UP Through Years of    Education, Struggle    and Making History

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The University of the Philippines is celebrating its one hundredth birthday. Yes, it has been a century. A century that witnessed the births of the greatest minds of this country; a century filled not only with achievements and discoveries but also with the struggles that made history and shaped the nation.

Being the premier state university and boasting of what UP President Roman calls “pre-eminence,” it is just decent if UP celebrates its centenary with a bang. The UP administration is very eager at proposing and implementing its projects, looking forward to a more glorious new century for the University.

Preparations for UP’s centenary officially began in 1998 thru Proclamation No. 1150 of then President Fidel V. Ramos, made in the City of Manila on January 9.

Declaring the period 1998-2008 as the “University of the Philippines Decade,” the proclamation thereby directed all related government agencies and offices to extend full support and cooperation to the UP system to ensure the success of its projects and undertakings within the said decade.

Ramos recognized UP as the primary national resource for the education and training of outstanding men and women, who, according to him, have advanced the highest interests of the people through invaluable contributions to the progress and welfare of the nation.

The modernization program that UP embarked on as stated in its Strategic Plan 2008 was launched in 1998 as well, the start of the decade (1998-2008) which UP has scheduled as the start of ten years of preparation for its centennial this year.

The UP decade, as accounted in the Proclamation, will serve as “a landmark commemoration of the struggle for national independence as reflected in the achievements of the University as a community of Filipino scholars and a period of transition to a highly modernized center of learning of the new century.”

Ramos further believed that the projects and activities of the University to be undertaken during the said decade will generate tremendous positive impact on the long-term interests of the nation. That is why he enjoins both private and public sector to support the preparations.

University of the Philippines Centennial Year

After presenting the UP Plan 2005-2011 to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cabinet on June 7, 2005, UP President Emerlinda Roman submitted her request to declare 2008 as the UP Centennial Year.

Signed by President Arroyo on September 6, 2005, Proclamation No. 913 declares, indeed, 2008 as the UP Centennial Year, and provides for the creation of a Centennial Commission that will administer preparations for the different activities this year.

Arroyo recognized that UP has made significant contributions to the knowledge, culture and intellectual life of the nation since its foundation in 1908 and that in order to enhance awareness of such contributions, the planned activities and festivities must be given support.

The UP Centennial Commission was thereby created, composed of 12 members who are alumni of the University appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the UP President, to formulate and implement plans for the occasion and to hold a fund raising campaign.

Arroyo also thereby directed the Postmaster General to design, print and issue a special stamp that commemorates the occasion.

She likewise granted Php100 million as support to UP’s lineup of centennial projects, thereby released by the Secretary of Budget and Management in three modes: Php 35 million each in 2006 and 2007, and Php 30 million in 2008.