THE UP AND UPAA P1 BILLION ALUMNI CENTENNIAL FUND CAMPAIGN: 100 Years of Nationalism 90 Years of Scholarship and Service to the Nation UP Decade, 1998-2008

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES Quezon City

(Approved by the UPAA Board, December 18, 1997 and the UP Board of Regents, December 19, 1997.)

The year 1998 marks the Centennial of our Republic and the 90th year of the University of the Philippines. This year is only a decade way from Year 2008, which is the Centennial of the University, as well as its entrance into the 21st Century. Thus, the years 1998 and 2008 anchor a decade of momentous significance for our nation and our University, even as they underline the integral ties of UP to the nation. For this reason, the University of the Philippines will launch on January 28, 1998 a yearlong celebration with the themes: 100 years of Nationalism, 90 years of Scholarship and Service to the Nation, and UP Decade 1998-2008.

This Systemwide celebration will be marked by a year-long series of events, to be carried out in every autonomous campus of the University: UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, UP Manila, UP Visayas, UP Open University and UP Mindanao. But each month of 1998 will be marked by a main event, organized around a theme, to be participated in by the whole University. Special efforts were made to make this yearlong celebration a "moveable feast" in which the main event for a particular month will be held in a different UP campus. Because of the national character of the University and of the events we are celebrating, we are also collaborating with the Philippine Centennial Commission, the Commission on Higher Education, various national and local organizations, local governments, UP alumni chapters, and other higher education institutions in all these celebrations.

A highlight of this yearlong celebration is the launching on January 28, 1998 of the UP and UPAA P1Billion Alumni Centennial Fund Campaign, which will run from 1998-2008.

For this purpose, all donations, grants, endowments during the UP Decade (1998-2008) from UP alumni to the UP Foundation, Inc. and all other duly recognized UP alumni foundations and associations, colleges, departments, and other units of U.P. to be used by and for the University of the Philippines will be duly recorded by the UPAA and the UP Office of Alumni Relations. The total collection will be reported twice a year: in June at the UP alumni homecoming, and in December, at the annual Lantern Parades. The starting date for purposes of record is December 19, 1997.

The general Plan for the modernization of UP is contained in a strategic plan developed by the UP System administration with the participation of all the autonomous units of the University. Its general framework is contained in the UP Modernization Bill already submitted to Congress as house Bill 9370 and Senate Bill 2031. The Alumni Centennial Endowment Fund is intended to significantly augment the Congressional Appropriations for UP Modernization.

Please recall that the last major alumni fund campaign was organized in 1983 as the UP Diamond Jubilee Fund Campaign.

The UP alumni, now numbering 75,265 and organized under the UP Alumni Association, have always been the constant and unwavering support of the University of the Philippines. Without doubt, it is the largest and the most important alumni and professional organization in the country.

It is only fitting that on its 90th year, UP and UPAA will again call upon its alumni to participate in this Alumni Centennial Fund Campaign so that in the year 2008, the Centennial of the University of the Philippines, the UP Alumni will offer this gift to the Filipino people and their Alma Mater by supporting the modernization of the University, in order that it can continue to serve as the nation’s major intellectual resource and make UP education more widely accessible to the best and the brightest in the land.