Lawyer Jamaal Calipayan, Mandaue City administrator | CDN Digital file photo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — From cheap to free. The over 1,000 students of the city government-run Mandaue City College will soon enjoy the benefits of the Free Education Act.
City Administrator Jamaal Calipayan said in an interview with CDN Digital on Thursday, August 8, the city college had already been granted with the free education benefit from Republic Act 10391 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
Since the passage of the law in August 2017, not all state universities and colleges (SUCs) have been granted with the free tuition privilege.
“I think gi-applyan na sa OIC College Administrator Atty. Maringuran. Na-grant siya May this year. Although we still have to comply with some requirements, it is good as approved,” Calipayan said.
Calipayan said the school’s Board of Trustees had yet to decide on how to proceed with the collection of payments, while they await compliance of the free tuition requirements.
“We have to fine-tune kung mo-subsidize lang ba sa ang city sa tuition? Dapat ma-reimburse pud ang city when mo effective na ang no tuition? Or mobayad lang usa ang students, but when they are already entitled, there must be a process of reimbursement?” Calipayan said.
There are two schools in Mandaue that claim to be the Mandaue City College. One is the school situated in the compound of Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex (MCCSC), which is recognized and run by the city government, and the MCC that is run by Dr. Paulus Cañete in H. Abellana Street in Barangay Basak.
Cañete’s MCC has not been recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and was ordered closed since December 2010. Cañete, however, refused to heed to CHEd’s ruling and said it would only be up to the court to decide whether the school should close.
Read more: CHEd: Mandaue City College graduates can’t take PRC exams
Read more: Cañete: Mandaue City College will continue to operate until court tells us to stop
Meanwhile, Calipayan said the city was planning on constructing a new campus for the ‘recognized’ MCC.
At present, the students hold classes in some rooms of MCCSC.
“The MCC administration has been writing to the city and asking for more places to build classrooms because the enrolment has started to increase,” said Calipayan.
Calipayan said the city was also planning to build the new campus for the city-run MCC in Barangay Looc that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facility was presently occupying.
“Ang plano gyud nato in coordination with our congresswoman is to put up a campus for MCC. We already identified a property kay mabiyaan na man ni sa jail (BJMP) kay naa na man silay bag-o ron nga facility. By next year, mangayo na pod ta og tabang ni Congresswoman Lollypop [Ouano-Dizon] for the funding of the construction of the building,” said Calipayan./dbs