percentage of sales, as Shoemart does. UP officials also get a cut from the contractor plus a finder’s fee. Siyempre, the result is higher prices for the community. Pinapatay nila vendors and UP businesses until puro taga labas na ang nasa UP Diliman,” the official disclosed.
UP Diliman officials who resisted the chopping up of the campus into enclaves for plutocrats are miffed that the Jimenez administration is not interested in implementing a viable housing program for faculty members, personnel, and long-time residents. “Instead, they will push for more dorms and commercial buildings instead of housing units for UP faculty para mawala nang tuluyan ang UP Community. The Land Use Plan which Florendo was supposed to craft for UP Diliman remains confidential,” the official revealed. Why keep the plan secret from the residents, employees, faculty members, and alumni? Is that really a Jimenez military secret covered by his deal with AFP?
