The CCA nearing completion. Photo by Ric Gonzales
ANGELES CITY – “A promise fulfilled for the benefit of the present and future generation.”
Thus said Councilor Edu Pamintuan, head of the city council committee on education and principal author of the ordinance creating the City College of Angeles (CCA), as construction of the public college is expected to be finished in a few weeks.
But Pamintuan quickly pointed out on Wednesday that it was Mayor Edgardo “Ed” Pamintuan who “moved heaven and earth” to fulfill a campaign promise.
The city college was one of the promises the mayor’s Agyu Tamu political team inscribed in the so-called “Contract with the Angeleños.”
“This administration believes that not only should we develop roads and other infrastructure, we should also invest in people development through education. So that our cabalens (townmates) can arm themselves for the future. The CCA is our gift to the Angelenos,” said Councilor Pamintuan, eldest son of the mayor-lawyer.
THE CITY’S FIRST
For the record, the CCA is the first-ever public college in Pampanga’s premiere business and entertainment center.
The families of prominent former city mayors have their own schools, including the top colleges and universities.
In his recent roundtable discussion with journalists, Mayor Pamintuan said the CCA “is not to compete with private schools but allow more people, including the poor ones, get college education.”
Pamintuan added that “I am sure that CCA students will not be able to study in private universities and colleges at all.”
“The tuition is high at private institutions and not affordable to them,” he said.
The City Information Office (CIO) disclosed that the fee for one semester in private schools ranges from P20,000 to P100,000.
The CIO added that at the CCA the fee per semester will not go over P7,000 at P150 – P170 per unit.
FIRST BATCH
Mayor Pamintuan, who is also the chairman of the recently created Board of Trustees (BOT) of the CCA, said the public college will be ready for the second semester of 2012-13.
Classes for the first semester of school year 2012-2013 will initially be conducted at the 3rd floor of the Angeles City Library.
“While the building infrastructure of the college may not be completed in time for the school opening by June, we have refurbished the City Library as temporary venue for the classes on short-term courses that are market-driven, which can provide immediate employment to graduates,” said the first-term mayor.
The CCA board announced the initial courses: Associate Degrees in Computer Science, Information System and Tourism. They are ladderized programs that can be pursued further in Bachelors’ Degree courses.
A diploma course in Contact Centers will also be offered to prepare students for call centers and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
George Sorio, senior executive vice president of Cyber City Teleservices at the Clark Freeport, said in a recent forum that “the BPO firms at Clark need 3,000 call center agents at any given day.”
Councilor Pamintuan said the CCA will only be accepting instructors and professors with a Master’s Degree to allow them to give quality education.
CCA president Averell Laquindanum, a former university dean in Angeles City, said there are at least 400 incoming freshmen students.
Mayor Pamintuan said the CCA has a budget of some P350 million. Included in the budget are the tables, chairs and other necessary equipment.
The funds were taken from the loan supposedly for the sports complex pushed by the previous administration.
“The sports complex can wait, but not the city college which is beneficial to many, especially the poor,” said Pamintuan.
