HISTORY OF THE CITY COLLEGE OF CALAPAN
The quality of our youth today in terms of education spells the quality of the human resource tomorrow. It is the responsibility of the government to prioritize the educational welfare of our youth. Aside from infrastructure, other government projects, and providing basic needs of Calapeños, it is incumbent upon government officials to enhance the potentials of our youth through quality education making them globally competitive in this era of emerging trends in the field of education.
It took more than a half decade, three different leaders and a deep commitment to put up the City College. In 2003, Governor Arnan C. Panaligan, during his term as City Mayor, first came up with the idea of putting up an LGU-managed tertiary education institution. Initial steps were then made such as study tours in the City of Tagaytay in order to observe how the said city put their own local college. But due to his assumption to a higher government position, the project was put into stop.
Then City Mayor Carlos Brucal continued the project. In 2005, he formed a technical working group composed of personnel from the Urban Planning and Development Department, City Education Department, City Accounting and Internal Audit Department and other line agencies of the City Government of Calapan to pursue further study on the feasibility of the program. Study tours to the City College of Tagaytay and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila were conducted. The Technical Working Group also coordinated with the Commission on Higher Education MIMAROPA regarding institutionalization of a City College for the city. The then City Councilor and Sangguniang Panglungsod Committee Chairman on Education, Hon. Victor Ulayan, Jr. was a partner in said initiatives in order to look upon the legislative side of the project.
In-depth analysis with regard to its financial feasibility, its mode of operation, legal basis and other aspects were then taken into consideration. A public hearing in coordination with the Sangguniang Panlungsod was also held. Eventually the group came up with a report and a draft ordinance was submitted to former Mayor Brucal. With the advent of the 2007 election, the project was again put aside.
With the initial studies and actions, Congressman Paulino Salvador "Doy" C. Leachon,the former City Mayor, directed Mrs. Marilyn E. Manigbas (City Education Officer), Mr. Darwinio Villarosa (UPDD Coordinator), and Dr. Rene M. Colocar to work on the project to meet the prescribed timetable of its implementation. A committee on the establishment of the City College was then organized, headed by the former City Administrator Atty. Antonio S. Perez, Jr.
A new set of City Officials was sought to help; headed by Hon. Rafael Infantado (former Vice Mayor); Jojie Malapitan (former City Councilor and SP Committee Chairman on Education); and EnP. Amormio CJS Benter (City Trade and Industry Officer), who devoted his time and talent to come up with a feasibility study. Further studies and observations were then conducted. Another benchmarking was done at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Urdaneta in Pangasinan. Moreover, Mrs. Manigbas administered among young Calapeños a random sampling survey on the programs they would want the City College to offer.
Spearheaded by Vice-Mayor Rafael Infantado, City Ordinance No.14 was unanimously passed and approved on March 12, 2008 which finally paved the way for the operation of the City College. The said ordinance also amended the Scholarship Program stating that the City Government will no longer send scholars to other schools.
The new set of scholars who passed the scholarship examination for academic year 2008-2009 was the first batch of enrollees of the CCC. During the first semester, there were 124 enrollees and only General Education courses were offered since the programs to be opened were not yet finalized. Meanwhile, some offices in the old city hall were used as classrooms.
Before the second semester started, the Board of Trustees decided on the programs to be offered based on the result of the survey and felt need of the community. The first four programs that were opened were Bachelor of Elementary Education with Specialization in Special Education (BEEd SpEd), Bachelor of Science in Information System (BSIS), Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management (BSHRM), and Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management (BSTM). After three years, three new programs were offered namely Bachelor of Library and Information Science (BLIS), Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics (BSEd - Math), and Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Physical Science (BSEd-PhySci). It’s time that the City College has responded excellently to the demand of quality education since its transfer to its new home in Baranggay Guinobatan on June 2011, “Malayo na, pero malayo pa” (Malayo na ang narrating ng City College pero malayo pa rin ang lalakbayin).
Initially, the College was awarded with TVET Certification from TESDA in 2011 to eligibly offer Housekeeping NC II course. Eventually, 30 students graduated in the said program together with the first batch of baccalaureate graduates. Thus, more tech-voc courses will be likely offered to realize the said program.
In 2012, the 21 graduates of the BEEd-SpEd program gave pride and honor to the institution by being recognized with a 100% passing percentage in the September 2012 Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). This huge success paved the way for more achievements and recognitions for the institution.
In 2015, the college was acknowledged and given an Academic Excellence Award by ALCUCOA. The following year, two tracks of Senior High School (STEM and ABM) were offered. Aiming for innovation and quality education, CCC piloted its wave system where each semester was divided into first and second wave on in 2018. Additionally, CCC landed on 7th spot in national ranking of Librarian Licensure Examination (LLE) for the combined results of 2016 and 2017 LLE, and is the only local college in the Philippines which made it to the top 10. Moreover, the institution ranked 2nd and 3rd in regional ranking of LET in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
In 2018, CCC was included in the 78 out of 107 Local Universities and Colleges (LUCS) which were given institutional recognition by CHED. With this, CCC is now eligible to accept students who will avail free tuition fees and miscellaneous fees under Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTEA) of 2017. And recently, six programs of the college achieved their level 1 accreditation status having met the standards and qualifications set by the Association of Local Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (ALCU-COA).
When the pandemic hit in 2020, the college immediately crafted its own module (EAR) to supplement the modular education. This was replaced by online classes in 2021. Extending its arm to more educational opportunities, CCC offered SHS-ALS in 2022 starting with 53 learners. It was also this year that the college implemented blended learning. This continued in 2023 where the college started its limited face to face.
At present, after series of curriculum evaluation, City College of Calapan went back to implementing semestral curriculum starting A.Y. 2023-2024 and now has four (4) Institutes with eight (8) programs in total face to namely:
A. Institute of Education
The City College of Calapan family is now on its full-blast operation and moving on dedicatedly to serve and cater the youth of Calapan City in particular and to the rest of the neighboring places in the future in general.