Registrar to issue only 1 COR per student next sem

Due to the students’ rampant use of “fake CORs” in entering the campus, the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) is set to issue only one official certificate of registration (COR) per student next semester of this academic year (AY) 2017-2018.

According to University Registrar Paulino Gatpandan, this implementation was made for the security purposes of the campus. “Based on a conversation with SWAFO (Student Welfare and Formation Office), there are lots of students who [were] caught using fake CORs. So they are not enrolled and then they actually presented [their CORs] . . . It so happened that no’ng na-endorse sa SWAFO, we found out that the COR is fake. Tapos the students let other students use their CORs, it’s because you can print it nga several times,” Gatpandan explained.

Moreover, SWAFO Director John Casidsid discussed that the use of CORs in place of IDs became “rampant”, leading students to commit more major offenses, wherein a total of 294 major offenses were already recorded as of November 24 this AY.

Casidsid furthered that some students frequently print their CORs to lend their IDs to other students or outsiders, which also caused the implementation of the said policy.

New design, features

Since there are still 16,000 blank copies of the green COR forms left from AY 2015-2016, the old design of COR will be followed.

However, Gatpandan said a new design will be created by the OUR’s personnel once the 16,000 copies have been consumed.

“That’s why I advise [the committee], ‘pag na-consume [na] ‘yong old [ng CORs], I’ll assign the personnel to design a new one—with security features,” Gatpandan added.

The additional security features include the reduction of personal data displayed on the COR due to the Data Privacy Act of 2012, also known as Republic Act No. 10173.

“What will be displayed is just the name, the course, and the student number [of the COR’s owner]. The contact person, the address, and the contact number are in the system, pero pagdating sa printed paper, naka-hide na. It’s because of the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Possibly magkakaroon ng penalty sa National Privacy Commission whenever you left your COR and someone saw it—nakuha address mo, etcetera,” Gatpandan clarified.

In addition, the hyperlink “Print Official COR” on the online enrollment will no longer be available and will be replaced with “Print Confirmation Receipt”.

Meanwhile, in case the official COR is lost or damaged, Gatpandan said, “They (students) can request to reprint it to us (Office of the University Registrar) na lang and they have to pay, I think, ₱50.”

This implementation suggested by Gatpandan was discussed with the enrollment committee together with the seven colleges’ associate deans and the University Student Council representing the student body. “Actually, there were no oppositions and they actually agree with the implementation,” Gatpandan added.