Greetings…

“Where your heart is, is where your home is.”

I’ve said same phrase two years ago in welcoming the alumni and I think it is worth repeating in this occasion. Your coming back to our alma mater means your hearts are with Visayas State University. For that we are all thankful. Welcome home! Welcome to your alma mater!

While you were away let me assure you that your alma mater is in good hands.

The quality of our instruction continued to soar. Thanks to Dr, Edgardo Tulin’s leadership.

Our first batch of Civil Engineers had 100% passing rate in the PRC Board Examination, our senior students in Mechanical Engineering had 100% passing rate in PRC Board examination m for Plant Mechanics, our nursing graduates have 94.2% passing rate making us one of the best school for nursing in the country and we have a board topnotcher in the PRC Board exam for Agriculture in the person of Mr. Nick Oswald  Borines. These are just some results of the board examinations our graduates took.

On programs, our agriculture program attained level IV- the highest level of accreditation. We have the highest number of Level III accredited programs among SUCs. Our university continues to be an ecologically friendly university. In 2013, our university was hailed as the most eco-friendliest/most sustainable campus in the Philippines.

On research and extension, we have not experience a year like this-when external funds for research is on the highest in the history of this institution. Thanks to Dr. Othello Capuno our VP for research and extension. We are now implementing relevant researches and extension in partnership with international agencies, LGUs, civil societies and line agencies. We are helping our brothers that were severely affected by Typhoon Yolanda and succeeding typhoons, rebuild their lives and livelihoods.

On resource generation, last year and we expect same this year, couldn’t be better. Our businesses were and are doing well. Thanks to Dr Vic Asio.  We have now undoubtedly become an event and tourist destination, an R&R university meaning a research and resort university.

On facility development, you just have to go around the campus to see and believed.  We owe this to the leadership of Dr. Roberto Guarte.

This afternoon, we launched the new function hall of our VSU Hostel. We will also be constructing a restaurant next to the Hostel so the VSU Hostel occupants need not walk to the guest house to eat or CCE for meeting. We will renovate the rooms so you will not try to outdo each other anymore to get rooms in VSU Apartelle.

We also had the newly renovated convention hall blessed. The building has undergone renovation in looks and now better floors. The rest rooms will also be renovated to meet international standards. To be truly a convention facility, another air conditioned break-up room will be added.

We are constructing an Olympic size swimming pool at Molave Hills and two new basketball courts, two new volleyball courts, two new tennis courts and host of other facilities for sports events in our upper campus sports complex. We will be more than ready to host the SCUAA this October.

We are working on the final phase of our new library. We have renovated and is converting the greenhouses along ITEEM into classrooms. We are adding new dormitory and studio apartments. We are adding another building for our engineering programs. We are working on the final phase of our new library.

We have other projects to implement this year but we don’t have enough time to discuss each one of them.

So folks, rest assured that your university/ your home is in good hands. As much as you love this university, we who are left behind also do.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the alumni for your trust and support to this stewardship.  As great rivers are formed by small tributaries, our university today is a product of contribution of each one of us, of each one in the university and even the community. It was truly an eight-year period of shared stewardship and all indications seem to suggest that we succeeded.

(but) Like water in the river, it has to flow out of the sea or the river will stagnate and stink.

My term will end this October, I have served notice to our BOR and I can’t wait a day longer to go back to research and farming.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you from the bottom of the hearts of all the present administrators of the Visayas State U.

JOSE L. BACUSMO 

After he delivered his graduation message during the 62^nd VSU Commencement Exercises on April 22, 2015 at the VSU Gymnatorium, Hon. Carlos Jericho “Icot” L. Petilla, Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), proceeded immediately to the VSU Renewable Energy Research Center (RERC) under the direct supervision of Dr. Roberto C. Guarte, VP for Administration and Finance and concurrent Dean of the College of Engineering,   for the inauguration of the said Center.  The occasion was also graced by the Leyte Vice Governor Carlo P. Loreto, Baybay City Mayor Carmen L. Cari, PRC Regional Director German Palabyab, An Waray Partylist Congresswoman Victoria Noel, PIA Regional Director Alicia Nicart, and other dignitaries.

Honorable Carlos Jericho “Icot” L. Petilla, Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) of the Philippines, inspired the 1,062 graduates of the Visayas State University (VSU) as the Commencement Speaker during the 62^nd VSU Commencement Exercises in the morning of April 22, 2015 at the VSU Gymnatorium. 

In recognition of the achievements earned by the VSU alumni in the 2014 Board Examinations conducted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the Visayas State University (VSU) accorded medals and cash awards to those who were placers in the different Board Examinations.  The awarding ceremony was held during the 62^nd VSU Commencement Exercises on April 22, 2015 at the VSU Gymnatorium. 

The Visayas State University (VSU), through its President Jose L. Bacusmo, and the Local Government Unit of the Municipality of Dalaguete in the Province of Cebu, through its Mayor Ronald Allan G. Cesante, entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for Scholarship Grant among college students who are bona fide residents of Dalaguete, Cebu and passed the Dalaguete Municipal Scholarship Program (DMSP) Qualifying Examination.  VSU was identified as one of the institutions to accommodate DMSP scholars who will be enrolled in any degree programs related to agriculture, education, environmental science, and computer.

The Visayas State University (VSU) accorded the highest academic honor of Summa Cum Laude to Miss Angelica Joy G. Yu, a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (BSChem) graduate from Pawing, Palo, Leyte, for garnering a Grade Point Average of 1.141 during the 62^nd VSU Commencement Exercises on April 22, 2015 at the VSU Gymnatorium. 

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research Development (PCAARRD) revives its support to the Visayas Consortium for Agriculture and Resources Program (ViCARP) this year, 2015. This is to address the need to strengthen further such partnership to make Science and Technology development efforts more visible in the region and more appreciated by the policy-makers.

Dr. Edwin C. Villar, Director for Livestock Research Division of PCAARRD, formally announced as he graces the opening program during the 26^th Regional RDE Symposium held last March 17-18, 2015 at the VSU Convention Hall. He said that PCAARRD will revive and renew its engagement with the consortium. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing will commence in June 2015 with a theme “Strengthening Partnership, Delivering Results”.

In his message, he further elaborated that Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, the new Acting Executive Director of PCAARRD, has laid out initially his platform of governance in Research and Development management which includes the revival of PCAARRD’s active support and engagement with the consortia. Dr. Ebora believes that the consortium is a potent mechanism to deliver the Council’s deliverables based on its mandate and functions. But certainly the engagement with the consortium will not be the business as usual type. “We will identify particular tasks and specific management components which the Council can delegate to the Regional Consortia. For example, the consortium should include the conduct of a regional pest and disease/hazard surveillance as an added task including packaging programs on hazard mitigation and the crafting of a regional quick response mechanism”, he added.

Furthermore, he stressed “we will identify what are the specific PCAARRD expectations from the consortia and what they should deliver. We will also discern the benefits and costs to be derived from undertaking certain tasks and what are their relative importance for mainstreaming/adoption purposes”.

PCAARRD’s engagement with the Consortium will be anchored on the Industry Strategic Programs (ISP) based on the current 34 PCAARRD ISPs. It will look closely on the RDC regional priorities, the consortium member-agency’s current RDE agenda and the DOST’s 8-Point Desired Outcomes.

There are more initiatives which PCAARRD have already put on the table citing their experiences in the recent past particularly on packaging programs and technology transfer.

With this initiative, VICARP is set to bring more impact and change in the research and development scenario in Eastern Visayas.