Sharing CPU’s insights to the world – Mr. Levi O. De Los Santos talks about the plans and the programs of the Community Engagement and Service Learning Center.
With the outreach program, students, faculty, and staff are guaranteed to benefit from the exposure they have in selected communities, particularly in Iloilo and nearby provinces.
The CESLC is the official arm of the University that carries out the third function (Extension or Outreach) of the University as a Higher Education Institution (HEI). The CESLC, according to De Los Santos, has the capability to undertake impact studies and trainings to enhance outreach services. The main objective is to make CPU valuable to the community as a provider of outreach programs that are anchored on Christian values and responsive to the needs of the community for economic development, people empowerment, and self-reliance.
De Los Santos emphasized that the CESLC’s main task is “to coordinate the outreach activities of the different colleges or units of the University. The CESLC are responsible in preparing outreach projects, strategies, and policy formulation for the identified community. It is also engaged in training and assisting faculty and staff members in assessing the needs of the outreach community.”
The CESLC also prepares the proposal to extend outreach programs, services, and activities and conducts impact evaluation on the serviced community. According to De Los Santos, CESLCt monitors and evaluates as well the implementation of outreach programs, as well as the documentation and dissemination of results.
He added, “Programs and activities should strengthen the capability of the faculty, staff and student to do outreach work.” Cooperative relationship with other offices in the University and with the government and non-government organizations are expected of the Outreach Team which is organized by the CESLC.
Among the remarkable activities of the CESLC was the disaster extension support to victims of typhoon Yolanda, a foreign partnership on a housing project in a northern town in Iloilo, soy-feeding program to the indigent students in Ingore, Lapaz, and a Haribon International-sponsored project in cooperation with CPU Outreach for bio-diversity and the environment held in a school in Buenavista, Guimaras.
CPU President, Dr. Teodoro C. Robles shares his plans, goals and message for the university to Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on, Director, CPU Office of Communications.
The Central Philippine University TV aired its first episode of President’s Time on August 20, 2018. The talk show, hosted by CPU Office of Communications Director, Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on, featured University President, Dr. Teodoro C. Robles.
The goal of President’s Time is to give the university president the opportunity to share his plans, goals as well as to report the achievements of the University. The program also relays the challenges being faced by the university so that Centralians may also take part in its growth and development.
During the interview, Dr. Robles expressed his appreciation to CPUTV for initiating the said program, “I’m glad that you have initiated this opportunity for the president to communicate with our viewers.”
As the University prepares to celebrate its 113th founding anniversary, Dr. Robles recalls his experience as a CPU student: “I was here under three missionary presidents—Dr. [Almus Oliver] Larsen, Dr. [Joseph Turner] Howard and Dr. [Linnea Agnes] Nelson. And of course, the first Filipino president, Dr. [Rex D.] Drilon I was here until his death. But the following year, my wife and I left the country. And we’re happy to be back. What is important is serving CPU and making sure that its mission is accomplished.”
According to Dr. Robles, being a student under the leadership of the American missionaries taught him about the importance of offering one’s professional career unto the Lord, “Those were the days when you think about people serving not because it’s a job for them, but because they are here on a mission. So I consider my tenure as a mission instead of a job. We believe that they came here purposely for evangelism and for our education. They have accomplished that so eventually they transferred all responsibilities to us Filipinos.”
Through the unanimous vote of the Central Philippine University Board of Trustees and with the affirmation of the CPU Corporation during the annual corporation meeting held on April 20, 2018, Dr. Robles will be extending his term of service as University president for another five years. He will have served the university for 15 years come November 1, 2023.
Now on his third term as university president, Dr. Robles shares the improvement in the collection rate of tuition fees which eventually helped finance many renovations and constructions in the campus. “The first term was basically knowing what has to be done and we found out its lack of monetary resources. The major problem was our collection rate of tuition fees, we started in 2008 with about 85% collection rate and during the first term then we will able to discover the problem and now we have reach a point where we have more than 98% collection rate. With that we were able to save enough to renovate many of our buildings.”
In the last three years, the university invested more than 40, 000, 000 million pesos to improve its facilities. “[We were also able] to construct a new building for the Senior High School, combining all the requirements not just the building but [also] the new facilities, transformers, generators and it will cost us more than 270, 000, 000 and all from our savings. We did not borrow any money or obtain grants from big donors, unlike the previous structures that we built.”
It was also under Dr. Robles term where the university strengthened its national and international linkages particularly with other Asian universities namely: ZhengZhou University of Industrial Technology, Korea University of Media Arts, Tongmyong University, Korea and many others.
CPU also accomplished accreditation feats: The Bachelor of Science in Biology and Bachelor of Liberal Arts of the College of Arts and Sciences received a Level IV status with validity from April 2017 to 2022. On the other hand, the Masters in Public Administration program received a Level II status effective December 2016 to 2019 while the Bachelor of Science in Chemistry got a Level III status with validity from April 2017 to 2022. The Masters of Arts in Nursing degree offered by the College of Nursing and Allied Sciences received Level III status effective December 2016 to December 2021. The Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and Masters in Business Administration programs of the College of Business and Accountancy got Level IV status with April 2017 to April 2022 validity.
The university ranked no. 1 in Western Visayas for the most number of academic programs hailed as Centers of Development and Centers of Excellence based on the list of the Commission on Higher Education for Academic Year 2016-2017, as ranked by LocalPulse. CPU is the only university from Western Visayas to make it in the Top 20. The list also showed that Central Philippine University ranked no. 18 all over the Philippines with five points earned from designated four academic programs of Central Philippine University, namely, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering and Teachers Education as Centers of Development and two academic programs, namely, Agriculture and Business Administration of the College of Agriculture Resources and Environmental Sciences and College of Business and Management as Centers of Excellence as announced by CHEDRO VI Memorandum No. 001, Series of 2016.
Dr. Robles also highlighted the importance of ISO Accreditations in maintaining the autonomous status of the University. CPU is the only autonomous university in Iloilo City granted by the Commission in Higher Education.
Emphasizing Christ as the cornerstone of the university, Dr. Robles commended the recently finished Christ Emphasis Week. According to them, the said celebration is a testimony of CPU’s commitment as a missionary school: “It is a very important part of student life in the CPU campus. We need our students to understand more what it means to be a Christian. We profess to be a Christian university, but do we really do that? The life of our faculty and staff are basically a good witness for our students. So if we don’t treat our students properly, then that’s not the Christian way. We need to live a life that can be an example to our students, following the teachings of Christ, so that our students can be role models for other universities to emulate. We should practice what we preach.”
Ending the interview, Dr. Robles expressed his desire to accommodate more international students and construct more facilities and classrooms, and for the university to reach greater heights through cooperation and unity.
The CPU TV Studio now offers fresh innovations to cater to the CPU community.
The CPU TV channel studio has undergone remodelling so that it would complement the new programs being filmed and the others that are being planned. The newly refurbished studio is now hosting live programs, such as The President’s Time, Seeds of Faith, Weekly Centralian Link TV, Looking Forward, and Jamming at Central.
The CPUTV Channel studio and office was outfitted with a new backdrop, furniture and equipment. The endeavour was headed by Mr. Dionisio Coronado, CPUTV Personnel, and the rest of the staff and technicians of the CPUTV Channel. On August 23, 2018, Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on, Director, Office of Communications, led his unit and technical staff in dedicating the new office.
The CPUTV studio has long been a laboratory for the CPU Mass Communication students though it mainly served as the University’s means to communicate news and information from the CPU campus to the world.
With all the technological changes of the 21st century, CPUTV Channel and all its programs can now be viewed with one press of a button, even on smart phones. View CPU programs live (and/or on replay) on the CPUTV Facebook Channel, https://www.facebook.com/CentralPhilippineUniversityTV/.
Faith and Excellence – Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on interviews Mr. Rinand C. Escuban in the CPU TV Program, Centralian Profiles.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
Most scholars credit the said quote to Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher from Stagira who was popularly known as the teacher of Alexander the Great. However, other scholars would argue that the said line should be attributed to Will Durant. According to them, the quote was written in 1926 by Durant, who is an American philosopher best known for his work “The Story of Civilization.”
Whoever really said it, one thing is certain, excellence is not a chance occurrence, but rather a promising development refined by time and discipline. Thus, at Central Philippine University, Centralians are trained to be lovers of excellence. However, beyond that, at the heart of Central education is the desire to root oneself in Christ who made everything excellent in His own timing and purpose.
For Rinand C. Escuban, the university has instilled in him the values of excellence and discipline that have provided him with opportunities and various promotions in his professional career. A 1985 CPU graduate of Bachelor of Science in Commerce, Escuban now resides in Canada with his wife and three kids.
When asked how his journey in CPU started, Escuban shared in an interview with Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on during the CPU TV Channel program “Centralian Profiles” that studying in CPU was the dream and prayer of his father, Mr. Fernando S. Escuban also known as “Tay Nanding”: “My father thought to himself that if he stayed in La Carlota he would not have the chance to succeed, so he left and rode a ferry to Iloilo. There, he stayed with the Espinosa family in Muelle and they helped him. He heard about Central Philippine University, and although he just finished grade 5, my father took the courage to go to CPU to look for a job. Mr. Mariano Caipang, my mother’s uncle, helped him get a job. My father became the first watchman and janitor of the University Church.”
Escuban recounts that the first Filipino president, Dr. Rex D. Drilon talked to his father about the important task of working in the University Church: “Lolo Nano (Mr. Mariano Caipang) recommended my father to Dr. Drilon. The university president then approved my father’s employment and he told my father, ‘You are the first watchman of the church. Always remember that you get your living from CPU. Always remember to uphold the dignity of your work.’” According to Escuban, the words of Dr. Drilon and ignited his father’s passion and inspired him to pursue excellence in any kind of work.
Sharing the legacy of Tay Nanding, Rev. Jalando-on talks about how Tay Nanding inspired Centralians to pursue the godly kind of work ethic: “When I talk to the new hires, I always share the life of Tay Nanding to establish the culture and attitude of working hard. Tay Nanding would always say that he was not just a janitor, but that he was working in the house of God.”
With his father’s passionate perspective, Escuban also served at the University Church as assistant janitor: “Whatever work I was given, I did it according to the values I learned in CPU. The Bible says, if you find something to work on, do it as unto the Lord.”
Serving CPU just like his father did, Escuban became the Director of the CPU Students Affairs from 2001 to 2011. He also became the Director of the Office for External Affairs from 2006-2009 and the OIC Director of the Human Resource Development Office in 2010.
Having finished his pre-school up to his post-graduate education in CPU, Escuban shares that the spirit of excellence was widely taught to Centralians: “When I was in elementary, our teacher taught us that whenever we were asked on why we decided to study in CPU, we should give two reasons: first, is that CPU is a Christian institution, and second, it has a high standard of education.” Escuban recalls that his elementary and high school teachers always talked about the value of discipline and excellence—that they were passionate in training exemplary Christian learners for life who would represent not only the university but Christ in the professional workplace.
In 2011, Escuban had the opportunity to live and work in Canada. There, he started as a call-center agent in Recycling Rewards, a company that works in partnership with Children’s Wish Foundation to help children who are terminally ill. With his hard work and persistence, Escuban was promoted to Community Relations Manager and eventually as Corporate Partnership Manager. “God opened opportunities for me and family to go to Canada and I thank God that despite the absence of Canadian education, I was given the opportunity to be recognized by the company.”
After seven years, Escuban, together with his family, visited CPU to perform in the 40th Anniversary Concert of the Bahandi Singers of which he is a member. All the proceeds of the said concert were given to CPU scholars. According to him, the choir is growing with almost 400 members around the globe dedicating their voices for God: “Being away from CPU for almost seven years created great nostalgia. I have spent so much of the best years of my life serving God through various positions in this university. I am always very sentimental when it comes to Central Philippine University. So always be reminded that being here in the university is not an accident—it is a calling from God. Whatever your position is—president, vice president, dean or janitor—consider it a calling from the Lord. And as it is a calling, you will never how long God will use you. Always be excellent and give your best to the university and the Lord will qualify you, the Lord will equip you, the Lord will do His things through you for His glory and honor.”
For his message to Centralians, Escuban, encourages his fellow alumni to be excellent, to remember their roots in CPU as a Christian institution representing Christ to the world: “Wherever you are right now, you may have your own perspective of what CPU is now, but I assure you that as long as CPU recognizes that its beginning is from the Lord and there are people here working for the Lord who loves Him so much, this university will remain a university for as long as God wants it to be. This university is founded with God at the center and I’m sure, God will never allow this university to fail, not this time and not in the next 112 years. Whether you are here or outside of the university, have that peace of mind that God is holding this university and it is safe.”
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