HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Conceived and brought to reality by a farsighted and enterprising educator, Major Ricardo B. Bonilla, the Golden Gate Colleges is the first higher institution of learning established in the then Batangas town. With the help of his ever sacrificing wife, Dr. Marcela R. Bonilla, and Prof. Fausto F. Catoy, the first collegiate class was started in November, 1946 with barely 17 students in attendance.

The high integrity of the founder of the college, the strong faculty members, the ever- expanding library facilities, and the progressive liberal policies of the President drew students in great numbers not only from the province of Batangas, but also from the neighboring provinces of Laguna, Quezon, Cavite, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro and as far south as Romblon, Masbate and Marinduque.

The school year 1947-48 saw a big increase in the student population, such that during the said school year, 300 college and 150 high school students registered. Since then enrollment continued to rise.

The Golden Gate Colleges has its main building at P. Prieto Street in Batangas City.

The Administration continued to be plagued by the problem of accommodation so much so that Atty. Vicente J. Caedo, executive vice president, Mrs. Zoila L. Mendoza, registrar and Miss Belen U. Castillo, cashier, who were then virtually running the school and determining its policies with the blessing of President Bonilla, began looking for bigger sites in 1962. They found one along P. Prieto Street and two lots along P. Pelaez St., negotiated its purchase, and two years later the whole institution moved to its present locations.

Prodded by its desire to help solve the medical needs of the community, the Administration established Our Lady of Grace General Hospital, now (Golden Gate General Hospital) in November, 1970 the first private hospital in town. The following month, it was inaugurated with no less than the Director of the Bureau of Hospitals as well as prominent local medical practitioners in attendance.

Simultaneously with the establishment of a hospital, a course in midwifery was opened followed by the first year course in nursing in 1971. And by the years 1974 and 1975 both courses were recognized 1st and 2nd year of Midwifery and 1st to 4th year of Nursing, respectively.

Due to the clamor of qualified public and private school teachers to upgrade their educational qualification, this college in 1961 was inspired to offer Graduate Studies leading to Master of Arts in Education and Master of Arts in English to which were added later Master in Business Administration and Master in Public Administration both with or without thesis. These offerings were made for the purpose of giving advanced instruction and professional training in various occupations, since it aims to develop the habits of scientific inquiry and original thinking, and inquiring attitude, and an investigating spirit.

To cope with the increasing demand for skilled workers here and abroad the Administration offered the Bachelor degree courses in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering in 1978. The college invested several million pesos worth of equipment to satisfy the requirements for the said courses and is still in the process of acquiring more to fully comply. The GGC graduates, worthy licensed engineers could be found in refineries, building constructions and as head of offices.

With the desire of the Administration to improve its offerings and to give the students the opportunity to finish short courses, it offered Diploma in Industrial Technology Major in Mechanical and Chemical Technology, Two Year Course on Pharmacy Aide, Nursing Aide, Avionics Technician, Aircraft Maintenance, Computer Secretarial and one year Integrated/ Computer Course. In 1996 Master of Arts in Nursing was offered the Six Months Caregiver Course approved by TESDA was also offered in 2003.

A member of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), the Golden Gate Colleges maintains a continuous program of Faculty improvement and Scholarships to deserving students. Since it was the first school to open courses in teacher training, it has become the Alma Mater of the greater bulk of prominent educators and promising teachers in the city and provincial school division.

GGC now boasts of an imposing four storey edifice, an administration building, a secretarial building, and a covered gymnasium at P. Prieto St., all adjacent to the Golden Gate General Hospital, a three- storey building along Danilo Atienza St., and a training department, complete elementary at Pallocan, Batangas City.

Bigger things are in store for this college. The Administration has planned continuing programs to realize the dream of its founder the late Major Ricardo B. Bonilla. i.e. "Golden Gate Colleges Quality Education Towards Excellence and Progress."

PRESENT TIMES

Today, as the Golden Gate Colleges proudly stands in the same site in an atmosphere of growth and dynamism, it is propelled more vibrantly under the leadership of President Wilfrido Jacinto with the support of Marcelo V. Buquid, Jr. the Special Assistant to the President and Zoila Mendoza, the College Registrar and Dean of the Student Affairs, whose brilliance and imagination show in the fast forward movement of the college.

To accomplish its mission, the GGC provides for a continuing faculty and employees’ development program. There is a yearly management seminar together with the Ricardo Bonilla Memorial Lecture to improve the administrators and the employees’ managerial competencies, a spiritual recollection for the college community’s moral and spiritual upliftment, as well as trainings and workshops for the improvement of their teaching competencies.

At the apex of the college curricular programs in terms of enrolment is the Bachelor of Science in Nursing headed by Dean Purisima Macatangay. This is the oldest Nursing course in the province of Batangas.

In the year 1971-1972, when the nursing program was offered in our institution, a capping ceremony of future nightingales was witnessed for the first time in Batangas City. Its Base Hospital is Golden Gate General Hospital and the affiliating agencies to further enhance the learning experiences of the students are: Batangas Regional Hospital, Mary Mediatrix Medical Center, Batangas City Maternity House and Puericulture Center, Bauan Doctors Hospital, Fernando Air Base, Rural Health Units of the Batangas Provincial Health Office, DepEd, Division of Batangas City, Philippine Orthopedic Center, San Lazaro Hospital, and National Center for Mental Health.

In an effort to make the program more responsive to changing needs, the Nursing skills laboratory was put up with equipment and supplies in compliance with CHED Memo 30, series 2001.

Most of the GGC graduates are occupying high positions in the hospitals here and in abroad ranging from supervisors to chief nurses. On April 2005, our graduates achieved 70 percent result in the Integrated National Licensure Examination. GGC officials wish to uphold the standard of nursing education for the graduates to be more nationally and globally competitive.

One of the most recognized and acclaimed graduate programs in Region IV is the Master of Arts in Nursing Program of GGC with Dr. Crestita B. Tan as Consultant. The MAN program was established in 1996 in response to the need of licensed nurses to pursue graduate studies in nursing for personal and professional updates with the latest trends in nursing as well as in compliance with the Nursing Law provision 1996 as amended by the Nursing Law of 2002, RA #7193 which requires nurses to be holders of Master’s degree in Nursing to qualify for nursing positions in the nursing service and nursing education. The MAN program was then recognized by the CHED in 1997, a year after its operation. Today, the program is greatly supported by the GGC administration and CHED due to its tremendous impact among its students in terms of quality graduate education.

The major thrust of the MAN program is to promote the culture of excellence, which embodies intellectual and technical expertise as well as professional values and altruistic attitude inherent in nurses to serve the community. Expectedly, graduates of MAN program become locally and globally competitive. The program also offers two major specializations: the Administration of Nursing Service and Education, and the Clinical specialization in Maternal and Child Nursing, integrating community health, medical and surgical conditions, infectious and psychiatric nursing.

Faculty members of the MAN program belong to the top caliber of distinguished nursing educators and leaders who are graduates of reputable and accredited universities in Manila who are also holders of Masters degree in Nursing and Doctorate degrees and trained and recognized experts in specialized areas in nursing.

The MAN program has already produced several graduates occupying administrative and managerial positions in the nursing service and nursing education in Luzon areas particularly in the province of Batangas.

Continuously giving honor and prestige to our institution is our Engineering Program headed Engr. Reynaldo Dimayacyac as dean. Competent, competitive and dedicated faculty members, well headed by our energetic dean, work together towards the upliftment of quality education. We produced board topnotchers, champions of academic competitions and graduates who are handling high positions in different companies in our country and even abroad.

The Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineer, and Mechanical Engineering boast of topnotchers, and achievements in different competitions. When it comes to the performance in the Licensure Examination for Chemical Engineers, Electrical Engineers and Mechanical Engineers, our passing percentage is consistently far above the national passing percentage.

With a dream to fulfill, the Engineering Department is ready to face the future with by being one of the top performing schools in the Board Examinations for Ch.E, EE, and ME, by integrating review classes in our curriculum and to provide more seminars and rigid actual trainings to all graduating engineering students, as well as to provide job placement for them after graduation. We will strengthen our industry linkage with different companies within the province and in the near provinces.

Since 1967, the College of Teacher of Education has been supporting our government in maintaining a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education. It has been producing graduates who contribute not only to national but also to international developments and who are receptive to global changes. The continuous existence of the College in GGC with Dr. Meriza Manahan as dean could be attributed to its good performance in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) and the employment of our graduates on key positions on the different colleges and universities not only in the province but also throughout the nation.

The Programs are dynamic and attuned to changes especially with the curriculum, which aims to develop among our would-be-teachers the needed skills and competencies through innovative instructional approaches and strategies. Effective AY 2005-2006 our programs are implemented in accordance with the Revised Policies and Standards for Teachers Education, which include the enhanced Education content courses with two areas of specialization: English and Mathematics.

Our TEI is a member of Philippine Association for Teacher Education (PAFTE). This also provides men and women with nationalistic, creative, critical, integrative ideas, and most of all, produces teachers imbued with ideals and values that will help the nation in achieving greater heights of human aspirations.

The College of Commerce and Accountancy of this institution has developed successful entrepreneurs who contributed much to the economic development in the provinces and in the different regions. Our graduates who are Certified Public Accountant (CPAs) are employed in and outside the country. Similarly, in the field of management, banking and finance, majority of our graduates are employed as managers and in top positions in prestigious banks and companies.

The college is a member of different regional and national organization in management, marketing, accounting and business education so that we are updated with the recent trends and developments in the fast changing dimensions of the business environment.

What maybe considered as significant breakthrough at a time when the enrolment in some courses declined was the opening of a Caregiver course in 2003. This served to bolster the financial capability of the college towards the achievement of its goals. The course was again the first of its kind offered in the different colleges in Batangas. Starting with an enrolment of 23 students, there was a notable increase in its population every six months with Restituto Almachar as Coordinator.

At present, our affiliating agencies, which provide further learning experiences to our students, include Sagip Buhay Tahanan Foundation, City Social Welfare Development, Philippine National Red Cross, and Golden Gate General Hospital. They attained a hundred percent passing rate in the competency examinations given by TESDA Accredited Assessment Center.

Graduate School

In 1961, when the pursuit of graduate education, especially in the province, was more difficult and earning a Master’s degree or Ph.D or Ed.D degree was not only an achievement, but a very rare and distinct achievement, the GGC was alert enough to open the Graduate School. This was to cater to the need of the Batangueños and college graduates of the neighboring provinces to be more competitive and to be better able to meet the challenges of leadership, governance, instruction, conducting researches and living a more decent and fruitful life.

This department—led by Dr. Salome M. Atienza as dean—offers courses such as Master of Arts in Education, Master in Public Administration and Master of Business Administration. The faculty members in M.A. are all doctors of education and in the M.P.A./M.B.A. sectors, we have one Ph.D in Public Administration and Ph.D in Business Administration.

The Research Center has been transferred to the room adjacent to the Graduate School Office. It is now very spacious, well lighted and well ventilated. It has its own computer with internet connection, television set and video player. This is for strengthening research capability and productivity of the faculty and students in creating and discovering new and meaningful knowledge for the improvement of life in general and for a sound school management and effective administration in particular.

Today, Golden Gate Colleges can look back to the past 60 years and speak of its distinct achievement–that of having produced a remarkable number of successful graduates. This quality education it provides is its legacy to the youth and its contribution to the progress and development of the nation.