BACOLOR, Pampanga — The Senate approved on Monday the conversion of the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades (DHVCAT), the oldest trade school in Asia, to Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University (DHVTSU), making it the first-ever state-run university in Pampanga.

The Senate’s approval of Senate Bill 3306 will provide more funding and some fiscal and administrative benefits for DHVCAT as soon as President Gloria Arroyo signs the bill into law next month. Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., who sponsored the counter-bill in the House of Representatives, said the bill was unanimously approved by the senators.

Gonzales was with DHVCAT president Enrique Baking and some of the school’s faculty members at the Senate during the Senate approval.

Baking and the whole administration of DHVCAT have been lobbying for the conversion of DHVCAT into a university since October last year.

Under the bill, the trade school will offer technological courses like computer science courses and information technology, and extend its respective graduate schools.

The conversion of DHVCAT into a state university came just as the school celebrated its 148th founding anniversary.

It would be the first and only state university in the province since the law only allows one state university per province.

Baking said that under the bill, the school would now be able to offer satellite campuses across the province.