PresMessage Category: Default

Tuesday October 5,2021

As we celebrate this year’s World Teacher’s Day amid the COVID-19 pandemic, may we all tip our hats to our teachers who tirelessly and passionately guide the journey of our students as they navigate a new learning environment.

Taking on the journey as a metaphor for learning, students are like travelers who need teachers as tour guides to lead them through new concepts, ideas and discoveries in world that is undeniably becoming digital. Akin to savvy tour guides, teachers provide the much needed knowledge and wisdom to take their travelers on their unique learning journeys. They provide inspiration, encouraging those who face a steep learning curve, to continue the journey despite the winding roads and potholes along the way. Tour guides remind the travelers that learning is a journey. As such, “arriving at a destination” is not the end goal as learning is a continuous process.

To the 632 efficient and passionate teachers of Bicol University, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to your commitment to provide “world-class” education to our students even in the midst of the crisis. Thank you for your sacrifices and willingness to adopt new learning pedagogies in order to adapt to the new learning environment.

To all the BUeños, may you all find the time to thank your teachers for their inspiring dedication in making this world a better place.

Happy World Teacher’s Day!

Wednesday January 5,2022

This month, Bicol University, the premiere state university in the region, will once again submit six of its programs for accreditation as proof of our commitment to achieve academic excellence.

Our decision to embark on this online review process is a testament to our fervent desire to ensure quality assurance in all areas of our operations, cognizant that passing the standards, and being awarded the accreditation status by no less than the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACCUP) Inc., a highly reputable accrediting agency in the country, is crucial in fulfilling our mission of providing quality education to our students.

Through the years, our university has welcomed AACCUP with open arms. This has yielded positive results as BU’s various academic programs, which have undergone AACUP’s internal and external assessment, have shown further improvement, thereby ensuring that our curricular offerings are at par with the best universities in the Philippines and in the world.

Consequently, this sustained partnership with AACCUP, has shaped the practice of the entire Bicol University family, with accreditation becoming a way of life for the BU personnel.   To our competent accreditors, as you peruse the documents which the departments and colleges have meticulously prepared for you, I pray for wisdom, strength, and patience as going through these piles of electronic documents can be very exhausting and tiring. May you see the core values of Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Service in the outputs that we have prepared for you. Rest assured that these core values are the guiding principles that govern our practice in the university.

To my beloved BU family, especially the faculty and staff of the six programs, thank you for your tireless support and meaningful engagement in achieving our vision, mission, goals and objectives. As your President, I commend your indomitable spirit to take on the challenge of submitting your programs amid the pandemic.  This is proof of your commitment to ensure that BU’s programs remain responsive and relevant in today’s world.

As Bicol University sets its sights on the future, we vow to sustain our gains, and create more milestones as we focus on improving our academic programs along these key 10 areas—faculty, curriculum and instruction, support to students, research, extension and community involvement, library, physical plant and facilities, laboratories, and administration—in our vision to become a “world-class university producing change agents for social transformation and development.”

Thank you very much, and let’s keep going, for together, we can accomplish more!

January 5,2022 Wednesday

Before we get lost in the frenzy of last-minute Christmas shopping, and frantic preparations for our Noche Buena, let me greet each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

2021 has been a year of challenges and opportunities for Bicol University. With the COVID-19 pandemic still restricting face-to-face classes and mass gathering, the past months have shown that flexibility, adaptability, and innovation are crucial in ensuring the successful operation of any academic institution.

In the face of unprecedented changes upending the established order, we at Bicol University have adapted and thrived in the “new normal” by putting in place strategic measures, and implementing new policies and guidelines that allowed us to navigate our COVID-19 environment without sacrificing our commitment to academic excellence.

 As you all very well know, at the heart of Bicol University’s programs and initiatives is the desire to ensure the safety and protection of the BU personnel amid the global health crisis that has already claimed millions of lives worldwide.

As we prepare to take on a new year, may we build on our 2021 milestones to jumpstart the year 2022 with so much optimism, passion, and hope. May our accomplishments in 2021 further fortify our collective resolve to “make the best better” by never wavering on our commitment to provide quality education to our students.

This holiday season, as we celebrate the birth of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, may our souls be nourished, and our spirit be renewed so we will see that the true essence of Christmas is Christ alone, who, despite being the Only Begotten Son of God, humbled himself in obedience to God—from being born in the humblest of circumstances and lowliest state up to his death like a criminal on the cross. May His life be an example for all of us as we live in total submission to God’s sovereign will.

May this season be a season of joy, peace, and goodwill. And may we seize the opportunity to reflect on all that has gone before, and what is to come, cognizant that the past is nothing but a memory, and the future lies in our hands. May our Christmas be nothing but merry as we live in accordance to God’s master plan for our lives.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

To the members of the Bicol University family: Warmest Welcome to another academic journey of learning anchored on faith and hope!

Faculty, staff, students – as I welcome each of you to another academic year in this continuing pandemic, let me remind you of this dictum: No progress is ever possible without making decisions.

Each day is a decision-making day. Even when we do not hold managerial or administrative positions and designations, we are always in the process of managing – whether that means managing our life, or that of others – the clear point is, we are managers in a world of options and decisions. We are leaders either of our on life – or others, and even the larger community. The choices we make, will ultimately affect others.

One of the best options, Bicol University decided to adopt, is the transition from Flexible Learning to Blended Learning. This transition simply means we need to constantly evolve with the changing education landscape of our times. I am happy and thankful that we have evolved to face-to-face or on-site learning as part of our blended mode.

Today, more than ever, your decision-making is essential to the way we manage teaching and learning. In this new normal, nothing is more important than or as relevant as the way we choose our teaching and learning modality. In this instance, the current and probably the best practice is the blended learning. However, what has been highlighted by this pandemic is our transition to Digital Education.

Slowly, we seem to have transitioned well to the point that we are no longer extremely afraid of technology, even as we continue to battle with its accessibility. We have in fact, conquered our fears and ventured into getting to know the advantages of digital education to the point that we have devised various ways of optimizing it in the context of this new normal.

But we have to continuously keep in mind that merely knowing how to use technology or identifying what technology to use for what purpose is not enough. We need to come up with the best possible means of optimizing its use as a platform to enhance our existing teaching and learning modalities. Digital Education – whatever your digital platform is – will enable us to choose well and optimize the way we teach and learn.

Let’s continue working together towards our vision of a “world-class university producing leaders and change agents for social transformation and development.”

Mabuhay!

We are now on the third year of the COVID19 pandemic. Just when we thought there might just be the tiniest glimmer of returning to normal, at least in our educational set-up, with majority of our students and personnel vaccinated; we are again in a slump. We are under Alert level 3 – which simply means, even the limited face-to-face classes that most of us are longing for, are again temporarily suspended. We have to go back to the way we were before 2022 started – with the BUCET back to BUCESS, and the at least 30% of the total population in public gatherings. Indeed, the current Omicron COVID19 variant is a frightening reality.

But we have carried on, as one Bicol University united with a common resolve to overcome this dreaded COVID19 virus. As one family, we renew our commitment to our Bicolano scholars, their parents, and our stakeholders, to sustain and further improve on our systems and processes. This year, we have formalized the creation of the University Crisis Management Committee, to ensure that all the necessary protocols for the health and safety of our clients, students, and personnel, will be strictly followed and imposed.

So, to my dear Bicol University family, please stay safe and keep in mind that this, too, shall pass, and with God’s grace, together, we shall overcome all obstacles. Until then, I am one with each of you in prayer for our continued safety and protection, and for an immediate end to this pandemic.