‘Tuba as new educational hub in proposed Greater Baguio’
Credit to Author: JAVIER J. ISMAEL| Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:12:21 +0000
SEN. Richard Gordon sees the town of Tuba, or any of the other four municipalities of Benguet that will be included in the cluster that will comprise the proposed Greater Baguio, as the new educational hub to decongest Baguio City and enable it to restore its old glory as the country’s “Summer Capital.”
During the hearing/public consultation on Senate Bill (SB) 1692 or the “Baguio City, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay Development Authority in Baguio,” Gordon said academic institutions such as the University of the Philippines (UP), the University of the Cordilleras (UC) and the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), among others, could be relocated in Tuba and turn it into the Silicon Valley of the Philippines.
Tuba is known as the “Gateway to Baguio,” as the Ben Palispis Highway, or Marcos Highway, and Kennon Road traverse the municipality.
“The academe, the population of universities in Baguio, is approximately one third of the population of the city. The academic population is contributing to the congestion of Baguio. If we can ask
UP, UC and other universities to expand outside Baguio, you can just imagine how great the reduction to Baguio’s population would be. We can develop Tuba as the Silicon Valley of the Philippines,” he said.
SB 1692 aims to create a Greater Baguio Metropolitan Authority that will formulate a master plan for redeveloping Baguio City and spreading development and opportunities in the five other municipalities under the cluster to provide better quality of living for the people.
Statistics show that 115,000 of Baguio City’s 330,000 total population is comprised of students. Dr. Achilles Costales of UP Baguio said they have 2,600 to 3,000 students, while Dr. Leonardia
Aguinalde of UC, said they were already crowded with only eight buildings for their 18,000-student population. Both said they had requested to be transferred to Tuba as they could no longer expand in Baguio.
“We can establish a campus outside Baguio. Coming from the [UP] Chancellor [Dr. Raymundo Rovillos], we are willing to do that to accommodate more students. We are in the process of requesting land grants. We are thinking of Itogon or Tuba,” Costales said.
“The government should also look into the concern of the private universities like UC. If the government is going to give lands to us, we would like to get a land in Tuba because we already have a land there. That would help us. We have 18,000 students right now and only eight buildings,” Aguinalde said.
Gordon said that with the available lands in Tuba or any of the four other municipalities under the cluster, the colleges and universities could put up dormitories so they could accommodate more students.
“In this climate, education will really thrive. Put dorms because maraming mag-aaral dyan (many will study here). Sa Manila ang hirap mag-aral; sa traffic lang patay na (In Manila, it is difficult to study; with the traffic alone, it’s a goner). We can put up an education community with dorms in Tuba. With the good weather, it will be more conducive for learning and studying,” he said.
The post ‘Tuba as new educational hub in proposed Greater Baguio’ appeared first on The Manila Times Online.