NEW U.P. PRESIDENT. Students and workers of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and other UP campuses rally at the campus' Quezon Hall to express their support for UP presidential candidate Fidel Nemenzo on Friday (Dec. 9, 2022). Angelo Jimenez was eventually chosen as UP's 22nd president. (PNA photo by Ivan Saldajeno)
MANILA – A new chapter in the University of the Philippines (UP) is set to begin as Angelo Jimenez will replace Danilo Concepcion as the university's president.
On Friday, Jimenez, a former member of the UP Board of Regents (BOR), got the nod over incumbent Catanduanes State University president Patrick Azanza, 1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list representative Salvador Belaro, incumbent UP Diliman chancellor Fidel Nemenzo, UP Institute of Civil Engineering founding director Benito Pacheco, and former UP Los Baños (UPLB) Chancellor Fernando Sanchez, to become the university system's 22nd president.
Jimenez served as the university's faculty regent from 2016 to 2021 and starting February 2023, he will be joining forces with Commission on Higher Education chairman Prospero de Vera in leading the BOR as co-chairman.
Some of Jimenez's platforms are strengthening UP's graduate and post-graduate programs, a programmed engagement with the national government led by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., and delivering digital transformation to the academe.
Asked why Jimenez won the seat, de Vera said, "Siguro mas maganda and kanyang mga sagot at plataporma (Maybe his platform and answers to our questions are better)."
The entire UP BOR interviewed each candidate for 30 minutes before they went into a vote.
It took three rounds of voting, where a supermajority must be met before the regents gave Jimenez the nod. (PNA)
