RSA and the Iskolar ng Bayan

Friday, 17 June 2011 01:46

Written by Louie C. Montemar

“Iskolar ng bayan, sa iyong langit-langitan, sino ang iyong pinagsisilbihan?”

I read this in my student organization’s logbook years ago when the Philippine government, nay (!), the people’s taxes were shouldering the cost of my education at “PSBA” — that Parking Space (or Public School) Besides Arrneow — in Diliman. A friend crafted this line and even doodled beside it a dramatic god-like figure floating among clouds. This really made me think. I was then just in my first semester at the so-called premiere state university and I was not paying anything. In fact, I was being given a notable sum every month as allowance and a generous book stipend every term. I purportedly got this “privilege” for being, in their way of measuring things then, a “poor but deserving student.” With a tinge of irony perhaps especially for us who were then often critical of the Martial law Regime (albeit I entered college after EDSA 1), that “scholarship” which I enjoyed, the best grant available then in the UP system, was one created by a Marcosian Presidential Decree.

And just like many lessons about politics distilled from the years of the dictator and Tita Cory, that line is etched bright in my mind and reminds me of the utang na loob that I have for my people, our nation.

All we, “UP-Government Scholars”, had to do then to maintain and relish that prestigious privilege was to study hard to maintain a certain grade. For some of us, I know, that was the relatively easy part — believe me you, seriously, hindi naman sa pagbubuhat ng bangko. For some of us, the more challenging task was really to decide on where we will go to after college. Some of us didn’t want to just flow and flex with the “market forces” in Makati. We also didn’t exactly like the prospect of being just a stooge in a government we never fully believed in. And we didn’t have the social nor finance capitals to be trailblazing entrepreneurs. The most difficult question for some of us was, after UP, quo vadis? Where to after college? Which brings us to my real concern in this piece — the “Return Service Agreement Program” that takes effect this year in UP-Manila.

This “RSA” program will require UP-Manila graduates to work in the Philippines when they graduate. News reports about it tell us that for its initial years of implementation, beginning with the incoming first year students for academic year 2011, “the policy will cover the College of Allied Medical Profession (CAMP), College of Dentistry (CD), College of Medicine (CM), College of Nursing (CN), College of Pharmacy (CP), College of Public Health (CPH), and the School of Health Sciences.”

The agreement reportedly states that they shall “serve in the Philippines within 5 years after graduation…for a period specified by his/her college — the period of which should not be less than 2 years.” Moreover, there is a key provision which posits that “if after 5 years, the graduate has not fully served the RSA, he/she will pay double the cost of his/her education at prevailing rate from time of entry, plus interest, and less the total amount of tuition fee paid.”

Oh how I have been hoping that something like this were in place during my time! This was only quite recently approved by the UP Board of Regents, and I say Bravo! In fact, I opine that UP should expand the application of this bold initiative to all UP academic programs. Let the Iskolar ng Bayan live up to his title!

The freedom to choose a school to enrol in, especially at the tertiary level, is a qualified privilege of a very narrow segment of our society. One needs a modicum of academic knowledge and skill to be able to enter institutions of higher learning. In addition, one needs substantial financial support. For a layer of the cultural elite therefore, this access should indeed come with the development of a keen sense of social responsibility as it precisely society in general that supported them in their higher learning and thus gave them that further boost to be raised in their towers, as it were, ivory or otherwise.

For an earlier piece that I wrote on the cost of education, I have used conservative values to estimate that Filipino taxpayers spend an estimated Php1.45 million to create just one college-trained specialist (with an Master’s degree) and wait 17 years. To create just one UP-trained medical professional, a report estimates that at least 1 million pesos is needed.

These millions mean let all these scholars face up to their responsibility. Let all SCUs and other publicly-funded education take the cue from the Oblation at UP Manila!

As a friend of mine, Atty. Michelle “Mike” Estor, another product of the people’s university, succinctly put it in response to reading about the RSA and some comments about it: “People go to UP to get the best education at [at least] half the price. There should be a trade off at the end of the line, such as this limitation, which is itself limited to 5 years only. Sacrifices have to be made. There is nothing wrong with wanting to provide the best for one's family. And the choice of whether that objective is to be achieved here or not lies solely, at least under the present circumstances, with the individual. But as is often said, to whom much is given, much is expected. The implementation of this limitation is but a way of giving back to the people who made it possible for these doctors, nurses and public health personnel to be right where they are and to be sufficiently equipped to possibly seek greener pasture elsewhere.”

Let me note that as I write this piece inside the Lasalle campus here at Taft, the Lasallian community is celebrating the “100th year of Lasallian Presence in the Philippines.” Indeed, Animo Lasalle! This celebration should, most of all, remind us Lasallians (I am student of Lasalle, too) that we are supposed to be “Christian Achievers for God and Country” and that we must strive to help in the mission of “Teaching minds, touching hearts and transforming lives.” For the Ateneo, the mission is to mould people who “will devote their lives to the service of others and, through the promotion of justice, serve especially those who are most in need of help, the poor and the powerless.” RSA blue and green-versions then, anyone? Or even a yellow one perhaps for the Tigers at España?

RSA and mechanisms like it are needed if only to put in line, not just the typical scholars of the people, but all other freshly-minted cultural elites of this country, so that they can be given the positive freedom — the “freedom to” do something meaningful and not merely “freedom from” whatever external constraints — to serve their people and live up to their respective school’s noble aspirations.