Mechatronics

IT’S not fun to be in Negros Occidental, other than in the capital city, if the province is ranked 11th among the areas with the poorest towns and cities in the Philippines, based on a 2010 National Statistical Coordinating Board survey.

Decades of booms and busts of the sugarcane monoculture failed to build a rural middle class, diversified rural economy, and developed industrialization. I dwelt on these issues in a previous column Arangkada Negros and elsewhere. I touched a responsive chord with Sun.Star Bacolod readers.

In that column, I quoted former finance secretary and current co-chair of the Makati Business Club Roberto de Ocampo who rallied the sector to move into agro-industries, not simply confined to growing food, or sugarcane in the case of Negros Occidental.

Bro. Lorenzo Agustín of the monks of Lux Mundi monastery in Murcia emailed me his response. Wrote he, with some minor editing: “Currently, our school, the Catholic Ming Yuan College Tech (CMYT) in Murcia (is) soon to open this July 30, 2012.” The Congregation of the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptists (CSJB) has close linkages with Taiwanese engineering institutions tapped to help CSJB’s Lux Mundi Monastery.

The new Catholic college will offer advanced studies and research in agriculture, particularly the specialized field of mechatronics that are offered in Taiwan’s universities.

Mechatronics is the combination of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, computer engineering, software engineering, control engineering, and systems design engineering in order to design and manufacture useful products.

Coined by Tetsuro Mori, the senior engineer of the Japanese company Yaskawa, the term “mechatronics” have integrated electronics, mechanics, and computing for daily jobs. In a university setting, mechatronics hi-tech savvy graduates.

CMYT’s partners are impressive. Bro. Agustín wrote that it is in “consortium with the Management Association of the Philippines, the Foundation for People Development, Meralco MFI Foundation and government agencies such as Tesda, Department f Agriculture, Negros Occidental Prov Agri ATI program and the Governor’s Office.”

CMYT has “signed agreements with three Taiwan universities (Ling Ting University, Ming Dao University, National Chung Hsing University)” and “shall promote advanced studies and research in agriculture particularly the specialized field of mechatronics offered in Taiwan’s universities.”

Those who studied in NCHU would have received a solid grounding on mathematics, coupled with the underlying concepts of electrical, mechanical, materials, and production engineering. They would typically have undertaken laboratory work and used the production skills gained to build and test a design; further study will have involved engineering technologies and management, creating design specifications, and becoming skilled in the use of a control system design and analysis package, and an electronics design package.

For those taking up their masters, they would have engaged in advanced study and research in such fields as mechanical design, computer-aided design, robotics, manufacturing technology, digital design and microcontroller operation.

For CMYT, the initial course offerings are a bit more modest. Course offerings for School Year 2012-2013 are a two-year business entrepreneurship, and the eco-farm-tourism management—a certified program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The Lux Mundi monks have been working closely with Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. to create avenues for international cooperation in agriculture, trade, investments, and building lasting friendship with international and local organizations since 2009.

As Bro. Agustín emphasized, “Cutting edge educational programs and realistic support for such from all sectors of society, plus real and adequate value formation shall be our foundation to make the food security agenda a blessing for our people.”

Hewing to Catholic teaching of salvation by faith and works, Bro. Agustín stressed that “Even if we change administration come elections in 2013, we owe it to God and our people to continue our efforts to alleviate the lives of the people in the margins, the simple farmers, fishermen, workers, poor, oppressed, the young, the sick and the abandoned.” Amen!

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