Escudero nixes plan to rename Sorsogon College after late father

FILE: Sen. Francis Escudero. (PNA photo)

MANILA — While he appreciates a Congress bill to name the Sorsogon State College (SSC) after his father, the late Congressman Salvador Escudero, Senator Francis Escudero said that he will refer the bill back to its original form.

“I will not and cannot adopt the same as transmitted to the Senate for conflict of interest. I will refer the bill back to its original form as filed,” Escudero said in a press statement.

“SSC has earned its stripes. It deserves to become a state university. To maintain objectivity and fairness to the public and its money entrusted to the government by way of taxes, SSC should be converted and should be rightfully named Sorsogon State University,” he said.

Escudero said that he will not adopt the bill in its present form out of delicadeza and will instead refer the proposal back to its original form, which proposes SSC’s university conversion to be known as Sorsogon State University.

House Bill No. 6203 seeks to convert the SSC into a state university with Rep. Evelina Escudero, the senator’s mother, and Representatives Deogracias Ramos and Anthony Bravo as authors.

During the period of amendments, House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariňas moved and got the majority’s support to endorse SSC’s conversion but to also name it after the late Congressman Escudero.

Escudero said that he will be throwing his support for the conversion of the educational institution in his province as it has already earned its rightful place to have a university status by producing top-notch graduates.

He, however, said that he will not, during his term in the Senate, advocate naming a government project after his father or any relative.

The SSC has been granted its present status from an arts and trades college through the late Congressman Salvador H. Escudero III’s authorship in 1993.