In a year, the first building of the University of the Philippines New Clark City (UP-NCC) in Capas, Tarlac, will have risen.
UP, in partnership with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the implementing agency, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), held the time capsule laying ceremony for the first phase of the UP-NCC complex on November 5, 2022.
The structure is now being built on three hectares of 76 hectares allotted for UP, bound by the NCC-MacArthur-SCTEX Access Road on the south and the National Government and Administrative Center access road. Phase 1 involves building an approximately 4,500 square meter building.
According to the program’s master of ceremonies, UP Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs Maria Angelica Abad, UP-NCC is expected to become a hub for education, research, training, and collaboration focusing on sustainable development. Currently, UP’s presence in NCC is provided by the UP Philippine General Hospital Polyclinic Phase 1 building, which was inaugurated in late 2019 in time for the Southeast Asian Games hosted by the Philippines.
BCDA Chair Delfin Lorenzana, BCDA Senior Vice President for Business Development and Operations Joshua Bingcang, UP President Danilo Concepcion, and DPWH Region III Assistant Director Denise Maria Ayag representing DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan led the burial of the time capsule, which encased the plans for the structure, a copy of the Carillon magazine, and a copy of a newspaper of the day. UP Vice President for Development Elvira Zamora, Arthur Santos of DPWH Region III Planning and Design, and contractor Ronald Talens were also present.
According to Concepcion and Zamora, UP-NCC is designed to be the main headquarters of the UP Open University and satellite sites of the UP Manila PGH, the National Institutes of Health and the College of Medicine, and the UP Diliman College of Engineering. With the area only 20 minutes from the airport and planned as the telecommunications hub of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, it would be ideal for UP’s medical emergency services, telesurgery, and internationalization efforts.
“We should bring the school to the people and not people to the school,” Lorenzana said, citing the accessibility of UP NCC to clients from Central and Northern Luzon.
Bingcang expressed BCDA’s gratitude to UP for being one of the first partners in the development of the NCC, knowing that educational institutions attract locators and are known economic drivers of the growth of a community.
“I am very happy that I am leaving my post assured and confident about the growth of UP New Clark City. It is one of the projects I will proudly hand over to my successor on February 9, 2023,” Concepcion said.
