NegOcc state college poised to become university soon

BACOLOD City – The Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC) in Negros Occidental is expected to become a university soon after the Senate approved on third and final reading the bill for its status conversion.

House Bill 8732 seeks to convert the CHMSC, with a main campus in Talisay City and satellite campuses in Bacolod City and Binalbagan town, into a state university.

Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, one of the main authors of the bill, said on Wednesday that after the Senate’s approval on Monday, the proposed law will be forwarded to the Office of the President for the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Gasataya added that once it will obtain a university status, the CHMSC will be able to establish more facilities and offer additional academic programs.

Among the co-authors of the House Bill 8732 are (3rd District) Rep. Alfredo Benitez and (5th District) Rep. Alejandro Mirasol, whose jurisdictions include Talisay City and Binalbagan town, respectively.

CHMSC has almost 10,000 students in its four campuses, including the main college in Talisay City in northern Negros as well as the two in Bacolod City situated in Alijis and Fortune Towne, and another in Binalbagan in southern Negros.

Dr. Renato Sorolla, president of CHMSC, said in an interview last week he is optimistic that they will obtain the university status within the year.

“We are nearer to the goal. We still need to submit more documents to comply with the requirements of the Commission on Higher Education,” he said.

Sorolla said that becoming a state university is not just an aspiration for the CHMSC, but also an opportunity for them to become more responsive to the community that it serves and uplift the quality of services they deliver as an educational institution.

“It will change the budget because the emphasis of the university is more on the generation of new knowledge. With that, we will invest much on the improvement of our research facilities,” he added.

Currently, CHMSC offers academic programs under the College of Education, College of Industrial Technology, and School of Arts and Sciences (all in Talisay City), College of Business Management and Accountancy (Fortune Towne), Institute of Information Technology (Alijis), and College of Fisheries and Criminology (Binalbagan). (PNA)