1st in Caraga Region, PGMA signs law creating Caraga State U

Butuan City -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today signed Republic Act 9854 or the Act Establishing the Caraga State University (CSU). The law integrates the Northern Mindanao State Institute of Science and Technology (NORMSIST) in this city, and the Northern Mindanao College of Science and Technology (NMCAST) in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte. The main campus will be in this city.

The signing ceremony, held at the NORMSIST Gym, was witnessed by about a thousand students who cheered the President.

In a brief speech, the President said access to quality education will ensure economic progress in Region 13, made up of the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur as well as the cities of Butuan, Surigao, and Bislig. “Congratulations! This is the first state university in the Caraga region,” the President said in the Visayan dialect, adding that she first visited NORMSIST when she was still a senator.

Under the new law, the universities’ existing high schools will eventually be transferred to the Department of Education (DepEd). The high schools will, however, be allowed to remain and operate within the university campuses until the currently enrolled students have completed their high school education. The law also allows CSU to operate a reasonably sized laboratory school, if it opens a College of Education.

Meanwhile in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur ,President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo formally opened Region 13 or CARAGA’s first corn processing and trading center during her visit here this afternoon. Built at a cost of P67.55-million, the Corn Post Harvest Processing Trading Center (CPHPTC) is the end product of a tie-up between the provincial government of Agusan del Sur and the National Agribusiness Corp., a Department of Agriculture-attached government-owned and-controlled operation.

Located on a four-hectare lot in Barangay Mabuhay here, CPHPTC will help increase productivity and lower production cost, resulting in increased profit for the farmers. It will thus contribute to the economic development of the whole province. Through a simplified buying and selling process, the center buys wet corn ears, in effect sparing the farmers the cost of drying and shelling. They are paid half of the prevailing price of the dry grain.

The President also turned over certificates for 18 units of corn shredders to Agusan del Sur Gov. Ma. Valentina Plaza and awarded Certificates of Graduation to the officers of eight rice farmers associations of Agusan del Sur who undertook field schooling given by the local government. The eight rice farmers association representing the 1,200 graduates are from Rosario, La Paz, Trento, Loreto, Esperanza, Prosperidad, Bayugan, and Bunawan.(PIA-Pagadian City)

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