Topnotchers’ school merits upgrade–solon

Catanduanes State Colleges (CSC) deserves to be upgraded to a state university after its engineering graduates garnered the top three spots in the recent board exam for civil engineers.

Catanduanes Representative Cesar V. Sarmiento said the “high passing” marks of the CSC engineering graduates should be the best argument for upgrading CSC’s status that would enable it to receive more funds from the government.

“The 1-2-3 of the three students, all of them from humble family backgrounds, has cheered the whole province and stirred local scholastic interest and curiosity about CSC,” Sarmiento said in a statement.

Sarmiento filed House Bill No. 4170 on February 11 last year pushing for the conversion of CSC to a state university. The bill was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives last March.

Sarmiento said the bill had been forwarded to Sen. Edgardo Angara, chair of the Senate committee on education.

CSC engineering graduate Benjie Pantino was the board exam topnotcher with a rating of 98.05 percent. Benjamin Go was in second place with a rating of 97.35 percent, while Jerwin Rendon ranked third with a rating of 97 percent.

The civil engineer licensure examinations was conducted by the Board of Civil Engineering on Nov. 19-20 and the results were released on Nov. 23.

Their performance was not a fluke as Sarmiento cited CSC’s track record of having produced 18 topnotchers in  the same exams and 14 other topnotchers in midwifery, six in nursing, three in geodetic engineering, two in agriculture and one in accounting.