Voices from the Regions: What’s at stake in the sale of the Xavier-Ateneo campuses?

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – What happens when a Jesuit-owned school, the centerpiece of a city and a witness to its rich history, suddenly decides to undertake a project that threatens the institution’s old structures?

Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan is building a “campus of the future” within an envisaged township in uptown Cagayan de Oro.

The project is seen to redefine and change the landscape of urban Cagayan de Oro, an emerging metropolis.

But not all are happy about the Jesuits’ plan. They see it as an “erasure of the cherished and beloved history and heritage” of Mindanao’s first university, the first of the country’s five Ateneos to become one.

Rappler Mindanao bureau coordinator Herbie Gomez will speak to leaders of the group Concerned Parents, Teachers, Alumni, and Communities (Coptac) who are invoking the National Heritage Act to preserve the entire Xavier-Ateneo main campus and keep other old Jesuit properties intact.

We’ll discuss with them why they think the Xavier-University plan is a cause for alarm in Cagayan de Oro, and why they feel it is their business to weigh in with what the Jesuits wish to do with their properties.\

Watch the discussion at 7 pm on Friday, October 7. – Rappler.com