A few years back, somewhere the busy Manila metropolis, across the globe, a College began creating its own ripples. Conrad Maňalac, a visionary in his own right, looked to the future and transformed the curricula of Southeastern College by infusing in it Information and Communications Technology, forcing the Philippine Academe to review the way it approached education forever.This very same institution was conceived by Dr. Canuto Manuel six decades ago. Through the years groundwork has been laid for the world-class education and training that Southeastern College is presently providing. Today, thousands of its graduates contribute their knowledge and skills in diverse fields of professions in both the public and private sectors of the country ad worldwide. Many of these graduates later became successful men and women in their chosen fields. Due to the huge demand, Southeastern College has expanded its services to accommodate training needs of various government agencies and private organizations.

The Southeastern College at College Road, Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

All these are promoted simultaneously with co-curricular and extra-curricular programs. The College Department for example regularly conducts team building seminars, leadership trainings, and personality development workshops. A "Bonding Night" is a yearly college event that allows students through a series of talks, small group discussions, and games, to reflect about themselves and the way they look at society, so that at the end, learning is not just confined to the four walls of the classroom, but is expanded to allow for the absorption of much needed life skills.

With an evolving curricula to meet the changing demands of the times, with a myriad of trainings to equip the students with relevant and needed world-class ICT skills, with the new courses that answer the emerging needs of the industry, and with the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that contribute to the social, moral, civic, psychological, and artistic formation of its students, SEC provides excellent education. A wholistic approach contributes to the total development of students, able to adapt to diverse complex situations.

This the College has done in the past 60 years – to this same goal, the College is committed, in the decades to come.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

It was in the later part of 1940 when Gov. Eulogio Rodriguez of Rizal Province proposed to Dr. Canuto G. Manuel to put up a school in a two-storey building with four rooms. The construction was done on a vacant space in the latter’s property along P. Burgos St., near the corner of G. Villanueva St., and was used by the first year high school classes in June 1941. The school was named Pasay High School, a branch of the Rizal High School located in Pasig (then the capital of Rizal Province wherein Pasay was once one of the component municipalities). Pasay High School was occupied as planned when all schools in the country opened in June 1941. Unfortunately, the surprise attack of the Japanese Armed Forces on December 8, 1941 caused the discontinuation of classes in the newly opened institution after barely six months of service. The authorities decided to close the school with all its facilities locked inside the building.

When peace and order was more or less completely restored in 1945, Pasay High School was not reopened with its properties kept inside the building. This was upon the release of instruction from the Office of the Provincial Governor to some local public school offices were in the neighborhood of the building to be closed.

Since December 1, 1945, the government stopped paying Dr. Manuel the rent of the building without notice while there were offers from several parties interested in renting the building for the school year 1946-1947. These people were later found connected with private schools in Manila. Such offers gave Dr. Manuel the idea of pioneering a private school in the locality. The preponderance of low and middle class residents in town during the war were two of the reasons that encouraged Dr. Manuel to invite his close friends to organize a corporation engaged in operating a private school using the building vacated by the government.

Dr. Manuel, aware of his unfamiliarity in the venture and the limited time at his disposal, consulted some of his close friends in the community. Encouraged by their interest in the venture, Atty. Emilio M. Zarris and Enrique T. Manaloto were among those consulted. Fortunately, many public school teachers and other people interested in the education of the youth in the community and its environs have shown interest in the project. Eventually, the idea became a reality.

The school was named "SOUTHEASTERN COLLEGE" when it opened in June 1946. The name was based on its directional position in the city of Manila. The corporation was registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 6, 1946 with the following members of the Board of Trustees: Atty. Emilio M. Zarris, President; Valentina T. Aragon, Secretary and Natividad H. Manuel, Treasurer. Dr. Carmen T. Velasquez, Eugenia R. Mendoza, Atty. Florencia S. Santos and Eliseo A. Ocampo constituted the other Members of the Board.

PRESENT TIMES

Numerous improvements were made but such were only followed by another major project in 1981. Another four-storey building was constructed through the initiative of Erlinda M. Mañalac, the President of the school and its Board of Trustees until now. Architect Patricio Zarris supervised the construction of the building. It was named after the founder of the school, Dr. Canuto G. Manuel. It was in that same year when the façade of the elementary building was likewise developed and was named the Doña Natividad Building.

As Southeastern College moves towards the 21st Century, it becomes outstanding in its computer advancement under the leadership of Conrad Miguel M. Mañalac, the current School Director and the current President of the Board of Trustees, Erlinda M. Mañalac.

In October 2000, SEC became an Authorized Prometric Testing Center and an Authorized Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS) Testing Center in December that same year.

On September 20, 2001, Southeastern College became a Local Academy under the Cisco Networking Academy Program, and was certified as the only Microsoft Authorized Academic Training Provider (AATP) here in the Philippines on November 29, 2001. Southeastern College was licensed to deliver Microsoft Official Curriculum and test and train students for the Microsoft Certified Professional Certification.

In November 2001, Mañalac initiated another project of four-storey building that will house the Information Technology Center, Elementary Department and covered courts of the institution. The old Elementary building was demolished to pave the way for the said project. The new building was named after Doña Natividad.

Last April 2002, Southeastern College became an Authorized VUE Testing Center. VUE is the computer-based testing service of the NCS Pearson. It is also an Authorized Prometric Testing Center.

At par with Information Technology, SEC has also become a Microsoft IT Academy which provides different Microsoft Certificate trainings to professionals, DepEd public and private teachers and to their students as well. Equipped with certified IT Instructors, SEC has come a long way training various schools all over the archipelago under the Microsoft PIL (Partners in Learning) program. This ensures that there will be "No Teacher Left Behind."

FLAGSHIP COURSES

A Microsoft Information and Technology Academy is situated in the heart of Pasay City.

Southeastern College offers top caliber and world class information and communications technology training and education for its students, beginning with those at the first grade level. This type of training and education has been made possible by the partnerships that the Institution has with numerous international organizations such as Microsoft, Cisco, Prometric, and VUE among many others.

The College, being one of the leading ICT Training Institutions, had been tapped to train for various governmental and nongovernmental agencies and organizations from as far down south to up north. The confidence in its trainers springs from the fact that Southeastern College has been the first Microsoft Authorized Academic Training Provider in the region and has for its faculty and pool of ICT trainers Microsoft Certified Instructors. Because of this, Southeastern College offers a wide range of ICT courses as part of its set of flagship courses in the collegiate levels.

These four-year courses and short courses are BS Computer Science, BS Computer Applications, BS Secretarial Administration major in Computer Office Management, two-year Courses in Computer Programming, Computer Technician, Computer Network Technician, and Computer Secretarial, one-year Computer Programming Course. SEC Also offers Computer Short Courses in Microsoft Certified Professional training for Operating System and Visual Basic Programming, not to forget 6, 2 and 1 month Software Application Course.

One of the more recent courses developed by the Institution is its one-year Digital Artist Certificate Course. This has been duly approved and certified by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). This short course enables students to create 2D and 3D animations, make interactive interfaces, and prepare video productions among others.

Because of the quest of Southeastern College to equip its students with relevant ICT knowledge and skills that are needed for survival in today’s workplace, the curricula of the other non-ICT courses offered by the Institution have also been infused with ICT subjects. Hence, by the time the students reach their second year, they are already knowledgeable and experts even, in areas such basic computer techniques and word processing, spreadsheet applications, and computer presentation skills. These courses are the following: BS Elementary Education, BS Secondary Education (English, Filipino, History, Mathematics, or Computer), BS Business Administration (Management or Finance), BA Psychology, and BA in English.

Southeastern College has, through the years, endeavored to offer and promote training and education relevant to the times and to the needs of the industry.

Through the able leadership of its young and dynamic director, Conrad Maňalac, and through the expert guidance of its Dean, Fr. Jose Marie Legaspi, SEC is more than ever, prepared to face and triumph amidst the challenges of the times.