UPDEPP’s permanent home ready by June 2013

It is unfortunate that while we were rejoicing in the University of the Philippines Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga (UPDEPP) over exciting developments in the unit’s permanent site in Clarkfield, Marites Tan Gerona’s letter titled “Sans permanent campus, UP-P looking to uncertain future” got into the Opinion page of the Inquirer’s Feb. 3 issue.

Gerona, a UP San Fernando alumna, lamented the plight of the unit over the past years—displaced from San Fernando to Clarkfield because of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, its students had to hold classes in dilapidated classrooms. She likewise lamented that development in the permanent site in Clark was beset with problems.

I was not yet the director of UPDEPP (I was just appointed last Aug. 25, 2011) when construction in the permanent site commenced in 2010, but as a member of the faculty I knew that construction got delayed because of modifications in the building plan, which were needed to address problems raised by the soil test findings.

I appreciate Tan’s sincere concern. I guess when she wrote the letter she was still fired up by the well-attended reunion of the UP San Fernando Alumni on Jan. 16, 2012, where the alumni decided to contribute P1,000 each annually to support the completion of UPDEPP’s permanent home.

I wanted to speak before the group to share some good news during the reunion, but I did not want to steal the thunder from president Alfredo Pascual and chancellor Caesar Saloma. The good news was that UPDEPP could beat the deadline of Clark Development Corp. (CDC) for our unit to vacate the present site on or before June 2013 to allow the expansion of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA). We could beat the deadline because the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) allocated P50 million for the completion of phase 3 of our Academic Building 1.

Also, construction of Academic Building 1, phase 1, resumed in October 2011 and the continuation of phase 2 of the dormitory building is about to start this month.

Lastly, the UP Office of the Campus Architect (OCA), which is in charge of the management and monitoring of all construction in UP Diliman, is optimistic that phases 1 and 2 of Academic Building 1 will be completed on or before June 2013, especially since Chancellor Saloma, during his visit to Clark last Jan. 27, committed to give around P12 million from the UP Diliman internal funds for phase 2.

I hope this clarifies the issues raised by Tan in regard to our future home. I thank her for her concern for UPDEPP and for highlighting the need of Central Luzon’s underprivileged youth for affordable but quality education.

—F. CHARITO I. SEBASTIAN, PhD,

director, UP Extension Program

In Pampanga, UPDEPP Campus, Clarkfield