BPC Message

 Bayambang Polytechnic College 

Operations Manual

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

The history of technical and vocational education in the Philippines can be traced back to the 1700s in the Spanish times. Jaime Laya describes that history as "distinguished," for it was a long-winded story of official efforts to achieve economic progress which, in the long run, resulted in the establishment of many tech-voc institutions that remarkably are all doing well today: TUP, PUP, PSAT, Philippine Merchant Marine Academy, Dualtech, Escuela de Taller, etc. down to TESDA.

Apart from TESDA, however, these institutions ended up being concentrated in Metro Manila. It has not spread out adequately in the provinces, and this resulted in a great gap of filling in regional demand. 

It is no secret that we, Filipinos, correctly value education like it is the golden heirloom that it is. However, our high aspirations, as reflected in our preference for medicine, law, engineering, and such lofty courses, though equally indispensable, often do not match the needs of our job market and industries.

According to long-time Bayambang Municipal Employment Services Officer-Designate Gerenerio 'Rene' Q. Rosales, there is a gaping mismatch between what our unemployed constituents want for a job and the actual job vacancies available. As he puts it, "Everyone, it seems, wants a cushy office job. Everyone wants to work in the Municipio." This is sad because there are a lot of vacancies out there and yet our vast unemployed prefer to look for opportunities that we are not sure if indeed present elsewhere.

The reality is that, culturally, we look down on blue-collar careers that local industries need, as there is a regretful lack of appreciation for manual toil and skilled labor. 

I hope that the establishment of the Bayambang Polytechnic College (BPC) will help erase the stigma and untenable preconceived notions by restoring the sense of dignity in tech-voc education and redefining tech-voc careers as something indispensable in the job market.

BPC hopes to bridge the gap between what the industries need and want and the available pool of talents and skill sets that we have, most especially in the field of agriculture and fishery -- fields that remain underdeveloped and are even in a moribund state in ironically an agricultural town like Bayambang.

On a personal note, I know I have always nurtured a heart for learning and education, and even though I have left the academe for a lengthy amount of time, the passion and the desire to teach have always stayed in my heart. I hope that with this Operations Manual, BPC officials, faculty members, and staff will be guided by it in their day-to-day tasks while sharing the same passion for delivering quality learning, particularly in the neglected and thus sorely needed field of regional tech-voc education.

Through this Operations Manual, BPC is set to become the exponent of industrialization in Bayambang and an instrument of progress in our beloved town.