What Happened
Teachers, administrative staff and students at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI) took to the streets on Wednesday, May 20, to demand the resignation of Rector Etelvina Medianero de Bonagas amid a widening crisis over the university’s finances and governance.
The protest unfolded with banners and chants calling for transparency and accountability at one of Panama’s main public universities in the west of the country. The demonstrations reflect months of rising internal pressure, but the immediate trigger was the discovery that salary deductions made for personal loans and other bank obligations were not being transferred to financial institutions.
For many workers, the concern goes beyond payroll confusion. Employees began receiving delinquency notices even though the deductions had already been taken from their paychecks, raising fears of damaged credit records and exposing deeper failures in the university’s administrative controls.
Why the Crisis Matters
UNACHI is a key institution for Chiriquí province and for students who depend on public higher education outside the capital. When a university of this size enters a financial breakdown, the impact reaches classrooms, staff payrolls, social security payments and the institution’s academic stability.
The unrest has also reopened a broader debate in Panama about the limits of university autonomy and the state’s ability to supervise public spending in higher education. In recent years, public universities have faced growing scrutiny over budget execution, labor obligations and the management of large payrolls funded by taxpayers.
According to figures discussed during a budget hearing before the National Assembly, the institution faces an estimated deficit linked to state noncompliance of about $27.6 million. That total includes $12.4 million in unpaid employer contributions to the Social Security Fund and another $265,000 owed to SIACAP, the public savings and pension system.
Budget Pressure and Institutional Strain
The numbers underline the scale of the challenge facing the university. For 2025, UNACHI received a budget of $72 million, while spending reached $91 million. That gap has intensified questions about how resources are allocated and whether current oversight mechanisms are adequate for a university with more than 2,000 employees.
The payroll alone costs about $6 million per month, based on records from the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information. With that kind of recurring expense, any failure to transfer deductions or cover statutory obligations can quickly become a crisis for workers and for the institution’s credibility.
In practical terms, the controversy affects not only university employees but also students, who face uncertainty in an environment where administrative disputes can disrupt academic planning, public trust and the continuity of services. For a provincial university, the consequences can also spill into the local economy, where salaries and university activity support jobs and commerce.
Government Response
Education Minister Lucy Molinar said she had spoken formally with the rector and other actors involved in the dispute. She called for an “act of detachment” to restore calm and described the internal conflict as a struggle for control that is hurting students.
Molinar argued that legal reforms have reduced the Ministry of Education’s direct oversight capacity over state universities and warned that autonomy has often been used to shield officials from public scrutiny. She urged a peaceful transition that would protect the university’s academic reputation while putting students first.
For Panama’s public higher-education system, the UNACHI case is likely to remain a test of whether financial accountability can be enforced without deepening institutional conflict. What happens next will matter not only for Chiriquí, but also for the broader debate over transparency in state universities nationwide.