President Marcos has vetoed the bill seeking to strengthen the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and declaring it as a National Polytechnic University.

Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro disclosed on Friday, July 11, that Marcos vetoed the measure due to non-compliance of some requirements.

She, however, did not disclose what certain qualifications were not met by the 120-year-old university.

“Ang sinasabi pong bill ay na-veto ng Pangulo dahil nagkaroon po ng direktiba noon pa po ng 2016 na dapat magkaroon ng assessment. At sa ngayon po, lumalabas na hindi po nagkaroon ng compliance para sa assessment ng nasabing paaralan (The said bill was vetoed by the President because there had been a directive since 2016 that an assessment must be conducted. And as of now, it appears that there was no compliance with the required assessment for the said school),” Castro said in a Palace briefing.

The Palace official stated that the President is hoping that the university would be able to comply with the requirements in order for the bill to finally be passed into law.

“At mananatili naman po ang Pangulo at umaasa siya na ang PUP po ay magkakaroon din po ng national university status kapag po na-comply po nila lahat ng mga requirements (However, the President remains hopeful that PUP will eventually attain national university status once all the necessary requirements have been fulfilled)," she said.

The bill would have lapsed into law on July 9 had the President not vetoed it.