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๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ
The prestige of a university is often measured by the weight of its archives and the permanence of its stones.
Yet, for the UP College of Arts and Letters (CAL), the 2026 Times Higher Education World University Rankings reveal a more complex architecture of excellenceโone built not of masonry but of sheer intellectual persistence.
In this yearโs global assessment, CAL remains the national leader in the Arts and Humanities, maintaining a tripartite tie with Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University for the top spot in the Philippines. To the international observer, the data suggest a stable, thriving center of culture. But for those walking the Academic Oval, the figures tell only half a story. To lead in the Arts and Humanities is to steward a nationโs narrative. It is an endeavor that requires the “public square”โthe physical and metaphorical space where ideas are tested.
As of 2026, CAL exists in a state of profound irony. Ten years after the Faculty Center fire, the very artists, scholars, and teachers responsible for this global standing remain displaced, stripped of the fundamental dignity of a desk. The tambayansโthose informal spaces of student discourseโhave vanished, and the public fora that define the university as the nationโs conscience are still without a home.
There is a quiet, radical power in being “No. 1” while standing amidst the unfinished Faculty Center. It is a testament that Philippine literary and cultural scholarship is a product of conviction rather than convenience. Like the resilient departments of the Ivy League or the ancient colleges of the UK during times of upheaval, UP has proven that intellect does not require a roof to remain sharp.
Yet excellence born of austerity is a fragile victory. The world still looks to UP, a public university and the countryโs first National University, for the definitive Filipino narrative, but for that narrative to endure, the university must be more than a data point on a London-based league table. A university that leads the world in the study of humanity must, at the very least, provide the space for that humanity to gather.
We continue to produce honor, excellence, and service.
We simply ask for a home that matches our spirit.
๐ป๐ฌ๐ต ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐
๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐
๐ข๐ซ๐, ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ง๐จ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐
๐ง๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐, ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ง๐จ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ
The UP College of Arts and Letters (CAL) is a strange case: an elite intellectual center that exists, for all practical purposes, in the middle of the street.
According to the 2026 Times Higher Education and 2025 QS World Rankings, CAL remains the premier home for arts and humanities in the Philippines. It is an institution that has produced eighteen National Artists and a steady stream of global award-winners. Its output anchored the universityโs 331st global ranking in the discipline, with English and Comparative Literature, European Languages, and Theatre Arts frequently outranking the universityโs wealthier, science and technology-based units. To a data analyst in London, New York, or Tokyo, these metrics suggest a well-funded, stable machine. To the scholars in Diliman, the rankings are a feat of sheer, stubborn endurance.
Everything changed on April 1, 2016, when the Faculty Center burned. In a few hours, the college lost more than a landmark. It lost the countryโs intellectual basement. These were not merely “files.” They included the hand-marked drafts of National Artists and Professors Emeritiโdecades of notes on the Filipino identity that became gray ash by sunrise. A decade later, that site is not being rebuilt for the people who lost their work. It is being reclaimed by a different priority.
There is a sharp, quiet irony in how the university handles its brand. The administration frequently uses “liberal arts excellence” to sell the institution to donors and international partners, effectively trading on the prestige earned by CALโs faculty, students, and alumni while keeping those same people on the curb. While the college climbed the rankings, ๐ญ๐ก๐ “๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ” ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฌโ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ญ, ๐๐ข๐ซ-๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ฌ. Meanwhile, the teachers, researchers and artists who actually built that global reputation remain nomadic.
The neglect is perhaps most visible in the silence of the institutionโs current leadership transitions. ๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฑ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก-๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐. It is treated as a footnote rather than an urgency, an “issue” to be managed rather than a crisis to be solved. This omission is the ultimate proof of institutional indifference: even as the university seeks new leadership, the literal heart of its premier college remains a hollowed-out memory.
This is not just a matter of convenience. It is a break in how people learn. ๐๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ “๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐”โ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ. ๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ง๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐.
Today, that social glue is gone, and the college has become a set of disconnected points on a map. You can see the toll in the way the faculty lives. ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ซโ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ “๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐”: ๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ฉ๐๐๐ค ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒโ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐๐ค ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ค๐ฒ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ, competing for space with noisy refrigerators and the transit of strangers.
There is a common mistake in thinking that a “world-class” mind only needs a brain to function. But the humanities are social. They require the “casual collisions” and shared coffee that only a physical home allows. Every student at the university, whether they are headed for a lab or a law firm, passes through CAL to learn how to think, write, and study the friction between nations and nationalism. The college is the universityโs conscience, yet it is treated like a tenant without a lease.
Philippine scholarship is currently running on conviction rather than support. CAL has proven it can produce world-class teaching, theater, creative works and research from a borrowed desk or a sidewalk. But asking for “defiant excellence” while refusing to provide a roof is a strategy of diminishing returns. The college has already delivered the prestige. It should not still be waiting for an address.
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ง๐ข
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ง๐ข
UP College of Arts and Letters faculty and alumni were honored at the 52nd National Writersโ Congress on Saturday, April 25, 2026. The event, organized by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL), concluded at the University of the Philippines Baguio College of Social Sciences with an awards ceremony that serves as the annual benchmark for Philippine creative achievement.
The congress, held during National Literature Month, centered on the theme โHarayang Pampanitikan sa Katwiran at Paninindigan ng Bayan.” National Artist for Film and UP Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts alumnus Kidlat Tahimik delivered the keynote address, focusing on the lifelong practice of promoting and empowering the national imagination.
The Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, UMPILโs lifetime achievement award, was conferred upon UP Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas Professors Glecy C. Atienza (Play in Filipino), Galileo S. Zafra (Literary History and Criticism in Filipino), and UPD Department of English and Comparative Literature Professor Jose Wendell P. Capili (Essay and Poetry in English). Their recognition represents a rare institutional sweep across multiple disciplines and genres.
The collegeโs institutional impact was further underscored through the Gawad Pedro Bucaneg, awarded to DFPP’s Palihang Rogelio Sicat (PRS), co-founded by a small group of faculty members that included CAL Dean Jimmuel Naval, and Retired Professor of Filipino Reuel Molina Aguila. This honor acknowledges the groupโs sustained role in developing the regional and national literary infrastructure.
The awards also highlighted the enduring influence of the Likhaan: University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing’s UP National Writers Workshop. Two additional Balagtas recipients trace their professional roots to the universityโs mentorship programs: Raymundo T. Pandan Jr. (Fiction in English), Retired Professor and former Law Dean at the University of St. La Salle Bacolod and a 1984 workshop fellow, and veteran journalist Franklin Y. Cimatu (Poetry in Filipino and English), a 1988 workshop fellow. Other 2026 Balagtas winners included Richel G. Dorotan for Binisaya fiction and Daniel L. Nesperos for Ilocano poetry.
Between the ceremonies, the congress functioned as a forum for the ethics of contemporary writing. The “UMPILAN” sessions featured debates on the intersection of aesthetics and social commitment, with contributions from writers including Ariel Tabag, Luchie Maranan, and Padmapani Perez. The 2026 trophies were designed and donated by the renowned visual artist Manuel D. Baldemor. The event was held with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Philippine Soong Ching Ling Foundation, the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII), and Ambassador Francis Chua.
๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐จ๐
๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐จ๐
On April 1, 2016, the Faculty Center, the home of the UP College of Arts and Letters at the University of the Philippines Diliman burned until the morning light revealed nothing but a skeleton of charred concrete.
For many, the date felt like a cruel irony of the calendar, but the decade that followed has turned the joke into a permanent condition. A university is measured by its endurance, and ten years is a long timeโlong enough for a freshman to finish a doctoral degreeโyet the institution has not laid a single brick to return its scholars to that ground.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ ๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ข๐ง, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐. ๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ โ๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฌโ.
There is a cold, bureaucratic clarity in this: the university is building climate-controlled offices for its managers on the same soil where its teachers lost the hand-marked drafts of their lifeโs work.
In the global ledger of prestige, this displacement remains invisible. On March 25, 2026, the QS World University Rankings by Subject placed the universityโs English and Comparative Literature programs in the 151โ200 bracketโthe highest mark in the country.
Across the broader Arts and Humanities, the university sits at 257th worldwide. These metrics represent the labor of a faculty that anchored the institutionโs standing while working out of backpacks.
The data does not record the reality of a world-class teacher, artist and researcher grading papers at the sticky table of a commercial coffee shop or balancing a laptop on their knees in the humid roar of a sidewalk along the UP Diliman Academic Oval.
The professional life of a humanities professor in Diliman has become a nomadโs kit: a drive containing a careerโs worth of lectures, a laptop, and a stack of exam papers and teaching materials. This “portable office” was meant to be an emergency measure. After ten years, it has become the default.
The loss of a physical home is a failure of the social mechanics of thought. Intellectual life requires the accidents of the corridorโthe unscheduled debate, the mentorship that happens when a student sees a professorโs door ajar, the conversation that turns into a research breakthrough.
By denying the College of Arts and Letters a permanent address, the university has dismantled the physical heart of its academic core. This is the college that teaches every future scientist, doctor, lawyer, and engineer on campus how to think. It has produced eighteen National Artists, yet it remains a tenant without a lease.
To demand “defiant excellence” from a faculty living on the sidewalk for a decade is a policy of diminishing returns. The university frequently trades on the prestige of these rankings to court donors and international partners, yet it prioritizes administrative comfort over the actual production of knowledge.
As Holy Wednesday arrivesโfalling once again on the anniversary of the fireโthe silence from the universityโs leadership is the final evidence of a decade of drift. The restoration of the Faculty Center has moved from an urgency to a footnote, an “issue” to be managed rather than a crisis to be solved. A university that claims to be the nationโs conscience cannot ignore its own reflection.
The College of Arts and Letters has delivered the rankings. After ten years of nomadic labor, it should not still be looking for a place to sit down.
๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐
๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐
At the corner of Roxas and Roces, near the steps of Palma Hall, a weathered bronze marker sits largely ignored by the morning rush of students. It was bolted into place on April 2, 1988, marking exactly two centuries since the birth of Francisco Balagtas. Today is year 238.
The signatures etched into the metalโJose V. Abueva, Ernesto Tabujara, Rogelio Sicat, and Amelia Lapeรฑa-Bonifacioโreveal a specific collision of Philippine intellectual life. In 1988, this was not a gathering of bureaucrats, but an alignment of the universityโs distinct halves: a political scientist theorizing the modern state, an engineer leading the institution, a novelist of the working class, and a dramatist who gave modern breath to folk tradition.
Why this particular group gathered for a poet who died in 1862 is a matter of lineage.
Balagtas was our most successful smuggler of ideas. Decades before the 1896 Revolution, he repurposed the awitโa rigid, colonial verse formโto map the psychology of oppression in Florante at Laura. He moved from the high-stakes political maneuvers of Orosman at Zafira to the sharp, one-act social critiques of La India Elegante y el Negrito Amante, proving it was possible to speak truth while standing in plain sight of the censor.
By placing this marker at the universityโs core, these four leaders recognized that the institution’s missionโwhether in the hard sciences, governance, or the artsโis rooted in that same Balagtasan instinct: the necessity of finding a vocabulary for freedom when the official language offers none.
The bronze has oxidized and the signatories have passed into history, but the alignment remains. We do not read Balagtas to sentimentally revisit the past. We read him to decode the persistent mechanics of our present.
๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ -๐๐ฅ๐๐: '๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ ๐๐๐๐' ๐๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ข
๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ -๐๐ฅ๐๐: '๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ ๐๐๐๐'
๐๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ข
๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฌ
๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฌ
Nobody in the current university administration actually knows where the money for the “Faculty Commons” came from. They walk past the stalled, skeletal construction near the UP College of Arts and Letters thinking it is just another victim of a slow-moving national budget. It is not. The dirt under those unfinished walls was paid for by the ashes of the Faculty Center.
When the Faculty Center (Bulwagang Rizal) burned on April 1, 2016, the university eventually clawed back an initial insurance payout from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The structural damage was officially pinned at a meager โฑ3 million, a figure that borders on the offensive when weighed against the incalculable loss of manuscripts and irreplaceable archival teaching, creative and research materials that the policy simply ignored. In a moment of survivalist panic, that initial money was shoveled into the footings of a replacement project that has sat dormant for a decade. It was a trade: the death of an institutionโs physical memory for a construction project that the university did not have the stamina to properly finish, even with a rebuilding estimate that ballooned to โฑ300 million.
The Siyam na Diwata ng SiningโNational Artist for Sculpture Napoleon V. Abuevaโs nine muses of reinforced concreteโare the only ones left with the mechanical continuity to remember the heist. They sit on the “Faculty Center Front Lawn,” renamed later as Hardin ng mga Diwata, exactly where they were unveiled on Thursday, February 7, 1991, at 9:00 AM, as shown in the photos. Their job was to guard the intellectual lungs of the collegeโthe Office of the Dean, the CAL College Secretary, the offices, libraries, and seminar rooms of the Departments of Art Studies, English and Comparative Literature, European Languages, Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas, and Speech Communication and Theatre Arts, the CAL Graduate Studies Office, Kontra-GaPi, Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, UP Dulaang, Tanghalang Hermogenes Ylagan (black box theater), and the student tambayans surrounding the building. Now they face a void.
The invitation also lists a canon of National Artists who actually inhabited that spaceโAbad, Abueva, Almario, Arcellana, Avellana, Buenaventura, de la Rama, Guerrero, de Leon, Joaquin, Lapeรฑa-Bonifacio, Joya, Kasilag, Legaspi, Locsin, Lumbera, Mabesa, Orosa-Goquinco, Reyes-Urtula and San Pedro. These were the pillars who shaped the college now left wandering through the “KALbaryo” of ten years of displacement.
University leadership operates under the delusion that the Faculty Commons is a fresh start funded by the General Appropriations Act. It is not. It is a monument to an administrative secret. The displacement of the faculty, staff and students has calcified into the status quo, and the cultural infrastructure is being managed by people who cannot read the ledger entries of 2016. The Diwatas are still rooted in the lawn, staring at a half-baked concrete mess bought with the insurance money of their original home. They remain the only entities on that stretch of the university who know exactly whose legacy is rotting in those unfinished walls.
๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ญ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐
๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐จ
๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ญ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐จ
Mula sa UP College of Arts and Letters
Ang Memorandum ng CHED ukol sa pagbabago ng General Education (GE) ay nagsisilbing pabula ng pagsuko, isang dokumentong nagpapalabo sa ningning ng malayang kaisipan sa ating mga kolehiyo at unibersidad.
Sa ilalim ng katwirang iwasan ang “pag-uulit” ng mga kurso mula sa Senior High School, nilalayon nitong tapyasin ang GE tungo sa kakarampot na 18 yunitโisang hakbang na tumitingin sa pagpapakadalubhasa sa mga moog ng karunungan hindi bilang lunan ng mapanuring pag-iisip, kundi bilang isang baradong daluyan sa pusod ng burukrasya na pilit tinatampalan ng mga nagmamadaling lunas.
Sa pagpilit na gawing Kasanayang Teknikal ang pag-aaral sa mga kolehiyo at universidad, isinasantabi ang pundasyon ng ating pagkabansa. Ang tunay na panganib dito ay ang pagluwal ng isang henerasyong bihasa sa digital na kasanayan ngunit lumpo sa etikal na pagpapasya; mga gradwadong sertipikado ng bawat spreadsheet ng industriya, ngunit walang sapat na sandata upang makipagbuno sa masalimuot na realidad ng lipunan.
Hindi aksidente ang pagkakaroon ng GE sa Pilipinas. Noong 1958, sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni Pangulong Vicente G. Sinco, itinatag ang structured framework ng mga core course sa UP upang mas lalo pang mapalawak ang daloy ng unibersidad bilang isang tunay na “state university”. Ang bisyon ni Sinco ay hindi lamang magluwal ng mga eksperto sa kani-kanilang larangan, kundi mga mamamayang may malawak na intelektwal at kultural na abot-tanaw. Itinatag ang University College noong 1960 upang hawakan ang 63 yunit ng GEโkabilang ang Ingles, Matematika, Humanidades, at Aghamโat noong 1989, naging Art Studies ang kagawaran ng humanidades upang bigyang-diin ang sining na mula at para sa bayan, isang paglayo sa kรกnon ng Kanluran tungo sa pagkilala sa sariling identidad.
Bahagi ng pagpapatatag ng kaisipang Pilipino ang pagkilala sa magkakaibang tungkulin ng mga kursong GE, kaya naman ang balak na pagsasanib ng PI 100 (Rizal Course) at Philippine History/Philippine Studies ay isang seryosong pagkakamali sa pedagohiya. Ang mga ito ay nagsisilbi sa magkaiba at natatanging layunin: habang ang PI 100 ay nakasentro sa buhay at kaisipan ni Jose Rizal upang magtanim ng pagkamakabayan, ang Philippine History naman ay isang malawak at multidisiplinaryong pagsusuri sa pambansang pag-unlad. Higit pa rito, ang Batas Rizal (RA 1425) ay may tiyak na mandato na muling ialay ang kabataan sa mga mithiin ng bayani, isang hangaring lehislatibo na malalabnaw lamang kung isasama sa pangkalahatang kasaysayan.
Ang paghihiwalay sa mga ito ay hindi lamang usapin ng paksa kundi ng metodolohiya, kung saan ang PI 100 ay nakatuon sa tekstwal na pagsusuri ng mga pangunahing akda gaya ng Noli at Fili, samantalang ang Philippine Studies ay humihingi ng mas malawak na temang sosyolohikal at kultural. Ang pagpapanatili sa kanila bilang magkabukod na daluyan ng dunong ay panangga sa mababaw na pag-unawa. Ito ang nagpapahintulot sa isang matalas na pagdalumat sa diwa ng bayani sa gitna ng masalimuot na agos ng ating kasaysayan.
Ang reframed GE ng CHED ay nagpapakita ng isang mapangahas na pagmamadali; sa pagbibigay-diin sa “Professional Communication” at “Emerging Technologies” kapalit ng malalim na pagsisid sa humanidades, sining, at kasaysayan, tinatalikuran natin ang pagbuo sa interiority ng mag-aaral. Ang pagtalikod sa mga pundasyong ito ay isang pag-aalis sa mismong budhi ng ating edukasyon, na nag-iiwan sa ating diwa na mabuway at walang lundayang moral.
Ang argumento na ang sining ay itinuturo na sa Senior High School ay isang mababaw na pagbasa sa pedagohiya dahil sa antas ng mga kolehiyo at unibersidad, ang pag-aaral nito ay nangangailangan ng higit na kasibulan upang busisiin ang politikal at panlipunang komentaryo ng mga likhang-sining. Hindi rin sapat ang pagiging “globally competitive” kung ang kapalit nito ay ang pagkawala ng etikal na kompas at serbisyo publiko.
Ang bayang pinamamahalaan ng mga teknokratang salat sa ugat ng ating kasaysayan ay isang bayang mabilis maging anino. Ang GE ay hindi isang kalabisan; ito ang ating huling moog laban sa malamig na makinarya ng pagkalimot at sa unti-unting pagkasaid ng ating pakikipagkapwa.
Mananatiling matatag ang Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura: ang edukasyon ay hindi pagpuno sa isang timba, kundi ang pagpapaningas ng apoy na magsisilbing liwanag sa madilim na yugto ng ating kasaysayan.