CPU Celebrates 116th Foundation Day

CPU virtually celebrated its 116th Foundation Day last Friday October 1, 2021 with the theme “Ang Paghanduraw: Revisiting Our Historical and Cultural Heritage” which featured the university’s legacy and achievements through the years.

The virtual Foundation Day program started at 9:00AM via Zoom with Facebook live on CPU TV Channel Facebook page. The Program started with a video presentation about the evolution of the CPU campus through the years. Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on led the opening prayer and thanked God for his goodness, faithfulness and mercy for the last 116 years to CPU. Dr. Teodoro C. Robles delivered the opening remarks and reminisced the legacies of the missionaries whose sacrifices made CPU what it is today.

The national anthems of Philippines and the United States were played. It was followed by an inspirational message delivered by Rev. Cris Amorsolo V. Sian where he challenged the Centralians to embody the core values of CPU on their respective areas of influence.

A video presentation was played which shows pictures and videos through the years from Jaro Industrial School to the University Centennial Celebration until the recent U-Day activities. It was a commemoration of the memories made at CPU.

A binalaybay followed which was rendered by Bernie Cangrejo which reminisces the student experiences and occurrences in the campus before the pandemic changed the existing status quo and hopes the future holds for the better.

The program ends with a virtual tour of the CPU campus, followed by the singing of the Alma Mater song, Central My Central, and a closing prayer led by Rev. Cris Amorsolo V. Sian.

CPU was incorporated in 1903 and opened in1905 by the Rev. Dr. William O. Valentine under the auspices of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, U. S. A and through a benevolent grant of the American industrialist and philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller, which became known as Jaro Industrial School.

It started as an Elementary Vocational School for poor boys who worked for their tuition and board. It also organized the first student government in the country, the Jaro Industrial School Republic, and one of the earliest student newspapers, the Central High Echo.

The school began to admit female students in1913. It opened the first two years of high school in 1915 added third and fourth year levels in 1920 which in turn became the first batch of graduates the following year.

JIS opened a junior college in 1923 and became Central Philippine College (CPC). It established a senior college in 1936 and offered five degrees in 1940, namely Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Theology, and Bachelor of Religious Education.

During World War II, the institution was completely destroyed by the Japanese. A number of American missionaries were captured and died gruesomely in their custody. Students, alumni, and faculty joined the Guerilla Resistance Movement as well as the Free Civil Government.

The Board of Trustees have been and were composed overwhelmingly of Filipinos. In 1966, the Filipinization of the university administration took place with Dr. Rex Drilon, a CPU alumnus and a political scientist from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, as the first Filipino President.

In 1968, the entire university property, land, buildings, and equipment were turned over by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society to the Filipino corporation of CPU. All members of the Board of Trustees and administrative officials of the university have been Filipinos since 1973.

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