IT WOULD take a Mayor Edgardo Labella to push for the creation of the Cebu City College. And while he has to contend with naysayers in the City Council, the city is way behind in the game. Talisay City established its own in 2004. Mandaue City followed suit in 2005. Both city colleges survived their birth pains.
Talisay City chose highly employable college courses along the hospitality industry (Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management), in industrial technology (BS Industrial Technology) and education (BS Elementary Education, etc.)
The Mandaue City College, on the other hand, is a bit more expansive. It has bachelors degrees in political science, English, education, social work, public administration, business administration, tourism management, industrial technology, information technology, electronics.
Mayor Labella, however, has something else in mind for the city’s version of the city college. He wants Cebu City College’s (CCC) programs to dovetail with the needs of the city. For sustainable development, he said.
Cebu City’s version must generate local technocrats who will be trained to address the problems that plague the city—garbage, flooding and dysfunctional water systems. Plus, there is also the burgeoning challenge of traffic management, the lack of social workers and the need for affordable housing. The city college, he said, must also produce the kind of workforce that the city needs.
A bit more specifically, the CCC is conceived to offer four-year programs on solid waste management, flood control, traffic systems, environmental management, water systems, nutrition science, hospital administration and nursing. It will have certificate courses in caregiving, welding, hotel and service industry, sustainable farming and robotics.
Labella said the conception of the college will be aided by foreign expertise via the consulates. He said the city will get the help when it sets up the college.
The ordinance for the creation of the CCC is being proposed by Councilor Raymund Garcia. Opposition Councilor Joy Young, who authored City Ordinance (CO) 2320, wants his version to be the basis for the creation of the college. But during the public hearing, Garcia’s proposed ordinance, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the City Legal Office recommended that CO 2320, passed in 2012, should be scrapped since it did not follow CHED guidelines on the establishment of city colleges.
Garcia’s version, entitled “An ordinance creating the Cebu City College providing funds for its operation and maintenance and for other purposes,” takes its legal basis from Ched Memorandum Order No. 32, Series of 2006. The proposed ordinance is now supported with the necessary requirements for the establishment of a city college. Thus, Garcia’s version has Ched’s green light.
Still, there is opposition in the City Council. Labella has this to say:
“The city ordinance on the college is already in the pipeline, awaiting approval but currently blocked by naysayers. Remember what is at stake here. Private institutions in our city only marginally admit low-income students. Where does opposition want the diligent but underprivileged students to go, forward with development or back to the hovels? The people, especially the poor who work hard and long for advancement, truly need the Cebu City College. The sooner we inaugurate it, the better we can boost our city’s demographic strength.”