It's time for a Cebu City College

Few days ago, my heart jumped with childlike joy to read from the papers of the commitment of the Honorable Congressman Eduardo R. Gullas, of the first district of Cebu province, to establish a college in each of the towns in his district. Not that I speak with the obvious bias that I have for the Gullases, I am simply proud that this favorite lawmaker of mine, will define his distinguished stint in Congress with a lasting legacy of an educated constituency.

 To corrupt a line from Cicero, a Roman senator, education is the best gift a man can give the republic. And since I have yet to uncover of any unfulfilled profound promise of Sir Eddiegul, I am certain that he is just about to enshrine in his district an incalculable sense of value for education. Indeed, educating the young is a sure formula to making them useful citizens of the country.

 Talisay City, under the sponsorship of their congressman, opened the Talisay City College few years ago, the first in the district, the second being that of San Fernando. The Talisay City College blazed the trail of education for Mandaue City, the municipality of Cordova and if, my information is correct, the town of Madridejos, to follow.

 The municipality of Consolacion has recently joined this noble direction. Towards the end of the term of then Mayor Avelino Gungob, he laid the foundation of the Consolacion College, that opened its doors to about 600 students starting this semester. There is good reason to expect that the new mayor, Hon. Teresa Pepito Alegado, also well steeped in education, will give this fledgling institution a tremendous push.

 Being a resident of Cebu City, how I wish that we had our own college. It is embarrassing to admit that then mayor, now Honorable Congressman Tomas Osmeña, preferred to pour his efforts on his only visible accomplishment, the south reclamation project rather than to make sure that the young in this city be provided with an unerring tool with which to ascertain their future. In that respect of establishing schools in their jurisdictions that Mayors Tadeo Ouano, Adelino Sitoy, and Avelino Gungob were successful, our own former city chief executive was a dismal failure.

 Actually, our city had the chance to show its leadership in this particular concern. It could have kicked out of the starting block much ahead of others. There should have been a Cebu City College in the early part of this decade.

 My lady Carmen, then a city councilor, filed a proposed ordinance creating the city's college. She had the draft finalized after consulting the acknowledged minds in the academe and getting their inputs written into the proposed measure. The ideas of respected business and social leaders were also considered.

 It is with immeasurable sadness to recall that the proposal did not even get the nod of the city council's committee on education. I could not remember the reason for the resistance of the committee apart from one sore fact. On account of Carmen's political color, her sponsorship doomed the intended ordinance.

 The sincere desire of the legislator from the first district to put up colleges throughout his turf supplies me with both comfort and envy. I am comforted to realize that his action vigorously marks the validity of the measure of my lady. Single-handedly, he demolishes, quite belatedly, the shallow argument of the committee that rejected the proposed ordinance. At the same time, I envy that some local government units with much lesser need for tertiary education than our city find it important and necessary to push this kind of noble undertaking.

 Thanks to my incorrigible optimism, I feel that the honorable new Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, will see the need to establish a Cebu City college. It will not matter that it may be differently conceptualized than what was proposed by my lady. What is important is that it provides such courses to our young that are not offered by privately owned schools.

 When this city college finally opens its doors, it will help ensure the future of our youth. This must be a reason compelling enough for our new mayor, who shows signs of flirting with greatness, to consider. Right mayor?

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