DAYS AFTER the University affirmed that its unrestricted net assets could not be used for restructuring and rank upgrades, the faculty union argued that UST’s investment records indicate available resources, calling its decision to prioritize long-term assets over “urgent” faculty concerns as “a strategic choice” rather than a limitation.
In a statement released on Saturday, March 29, the UST Faculty Union (USTFU) reiterated its position that the University is capable of sourcing the academic staff’s salary restructuring and rank upgrades from its unrestricted assets instead of relying on tuition hike collections, as the issue is a matter of fund allocation.
“The [USTFU] stands by its position regarding the P12 billion in net assets, despite UST’s assertion that our view is incorrect. The University’s financial statements, as publicly available, clearly indicate substantial resources, including investments, cash equivalents, and receivables,” USTFU said.
According to the union, such resources, driven by academic operations and “prudent” financial management, reflect the University’s financial stability and capacity to support academic staff.
“[A]s our analysis has shown, the institution maintains investment accounts and other financial instruments, which signify available resources that can be allocated in ways that reflect the University’s priorities,” it said.
In a separate document, USTFU highlighted three allocations of the University’s investment account, namely, short-term investments, current portion of the short-term investments and non-current portion of the investments. According to the document, which cited the University’s financial statement, UST held P3.9 billion and P2 billion in short-term investments in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
“The decision to keep funds in long-term assets rather than addressing urgent faculty concerns is a matter of financial strategy—not an absolute limitation,” USTFU said.
The faculty union said last March 25 that UST has P11.6 billion in unrestricted assets that are supposedly available for use at its discretion, a factor that it said puts the University in an “exceptionally strong financial position.”
The following day, the University refuted the claim that it has P12 billion in “unrestricted earnings” that can substitute the tuition hike share for salary restructuring and rank upgrades.
UST said such a claim is “misleading” and “inaccurate” since the amount is not available for distribution. It pointed out that the unrestricted net assets include non-cash assets like holdings, buildings, equipment and software.
However, the faculty union argued that UST’s steady cash inflows from tuition and hospital earnings allowed it to accumulate wealth through unrestricted funds, investments and property acquisitions, which demonstrated the University’s “strong liquidity, profitability, and sustainability” despite economic uncertainties.
“Given this financial position, UST is more than capable of funding faculty salary increases and promotions without dipping into the legally mandated [tuition increase] share. The Union’s request for P26 million for fair and separate promotion funding is modest and well within the University’s capacity,” USTFU said.
“The ongoing deadlock in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations stems from the administration’s refusal to fairly allocate financial resources toward faculty salaries and benefits,” it added.
The University’s unrestricted assets are among the subjects of its ongoing dispute with its faculty members, which stemmed from unresolved provisions of the CBA, including the allocation of the remaining P26 million tuition hike share of the faculty.
USTFU has been lobbying for the rank upgrades and senior high school salary restructuring to be sourced outside the tuition hike shares, which contested UST’s initiative to bankroll the amount from the P26 million tuition increase collections.
According to the faculty union, this diverts funds intended for across-the-board salary increases. However, the administration argued that general distribution would “undermine” student and family trust, as they had accepted the tuition hike for designated purposes.
The UST administration and faculty union held their first conciliation conference before the labor department last March 28. USTFU may hold a strike as early as May 2 if the mediation board fails to reconcile the views of the two parties. F
