This point was stressed in a leafl et signed by Bernadette Sacop, dean of the Offi ce of Student Affairs of PLM and Atty. Lawrence Villaneva, the University legal counsel, in the wake of several protests spearheaded by the editorial board of the Ang Pamantasan (AP), the offi cial student publication of the city university.

The University administration released this statement to answer the malicious and erroneous claims of the Ang Pamantasan in several media exposures–that put the university in bad
light.

Among the issues raised in the statement are the failure of the AP editorial board to submit a financial report of expenses properly audited by the Commission on Audit (COA) and their refusal to submit to a competitive examination for editorial board members.

All these are required procedures under the Campus Journalism Act of 1991. However, even with an acknowledged demand letter from the Offi ce of the University Legal Counsel, the AP board has refused to comply.

From 1996, the editorial board of AP has failed to submit the COA-required semestral fi nancial report of expenses. It even failed to submit a report of canvass or public bidding of the printing of AP.

The statement also contained the reason why the AP office was opened on June 7, 2004, which was to change the fuse of themain switch located inside the office of AP - a matter of safety and security. It also explained why two AP editors were not allowed to graduate, which is their failure to comply with the prescribed university requirements for graduation.

The statement clarifi ed that the dismissal of some AP board members and the suspension of some staff were due to the cases filed against them in violation of the university’s student code of conduct and the libelous statements they published in a special issue of AP alleging anomalies committed by the university administration. These allegations were denied by the Commission on Audit in its letter to the AP writers.

University legal counsel Villanueva also clarifi ed that while there is a recommendation to revoke the diploma of one AP writer who was allowed to graduate, the PLM president had not implemented it since this decision properly belongs to the PLM University Council, the highest academic body of the university.

Villanueva said there was no revocation of diploma as erroneously claimed by AP. Villanueva also said that the issue was not about the AP story on the statement of assets and liabilities of some university officials, but it was in the manner the story was written to besmirch the reputation and cause disrespect and molestation to the concerned officials.

This prompted the university administration to declare, “Every liberty has its bounds. The student press cannot be used to violate either the law itself or the rights of the citizen–be they members of the academic community or not.”