Zambales residents back charter changes for Magsaysay-named university, reject renaming

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March 24, 2026 | 9:25am

IBA, Zambales — Following the withdrawal of a bill seeking to rename the President Ramon Magsaysay State University (PRMSU) and enact certain amendments to its charter, Zambales residents now said they favor charter revisions but without the proposed name change. 

It may be recalled that Zambales 2nd District Representative Doris “Bing” Maniquiz retracted House Bill 8520, which sought to rename PRMSU into the Zambales State University (ZSU), because of vehement opposition from Zambales residents.

As reported by Philstar.com, the proposed renaming immediately drew serious backlash from netizens who saw the move as disrespectful of President Ramon Magsaysay, the country’s seventh President after whom PRMSU was named.

Aside from the name change, Maniquiz’s aborted bill sought to integrate PRMSU campuses in the towns of Iba, Castillejos, San Marcelino, Botolan, Masinloc, Candelaria, and Sta. Cruz, as well as to amend the composition of the university’s governing board.

The proposed integration, which may reclassify satellite campuses into regular PRMU units and provide them fiscal autonomy, could refuel public clamor for amendments in the university charter.

According to PRMSU university accountant Roberto C. Briones Jr., the university faces difficulties in terms of funding and staffing amid the government’s thrust for State-funded universities to provide free higher education.

Briones said in a social media post that some 1,000 incoming 1st year and transfer students were turned down last semester at PRMSU’s main campus in Iba, as it can only accept a maximum of 3,500 new students. 

With a student population reaching 16,023 at the main and satellite campuses this school year, the problem could worsen with the expected enrolment surge of 18,000 or 20,000 this coming semester, he added.

Briones said PRMSU’s current incapacity to accommodate more students is aggravated by a lack of staff, as regular faculty members and non-teaching personnel had to be deployed from Iba to satellite campuses, which lacked formal organizational and staffing structure.

“Only a new University Charter can solve this,” Briones opined. “Once a satellite campus becomes regular, it would have a Revised Organizational and Staffing Standard (ROSS) funded by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) that will provide for regular plantilla positions,” he said.

A new university charter, Briones further explained, may increase PRMSU’s absorption capacity for new students from 3,500 to 6,000.

Briones’s March 18 post about the situation at the PRMSU appears to have cemented residents’ approval of charter amendments that will introduce adequate budget and restructuring of the satellite campuses. 

Still, residents rejected “rebranding” the institution into the ZSU.

“The problems are about capacity, funding, and infrastructure. The call to rename PRMSU as a solution is in the wrong direction,” commented Jojo Perez, a newsman in Olongapo City.

“If the objective is to convert satellite campuses into regular campuses of PRMSU so that they can have their own budget, it is not necessary to change the name,” added Christine Jane Bucat from Iba. 

Maria Angelica Daet, meanwhile, said that PRMSU’s satellite campuses can be reclassified as constituent campuses just like under the charter of the University of the Philippines (UP), which has eight constituent universities that are autonomous units within the larger university system. 

Maniquiz has yet to say if she would refile a bill amending the PRMSU charter, but she had reposted Briones’s March 18 post the following day and thanked the PRMSU official for it.