The new facilities at the Bacolod City College that were inaugurated Thursday, May 5, in preparation for plans to elevate the school to a university status.
This was reiterated by Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia during the blessing and inauguration of the P350 million BCC facilities in Barangay Taculing, which included the 2,218-seater fully air-conditioned Activity Center, Information Systems Building and Business Education and Administration Building, on Thursday, May 5, a press release from the Bacolod City Public Information Office said Friday.
Leonardia paid tribute to the late Councilor Constancio Legaspi and Councilor Renecito Novero, chair of the SP Committee on Education, for their authorship of the ordinance establishing the city-funded college for children of less privileged families so that they are able to finish tertiary degrees and build their own careers.
Msgr. Felix Pasquin led the blessing rites also attended by First Lady Elsa Fuentes-Leonardia and Councilors Renecito Novero, Archie Baribar and Israel Salanga, an alumnus of BCC.
Also present were college officials led by Dr. Johanna Ann Bayoneta, BCC president and administrator, college dean Dr. Elias Alias, alumni, students and parents.
Novero, who described the school as the “cradle of fortune to the poor and the under-privileged but deserving students and young people of the city of Bacolod,” recalled that the establishment of the BCC started as a dream and a vision of Leonardia back in 1997.
“Now we see a grandiose reality of his dream. I am grateful and honored because he tasked me to draft the ordinance that gave birth to the establishment of this institution. That vision and dream grew into a determination that rebels against any opposition or color,” Novero said.
Bayoneta echoed Novero’s statement as she lauded the impact of Leonardia’s dream to mould BCC from a once nomadic school with only 135 enrollees and no facilities to a future-ready school with even bigger potentials, the press release said. *