Jesuits against XU sale

By Antonio Montalvan II

THE rising crescendo of voices against the planned sale of the XU campuses may find consolation in Jesuits who have spoken out with similar sentiments. Jesuits who are alumni of the university and Jesuits who have spent years of assignment in Cagayan de Oro speak a different voice that begs for understanding.

Fr. Silvino Borres SJ was born and raised in Nazareth and graduated from the XUHS class of 1981. He completed AB Sociology in 1984 as class valedictorian and entered the Society of Jesus in 1986. He was ordained priest in 1996. Today he is rector of Loyola House of Studies in Ateneo de Manila University.

His message asks questions of wisdom for those in discernment: “I oppose the sale myself because it paves the way for the obliteration of XU’s rightful place in the history of Cagayan de Oro city. I find the idea of tearing down the buildings egregious and insensitive. If there is a need to expand (and here, a feasibility study seems lacking), do we have to sell off the campus? And third, is it worth building a new campus on a site deemed inaccessible? More than expansion, perhaps strengthening our programs? We are losing our students to nearby schools.”

Former Jesuit officials, albeit speaking in the internal forum, were said to have affixed their signatures on an anti-sale paper addressed to the superior general. Among those who signed, say a highly trustworthy source, were former presidents Ernesto Javier and Antonio Samson, former high school principal James O’Donnell, former vice president Rafael Borromeo and former rector Asandas Balchand.

Voices are coming out of the woodworks muted by a flawed consultation process. A university member with more than 20 years service revealed how the consultation was a sham. “The faculty convocation called last August from 8 AM to 12 noon was a mediocrity. The faculty was just informed, not consulted, of the decision of the Board of Trustees. The presentation finished at 11 AM and only four had the chance to ask questions. No thorough exchange of ideas took place. The authentic spirit of consultation was disrespected. It was merely an information meeting.”

Among the few questions that made it to the open forum was one asking for a possibility to widen the circles of discernment to include different stakeholders such as faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents, and not only administrators and the “select few” of academic officials. The reply given: “Discernment is only for a few.” This contravenes the mandate given by the superior general to in fact expand the consultation process outside the university’s confines. Is XU self-destructing?

The decision to sell to Cebu Landmasters was reached by the BOT in 2018. Inside sources say the plan was merely presented to the BOT sans any dialogue for pros and cons. What many find astonishing is that trustees are respectable leaders of business and academe. How did it pass the scrutiny of leaders supposed to be knowledgeable in designing business and research plans? And the more crucial question – why did they not recommend impact studies? It is a sin of omission unexpected of educators and business frontrunners.

Justifications for the sale have not passed indisputability, for example the issue of noise. Archbishop Ledesma, who was faculty and administrator at XU for decades, pointed out a reality — no classrooms are situated along congested Corrales Avenue.

XU says there is a shortage of classrooms. That is not true. In the years I had taught, my adjoining classrooms (in three separate buildings) were ghost empty. Mention was also made of potential flooding. Unknown to the public, XU had recently built an underground cistern at the drill field to serve as catch basin for inundating waters.

The plan for a “campus of the future” only makes subjective allusions to accessibility. It does not address uptown’s traffic choke points now growing in ugly proportions. It says a new highway will be built — from where, an elevated skyway? Manresa lies on a ridge. Without concrete studies, this is plain dream works.

Last July 20, over 300 urban poor residents of the Balulang villages Singapore 1 and 2 rallied at Divisoria to question the planned Manresa campus. These villages lie directly below the XU property. Fear of run-off water from a new campus flowing to the neighborhood is warranted in a zone already traumatized by floods. In fact, the parish priest of Balulang is guiding them mobilize public awareness of the danger. Was this a factor for the BOT to recommend impact studies? Incredibly none.

The XU website says a member of the BOT is tasked with heritage issues. But how was it that the CLI plan they approved includes the opening of an avenue connecting Toribio Chaves street, directly demolishing the 1960s Macmahon library building and the 1935 Lucas Hall? Cease and Desist Orders await XU if RA 10066 is violated.

A first batch of 1,530 signatures opposing the sale had already reached Father General. More are being gathered as we write. Members of the Concerned Parents, Teachers, Alumni and Communities (COPTAC) Against the XU Sale have gone the rounds of radio stations to spread public awareness for stakeholders. It has also opened headquarters at GPV Realty on 70 Tiano Brothers Street corner Cayetano Pacana Street, the office of alumni Gemma Pabayo Velasco. The public is advised to visit the office to sign the petition to Father General. COPTAC is determined to see its advocacy reach its end until Father General disapproves the plan.

At the earliest expressions of earnest opposition, from the Jesuit Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro himself, from former XU presidents, from other Jesuits, and from alumni raising critically valid issues, Provincial Superior Fr. Primitivo Viray SJ who sits in the BOT, should have already called for the plan’s suspension. Why allow disrespect for the Ignatian call for open and inclusive dialogue with stakeholders? When alumni themselves raise that question, the very alumni they had molded into men and women of discernment, Jesuits should have already stopped to ponder why the contrary of what they preach was the recourse. Aray! na untâ.

(Antonio J. Montalván II is a social anthropologist known for being vocal against corruption in government, human rights abuses, and about matters involving indigenous peoples.)