By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff Reporter
Batac City—Due to public demand, the Sangguniang Panlungsod here passed a resolution requesting Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) through the President Shirley Agrupis to offer maritime/seaman and criminology courses.
Batac Sangguniang Kabataan federated president and council ex-officio member John Gabrielle Dominique M. Daguio and Batac councilor Bismark Angelo Quidang sponsored the said measure, with all who voted in favor it becoming co-sponsors.
Upon the motion of Mr. Daguio, all members present during the session approved the measure on its second and final reading.
According to Mr. Quidang, only private higher academic institutions offer said courses in the entire province of Ilocos Norte.
He added that with state universities now offering free tuition fee and if MMSU and other education officials grant these, “dagitay arapaap dagitay kalugaran tayo a kayat da met iti ag seamanken kayat da met iti rumang-ay iti panagbiag da al-alisto laeng nga magun-od da,” Mr.Quidang noted.
However, Mr. Quidang sees some hindrances for MMSU as its thrust in their charter say they should prioritize science and agriculture.
But with MMSU now offering the law and business courses, he hinted that MMSU officials and its board of regents may also consider this request.
Mr. Quidang further stated that students in these courses can also be accommodated as beneficiaries of the city’s scholarship program.
Batac Vice Mayor Windell D. Chua, for his part, said that there might be also competition with the schools offering said courses and that private schools might oppose the proposal.
However, there is now an open competition in the province’s education thrusts as MMSU began offering law and medicine courses, both earlier opposed by other schools but was also eventually approved.
Mr. Quidang added that there is already a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) technical working group that evaluates these proposals.
He explained that if MMSU sees that the proposal as feasible, it will be endorsed and calendared for discussion at the Board of Regents and if the latter approves, a technical working group will evaluate, “no saan met la unay maapektaran dagitay karruba nga eskwela”.
He stated further that if MMSU accedes to this, it will take them at least two years to implement the courses to satisfy all the requirements for them.
Based on what Mr. Quidang gathered, tuition fees for these courses in other universities and colleges in the province amount to approximately PHP17,000 to PHP25,000 per semester.
“Adu metten iti ag interest nga agbalin a policeman because starting salary of a PO1 is approximately PHP30,000.00 per month without allowancesken talaga pay nga agkur-kurang tayo iti pulis as manifested by the chief of police in Batac,” Mr. Quidang emphasized.
“Ken bayat iti pinagsorsorsor tayo kadagiti kailyan tayo, adu a talaga iti mangayat nga agbalin a seaman ta siguro mainspiraran da dagitay karruba da a seaman a dadakkel iti bal-balay da ken no tay da,” Mr. Quidang added.
MMSU President Agrupis, meanwhile, welcomed the proposal proposals but stressed that this will not happen in a short period of time.
Mrs. Agrupis said there are processes they need to follow for them to offer additional courses.
She said this includes a feasibility study and other requirements much like what they did when they offered the law and medicine courses. She stressed that it took MMSU years to implement them.
She also said that MMSU will also need additional faculty staff, buildings and facilities.
She also not4ed that it will be CHED which will decide whether that can offer the said courses or not.