DESPITE the growing opposition from some of its alumni, the Jesuit-run Xavier University has appointed one of its own to head its now controversial Campus of the Future project.
In a memorandum U2223-144, dated January 5, XU president Fr. Mars J. Tan, SJ appointed Dr. Ann Charlette Abong Cabana as the associate project manager of its campus in uptown Cagayan de Oro.
Cabana will be overseeing both the Masterson Campus and El Gaucho to help the Office of XU President in ensuring the projects’ objectives are accomplished on time.
She is also tasked to coordinate the committee’s work and deliverables on time.
Before her appointment, Cabana served as the assistant principal for administration for the university’s senior high school.
“I thank Dr. Chai for her generous availability for the ministry of leadership, especially during this important period when we are establishing two new campuses and revisiting our academic programs,” Tan said in the memorandum.
The XU Campus of the Future has come into the public spotlight last year for its widely-perceived controversial proposed sale and conversion of 14 hectares of its 63-hectare Manresa Campus into the Campus of the Future.
“I am grateful for her willingness to serve and manage the different components of these two big projects,” Tan’s memorandum reads in part.
The opposition to the project has ranged from the need to revise the City’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan to the historical and heritage grounds.
It can be recalled that five barangay officials of Balulang have expressed dismay over the supposed resolution that has been endorsed to the City Planning and Development Office without their knowledge during a public hearing on the conversion of XU’s Manresa Campus on October 17, last year.
Barangay Councilor Myrna Marban said she and four of her colleagues made a manifesto asking the proponents ― Xavier University and Cebu Landmasters, Inc ― to reject the document.
She added the signatories of the said supposed resolution were only signed by Barangay Chair Myrna Micabani and her secretary.
Micabani has been asked by the Department of Interior and Local Government to explain within three days regarding the said complaint.