The city council, through Ordinance 58, s. 2021, has named the portion of Perfecto St. at Burnham Park, from Lake Drive junction to Harrison Road junction, as Dr. Margarita J. Fernandez Drive.
The late doctor Margarita “Itang” Joven-Fernandez, together with her late husband Godofredo, were the founders of the Baguio Central University, which started in 1945 as a Centro Academy vocational school, and was named Centro Industrial School in 1949 with an added high school academic program.
Fernandez, after being installed as the first university president in 1979 had further invested her efforts and leadership vision for the expansion of academic programs and infrastructure development of the learning institution.
Fernandez was an accomplished educator who achieved several local and international awardsthat contributed to her fame in the academe sector, which also brought many honors to the City of Baguio.
She was born a community leader known for her advocacy in championing women’s welfare and a former president of the Baguio Federation of Women’s Clubs with immense achievements.
The ordinance also merits Fernandez’s outstanding accomplishments as an educator, which helped in achieving the city’s vision for excellence in the field of education that eventually bolstered its title as the “Educational Center of the North”.
The City Engineering Office was tasked to install appropriate street sign indicating the new name of the drive and for other concerned agencies to be guided in plotting the area in the city’s official map.
The body, in Resolution 244, s. 2021, has requested the City Buildings and Architecture Office for the installation or putting up of a replica of the old “Welcome to Baguio” signage to its old and original site at upper Session Road rotunda.
The resolution recalls the “Welcome to Baguio” signage was installed in the 1960’s at upper Session Road and was even featured in old Philippine postcards.
The replica shall serve as tourist attraction during the Sept. 1 Baguio Day celebrations and to stay there for the entire month of September in the hope to evoke nostalgic feelings among older Baguio residents during the month-long celebration.
Meanwhile, in Resolution 237, s. 2021, the body has expressed gratitude to former University of the Philippines Baguio Chancellor Raymundo Rovillos for his tenurial work which contributed in solidifying Baguio’s proud reputation as a center of quality education and a haven of culture, arts, and creativity.
Rovillos was born and raised in Baguio. He retired as a chancellor of UP Baguio after an exemplary tenure since 2012.
The resolution acknowledged Rovillos’ great efforts for the university’s deep involvement in fostering broader engagement of its constituency towards Cordillera history, society and culture, including ethnicity and indigenous people’s studies throughout his solid career as faculty member in the College of Social Sciences since 1989 and as dean of the same college from 2006 to 2012.
April 27, 2024
