Ledesma: Xavier’s future lies in downtown campus

By Jigger J. Jerusalem
Correspondent

CAGAYAN de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma has expressed his apprehension again over plans to sell part of the downtown property of the Jesuit-owned Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan in order to build a “campus of the future” in Manresa.

“The future of Xavier University lies in its present downtown campus with expansion possibilities in Manresa Heights,” reads the last sentence of 2,363-word position paper written by Ledesma and sent to the Gold Star Daily this week.

• Read: Xavier University main campus – whither? Part 1
• Read: Xavier University main campus – whither? Part 2

Ledesma, a Jesuit, opined that the proposal to move the main XU campus to the Manresa in the uptown Cagayan de Oro is not practical.

Ledesma said that “the proposal for a new campus and a tie-up with a land developer at this is not necessary; there is no urgent need for this and no serious study has been made.”

Ledesma’s paper came in the wake of an announcement from the XU leadership that it plans to sell a part of the main campus and a portion of the Manresa site to Cebu Landmasters Inc. for P3.5 billion, and another P1.5 billion over a 10-year period.

Based on the proposal, the developer would use four of the 6.3 hectares at the Divisoria campus and 14.3 hectares of the 64-hectare Manresa property.

This would mean that some of the Xavier colleges would be transferred to Manresa to allow the developer to turn the downtown campus into a mixed-use commercial property.

Citing the present traffic congestion on the road leading to Manresa, Ledesma said the proposal is not advantageous to students who have to commute to and from other parts of city and neighboring towns to the uptown campus.

“It is not beneficial and will incur many risks in terms of accessibility of the new campus and declining enrollments. And it is not practicable; why tear down the present buildings only to put up new ones on a campus that is only five kilometers away with a serious problem of accessibility?” he asked.

Ledesma said Xavier “can easily manage a multi-campus development program where structures are already in place and only new ones need to be planned.”