#AyokoNangMagmahalLPU: Publication fees continue, but where’s The Sentinel?

Manila, Philippines - Publication fees are still being collected from Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) students, but where will it go to?

In 2017, the official student publication was disbanded after false allegations of misuse of funds and poor quality of writing. (TIMELINE: Campus press repression in LPU)

Also read: Debunking the administration's justifications for "changing" The Sentinel

At the time, the Student Affairs Office withheld LPU Independent Sentinel’s funds and stopped collecting publication fees from students.

Enrollment Assessment Forms (EAF) acquired by The Sentinel revealed students have been paying a P100 pub fee ever since the previous editorial board graduated. Other miscellaneous fees are reportedly left unused throughout a semester.

College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) Deputy Secretary General Ryan Martinez confirmed there have been cases where pub fees were collected despite the absence of a student publication, but “fees were accumulated in their trust account and composed the bulk of their remaining funds.”

“(...) However... we can’t make a definite conclusion through hearsay [given the limited data]... Most of our sources come from student publications. Without them, we wouldn’t be aware of the existence of such issues,” he explained.

As of posting, The Sentinel has no capacity to procure financial records and track paper trail to verify whether or not the funds remain untouched.

SAO has yet to be reached for an official response, but they assured the money is reserved for The Sentinel if the publication will be revived.

Screenshot taken from LPU's official Twitter account

Meanwhile, efforts to jump-start the publication’s operations are on hold after LPU started to look for student writers who will contribute articles in the university website “on a weekly or monthly basis.”

A tuition fee increase consultation will take place on 27 February between the central student government and LPU officials.

Updates to follow

Patricia Samin and Timothy Gerard Palugod wrote this report.