MANILA, Philippines – As he steps down from office, outgoing University of the Philippines (UP) president Alfredo Pascual has one advice for his successor, Danilo Concepcion.

“Choose your people well, and don’t hesitate to change non-performing officials,” Pascual said in a recent interview with Rappler.

The man is speaking from his experience; after all, he considers having to change people as among the lowest points in his 6 years as UP president. (READ: UP in the time of Duterte: ‘Observe, speak up for the truth’)

“Hindi sa hindi sanay – galing ako sa corporate world – [pero] hindi sanay ang community. Siyempre they’ve also supported me, they’ve worked with me and we have to change because may mga faults. Diliman, nagpalit akong chancellor, Los Baños nagpalit ako ng chancellor,” he explained.

(It’s not that I’m not used to it – I came from the corporate world – but the community is not used to it. Of course, these people supported me, they’ve worked with me, and we have to change because there were faults. In Diliman, I changed the chancellor, in Los Baños, I also changed the chancellor.)

But he said he didn’t have to play politics during his stint as president, since he was only pulled out of retirement to serve in UP.

“After I finish my term, I’m out, I’m not returning to the faculty where I have to deal with the same people [who] I may have argued against before. In a way, I’m immune from politics in the university.” 

Another point of anxiety, he said, was when he was trying to work for the budget increase of UP at the start of his presidency. 

But looking back now, Pascual said he is satisfied with the last 6 years, because he has “made achievements in all the strategic initiatives.”

“I didn’t experience stress…. May mga moments na nainis ka lang, pero ‘yung dadalhin mo? Mabigat? Kino-compare [nga] picture ko at the start and now. Mukha ba akong all of a sudden haggard looking? Nadagdagan [lang] ng kaunting lines, [pero] ‘di mo puwedeng maalis ‘yun,” he said.

(I didn’t experience stress…. There were moments when I got annoyed, but did I bring those with me? Did things become heavy? They even compare my picture at the start and now. Am I haggard looking all of a sudden? Maybe there are more lines now, but you can’t do anything about that.)

And while his critics were unrelenting during his term, Pascual believes he listened to what they had to say.

“It’s wrong for a leader to be insensitive to anything, even if it’s a minority of one, because that minority might have something that’s a real issue that has to be addressed. I reviewed, I learned from them, that’s why we have introduced technology solutions.”

Pascual said the major reforms that already started in UP will have to be continued by Concepcion.

“We cannot do this overnight, it has to be in succession of presidents, and with my exposure to other university presidents who undertook major reform programs in their university, they told me: ‘You’re only 6 years? Six years won’t be enough. Minimum, 8, ideally, 10 years, especially in the context of a university where everybody wants to say something.”

Pascual is stepping down as UP president on Friday, February 10. He will turn over the presidency to Concepcion, dean of the UP College of Law. – Rappler.com