Dear UP President Danilo Concepcion, UP VPAA Ma. Cynthia Rose Bautista, and Chancellors of the UP Constituent Units, 

We are students from various campuses of the country's premier state university and the nation's public service university.  From the end of the year 2021 up to the present, our country has been experiencing an unprecedented challenges as Typhoon Odette ravaged Visayas and Mindanao last December and as COVID-19's latest variant, Omicron, has created an massive upsurge of cases for the past 8 days of January 2022. Statistical models of the Department of Health and other research related firms suggest that our country will surpass the surge during the spread of the Delta Variant and this might imperil our healthcare system. 

As of the moment, our campuses in the Visayas and Mindanao are still on relief and reconstruction efforts, while our campuses in Metro Manila and Laguna are facing the surge of the Omicron Variant.  While our 1st semester of Academic Year 2021-2022 is already concluding, students and faculty members are now juggling their time taking care of the needs of their respective families as the number of COVID-19 infections grow as they try to juggle their academic tasks and requirements. Some of the UP Units, such as UP Baguio and UP Manila have very stiff submission of grades deadlines as early as January 13, 2022.  UP Manila and UP Diliman have already initial responses with the call of the student leaders of our university as the UP Manila Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs issued a memo requesting and enjoining the faculty to easing of the academic requirements of students, and the UP Manila University Registrar issued a memo extending the deadline to January 28, 2022, while the UP Diliman Chancellor has recently issued a memo, extending the submission of grades from January 25 to January 28, 2022.  

Though these gestures are appreciated, we are facing a enormous challenge that can be seen in few moments of our lifetimes. Having these palliative solutions do not answer to the needs of our students and faculty in these trying times. We believe that our university's inflexibility is caused by our strict adherence to the academic calendar. Yes, time is of the essence in terms of academic planning and scheduling but our nation's public health is currently hampered and it affects our performance to deliver with the expectations of our respective academic programs. We also need to consider that some of our staff and our fellow graduate students are also frontliners in the rehabilitation and relief for the victims of the recent typhoon and now during this pandemic.  We are not in a normal situation. We need to look outside of the box.

Other academic institutions have already declared suspension of work and classes for a week for their students, faculty and staff to take care of their health concerns and their families and for the administrators to strategize, and plan accordingly for their incoming semester / terms. These institutions have also conducted health surveys to check on their faculty members.  Even the Office of the President has issued a memo on reducing face to face work arrangements in recognition of the upcoming surge.  As a public service university, we should do the same for our constituencies and for our response to the nation's needs. 

To pursue genuine academic ease, we, students of the University of the Philippines System ask to revise the academic calendar to extend the deadline of submission of grades up to mid-February 2022, to provide a wellness break between the 1st and the 2nd Semester as the surge of the Omicron variant will peak during the last week of January and subside by February, and to strategize with the different sectors of the UP Community for our plans next semester.  In addition, the respective UP Units are requested to have a health and wellness survey for students, faculty and staff, so that the UP administration will be guided in pursuing a data-driven policy for the 2nd Semester and beyond. 

Sincerely yours,


UP Iskolars ng Bayan