DAGUPAN CITY, This city may have its own college or university soon as earlier done by two other cities in Pangasinan.
Mayor Benjamin S. Lim bared this plan during a media forum where he hailed the partnership between the Alaminos City government and the Pangasinan State University that gave birth to the new PSU-campus in Alaminos as a “novel cause that deserves to be equaled.”
Lim issued the statement in defense of Braganza who was accused along with the PSU management of allegedly operating illegally the PSU Alaminos campus.“Tama si Mayor Nani, every leader must develop one’s city or locality, so why should we blame him for trying to provide affordable education to the youth.”
He bared that his administration was also considering putting up a city-owned school. “Dagupan City may soon consider the establishment of our own state college or university, just like what Urdaneta and Alaminos did. Thank you, Mayor Nani, for encouraging me to do the same,” he said during the Meet the Press forum of the Pangasinan Tri-Media Association last week where Braganza was also guest.
He acknowledged Braganza’s effort to provide quality and affordable college education to hundreds of poor Alaminos’ youths.
Earlier, Ruben Morante, president of the Philippine Accountancy and Science School (PASS) based in Alaminos told the media that he would sue Mayor Braganza and the PSU management for allegedly harassing him, operating the campus without necessary permit from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and for committing anomalies in the remittance of profit.
Citing the local government code, Braganza maintained that the city government was allowed to put up its own college or university like what Urdaneta did with its own Urdaneta City University (UCU).
Braganza also said that the Constitution also provides that “education is a right not a privilege.”
“As mayor of Alaminos, I will see to it that this provision of the Constitution that says that it is the right of every Filipino citizen to have quality education is made a reality,” he said.
Braganza accused Morante of “extortion.” He revealed that the latter came to his office proposing to include PASS College in a multilateral agreement for the operation of PSU-Alaminos to make it legal.
“For obvious reasons, Morante would just want to partake of the 10 million pesos worth of scholarship grants we are providing to our poor but deserving children going to college. We will sue him definitely for maligning not me but the city of Alaminos,” he said.
