In a 7-1 vote, the House of Representatives Committee on Higher And Technical Education approved on Tuesday, Aug. 16 a measure that seeks the renaming of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte into the Ferdinand E. Marcos State University (FEMSU).
House Bill (HB) 2407 was authored by Ilocos Norte 2nd district Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba. It was previously approved on third reading in the previous 18th Congress but did not get Senate approval.
The bill is formally titled “An Act Renaming MMSU in the City of Batac, Ilocos Norte as FEMSU, Amending for the Purpose Presidential Decree No. 1279, Entitled ‘Merging the Mariano Marcos Memorial College and Northern Luzon State College into a University, Transferring the College Level Courses of Ilocos Norte Agricultural College and Ilocos Norte College of Arts and Trades into Said University, Providing a Charter for the Purpose and Appropriating Funds Therefor.’”
After Agusan del Norte 1st district Rep. Jose Aquino II motioned to approve the bill, Committee on Higher And Technical Education Chairman and Baguio district Rep. Mark Go presided over a vote to approve the measure. Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc, objected the approval of HB 2407.
Before the approval of HB 2407, MMSU President Shirley Agrupis–in her manifestation as a resource speaker during the panel hearing–expressed her full support for the renaming of the state university.
“I gave my unconditional support to this proposal because President Marcos is the father of state universities and colleges in the country for establishing most of them during his term, thereby providing access to quality education. To date, there are already 114 state colleges and universities but not one of them is named after the one who established or initiated for their establishment,” Agrupis said on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
She bared that after a special meeting with the administrative council and board of regents of MMSU, most of the officials supported the measure to rename the school.
Agrupis added that attendees of the special meeting proposed that the school be renamed Ferdinand Marcos State University instead of the original FEMSU.
Manuel made a manifestation against the approval of the bill.
“The one to whom the university will be named is not just a figure in the region but a very controversial figure in the country...I believe that a bill such as this runs contrary to the essence of legal actions and executive orders that recognize that Ferdinand Marcos Sr. has done some abuses on our Filipino people. For instance, Republic Act 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparations and Recognition Act,” Manuel said before the House panel.
“Meron din Supreme Court (SC) ruling na yung assets and properties ay hindi kapantay, sobrang laki (There is an SC ruling that finds the Marcos assets and properties), disproportionate to their aggregate salaries as public officials. This implies that nagnakaw sila sa kaban ng bayan ang pamilya nila (that their family stole from the money of the people),” Manuel added.
The youth solon also cited the creation of the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG), which was founded to help expedite the retrieval of ill-gotten wealth amassed during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
MMSU is named after Mariano Marcos, father of late strongman Marcos Sr., and grandfather of incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
He was a congressman who represented Ilocos Norte’s 2nd district from 1925 to 1931, the same post currently held by Barba.