Colegio de San Juan de Letran holds annual RELACION: Ang Ulat ng Rektor at Pangulo

John Paul Vidal

FRIDAY, October 29, 2021 - The Colegio de San Juan de Letran held the annual RELACION: Ang Ulat ng Rektor at Pangulo, via Facebook Livestream thru the official page of the Colegio. The annual event gives an avenue for the stakeholders to know the status of the Colegio for the recent school year and for them to have an idea regarding the accomplishments and areas for improvement of the institution.

The event kicked off with a very informative introduction and opening remarks delivered by Rev. Fr. Clarence Victor C. Marquez, the 81st Rector and President of the Colegio. In his introduction, he mentioned the continuous spread of God’s words to its people, as they have struggled with the challenges that occurred due to the pandemic.

Fr. Clarence also explained how Colegio’s students, in particular, were affected by the pandemic when it started: some students were not able to continue attending school, some struggled to recover, and how it ruined the Colegio’s academic plans for their future.

He then presented the statistics that shows Colegio's achievements for the school to continue and push through the obstacles that the pandemic has laid upon. With all that said, Fr. Clarence also gave his appreciation to the outstanding students that participated in the academic and sports activities, and in doing so, their hard work and dedication contributed to even more accomplishments for the Colegio.

Continuing his reports, he emphasized the importance of achieving the objectives that he’s presenting and how it would affect the Colegio as a whole. He then mentioned the improvements, and the current and undergoing works and practices that are going to be widely implemented among the staff and educators of the Colegio.

The objectives he mentioned can be summarized as followed:

• To Achieve Academic Program Excellence

This objective focuses on achieving active participation in academic and sports programs from both teachers and students inside and outside of the Colegio, and implementing proper training for teachers to achieve educational excellence.

• To Achieve Excellence In Research

Focuses on research and presentations of the faculty members in both international and local research presentations. Seminars and training have been conducted to improve excellence in research further.

• To Enhance Administrators, Faculty And Support Staff Qualifications, Job-Related Experiences And Well-Being

This objective focuses on training and employing trainees, faculty staff, educators in their set professional subjects and works. It also aims to conduct proper care for spiritual, mental, and physical health for the employees.

• To Improve Learning Resources and Support Services Structure

The objective is to establish learning management platforms and continuous implementation of approved rehabilitation plans amidst the lack of resources caused by the pandemic

• To Promote and Support Alumni, Partnerships, Linkages, Community and Extension Programs

Focuses on helping the community surrounding it, by conducting programs and seminars that would help raise awareness and vaccinations against the COVID-19.

• To Improve Student Enrollment Through a Positive Student Experience and Quality of Teaching and Learning

This objective focuses on improving marketing and admission. That oversees the results and feedback of the customers and students, and manages the social media engagement of the community of the Colegio.

• To Ensure Institutional Financial Sustainability and Continual Improvement

This objective ensures and manages the funds and financial stability of the Colegio, it reaches out to the kind-hearted people to help and support the Colegio from the losses it suffered due to the pandemic.

Moreover, the Business Continuity and Recovery Plan (BCRP) comprises 7 different objectives that the Colegio passed with 78.33% Overall Performance. The said objectives are:

1. To implement measures designed to uplift employees’ welfare.

2. To ensure continuous cash flow for Letran Manila.

3. To reduce operational costs.

4. To device and implement measures of continuing learning among students.

5. To ensure continuity of service of operational units.

6. To implement measures leading to customer retention, increased enrollment and positive corporate image.

7. To ensure stable and dependable IT infrastructures.

Fr. Clarence then proceeded to deliver his messages for the community of the Colegio, the teachers, the students, the faculty staff and gave his ending remarks for his report.

In continuation of the event, Rev. Fr. Raymond Fernando Jose was then introduced, the Vice President and Treasurer of the Colegio. He began his report by announcing and explaining the programs and plans they want to execute for Colegio’s community.

Fr. Raymond also mentioned the continuous compliance with energy conservation mechanisms and how it would help the Colegio in a lot of ways — to conserve energy and funds for the continuation of the Colegio.

After Fr. Raymond’s presentation was Assoc. Prof. Cristina M. Castro-Cabral Ph.D., the Vice President of Academic Affairs, who continued to explain the plan and programs implemented post-pandemic.

Prof. Cabral presented a survey showing the reason why some students did not enroll in the first semester of Academic Year 2021-2022. In addition to this, financial difficulties topped with the highest ranking, followed by students’ finding online class/teaching difficult. The survey also had a wide variety of questions whose purpose was to gather information about the ongoing educational struggles and obstacles students found.

Rev. Fr. Stephen Mari La Ja, the Vice President of Religious Affairs, was the next to render the plans and programs that were made for the spiritual, mental, and physical care for the staff, students, parents, teachers, and the community.

He stated that the Colegio plans to provide the spiritual need of the students and help those that are unfortunate and to everyone while also creating more opportunities for them.

Thereafter, a question and answer portion was then opened for the audiences. Some of the most attention-catching questions were: (1) “The implementation of limited face to face classes, and what would be the Colegio’s plan regarding it?” and (2) “Would there be preparations for the limited face to face classes, and how will they make sure that the students are going to be safe when the said limited face to face classes were to be conducted?“

Answering the questions, Prof. Cristina replied that the Colegio is ready, initially for the laboratory classes in the College of Engineering and Information technology. In fact, the Colegio already sat down with the representatives from our local government units and were also given the certifications needed.

Likewise, the Colegio was already visited yesterday, October 28, 2021, by the representatives of the Manila City Hall. It was then concluded that Letran was the first school that passed their rigid assessment for the safety protocols. Additionally, the Colegio was also the first one to be accorded with the Safety Seal, and that they are now just waiting for the different local government units to give the signal.

She also added that the Colegio is hoping to open its doors by next year, A.Y. 2022-2023, for Elementary to Senior High School students.

With that, each speaker gave their closing remarks, followed by the community singing of Himno del Colegio, concluding the RELACION 2021.

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