FOR the very first time in the history of the University of the Philippines, the UP in Mindanao (UPMin) will be hosting the investiture of its new University President, Atty. Angelo Azura Jimenez, a Mindanaoan with a Manobo ancestry from Butuan City. He succeeds Professor Danilo L. Concepcion, whose term ended in February 2023. Jimenez will serve a six-year term until February 2029.
Jimenez thought of holding his investiture in Davao City soon after he was elected as the next UP President in December 2022 to focus on the historical neglect Mindanao has been experiencing, especially in quality education. His priority for this six-year term is to democratize access to UP education by helping improve the quality of education in other state universities and colleges (SUCs).
In his inaugural speech in July 2023 at UP Diliman, he pointed out that the region he comes from, Caraga, is the poorest, next only to Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm). He pointed out two moral paradoxes of the UP System, one of which is that access to the university, "which we love to call the University of the People, is very difficult for the people" thus, it seems that the system actually reinforces and institutionalizes inequality.
Jimenez is the first Mindanaoan UP President. His investiture as the 22nd UP President will be held on September 14, 2023, at the UPMin Atrium.
Jimenez is also the first Student Regent who became University President. He served the UP Board of Regents twice — first as a student regent in 1992 after being elected as the chair of the University Student Council in 1991-1992 and as Associate Editor of the Philippine Collegian from 1987-1988. He served as Regent for four years and eight months from 2016 to 2021 during the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Beyond his active involvement as a student, Atty. Jimenez is an Of counsel with the Jaromay Laurente and Associates and a consultant of the Office of Rep. Pablo John F. Garcia. He was a lecturer at the UP Law Center Institute of the Administration of Justice from 2016 to 2021 and a consultant of the UP Centre International de Formation des Autorites et Leaders or International Training Center for Authorities and Leaders Philippines (UP-CIFAL Philippines). He was also a trustee of the UP Foundation from 2017 to 2021.
Atty. Jimenez earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1987 and his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1994, both in UP Diliman. He passed the Bar in 1994. He was a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He earned his Master's in Public Management from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
He has served as Labor Attache in various capacities and in different countries and received Presidential Citations and recognition for taking on tasks and responsibilities in crisis situations during the Isreal-Lebanon Crisis in 2006, the rescue of Filipino hostage Roberto Tarongoy in Baghdad, Iraq in 2005, and assisting Filipinos in Kuwait during the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He received the Outstanding Butuanon Award for Professional Excellence in 2005, among many awards. He was conferred the title Datu Mankalagan (Great Spirit) by Manobo elders in 2007. SAE