Who is UP's new president, former regent Atty. Angelo Jimenez?
The University of the Philippines (UP) Board of Regents (BOR) has appointed former regent Atty. Angelo Jimenez as the institution's new president, taking over current chief Danilo Concepcion.
The BOR elected the next UP president on Dec. 9, who will serve from February 2023 to February 2029.
Jimenez, who will be the university system's 22nd president, was selected over five other nominees Patrick Alain Azanza, Salvador Belaro Jr., Benito Pacheco, Fernando Sanchez Jr., and Fidel Nemenzo.
UP Diliman's student government, student body, as well as three national artists and scientists, endorsed incumbent UP Diliman chancellor Nemenzo for the role. A rally was even held in support of him when students gathered at Diliman's Quezon Hall.
Who is Angelo Jimenez?
UP's next president is an Of counsel with the Jaromay Laurente and Associates and a consultant of the Office of Rep. Pablo John F. Garcia, according to the UP website. He served on the BOR twice, first in 1992 and again from 2016 to 2021, and was a lecturer at the UP Law Center Institute of the administration of Justice from 2016 to 2021.
Jimenez has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a Bachelor of Laws degree from UP Diliman and passed the Bar in 1994. He later became a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and earned his Masters in Public Management at the National University of Singapore.
In addition, he has almost a decade of experience representing the Secretary of Labor in diplomatic posts overseas and managing OFW service organizations.
In his vision paper for the university system, he hopes to transform UP into a "global university" and wants to focus on graduate and post-graduate programs to bolster the institute's reputation as a research university. He also plans to "institutionalize a programmed and purposive engagement with the government" and embrace digital transformation.
"From my time as a student until I earned my degrees from the University of the Philippines, I have sought to serve an institution that is not just a microcosm of Philippine society, but a symbol of the enduring promise and boundless potential of our nation," Jimenez wrote in a Facebook post.
"I realized that I am the first Student Regent to be given the honor of serving as the University's President. I hope to uphold the virtues we hold dear—honor and excellence, giting at tapang—and, more importantly, apply these to the benefit of the Filipino people and the world."
