UP-CoE responds to Boo Chanco

Engineers value accuracy and precision to the highest degree. The University of the Philippines College of Engineering (UP-CoE) has always upheld and still continue to meticulously inculcate these to students of the state’s premier engineering institution.

These basic and all the same vital principles are not exclusive to the field of engineering and must always be maintained and put into practice by other disciplines and fields of expertise. These can build or destroy integrity and reputation, among others.

Any functioning democracy encourages checks and balances performed by a critical media and the University of the Philippines among all, should not be excused from criticisms. However, in good conscience, we cannot allow the derogatory claims made by our fellow UP alumnus, and your columnist Mr. Pedro “Boo” Chanco in his Demand and Supply column on Oct. 25, entitled “Cheap Politics at UP?” to be left and unchallenged.

In this rhetoric of hasty and sweeping generalization, repugnant discriptions were made against the UP-CoE and our newly elected dean — Professor Ferdinand G. Manegdeg.

The UP-CoE, currently the largest college in UP Diliman and the UP System by number of faculty and students, has more than 300 faculty members, which is also greater than the number of faculty members of UP Baguio, UP Cebu and UP Mindanao. Having this number of faculty members, it is puzzling how Mr. Chanco concluded that our 19th dean is “disrespected by the faculty” and seen as “political intrusion”. What methodology was implemented, what factors were considered, what variables were studied, if there was a survey conducted? Mr. Chanco could have used empirical and quantitative data had he attended the public affirmation rites of Dean Manegdeg last Oct. 8, which literally packed the 200-seater Engineering theater at Melchor hall. The event was officiated by no less than Chancellor Michael Tan and was very well attended by colleagues. Distinguished UP System and other UP Diliman officials, active and retired alike, were also in attendance. It seems to be one of the most celebrated and overwhelming UP-CoE ceremonies were have witnessed in recent history.

It comes with no surprise because our new dean, Professor Ferdinand G. Manegdeg, with the rank of full professor has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in the UP-CoE for the past 40 years. Within that period, he served many positions in our university including UP System and UP Diliman human resources and development director II, program development associate of the Chancellor and three presidents; officer-in-charge of the Offices of the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor (UP Diliman and UP Mindanao), UP-CoE, and National Engineering Center; and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Apart from that, he was a recipient of the Professional Degree Award for Mechanical Engineering by the UP Alumni Engineers and UP College of Engineering in 2016.

Dean Manegdeg is a graduate of the BS Mechanical Engineering program in 1979. He finished his Master of Science from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, in 1981 and was awarded the Arthur Smithells Prize and the Best Student in the Master of Science in Combustion & Energy Program. He is currently the vice chair of the division of engineering and industrial research of the National Research Council of the Philippines and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. To date, he has a patent and almost 30 published papers local and international peer-reviewed journals and proceedings and participated in 70 research projects.

These exemplary achievements, plus Prof. Manegdeg’s pro-faculty, pro-REPS, pro-staff, pro-student and pro-alumni administration towards national and global excellence to genuinely serve the people with honor and excellence are the rationale behind his deanship – which neither requires a PhD, nor a professional license. In fact, in UP, deanships, chancellorships and even presidencies do not require PhDs nor professional license. These positions, however, necessitate strong academic leadership. Mr. Chanco mentioned that Columbia University chose fellow UP alumna Shiela Coronel as dean of academic affairs of their Graduate School of Journalism on the merits of her outstanding professional excellence. With such standards of evident academic and professional merits applied, why would not Prof. Ferdinand Manegdeg be considered worthy of the post, as Mr. Chanco implies?

Even if Dean Manegdeg went through the selection process which was disadvantageous to him, the qualifications of Dean Manegdeg were more than enough to triumph fair-and-square the two-cornered election over an incumbent who was not re-elected by the Board of Regents for a second term.

At the UP-CoE, we are delighted to have a new dean who not only has the resolve to revitalize our unit, but has also already immediately started effecting the needed changes to fix procedures and systems in our college.

This is contrary to Mr. Chanco’s depiction of the UP-CoE and our dean which is deemed malicious, irresponsible, and totally false – a disservice to the people.

Mr. Chanco should revisit UP Diliman. He is an alumnus and he surely knows where Melchor Hall is. He should drop by and do proper research – qualitative and quantitative, empirical and anecdotal and practical to be reminded of the importance of accuracy and precision in presenting information, or misinformation, as facts and truths.

We hope that it is not the ironies of irony that it is Mr. Chanco, who is meddling this yearly, in the upcoming election for new UP Diliman chancellor. Now, that is cheap… and truly sad.