Senate eyes moving to UP Diliman campus

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MANILA, Philippines—A plan to look into the possibility of relocating the Senate to the sprawling University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, is drawing mixed reactions.

A UP administration official said the UP would be “open to the proposal,” adding that it might bring in much needed revenues to the struggling State University.

On the other hand, student regent Cleve Arguelles was not keen on the idea, saying it might bring stricter security measures, which may stifle campus freedom.

Sen. Franklin Drilon announced on Friday that the Senate was looking for a new and more permanent home, and the 492-hectare UP-Diliman campus was at the top of the list.

Drilon said the senators found their P110-million rent of the Government Service Insurance System building in Pasay City “impractical” and have formed a committee to look for alternative sites.

Other sites

Other sites being considered are the Film Center of the Philippines and the Post Office building in Manila. Another suggestion is to join the Lower House in the Batasang Pambansa complex, also in Quezon City. Drilon said the Senate could also purchase land and construct its own building.

The UP campus already hosts some government agencies like the Commission on Higher Education and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. The UP campus is government property. Under the UP Charter, it cannot be sold but it can be leased.

The university’s vice president for public affairs, Prospero de Vera, said the UP would be “open to the proposal” to lease land to the Senate.

“The terms must of course be favorable to UP and support the mandate of UP under RA 9500 (the UP Charter). As the Senate will still evaluate all its options, the parameters and terms will be formulated and negotiated once UP is selected by the Senate as the best place for its relocation,” the official said in a text message.

“The proposed transfer of the Senate to UP will bring our policy makers, many of them UP alumni, closer not only to their counterparts in the House of Representatives but also to UP’s specialized institutes and experts, increase our involvement in policy making and highlight our public service role as the national university.  It will also help the modernization of UP properties and bring much needed additional revenues to UP,” de Vera added.

But the student regent said the presence of the Senate could mean stricter security measures which may result in stifling certain academic freedoms and other liberties.

More security in a campus known for student activism may not be the right mix,

Arguelles said.

“We might end up feeling like visitors in our own campus when in fact it is our university,” he said in a phone interview.

Arguelles also hit the legislative branch for giving state-run schools meager budgets, adding:  “And they have the gall to move here?”

But should the Senate push through with its plan, Arguelles said he will hold consultations with the student body before the matter is decided upon by the Board of Regents, UP’s highest decision making body.

Unified Congress

Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives have offered the Batasan complex in Quezon City as the site of a “unified Congress.”

Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon said that it was about time that the two chambers of Congress work together in one place to further enhance their working relationship.

“I think the Senate deserves to have a place it could call its own for respectability. I don’t think any other Senate is renting aside from ours,” said Biazon, a former senator, in a phone interview.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino said: “Having the Senate and Congress in one place is the most ideal situation. If there is room in the Batasan complex, we can accommodate them. If not, then they should put up a building in one of the government lots in near Batasan.”