Aquinas University

Aquinas University of Legazpi (AUL) is a school in Legazpi City, Philippines run and owned by the Dominican fathers. It was founded by Don Buenaventura de Erquiaga in 1948 as Legazpi Junior Colleges; the name subsequently changed to Legazpi College, and it became a university in 1968.

History

Foundation

Legazpi Junior Colleges, the forerunner of Aquinas University of Legazpi, was founded on June 8, 1948. Its founder, a Basque, Don Buenaventura de Erquiaga (April 24, 1896-October 22, 1959), established the institution as an expression of his gratitude to the place and the people who generously “built” him up. From the onset till 1965, the Don Buenaventura was assisted by a succession of Presidents: Ramon C. Fernandez (1948-1957) and Bienvenido N. Santos (1957-1958); then after his death, by Margarito M. Delgado (ca. 1961-1963), and Dr. Manuel Lacuesta (ca. 1963-1965).

In 1952, its name was changed to Legazpi College. The educational institution had grown by leaps and bounds, and offered elementary, secondary, vocational, tertiary and graduate curricula. Its science laboratory was considered as one of the best in the entire Bicol Region. An Institute of Research was founded to conduct experiments on local plants’ problems and the possibilities of developing local resources particularly the coconut and abaca products for industrial use. In the decades to come, these pioneering research efforts would move into production.

Transition

Metamorphosis, though without an equivalent term in Bicol, best described this period of change. On July 1, 1965, the administration of Legazpi College was passed on to the Dominican Fathers. Rev. Fr. Ramon C. Salinas, O.P., became the College’s first Rector. Classrooms and library space were increased to meet the needs of a growing population: enrollment in the College of Business Administration increased by 20 percent; College of Education by 27 percent; and College of Engineering by 18 percent. In 1967, the College of Nursing was opened. The increase in enrollment could be attributed to the Bicolanos’ clamor for a Dominican brand of education. On March 7, 1966, the College Administrators, local and regional luminaries and guests witnessed the laying of the cornerstone of Legazpi College’s first building in an expansive 32 hectare site in Rawis, some two kilometers from the old campus at the Legazpi Port District. By 1968 three new buildings were completed.

Elevation

This is the period of rapid increase in the number of enrollees, new course offerings, sprouting of new buildings in an new expansive campus, capped by the elevation of status of the college to full-fledged university, the first Catholic educational institution to earn the status this part of Luzon. On March 8, 1968, the Secretary of Education, Hon. Carlos P. Romulo, elevated the college to the status of a University. On August 30, 1968, Hon. Onofre D. Corpus, acting Secretary of Education, signed the University Charter. Legazpi College became known as Aquinas University of Legazpi. The investiture of the first Rector and President of the new University, Father Salinas, was held on February 3, 1969, amidst pageantry and color, attended by local, national, and foreign dignitaries. Father Salinas was Rector of Legazpi College from 1965 until the college was elevated to University status. Six Rectors and Presidents succeeded him: Rev. Fr. Dr. Manuel T. Piñon, O.P. (1978-1984); Rev. Fr. Dr. Pedro V. Salgado, O.P. (1985-1988); Rev. Fr. Dr. Patricio A. Apa, O.P. (1988-1992); Rev. Fr. Dr. Orlando C. Aceron, O.P. (1992-1995); Rev. Fr. Dr. Virgilio A. Ojoy, O.P. (1995-1999); and Rev. Fr. Dr. Ramonclaro G. Mendez, O.P. (1999-2011, three terms).

The University soon earned the recognition as the center of learning in Southern Luzon, chosen as one of the five Regional Science Teaching Centers in the Philippines by the Science Education Program of the Philippines with the assistance of the National Science Development Board, the UNICEF, and the Science Education Center of the University of the Philippines.

The Aquinas University Bureau of Small Scale Industries opened in 1973 the short-term, non-degree ladder-type course on Abacacraft Technology and Management. The course is offered to train selected out-of-school youth the necessary skills for the handicraft industry in the Bicol Region. The Bureau reopened on February 5, 1977at the Plaza Arcade building in Peñaranda St., Legazpi City. The objectives of the new office are the following: to offer short-term non-degree – ladder type courses on abacacraft management and technology and also mini courses on general management with emphasis on small-scale industries; to engage in the manufacture, purchase and marketing of fiber-craft products; to provide advisory services to those interested in putting up a small-scale handicraft business; and to conduct continuing research studies for small-scale handicraft owners in order to assist them minimize their problems on the operational activities of their business.

In 1975, Aquinas University acquired Legazpi Medical Center. With this acquisition, the Legazpi Medical Center became an integral part of the Aquinas University system. The name of the medical center was changed to Aquinas University Hospital.

Aquinas University became admitted to numerous national and international federations of colleges and universities such as the Philippine Association of Graduate Education, Association of Catholic Universities of the Philippines (ACUP), Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), and the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU). The University is also a member of the International Council of the Universities of St. Thomas Aquinas (ICUSTA); the Association of Southeast and East Asian Catholic Colleges and Universities (ASEACCU).

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) named the University as one of the country’s Center of Excellence in Teacher Education in 1996.

Expansion

Building on the foundations of his competent predecessors, Fr. Mendez has brought the University on an even more solid footing, able to sustain its development in the most challenging and in the best of times. Aquinians, like the people of Albay and Bikol, are tempered by the climate and the environment. Natural calamities are common occurrences in this part of the Philippines. The University’s students, teachers, employees, and administrators extended help as volunteers during emergencies wrought by the periodic eruption of Mt. Mayon (1968, 1978, 1984, 1993, 1999-2001, and 2006), and recurrent typhoons, the most destructive of which occurred in 1952 (Trix), 1970 (Sening or Joan), 1987 (Sisang or Nina), and 2006 (Reming or Durian). When their help are needed, Aquinian volunteers rise up to reach out and provide first aid, distribute relief goods, provide comfort, and light up hope especially to the unserved and the underserved in far flung areas of the province. This advocacy for the marginalized has brought the University to the very doorsteps of those that need the most—Aquinians built typhoon-proof public school classrooms, surveyed water resources, fabricated low-cost water filters, immersed in rural villages, and conceptualized a community college to help youth who cannot afford private education acquire livelihood skills.

While the administration of Fr. Salinas saw the laying of cornerstones of the three main buildings in the Rawis Campus, the term of Fr. Mendez witnessed the decades old dreams fulfilled: a permanent convent for the St. Raymund of Pennafort, the imposing AQ Chapel, and the cavernous AQ Dome. The Daragang Magayon Hall was transferred to a more spacious, this time air-conditioned, venue. Classrooms were added and laboratories were upgraded. Engineering, Architecture, and Fine Arts classes are now held in a new building, the two-storey Fra Angelico. Since its acquisition in 1975, the Aquinas University Hospital has served as the base hospital of the University’s college of Nursing, the recent vertical expansion of which altered the skyline of the Albay District and provided the most up-to-date holistic care to its patients. With a tastefully designed and executed facelift, the façade of the Professional Schools building along Peñaranda Street now provides a welcome addition to the revitalization of the City’s downtown area.

Despite severe damage Reming wrought to its physical plant facilities, the University, like the Phoenix, rose from the ruins. The former Science High School main building has never been as presentable as it is today. The three main buildings, St. Thomas, St. Dominic, and St. Albert the Great now boast a fresh coat of paint. Renovations and upgrading of other buildings, e.g., the former COCOFED buildings, are gradually carried out. Now, the campuses once again epitomize the cool, neat home that is Aquinas University of Legazpi. As a dynamic center of learning, the University continuously endeavors and proactively adapts measures to meet the growing challenges of the globalization of education. Aquinas University Integrated Schools or AQUI (secondary level) has two curricula, one for Science High School (SHS), and the other for the Special Program in the Arts (SPA). The University’s Professional Schools comprise the College of Law, Graduate School, and the Center for Continuing Education. The College of Business Administration; College of Arts, Sciences and Education; Polytechnic Institute (Engineering, Architecture and Fine Arts); and College of Nursing and Health Sciences comprise the University’s tertiary level.

The University considers its human resources its most important asset. At the forefront are highly motivated teachers and instructors, many of whom pursue graduate and post-graduate education prompted by an aggressive faculty development program. The AQ Labor Management Council has been a national finalist in the 2005 Search for Outstanding LMC for Industrial Peace, reflecting the harmonious labor-management relations in the University.

The humble objectives of the Institute of Research during the Legazpi College years have been surpassed many times over by its successors. Established in 2002, the Aquinas University Foundation, Inc. (AQFI) has incubated various sustainable enterprises growing and producing indigenous and environment-friendly products, in the process helping reach out and bring employment to otherwise idle hands used to years of seasonal jobs in the rural areas. The AQFI now has about 300 hectares devoted to reestablishing abaca as a top grosser for Albay and Bikol. The AQFI has also invested in coconut coir production and a system of deriving income from initiated and supported cooperative projects.

Aquinas University of Legazpi is now not merely confined to the boundaries of its campuses in Rawis and Legazpi Port District and environs. During the term of the incumbent Rector and President, the University has acquired properties to serve its institutional, educational, and development thrusts. “Bahay ni Kuya” in Albay District is now a Life Coaching and Wellness Center which is a timely response to the periodic calamities that visit the Region. The Kyama Building near the downtown district now houses the AQ Pharmacy, a ‘botika ng bayan’ that dispenses low cost medicine. The Kyama Building also hosts the AQFI. The Holy Trinity Convent in Sunrise Subdivision houses the Dominican Sisters. The “Bahay ni Julius” in Tagontong, Taysan is being developed for future use. Estates in Banquerohan and Anislag are in the acquisition stage. The AQFI has earmarked these estates as relocation sites for some 800 to 900 families displaced by super typhoon Reming. The University has even reached the southern shores of Mindanao, with a farm in Tagum City and a house in Bajada, Davao City.

With the student and faculty exchange program now in the offing, the University is now on the verge of breaching international boundaries.

Culture and the arts are cultivated since the inception of the University; in fact, one of Legazpi College’s presidents was a writer of national and international renown. Of late, the promotion of the rich culture of Albay has found new impetus. Rokyaw as an annual cultural event has been recognized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Home-grown stage production Kantada ni Daragang Magayon has toured the country.

The University’s roster of alumni include respectable caretakers of positions and responsibilities in different disciplines—Accountancy, Architecture, Culture and the Arts, Economics, Education, Engineering, Public Administration, Law, and Nursing—many have traveled across the seas to affirm their self-worth. Youth from as far as Mindanao and the Visayas, and as it were, as near as Masbate, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, and the Camarines provinces others nearby, come to Aquinas University of Legazpi for their secondary, tertiary, graduate, and post-graduate education. Some became writers and artists, university presidents, captains of commerce and industry, and government officials. For 60 years now, Aquinas University of Legazpi has helped the youth and the young professionals of Bikol realize their full potential to soar high and soar beyond. It has been 60 years of grateful passion and devotion to a true and loving life.

Resonant Vision

In the next ten years, Aquinas University of Legazpi will be a sanctuary of development which is dynamic, connecting, nurturing, and evangelizing, marked by a tradition of excellence and innovation, cultural transformation, transformative education, and organizational effectiveness, reflective of our Aquinian context and that of the borderless world through a committed, competent, and creative teaching and learning community.

Mission and Vision

In a life of truth and of love out of gratitude,

we, the AUL community

envision to be the dynamic

and proficient center of education,

marked by the Aquinian Culture,

distinctively Catholic in mandate,

Dominican in Charism and Filipino in Character.

University Hymn

AUL Hymn
Lyrics by: D. Nasayao
Fr. Virgilio Ojoy, O.P.
Fr. H. Pama, O.P.

Music by: Bro. Conrado botor, O.P.

Rearranged by: Fr. Allen de Guzman, O.P.

We sing a song as we behold
Your timeless beauty and truth unfold
We thank the Lord who to us bestowed
This melody sung in harmony

To you we offer the seeds we sow
With your spirit we'll always go
Into the future we'll walk with you
And follow your path to be faithful and true

Chorus:
Aquinas, Aquinas, let a ray of your brightness
Free us from the darkness
Aquinas, Aquiinas, let your glowing ember
Teach our hearts to serve forever.

We entrust to you our land revered
We'll share with you our dreams fulfilled
We thank the Lord through all our days
To Alma Mater we sing this praise.

(Repaet Chorus 2x)

Patron Saints

Saint Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas was the patron saint of the whole Aquinas University of Legazpi. The university was named after him. St. Thomas was known as the patron of all universities and catholic churches. He was also called as the Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalisand Doctor Communis.

Aquinas is held in the Catholic Church to be the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood. The works for which he is best-known are the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles. One of the 33 Doctors of the Church, he is considered by many Catholics to be the Catholic Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. Consequently, many institutions of learning have been named after him.

Saint Dominic de Guzman

St. Dominic de Guzman was the patron saint of the Dominican priest and fathers in Aquinas University of Legazpi. All of the fathers in Aquinas University are Dominican priests. St. Dominic was the founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans or Order of Preachers (OP), a Catholic religious order. Dominic is the patron saint of astronomers and the Dominican Republic.

St.Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization to address the needs of his time, one that would bring the dedication and systematic education of the older monastic orders to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of cities, but with more organizational flexibility than either monastic orders or the secular clergy.

His symbols are a star, a lily, a dog, a torch and the rosary. Dominic's parents are Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza. The story is told that before his birth his mother dreamed that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a torch in its mouth, and "seemed to set the earth on fire". He is patron of astronomers, of those falsely accused and of the Dominican Republic.

Saint Albert the Great

St. Albert the Great or Albertus Magnus, O.P. (1193/1206 - November 15, 1280), also known as Albert of Cologne was the patron saint of Aquinas University of Legazpi High School Department (SHS and SPA). He was a Dominican friar and priest who achieved fame for his comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. He is considered to be the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. He was the first among medieval scholars to apply Aristotle's philosophy to Christian thought. Catholicism honors him as a Doctor of the Church, one of only 33 persons with that honor.

He is called the Great, and Doctor Universalis (Universal Doctor), in recognition of his extraordinary genius and extensive knowledge, for he was proficient in every branch of learning cultivated in his day, and surpassed all his contemporaries, except perhaps Roger Bacon (1214-94), in the knowledge of nature. Ulrich Engelbert, a contemporary, calls him the wonder and the miracle of his age: "Vir in omni scientia adeo divinus, ut nostri temporis stupor et miraculum congrue vocari possit".

External links

• Official website

References