BREAKING NEWS: UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO IS NOW UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

It all started from a mere rumor.
 
And it turns out that the rumor is true: The Lopezes no longer own the University of Iloilo.
 
No, it's not Lucio Tan this time.
 
Instead, it's the Philippine Investment Management (PHINMA), Inc--a Makati-based company whose core businesses include construction, financial management, real estate, and oil exploration and processing--that now owns UI.
 
PHINMA--which also owns Araullo University in Nueva Ecija and Cagayan De Oro College in Misamis Oriental--is being headed by Makati Business Club's incumbent chairman and former finance secretary during the time of president Fidel V Ramos, Ramon R Del Rosario Jr.
 
Besides being the top honcho of PHINMA, he also serves on the boards of directors of Ayala Land, Inc; Holcim Philippines, Inc; Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation; Asian Institute of Management; De La Salle Philippines; and a host of other big companies and institutions with rich-sounding names.
 
With Mr Del Rosario's impressive track record, the students of UI hope that they'll be in better hands with PHINMA, which has reportedly made unprecedented improvements in the two said schools it now owns.
 
Hopefully, this change in management should also mean better facilities, better instruction, better policies, better graduates, even better board exams ratings, and a better stature altogether for UI.
 
After all, PHINMA's corporate tag line (according to its website) is "Life Can Be Better."
 
Sources say negotiations regarding UI's buyout may have begun as early as 2005. The agreed amount of sale is unknown...yet. Rumors have it though that UI's old owners raked in nearly a billion.
 
In 2003, PHINMA set to build a network of three to five universities and colleges all over the country with a combined student population of 50,000 to 75,000.

Among its investment options were Araullo University in Cabanatuan City, the University of Pangasinan, Computronics College in Dagupan City, the University of Iloilo, and West Negros College in Bacolod City.
 
In April 2004, PHINMA acquired Araullo University, and Cagayan De Oro College in June 2005.
 
UI will be officially taken over by its new owners between March and June 2009.
 
Meanwhile, as of this writing, all UI employees--from members of the board of trustees down to the janitors--are preparing their service records, personal files and things, updated curriculum vitae for most, and retirement applications for some. 


Photo Source: Philippine Business Magazine Website

BREAKING NEWS: UNIVERSITY OF ILOILO IS FOR SALE

What started to be a noble legacy may now end up as an auction piece.

The University of Iloilo--founded by brothers Don Eugenio and Don Fernando Lopez in 1947 with the altruistic intentions of making college education affordable for poor and middle-class Ilonggo families--is now ready to be handed over to its new owner this year.

"UI isn't just for sale; it's actually sold already," said one school employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The "winning bidder" is reportedly a group of companies based in Metro Manila.

"It's not Lucio Tan," the UI employee clarified, discounting earlier rumors of an impending takeover by the Tan Group of Companies under the Chinese-Filipino tycoon, who also owns the University of the East.

"We heard though that he was indeed interested at first, but later changed his mind," she said. "It might be that the Lopezes were asking too much for UI."

The true reasons behind the buyout still remain a mystery, however.

According to insider sources, while UI hardly rakes in profits from school fees (it being one of the lesser expensive private schools in Iloilo City), it is very far from bankruptcy, even up to this writing.

With the change of management, a major revamp is naturally expected to affect the incumbent top officials of UI, from the university president down to the college deans and department heads.

Still, the students are the ones who will receive the much bigger impact of the takeover, whether positive or otherwise.

"We still hope it will benefit the students," said the school employee, who hinted that the new management would "import" lecturers from top Metro Manila universities to assist the local faculty by handling some subjects.

Meanwhile, it is still unclear whether or not the school will retain its 40-year-old name (Iloilo City Colleges became University of Iloilo on 17 December 1968), its official logo (which was reportedly designed by Don Eugenio and Don Fernando Lopez themselves), its course offerings, and its current admission requirements, among others.

Whatever the new-generation Lopezes' reasons are for letting an old family legacy go, both employees and students of UI hope they are well-meaning enough and not just because they needed moolah to splurge for trips abroad, parties, wheels, and bling-bling.

UPDATE: The University of Iloilo now has a new owner. Read more about it here.