Former University of the Philippines President Jose "Pepe" Abueva, who restricted campus access for state troops and introduced socialized tuition, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 93, his daughter said.
Abueva passed away peacefully in his home in Beverly Hills, Antipolo, Rizal, according to Rossana Abueva.
As the 16th UP president, Abueva's legacy as a champion of academic freedom is enshrined in campus history, having been the one to sign the now-abrogated pact with the Department of Defense, which barred military and police from entering any UP campus without prior notifying school authorities.
He served as UP president from 1987 to 1993. He is credited for introducing the university's Socialized Tuition Fee Assistance Program (STFAP) and for institutionalizing the Filipino language as medium of instruction in UP.
Abueva believed that although UP was government-funded, it has to remain critically detached from the state for it to truly serve the tax-paying Filipinos.
“Here in the University, we cannot speak of the national economy without stressing the very ground where it prospers – social justice. We cannot speak of social justice without looking into ourselves and testing our capacity for self-sacrifice," he said in his investiture 1988 speech.
Abueva is survived by his four children.
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