Recently, I was honored to deliver the Keynote Address for the 79th Foundation Anniversary of the Central Philippines State University (CPSU) in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental. I also received the Mt. Ballo Legacy Award for my efforts in providing access to quality education for disadvantaged communities.
I accepted the invitation for two reasons: 1) CPSU’s unique and historic presence in the Visayas and 2) to narrate in my own words the miracle of CPSU that other SUCs can only dream of.
Many Filipinos are aware of the Central Luzon State University in Nueva Ecija. However, many are unaware that a similar top-notch agricultural university was supposed to be established in the Visayas during the American period.
While the CLSU developed into a well-funded, world-class university, the Central Philippines State University (CPSU) has been neglected by the national government.
The government allocated 4,653 hectares to CPSU for its teaching, research and extension activities. But 17,523 informal settlers occupy 93 percent of the property. Its national funding is less than P700 million in the proposed 2026 NEP.
The lack of government funding is ironic because CPSU is the only public university in the infamous CHICKS (Cauayan, Hinobaan, Ilog, Candoni, Kabankalan, Sipalay) area, which became a hotbed of insurgency in the Visayas region during the martial law period. It is where famine stalked families in the 1980s due to the collapse of world sugar prices, where Fr. Brian Gore administered to the downtrodden and where Bishop Antonio Fortich led the anti-Marcos movement.
It is now home to 15,865 students, with 82 percent coming from families of sugar workers. It is here where access to quality education must be guaranteed to make young Filipinos believe that there is a better future than what is being offered by the CPP-NPA-NDF.
Slowly, CPSU has risen like a phoenix.
There are three factors responsible for the miracle of CPSU: a strategic-minded president, a reform-minded Board of Regents and political leaders who support rather than interfere in university operations.
It started with the appointment of Dr. Aladino ‘Nonoy’ Moraca as CPSU president.
Dr. Nonoy Moraca was an outsider. He was not a vice president or campus administrator who usually vies for the presidency. He was a junior faculty member with the rank of instructor. The Search Committee rejected his application for president because of his lack of ‘administrative experience.’ The Board of Regents had to intervene to include him in the search process.
But his ‘lack of administrative experience’ became his strongest asset. His experience working with local communities and marginalized families became his guiding light in rethinking and repositioning CPSU. He was not shackled by the academic chains that often imprison university officials and limit their ability to govern. He could experiment and try new things that his predecessors refused to initiate.
He talked about extension projects during board meetings. He proposed funding for the development of engineering equipment for communities and the sugar industry. He sat down with the informal settlers on the campuses to look for win-win solutions rather than expelling families from the land.
The biggest challenge he faced upon assuming the presidency was the quality of education in the university.
All degree programs lacked a Certificate of Program Compliance (COPC), a document that confirms minimum compliance with quality assurance requirements on faculty credentials, equipment, facilities and updated curriculum. The CPSU Board of Regents instructed Moraca to ensure that the university guarantees quality education to its students by achieving 100 percent COPC.
The reason was simple: the Free Higher Education law made public higher education free so more students could finish their studies. But access without quality is pointless.
And this is where CPSU gained fame in the history of Philippine higher education. The Board of Regents, after numerous and contentious meetings, shut down 65 academic degree programs to reach this historic milestone.
You could imagine the number of mayors and congressmen who were up in arms due to the complaints of their constituents that their children could not enroll in the degree program of their choice.
But the president and the Board held fast. The politicians did not interfere. CPSU achieved what no public university has ever done in history. From zero COPC, CPSU achieved 100 percent COPC in two years.
In 2022, the university started benchmarking itself against other universities worldwide. It joined the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, the World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI), the UI Green Metric for sustainable campus practices and received a QS 3-star recognition.
Partnerships with prestigious international institutions for research collaborations and instruction in agriculture and technology innovation, including exchange programs, are now in place.
What was most notable during my last visit was witnessing the prudent use of internally generated funds (from income-generating projects and graduate school tuition) to build classrooms, laboratories and facilities that create better spaces for learning, research and innovation.
Imagine building a student center for P10 million, a weaving center for P300,000, renovating the university canteen for P2.8 million and an International House that can accommodate 30 individuals for P10 million.
If President Bongbong Marcos is serious about curbing corruption and putting money where it really matters, he should give the money to CPSU.
Then we can all join the famous crooner Frank Sinatra in singing, ‘The best is yet to come, and won’t that be fine.’