By Remegio G. Castor
Central Philippine University (CPU) has a new president in the person of Rev. Dr. Ernest Howard B. Dagohoy.
The CPU Board of Trustees and the Corporation announced Dagohoy’s election and confirmation as the university’s 18th President last October 2, 2023.
Dagohoy, who hails from San Jose de Buenavista, Antique, is the first Pastor to become CPU President since the American Baptist missionaries. He is also the fifth Filipino President of CPU.
Dagohoy finished his Bachelor of Theology degree at CPU in 1988.
He has served as University Chaplain and as weekend pastor of Malublub Baptist Church in Badiangan, Iloilo.
He also served as CPUR Senator and Governor of College of Theology.
Dagohoy also finished Master of Divinity at Asian Theological Seminary and Doctor of Ministry at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Prior to his election as the new CPU President, Dagohoy served as adjunct professor of Theology Ministry at Houston Baptist University in Texas, USA.
Dagohoy will succeed outgoing President Dr. Teodoro Robles. He will serve for five years from November 1, 2023 to October 31, 2028.
In an interview with Iloilo City-based radio station RMN-DYRI, Dagohoy thanked the CPU Corporation and Board of Trustees and the entire CPU community for their trust and confidence in giving him the significant role of leading one of the country’s prestigious universities.
He said that his administration will focus on five long-term programs, namely, Spiritual Vitality, Academic Excellence, Faculty and Staff Development, Student Success, and Alumni Engagement.
He admitted that as Dr. Robles successor, he has a big shoes to fill but he will try his best to do the meet the expectations of the Centralian community.
CPU was established in 1905 through the benevolent grant of the American industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller. It is the first Baptist and second-American founded university in the Philippines and Asia. The university was initially known as the Jaro Industrial School and Bible School, under the supervision of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.
CPU played a pioneering role in nursing education in Philippines by establishing the Union Mission Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1906, which later became the CPU – College of Nursing, the first nursing school in the Philippines.
Additionally, the university was the first to establish a Baptist theological seminary in the country, the CPU College of Theology; the first student council in Southeast Asia, the CPU Republic; and the first government-recognized agricultural school outside of Luzon, the CPU College of Agriculture, Resource, and Environmental Sciences.
