We, Iskolars ng Bayan, parents, faculty, alumni, concerned sectors and individuals demand the UP administration and the Board of Regents (BOR) to JUNK THE SYSTEM-WIDE TUITION AND OTHER FEE INCREASES (TOFI).

TOFI denies majority of the people access to UP education, and signals the intensified commercialization of the university.

We firmly believe that UP should guarantee access to quality education to bright Filipino youth, regardless of their financial capacity. We do not need to hear each and every account of those who have deferred enrollment in the University for us to realize how the TOFI pushed UP education farther from the reach of the people. It should not be surprising to hear how we lost bright students to other state universities and private tertiary institutions for the simple, yet compelling reason that education there is more affordable than in UP.

We decry the unjust burden that the TOFI has placed on the freshmen and their families. Raising the necessary amount to pay the new tuition rate in UP has severely strained the finances of the Iskolars ng Bayan and their families whose incomes could not even be sufficient for basic needs. Some have resorted to getting loans and even the outright sale of their properties just to meet the financial demands of this years enrollment.

We believe that such unjust policy was illegitimately and forcibly passed. It was railroaded by the BOR amidst strong opposition from the UP community, and denied the presence of the Student and Faculty regents in its passage. The UP administration only holds on to bogus consultations to support its basis to approve the TOFI policy.

We denounce the imposition of TOFI as it highlights the intensified commercialization of the University. The TOFI manifests the commercialized concept of education as a commodity accessible to only at a price. It is a perfect example of a state institution being pushed by the state itself to generate income from its constituents in lieu of the decreasing state subsidy.

We call on the UP administration to avert from the state policy of continued neglect to education. We affirm our fight for greater state subsidy. The government should and can provide higher state subsidy. What it lacks is the will to prioritize the needs of the people as their primary constituents. Decades of experience has shown that this demand is attainable with the entire community marching as one.

Junk TOFI!
Stop commercialization of UP and education!
Fight for greater state subsidy!
Assert our right to education!