MISSING CONTEXT: No SUCs established during 5 administrations after Marcos

At a glance

• Claim: There were no state universities and colleges (SUCs) established during the administrations of presidents Corazon “Cory” Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
• Rating: MISSING CONTEXT
• The facts: The claim was made alongside a list of SUCs established during the Marcos administration. Using similar criteria applied to at least one item in the list, it can be determined that there were SUCs established during the five administrations after Marcos.
• Why we fact-checked this: The claim was found in a frequently re-shared post in the Facebook page “PSSAP UNDERGROUND MEDIA,” with about 33,000 reactions, 2,800 comments, and 21,000 shares as of writing.

A frequently reshared post from October 23, 2020, in the Facebook page “PSSAP UNDERGROUND MEDIA” said that no state universities and colleges (SUCs) were established during the administrations of Corazon “Cory” Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. These are the presidents who were elected after dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted.

This was said alongside a list of SUCs claimed to be established during the Marcos administration. 

The post followed up with this: “The remaining of 108 State Colleges/Universities are built and founded before 1965. They though renamed few Colleges and Universities and Refounded them after 1986.”

As of writing, the post has about 31,000 reactions, 2,600 comments, and 20,000 shares. 

The claim is missing context. 

Some criteria applied in determining at least one of the listed SUCs that the post said were established during the Marcos administration can lead to the conclusion that there were SUCs established during the administrations of Cory Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, or Noynoy Aquino as well. 

For example, the list contains Cotabato City State Polytechnic College, which the post said was established in 1983. It began in 1924 as Cotabato High School, became the Cotabato City National High School in 1977, and was chartered for the first time as a state college on June 10, 1983, under Batas Pambansa Blg. 484. (CCSPC is now the Cotabato State University as a result of Republic Act No. 10585 on May 24, 2013.)

Another example in the list is Leyte Normal University, which the post said was established in 1976. LNU began in 1921 as the Provincial Normal School, an adjunct of the then-Leyte High School. It turned to a collegiate institution in 1938 and began granting four-year degrees in 1952 by which time it became known as the Leyte Normal School until its conversion to Leyte State College under Presidential Decree No. 944 on June 14, 1976. (Later on, it was converted into LNU under Republic Act No. 7910 on February 23, 1995.)

The years 1983 and 1976 used in the examples above, therefore, refer to the years in which CCSPC and LNU were chartered for the first time as a state university or state college.

From the Commission on Higher Education’s list of SUCs as of June 2017, here are examples of some schools that developed like CCSPC or LNU. They existed in some form before the Marcos presidency, but were chartered for the first time as a state university or state college during the period spanning the administrations of Cory Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, and Noynoy Aquino. That period is from February 25, 1986, the start of the Cory Aquino administration, up to June 30, 2016, the end of the Noynoy Aquino administration.

• Camarines Norte State College, which began in 1920 as the Camarines Norte High School; was chartered as a state college for the first time on April 2, 1992, under Republic Act No. 7352.
• Bulacan Agricultural State College, which began in 1952 as the Plaridel Community Agricultural High School; was chartered as a state college for the first time on February 24, 1998, under Republic Act No. 8548.
• Marikina Polytechnic College, which began in 1947 as the Marikina Junior High School; was chartered as a state college for the first time on April 14, 2004, under Republic Act No. 9289.

Also, in the list of SUCs that the post from “PSSAP Underground Media” said were established during the Marcos administration, there were schools whose year of establishment was given as 1965, but which were actually chartered as SUCs before the Marcos presidency began on December 30, 1965. 

These schools, along with the dates they were chartered on 1965, are University of Northern Philippines through Republic Act No. 4449 on June 19, 1965; Palawan State University through Republic Act No. 4303 on June 19, 1965; and Central Mindanao University through Republic Act No. 4498 on June 19, 1965.

While the dates all fall on the year 1965, the relevant republic acts count under the administration of former president Diosdado Macapagal, whose administration lasted from December 30, 1961 to December 30, 1965. 

Rappler has fact-checked similar claims about the supposed lack of project results under other presidencies. Among those debunked claims were that no infrastructure was built under the Noynoy Aquino administration and the claim that no president after Marcos built mass transit projects. – Percival Bueser/Rappler.com

Percival Bueser is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

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