Bill for state college in Pampanga city gets nod from execs

BACOLOR, Pampanga — The City College of San Fernando (CCSF) is poised to become a state college after city officials posed no objections to a bill for its conversion in a pre-congressional hearing here on Monday.

Mayor Vilma Caluag and Vice Mayor Benedict Jasper Lagman, as well as the majority of the councilors – Brenz Gonzales. Ricky Hizon, Rosalie Mendoza, Angel Wijangco, Ayzel Grace Macalino, Rosemarie Calimlim, and Wilzen Samia – expressed support for House Bill No. 4985 filed by Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales last Sept. 19.

Gonzales was the proponent of the conversion of the Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University and the creation of the Bacolor Rehabilitation Program.

What was anticipated as a tension-filled hearing due to opposition by teachers’ and students’ associations turned into a calm dialogue after the mayor clarified she was not against House Bill No. 4985. It proposed the planned state college without integrating it with the now-named Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU).

“I was surprised we had two bills. For the record, I do not oppose the one converting it into a state college without integrating it into the DHVSU,” she said during the hearing held at the DHVSU.

In an interview, she said she would call for an emergency meeting today with the CCSF’s board of regents.

Since its founding 14 years ago, the number of students at CCSF has increased from 700 to 1,500, and the number of academic courses has increased from four to eight. The local government gave it a budget of P63 million this year and P73 million in 2023.

Gonzales said state colleges and universities are entitled to national appropriations.

Neither he nor Caluag mentioned a proposed budget for the CCSF. INQ

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