The hottest issue in the University of the Philippines Mindanao in 2007 is the administration under the current chancellor Dr. Gilda C. Rivero. The issue started after the investiture that cost more or less P600,000 including her personal expenses. Some of the students started to hate her because of the unexplainable expensive cost of the investiture. Instead using the money for the investiture, they should have paved the rocky road to CSM.
Many students are saying that Dr. Gilda C. Rivero, the chancellor, will be impeached because of the said issue. One thing I am curious about is that, why should we impeach the chancellor where we don’t have the authority to move her from her office. Is it right to impeach the chancellor? Is it for the better of the university? We can’t impeach the chancellor, unless the students of UPMin will do the same thing as the people did in EDSA to impeach the President of the Philippines.
This issue is really serious not only for the chancellor’s sake but also for the whole university. It could really affect the relationship between the chancellor and the students. Instead of having unity, there is gap between them. There should be unity and peace within the university in order to attain a happy life. The relationship between the chancellor and the students can be compared to a boy-girl relationship, where respect and trust should be present at all times. If the other party is not respecting the other, misunderstanding will probably take place.
An article was written in “Himati” the official publication of UPMindanao saying that there is a web log campaigning to impeach the chancellor.
If the present chancellor will be impeached, there will be a new chancellor. The chancellor is holding the highest office in the university, and it is a hard job to hold this. The administration of the university will change, including the rules and regulation. There will be no one who will abuse the power given to him/her. There will be no corrupt leader in the university. After all of these, there will be a great effect to the student as well as the university in the next years.
Some students really want to impeach her. Making protest to show that they are really Upians. Upians are known for being activists during the Marcos time. They think that they can do the same thing like moving the Former President Joseph Estrada from the palace. They want to move her without thinking the negative effects after the impeachment. They think that their power is greater not thinking that they are not the one who gave the authority over her.
In my own opinion, the chancellor should not be impeached because it takes more time in replacing her. It takes a long process before a new chancellor will take over her place. We can not impeach her because we don’t have the power to it. The Board of Regents appoints her in her office, and it means that they are the only responsible for the impeachment of the chancellor. If you have complains against the chancellor, you must complain in the Board of Regents.
We should be contented of what we have. Those bad things i0.79n our lives are punishments given by God, according to St. Augustine. It means, if we have a corrupt leader it is just a consequence for being sinful. We have the right to resist but we don’t have the right to move a leader out from his/her office. If the chancellor will be impeached, we are not sure of the next chancellor if he/she is better than the present chancellor. We don’t know who is the next chancellor because they are not pre-chosen by the Board of Regents. It is not easy to find a new one to take over her place who can manage the whole university. For instances, in the Philippine history, the people moved Former President Joseph Estrada for being corrupt and the Philippines is facing economic crisis by that time, but the situation now, since Her Excellency takes place, is worse than the crisis we had faced in the previous term.
If the chancellor will be impeached, there will be a new chancellor. A new chancellor will have his/her another investiture. Another investiture will have another expenses, who knows, more than that of the cost of GCR’s investiture. “History repeats itself but through history we learn.” it repeats itself because the events is a cycle of happenings in the past, but we should learn our mistakes through it.
I can’t blame he chancellor if she spend a lot of money in her investiture because it came only once in a lifetime of a chancellor. If I become the next chancellor I will make my investiture memorable.
If you want to impeach the chancellor, you are just wasting your time. If I were you, I will just continue studying in the university. Anyway, time will come that the chancellor will retire from her work. Let us just wait that to happen. If you really insist, all the things you fight for comes to nothing. It is not enough to shout and fight for your rights as a student, in a democratic country. Remember that you are still students. Focus on your studies before anything else. And wait until you become someone.
