Monday, February 05, 2007
JBLCF now a university
A PRIDE of all Ilonggos, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, Inc. is now the first maritime university in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia after 59 years of producing quality seafarers.
The Commission on Higher Education (Ched) granted the school its university status after their verification visit on February 1 and 2, 2007. An initial site visit by the technical panel for university application was done by the commission last November 16 and 24, 2006 respectively to check the status of compliance viz-a-viz university requirements. A verification team came over headed by the Ched chairman Carlito S. Puno with the commissioners Nenalyn P. Defensor, Hadja Luningning M. Umar, Nona S. Ricafort, Saturnino M. Ocampo Jr., Dr. Heracleo D. Lagrada and Cynthia N. Barrera to check and verify the capability of the school to become a maritime university.
The team inspected the facilities, services, faculty and staff and all aspects concerned with the operation of the school. On February 2, 2007 the Ched team announced that JBLCF is finally John B. Lacson Maritime University Foundation.
Presently, the institution enjoys reaccredited level 3 status of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditations (PACU-COA). It also is a recipient of the Philippine Quality Award in recognition for its quality management practice. These and all the other accreditations, citations and recognitions as a leader in maritime education have contributed to its universityhood.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. graced the affair and welcomed the guests. He commended the effort made by the JBLCF family to realize this goal. He believes that the school is well-capable of handling the responsibility of becoming a maritime university specially that majority of the 25 percent contribution of the Philippines to the work force of the maritime industry world-wide, are graduates of JBLCF.
According to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, this move will be another pride of the Ilonggo people. Iloilo City being the home of the first maritime university in the Philippines and Southeast Asia as well, will make Iloilo known all over the world.
The optimism of the prime movers of the school headed by Dr. Mary Lou Arcelo, President Emeritus, is the strongest encouragement to push through with the application.
"Becoming a university is a bigger challenge, a more difficult task that needs to be done for it to produce a better generation of seafarers who are more competent, qualified and globally competitive," she said with pride.
This turning point in the life of JBLCF is credited to the members of the Board of Trustees led by Dr. Mary Lou Arcelo, members of the executive council, in particular the two administrators of the academic campuses, Dr. Ralph Pador of Arevalo and lawyer Lorna Gellada of Molo with the collaborative efforts of the system officers, department heads, faculty and staff and other stakeholders.
Being the first maritime university is an achievement which is given back by the foundation as a contribution to its home; Iloilo City, the Province of Iloilo, Region VI and the Philippines.( Rachel N. Manero, Engineer Neal Sobrejuanite and Dr. Benelyn Batiduan)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (February 5, 2007 issue)
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