UP alums meet, greet in Bicol in first-ever ‘Ugnay sa Alumni’

By Jason B. Neola NAGA CITY --- Wanting to build strong linkages with their fellow alumni across the country, the national officers and members of the board of U.P. Alumni Association (UPAA) have launched their first-ever ‘Ugnay sa Alumni’ project. The project will serve as UPAA’s vehicle in reaching out former students of the country’s premier institution of higher learning to be able to pursue the association’s goal of strengthening the association’s different chapters across the country’s 17 regions. Adolfo M. Badiola, UPAA Camarines Sur chapter vice-president, said the effort to come up with cohesive UPAAs in the entire nation will allow its members to take up major issues efficiently and expeditiously, especially those that concern University of the Philippines (UP) system. Last November 11, this year, the executive officers and the board of directors of the association in the national level met with the officers and members of the local chapters in Albay, Sorsogon, and Camarines Sur. The Bicol visit came after their March 2017 Davao City visit where they also met with the different chapters in Mindanao. Hoover S. Picar, UPAA-CamSur president, said that among the major concerns taken up during the group’s visit in Bicol was the establishment of UP Campus in Libon, Albay as g proposed by Atty. Ramon Maronilla, national president of UPAA. The Maronilla family offers to donate a 16-hectare parcel of land for the project. Mayor John G. Bongat, who hosted the meeting that was attended by 53 former Iskolar ng Bayan, said that thru the Ugnay sa Alumni, the association shall have an easy access to get in touch with every chapter which is very essential in responding to the call for a unified and active UPAA, particularly in pursuing any noble undertaking, whether it may be in the field of governance, entrepreneurship, public service or professional services.