The destruction caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda did not hinder VSU community to celebrate annually the advent season. Though the celebration this year was quite different from the previous years wherein there were fireworks displays, the occasion salvoed with a thanksgiving mass officiated by Rev. Fr. Brian C. Flandez, Co-Pastor of the Holy Spirit Parish, and a candle lighting ceremony on December 17, 2013.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) expressed its strong commitment by allocating US$3-million total fund to rehabilitate the Visayas State University-Tolosa Campus that was totally wrecked by the super typhoon Yolanda on November 8, 2013. This development surfaced after a KOICA Team visited Tacloban City a day after the typhoon, and two weeks later a six-member KOICA Team visited the area where some Korean volunteers were deployed which include the VSU-Tolosa Campus where Miss Juhee (Olive) Kim serves as KOICA Volunteer.

After the Letter of Agreement between the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Visayas State University (VSU) for the project “Gawad Patnubay (Gawad Pag-aaral Tungo sa Maunlad na Bayan) Scholarship Program” was signed on July 24, 2013 by Ms. Corinta Quijano Guerta, IRRI Director for External Relations, and on September 2, 2013 by Dr. Jose L. Bacusmo, VSU President, five college students of VSU shall avail of the IRRI-Landbank Gawad Patnubay Scholarship Program effective second semester of school year 2013-2014.

The Sinulog Foundation, Inc. (SFI) through its Executive Director, Mr. Ricky R. Ballesteros, and the Cebu City Government invited the Visayas State University (VSU) to join in the Sinulog Launching on January 10, 2014. Considering that the junior Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education MAPEH major students usually conduct an educational tour in Cebu as part of their curriculum on festival management, the occasion was an opportunity for the MAPEH majors to have an actual experience dancing the Sinulog along the busy streets of the downtown area of Cebu City and at the same time to observe how the festival is being managed.

At the Hilongos Agro-Panginabuhi Caravan, VSU staff demonstrated food processing methods from different commodities as livelihood options for farmers and rural women in Hilongos, Leyte, Dec. 17-20.

The VSU Choral Ensemble members, together with the five IRRI-Landbank scholars at VSU, under the baton of Mr. Jesus Freddy M. Baldos, entertained the super typhoon ‘Yolanda” victims as they sang Christmas songs during the launching of the Mobile Cash Transfer System on December 23, 2013 at the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP)–Tacloban.

The Visayas State University (VSU) has been named as the Sustainable and Eco-Friendly School in the Philippines (College Category) during the 2013 National Search for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Schools. The plaque was received by VSU President, Dr. Jose L. Bacusmo, and Dr. Maria Juliet C. Ceniza, former Director of the Institute of Tropical Ecology, on November 20, 2013 during the Awarding Ceremonies held at the 3^rd Floor, Activity Center of SM City-North EDSA, Quezon City. Attached to the award was a cash prize of PhP50,000. Aside from the major award, VSU also bagged the “Meralco Energy Leadership Award” for promoting practices and initiatives in electrical safety, energy efficiency and conservation. It received a plaque of recognition and cash award of PhP20,000.