Quirino State College

Quirino State University is a public college in the Philippines; its main campus is in Diffun, Quirino. Nestled in the verdant hills of Diffun, Quirino State University (QSU) is a bastion of higher learning in Quirino province – considered as the last frontier of Northern Luzon.

General Mandate

The state college is mandated to provide higher technological, professional, and vocational instruction and training in science, agricultural and industrial fields, as well as short-term technical or vocational courses. It is also mandated to promote research, advanced studies, and progressive leadership in its areas of specialization.^[1] Its main campus is located in Diffun, Quirino.^[2]

History

The college started as the Northern Nueva Vizcaya National High School in 1963 when Quirino was still a part of Nueva Vizcaya. In 1971, the NNVHS was transformed into an agricultural school called the Northern Nueva Vizcaya National Agricultural School (NNVNAS). After Quirino was separated from Nueva Vizcaya, NNVNAS was eventually named Quirino National Agricultural School (QNAS) in 1976. In 1983, Quirino National Agricultural School gradually metamorphosed from an agricultural school to a state college to be named Quirino State College. This was during the tenure of then President Julian A. Alvarez. The Quirino State College landmark Julian A. Alvarez Hall (JAAH) in the heart of the campus was built during his tenure and was named after him.

Mandated by its charter to promote academic, research and extension activities, the college continues to be a catalyst for the development for the countryside, especially students of Quirino and adjacent municipalities of Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya.

Dr. Edgar M. Ricamonte, the second president of QSC, started development projects as soon as he took over the leadership of the college.. An action man and a devoted agriculturist from Central Luzon State University (CLSU), Dr. Ricamonte established strong linkages, initiated pet projects in agriculture and acquired additional land at the back portion of the college to widen space for agricultural ventures. It was during his tenure that the first phase of the construction of an Animal Science Complex was completed.

Further development was achieved with the advent of Australian Government funded Agritech aimed at providing experiential learning to agriculture students through the Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Technology as new curricular offering. During this period, more Student Instructional Units (SIU’s) and Income Generating Projects (IGP’s) on crop and livestock were established which include the Dairy Buffalo Project, Floriculture and Nursery project, Banana Tissue Culture, Food Processing Center, and the Community Outreach Center. In addition, a machine and industry building and a crop science building with classrooms and laboratories were constructed.

Continuing Dr. Ricamonte’s development projects, Dr. Reynaldo P. Villamayor, the current president, toils hard to establish development projects geared at improving QSC’s services to countryside youths, farmer clienteles, and attached agencies.

Adapting to changing times

To help students financially, several scholarship programs such as CHED, Local Government, NCIP, Freemasonry, College-academic, Socio-cultural, and athletic scholarships are offered to deserving students and indigenous people to financially aid them while studying at QSC. In addition, the college also provides monthly allowance to Student Assistants.

Aside from providing quality education for youths in the countryside, QSC also nurtures innate skills of its constituents by providing avenues for socio-cultural and sports development. Its basketball, softball and athletics team under the tutelage of Dr. Sabas B. Padua and Mr. Nelson Guray, both professors of QSC, remain undefeated during State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA) meets and are tough teams to beat every Luzon Association of Schools Universities and Colleges (LASUC) athletic competitions. Allan Galam, a student of QSC and consistent gold medallist for track events, even won in the recently conducted Milo Marathon. The college combo and dance troupes also reaped awards with the former bagging the second place in the Battle of the Bands during the 2005 International Year of the Rice Festival for their entry song "Gintong Butil" composed by Mr. Surewin R. Libunao, a faculty member of QSC.

QSC faculty researchers, in their quest to uplift agricultural development to aid instruction and to extend its development projects to rural farmers and clienteles, have established their niche in Cagayan Valley by continuously bagging awards for Research and Development in the Cagayan Valley Agricultural Resources and Research and Development Consortium (CVARRD), a regional arm of PCARRD-Department of Science and Technology that promote agricultural research. Dr. Hermana K. Banciles and Mr. Surewin R. Libunao, faculty researchers of QSC, are consistent winners in the said annual activity.

In its quest to promote extension activities as one of its mandates, QSC has tied-up with different government organizations (GO’s) and non-governmen organizations (NGO’s) for the uplift of the living conditions of the people in community. QSC has established a Social Laboratory with Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation Inc. as convergence point of the services of the faculty and students of the QSC-TEI. The college also conducts trainings with DOST-TAPI, DA-LGU and DTI on food processing, entrepreneurship and agriculture for farmers, out of school youths and housewives.

Today

From humble beginnings with meager infrastructures, QSC now boasts of mushrooming infrastructures, highly trained faculty and staff, winning researches, income-generating research and development projects, and an information technology center which is the premier internet service provider in the province.

With the diligence and persistence of President Reynaldo P. Villamayor, QSC was able to secure funds for the college from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Central Office, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Crop Research in the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India, the Alliance of Volunteer Educators (AVE), and Congressman Junie E. Cua of the lone district of Quirino.

The CHED, through Commissioner Saturnino S. Ocampo, has provided millions of pesos to QSC to be able to finish its infrastructure and development projects, the most recent of which is the majestically towering college gymnasium worth P10 million and the P1.8 million Water Impounding Facility both co-funded with Congressman Cua. Other projects funded by CHED include R500,000 sound system, combo set, and audio-visual materials; and the R500,000 Small ruminants project aimed at becoming a breeding station for goat and sheep in the province. In addition to these, a total of 20 faculty members of QSC are pursuing higher education in different universities throughout the Philippines, all funded by CHED.

Other projects to be funded by CHED include a R2 million Agricultural Equipment Support for QSC; a P500,000 Muscovy Duck production project for salted egg and "balut" production; a R60,000 Off-season Tomato Production Project; and a R500,000 Learning Resource Center which features state of the art electronic multimedia equipments for QSC constituents to be more skilled on recent audiovisual presentation equipment and gadgets. The Alliance of Volunteer Educators (AVE) also provided P 500,000 for the construction of a paved catwalk.

Congressman Cua of the lone district of Quirino also provided R1 million for the re-paving and rehabilitation of QSC’s road networks in addition to co-funding the gymnasium and water impounding facility, and released another R4 million to provide additional funds to complete the multi-million Animal Science Complex to boost agricultural education.

In its noble efforts to protect the environment, QSC supported the Solid Waste Management and Green Fuel Program of the government. In collaboration with Environmental Management Board-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR), the Municipal Local Government Unit (MLGU) of Diffun and the International fund donor USAID, QSC managed to convert organic wastes of the municipality of Diffun into organic fertilizer utilizing windrow composting. The R550, 000.00 Compost Center funded by USAID now churns-out bags and bags of organic fertilizer which are either utilized in the crop production projects of the college or marketed to farmer cooperators of QSC.

The QSC also managed to source-out P1 million from ICRISAT in India for the propagation and rapid multiplication of Jathropa, a plant which was identified as a potential source of biodiesel or green fuel. In collaboration with the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), QSC was able to secure 30 hectares of idle land in the hilly portion of Ma. Clara, Diffun, Quirino through transfer without cost from DENR. At present, thousands of Jathropa are already growing in the area ready for oil harvest in the near future.

References