The City College of Davao (CCD), now in its third year of operation providing free tuition to students, has opened the first semester of academic year 2025-2026 with a total of 938 students.
Acting CCD President Dr. Wenefredo Cagape told Madayaw that this semester, 357 students are in their first year, 297 are in the second year, and 284 are in the third year.
Cagape said that this year, they added 40 slots for the first year from the 320 students initially proposed, upon observation that some students – for various reasons – do not continue to the higher levels.
The courses being offered are Bachelor of Technical-Vocational Teacher Education major in Heating Ventilating and Air-Conditioning Technology (HVACRT) with 116 students from first year to third year, Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teacher Education Major in Computer Programming with 228 students from first year to third year, Bachelor in Early Childhood Education with 341 from first year to third year, and Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship with 253 students from first year to third year.
As catering to students from IP communities is part of the CCD’s priority, it now has a total of 368 IP enrollees.
He said that they had their ceremonial first flag ceremony last July 28, 2025 which marked the beginning of classes.
Among the things that the CCD is aiming for within the year is the Institutional Recognition (IR) from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). With this IR, the CCD ultimately would become totally state-funded in its operations and the CHED will subsidize tuition fees, which currently is being funded by the local government of Davao City.
To achieve this, the CCD is required to have a President approved by the CHED. A search is currently being held.
The qualifications for the college president are posted on the CCD’s Facebook page and the City Government of Davao’s Human Resource and Management Office.
He said that the IR is also needed to open new courses.
“Once wala pay president nga tinuod dili pata maka pa IR, so kailangan po talaga ng IR para maka open ng additional course (While we still do not have an official president, we cannot apply for the IR and we also need the IR to open additional courses),” he said.
As for facilities, the College targets to finish within the year the improvement of its classrooms, electrical connections, the library and the workshop for HVACRT.
“Our operation is smooth sailing kay ika-third year naman. Among mga na face na problems sa una na solve na namo so karon smooth ang dagan (Our operation is smooth sailing as we are now in our third year, the problems we have faced had already been solved),” Cagape said.
“Ang gusto namo nga mapadayon ang City College of Davao para daghan ta og matabangan na mga tao tapos mapadayon ang kurso, mapa improve among kurso para may mapilian ang mga bata, hopefully ma improve nato ang atong facilities tapos maka hire ta og more teachers para sa mga bata (What we want is for the College to continue, to help more people and for the courses to continue and improve so that students will have many courses to chose from. Hopefully, we can also improve our facilities and hire more teachers for the students),” Cagape said. CIO
