About UP Provident Fund

The University of the Philippines Provident Fund (UPPF) is a voluntary retirement fund established by the University of the Philippines (UP) with a mandate to provide UP employees with supplementary benefits, upon retirement or separation from the University, and other financial services, such as loan facility and life insurance coverage.

The Fund was created by the UP Board of Regents (BOR) in 1994 and registered as a non-stock, non-profit corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1997.

As of 2023, more than 10,200 employees across all UP campuses have become members of UP Provident Fund. This means that 3 out of 4 employees currently benefit from their Provident Fund membership.

From an initial P35 million capital provided by the UP administration around 25 years ago, the Fund has grown into a company with assets reaching P3.13 billion and revenues of P140 million as of end-2022, primarily owing to the support of its members and the UP administration and efforts of the UPPF Board of Trustees, Management, and employees.

Members of UPPF’s Board of Trustees and Management during a Board meeting in August 2023.

Brief History

On March 24, 1994, the UP Board of Regents (BOR) during its 1076th meeting, approved the creation of a private fund with a corporate structure whose primary mandate was to augment the retirement benefits of UP employees, with its secondary objective to provide member-employees with additional financial benefits while sustaining the growth of the company’s investments.

The Fund started with around P35 million seed money from the UP System’s budget, and began operating when the BOR approved its governing rules in 1996. Regular full-time employees of UP were qualified to join from 1993 to 1995. Membership became voluntary starting 1996. As a defined contribution retirement fund, members were required to contribute a minimum of 1% of their basic salaries while UP provided a counterpart contribution.

On July 14, 1997, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) affirmed the tax exemption status of the Fund, provided that the income from its investments shall be for the exclusive benefit of members or their beneficiaries. The Fund secured approval as a non-stock, non-profit corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 16, 1997.

Members of UPPF’s Board of Trustees and Management during the Annual General Membership Meeting (via Zoom) in August 2022.

Organizational Structure

The Board of Trustees (BOT) of UPPF is the highest policy-making body of the organization. It is composed of eleven (11) members, namely:

UP President – Chair
UP Vice President for Administration – Vice-Chair
An appointed Chancellor-Trustee that rotates among UP’s constituent universities every year
Two (2) sectoral representatives, one each from Salary Grade 1-15 and Salary Grade 16-above, elected from each of the four (4) UPPF campus clusters.

The UP units/constituent universities are grouped into four campus clusters of UPPF with one branch office servicing each campus cluster, namely:

For UP Diliman, System Admin, and Baguio members – UPPF DSB Cluster (Branch office in UP Diliman)
For UP Manila and PGH members – UPPF PGHMLA Cluster (Branch office in Philippine General Hospital)
For UP Los Baños and Open University members – UPPF LBOU Cluster (Branch office in UP Los Baños)
For UP Cebu, Visayas, and Mindanao members – UPPF CVM Cluster (Branch office in UP Visayas, Miag-ao, Iloilo)

The day-to-day administration of the Fund is led by the Executive Director, assisted by officers, and staff in the four campus cluster offices.

Members of UPPF’s Board of Trustees and Management during a Board meeting in August 2022.

Board of Trustees (BOT)

The Board of Trustees (BOT) is the highest policy-making body in UP Provident Fund. It is headed by the UP President as Chairperson and the UP Vice President for Administration as Vice-Chairperson. The Chancellor from a constituent university (CU) that rotates among all CUs every year is appointed as Chancellor-Trustee.

UPPF members in each campus cluster elect two (2) representatives, one each from Salary Grade 1-15 and Salary Grade 16-above. All in all, the BOT is composed of eleven (11) members which formulates and decides on policies, vision, and direction of UP Provident Fund.

The BOT is assisted by a Corporate Secretary who acts as Secretary of the Board.

This year’s composition of the BOT is as follows.

Members of UPPF’s Board of Trustees and Management during a Board meeting in March 2023.