President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Tuesday signed the new UP charter during a ceremony at the UP Visayas Cebu College, with UP President Emerlinda Roman, members of the UP Board of Regents, Senator Francis Pangilinan, and other government and UP officials.

The charter will grant the premier state university much-needed greater institutional and fiscal autonomy allowing it to significantly raise the salaries of its faculty, improve its facilities and enhance its research capabilities. Aside from exempting the school’s faculty from the Salary Standardization Law, the new charter also provides for the tax-exempt status of all revenues and assets, donations and importation related to the university’s educational function.