wfn.org | ABCUSA: Central Philippine University Opens Medical School

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

by Eleanor P. Lundy, American Baptist International Ministries

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 6/12/03)--Central
Philippine University (CPU), a Christian institution that shares a
historical partnership with American Baptist International Ministries, has
announced the opening of its new College of Medicine on June 9.  The
university, located in Iloilo City in the central Philippines, boasts an
enrollment of more than 12,000 students and offers instruction in a wide
range of academic disciplines. 

Baptists were among early missionary colporters who translated and
distributed Bibles in the Philippines in the 1890s, setting the stage for
evangelistic work.  Missionaries of the American Baptist Foreign Mission
Society (now known as International Ministries) established churches,
hospitals and schools, including, in 1905, the Jaro Industrial School, later
known as Central Philippine University.  A municipality of Iloilo City, Jaro
was the location of some 30 early baptisms as well as the first organized
church, which began meeting in a bamboo chapel in 1901. 

Land was donated for a medical school in 1938, but plans for development
were delayed by the outbreak and aftermath of World War II.  After the war
the Jaro Industrial School's facilities were rebuilt with the help of
"generous financial grants of the (ABFMS) mission board." In the 1950s
Central Philippine College received university status, but decades passed
before the government recognized the university as a fully autonomous higher
education institution. 

In 2001, under the leadership of president Dr. Juanito M. Acanto, Central
Philippine University received the highest level of accreditation by the
national Commission on Higher Education, allowing the school to open a new
college. Dr. Glenn A.M. Catedral, a practicing radiologist, has been named
interim dean of the medical school. The CPU campus, well-known for its
beauty and its distinctive architecture in Malayan and American styles, also
has been declared a tourism site by the Iloilo City Council. 

The school has enjoyed a longstanding partnership with the Convention of
Philippine Baptist Churches and with International Ministries. In November
2002 International Ministries' executive director Dr. John A. Sundquist
visited CPU after speaking at the centennial anniversary celebration of
Bacolod Evangelical Church in North Negros-site of the first believer's
baptism by immersion recorded in the Philippines. 

"This most recent accomplishment of CPU is yet another manifestation of the
mutual respect and acceptance between the Convention of Philippine Baptist
Churches and International Ministries in our longstanding common commitment
to the Gospel of Jesus Christ," said Sundquist. "This university has
produced outstanding leaders of churches and Christian organizations,
including American Baptist churches."

The Rev. Elmo D. Familiaran, International Ministries' director of
Missionary Recruitment and a CPU graduate, noted that the university "has
evolved in amazing ways" through the years as it has realized the original
vision of American Baptist Foreign Mission Society missionaries who saw
leadership development as essential to the growth of the community of Jesus
Christ.  "The medical school will now bring CPU and Iloilo Mission Hospital
together as true partners, moving them symbiotically into the future as
together they mold and develop physicians grounded in the knowledge of God,"
he said.
 
"The establishment of the medical college is a significant milestone in
CPU's tremendous progress under the leadership of Dr. Acanto," said the Rev.
Benjamin S.L. Chan, International Ministries' area director for East Asia
and India. 

Central Philippine University will celebrate its one hundredth anniversary
during 2005, and has extended an invitation to American Baptist
International Ministries to participate in related events.  More information
about the university is available at www.cpu.edu.ph. 

K/2003ABNS/03ABN81

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org