FORMER Xavier University (XU) president Fr. Jose Ramon “Jett” Villarin said the plan to transfer the main campus and establish the “Campus of the future” uptown in Manresa began during his time.
Villarin said he’d like to set the record straight that the planning for the new campus began in his time as president from 2005 to 2011.
“The proof is the original master plan which I even showed to the trustees at some point. In fact, the siting of the CIT complex (2011) was an initial salvo of sorts,” he added.
The current Ateneo de Manila president said at that time, he already saw the need to “put up something better than the present campus”.
He said he always saw the Manresa asset as something that could be developed further rather than just allowed to lie fallow.
“We did not want to bury our talents in the ground,” he added.
Visayas-Mindanao property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) is in talks with XU on a proposed new township project in the Northern Mindanao growth area of Cagayan de Oro City (CDO).
The CLI plans to develop the university’s 63.5-hectare property in Manresa into a premier university town over the next several years. However, the university will have to sell the most of its Divisoria campus to the land developer to fund the project.
Last week, several members of the XU alumni, concerned teachers and parents held a protest rally to stop the sale and gathered signatures to send its petition to the Vatican.
XU president Fr. Bobby Yap said the university needs to expand for a bigger and better university.