THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHEd) has ordered UST to explain its compliance with the distribution of the faculty’s share in tuition hike proceeds amid delays in negotiations for a new salary and benefits deal.
In a show-cause order dated March 7, CHEd Executive Director Cinderella Benitez-Jaro instructed UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P. to submit within 15 days an explanation clarifying the University’s compliance with Republic Act 6728.
This law, the “Government Assistance To Students and Teachers In Private Education Act,” mandates schools to set aside 70% of tuition increase proceeds for the salaries of teachers and workers.
CHEd warned it would pursue “appropriate actions” should UST fail to respond within the timeframe.
It also wrote USTFU President Emerito Gonzales on March 10 informing him that the commission had acted on the union’s request for action on the matter and had issued a show-cause order to UST.
“Dumating na po ang reply ng CHEd sa UST, and they are asking the administration [to] show cause… We’ll get back to you on that,” Gonzales told nearly 800 unionized faculty members during a general assembly at the Medicine Auditorium.
In December, the USTFU asked CHEd to issue a legal opinion after the former’s plea to release part of faculty members’ share of tuition hike proceeds was denied by UST.
UST had argued that the disbursement of the amount must follow CHEd rules, which it claimed requires a CBA, a contract that spells out the terms and conditions of work negotiated by labor and management.
The administration was referring to a 2012 CHEd memorandum stating that tuition increases must “be used for the benefit of teaching and non-teaching personnel and other staff…including such increases as may have been provided for in the [CBA].”
“I kindly seek the assistance of CHEd in addressing these pressing matters and facilitating the release of the TFI (tuition increase) share, should you find our claim to be meritorious,” Gonzales said in a letter to CHEd Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III on Dec. 18.
Faculty union runs to CHEd after Rector denies partial release of tuition hike share
UST had rejected the USTFU’s appeal for the release twice.
On Oct. 15, the UST administration denied the USTFU’s request for the immediate release of the faculty’s share of tuition increases, invoking CHEd rules.
READ: No collective bargaining deal, no salary hikes, UST tells faculty union
On Dec. 2, Ang rejected the USTFU board’s appeal to release a portion of the tuition hike proceeds amounting to P50,000 for full-time academic staff and up to P25,000 for part-time teachers.
Gonzales noted that UST had collected tuition increases totaling P129 million in Academic Year (AY) 2020-2021, P103 million in AY 2021-2022, P128 million in AY 2022-2023, and P214 million in AY 2023-2024.
Ang insisted that procedure must be followed, arguing that UST and USTFU must sign a new CBA first to avoid “legal and compliance issues” and other “risks.”
The CHEd show-cause order comes at a critical stage in the CBA negotiations, with the USTFU set to vote on whether to accept the UST administration’s final offer or declare a deadlock in talks.
