A new USJ-R school campus opens in Balamban!

It was a great albeit surprising news we got when we arrived in Balamban yesterday morning to grace the opening of the brand new University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) campus in a huge 12.7 hectare facility, a joint venture of Cebu Industrial Park Developers, Inc. (CIPDI) who gave the land and Tsuneishi Heavy Industries who constructed the school’s facilities and USJ-R who will be operating the school.

We were briefed by my old neighbor Mr. Antonio Esmero who is with the faculty of the College of Engineering in USJ-R and acted as the liaison with CIPDI and Tsuneishi for this project. Construction for this facility began Sept.15, 2008 by Dakay Construction. The Grade School and the High School was finished in record time of nine months in time for opening of classes. 

Next on the agenda is to build phase 3 of this project which is the College building, which will hopefully be done in time for the school opening year two years from now. Phase 4 will be the construction of sporting facilities, an oval track and gymnasium. Phase 5 will be the construction of dormitories to house students that may come from outside of Balamban. Fr. Constantino Real OAR has been designated as Balamban Campus Director and Father Prior of the Balamban community.

Mr. Andoni Aboitiz told me that the basic plan of CIPDI is really to provide Balamban with a university that would also serve the needs of the locators in CIPDI, especially on engineering subjects. A Nursing Department is being envisioned, however with the glut in Nursing due to numerous Nursing schools, this might give way to a Naval or Marine Academy, which would educate more seamen to man foreign vessels plying the high seas.

Right now, the USJ-R Balamban Campus has three main buildings, the Administration building, the Father’s convent and chapel and an open court gym. Tuition is pegged at P15,000 for grade school and P17,000 for high school all in. There are 303 first enrollees in this school of which only 3% came from the families working in CIPDI. The rest came from Balamban, Asturias and Toledo City. But I’m sure that when the school is fully operational they would get students from across the Tañon Strait, especially in San Carlos City or Escalante.

USJ-R is my alma mater and I’m proud that it was chosen by CIPDI and Tsuneishi to be the school in this rare and unique partnership, from the private sector, a Direct Foreign Investor (FDI) and the Academe. I can only say that it is because USJ-R has a high standard in Catholic Education, which alas I cannot say for other Catholic Schools that no longer obey the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. My dear friend, Mila Espina introduced me to USJ-R’s Father President Fr. Enrico Peter Silab who told me that USJ-R always maintains its charism in teaching the Catholic faith to their students.

More importantly, this new school facility has an average of 29 students per classroom. In two sections in Grade One they have an average of 20 students per section, which translates in giving teacher attention to students.

But as we all know, a school building is nothing but mortar, steel and stone, which means, quality education must come from quality teachers and for the Balamban Campus, USJ-R has placed Mrs. Pura Wagas as Principal and the Grade and High School. She recently retired from the USJ-R Basak Campus. Other teachers are being hired from the best schools in Cebu City. Incidentally, children of the employees from the CIPDI Group gets a 10% discount in this new school facility.

Since Tony Esmero’s sister is a classmate of my sister Adela Kono, (it’s her birthday today, so Happy Birthday Adela!) I asked them to link up with the Cebu Society for Cripple Children Inc. (CSCCI) so the school can be prepared to handle disabled students and it would certainly go a long way in truly helping all sectors in Balamban. I met Mayor Alex and Tita Rosie Binghay and congratulated them that finally, Balamban now has a school, which is the best tool for bridging poverty.

This educational facility is concrete proof that Direct Foreign Investors (FDI) have truly helped not only in the growth of the Philippine Economy, but also in the upliftment of our people through education, which we all know is the only ticket from a life of poverty. A few years from now, the school will have courses on Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and someday Naval Architecture, thanks to the vision of one man, Mr. Makoto Kambara chairman Emeritus of Tsuneishi Companies, who saw the future of his shipbuilding industry in Balamban, where today, even at the height of a global recession, Tsuneishi has orders up to the year 2013, which by that time, this recession would have already blown away.

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