THE HOUSE Committee on Higher and Technical Education on Tuesday approved a measure seeking to rename the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte to Ferdinand E. Marcos State University.

Voting 7-1, the panel approved to endorse for plenary discussions House Bill 2407 authored by Ilocos Norte 2nd district Representative Angelo Marcos Barba.

The bill was approved on third reading in the 18th Congress but did not get Senate approval.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel, meanwhile, objected to the approval of HB 2407.

MMSU President Shirley Agrupis in her manifestation as a resource speaker expressed her full support for the renaming of the state university.

“I gave my unconditional support to this proposal because President [Ferdinand] Marcos is the father of state universities and colleges in the country for establishing most of them during his term, thereby providing access to quality education. To date, there are already 114 state colleges and universities but not one of them is named after the one who established or initiated for their establishment,” Agrupis said.

She added that after a special meeting with the MMSU administrative council and board of regents, most of the officials supported the move to rename the school.