President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed a bill granting the Polytechnic University of the Philippines status as a national university citing the need to evaluate the performance of its satellite campuses and extension programs.
Malacañang said the President returned the consolidated Senate Bill No. 2124 and House Bill No. 9023 (The Charter of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines) without his signature.
A copy of the letter was made available to reporters on Saturday.
In his veto message, Duterte said: “I have serious reservations on the suitability of the means chosen to attain this end, namely, granting PUP the status of a national polytechnic university, with all the benefits and privileges such status entails.”
“Its proposed designation as national polytechnic university needs to be reassessed in light of its current performance ranking among other SUCs,” he said.
“The comparative performance of its satellite campuses and extension programs needs to be similarly evaluated before granting the PUP system as a whole such a privileged status,” the President added.
Duterte said that while he recognizes the noble objective of the measure to promote, foster, nurture, and protect the right of all citizens to accessible quality education, there is still the need to assess and consider some criterion and requirements of PUP’s status.
The President said PUP is just one of the many state universities and colleges in the Philippines.
Having the bill enacted into a law will also affect the government’s budget, he added.
“The proposed provision on appropriations would also have a significant fiscal impact on the government, which may be avoided only if the PUP budget would continue to be subject to the need for prioritization and the usual budgetary and monitoring processes,” Duterte added.
