THE KABATAAN Partylist is calling on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to immediately veto the National Polytechnic University (NPU) Bill, warning that it threatens the public and pro-student character of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the country’s largest state university.

PUP student leaders said the bill introduces alarming reforms to the university’s charter that may shift its focus toward commercialization. With fiscal autonomy, they fear PUP could be forced to hike tuition and prioritize income-generating ventures over accessible public education.

“This isn’t the National Polytechnic University Bill—it’s the Neglect and Privatization of Universities Bill,” said Kabataan Partylist Rep. Atty. Raoul Renee Louise Co.

“It pushes PUP to operate like a business—charging fees and chasing revenue at the expense of student welfare and community needs—all while masking the government’s decades-long failure to properly fund the university,” Co added.

She argued that granting fiscal autonomy to PUP would give the government an excuse to pull back financial support for the education of more than 82,000 students.

“If PUP is expected to generate its own income, this rebranding becomes a pretext for the state to abandon its obligation to fund public education. This bill must be vetoed immediately,” she said.

Drawing from her experience as a former UP Student Regent, Co noted the similarities between the NPU Bill and the 2008 UP Charter, which led to the rise of commercial projects like UP Town Center and Ayala Technohub, at the cost of student-centered infrastructure such as affordable dormitories. She also pointed out how tuition increased under the socialized tuition system—now being proposed for PUP.

Co further criticized the bill for promoting a “colonial orientation” in education by prioritizing technical courses for foreign industries, while sidelining social sciences and humanities.

“The NPU Bill reduces PUP into a training ground for exportable labor, instead of a center for critical thinking and nation-building,” she said.

Kabataan Partylist emphasized that PUP and other public universities must remain people’s institutions—not corporate playgrounds.

“PUP is not a factory for export-ready graduates. If President Marcos Jr. signs this bill into law, it will deepen the education crisis—and he will be held accountable,” Co concluded.