Ateneo de Manila University - History - Recent History

Recent History

In 1987, nine years after the Ateneo joined the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the university went on to win its first crown in UAAP men’s basketball. The Blue Eagles won a second straight title in 1988. In 1991, the Ateneo joined in relief operations to help the victims affected by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. That same year saw the School of Law phase out its Bachelor of Laws degree to become the first Philippine law school to confer the Juris Doctor degree. In 1994, the Ateneo was one of the first Philippine schools on the Internet, and was part of the conference that connected the Philippines to the World Wide Web. In 1996 the Ateneo relaunched the Ateneo Computer Technology Center as the Ateneo Information Technology Institute and established the Ateneo School of Government. In 1998, the Ateneo’s Rockwell campus, which currently houses the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, the Ateneo Law School, and the Ateneo School of Government, was completed in Rockwell Center in Bel-Air, Makati. The Science Education Complex was completed in the Loyola Heights campus.

In 2000, the School of Arts and Sciences which comprised the College and the Graduate School restructured into four Loyola Schools: the School of Humanities, the John Gokongwei School of Management, the School of Science and Engineering, and the School of Social Sciences. The Moro Lorenzo Sports Complex was completed in the Loyola Heights campus to bolster the sports program. Midway through that year, high school alumnus and Philippine President Joseph Estrada faced grave corruption charges connected with economic plunder and jueteng, an illegal numbers game. The University hosted KOMPIL II and other organizations and movements in its Loyola Heights and Makati campuses. Members of the university community participated in the Jericho March at the Senate and other mass actions. In 2001, Ateneo Master of Arts alumna and former Economics faculty member Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as the 14th President of the Philippines, overthrowing Estrada after top military officers withdrew support from his as commander in chief. In April 2002, the office of the University President established Pathways to Higher Education-Philippines, one of the university's outreach initiatives, with the help of the Ford and Synergeia Foundations. On July 31, the feast of St. Ignatius, the University Church of the Gesù was completed in the Loyola Heights campus, and was consecrated by Cardinal Jaime Sin. The year also saw the Blue Eagles end a 14-year drought in men's basketball. In 2003, the Ateneo entered into its partnership with Gawad Kalinga, its first formal, university-wide social action program. In response to the typhoons and flooding that devastated most of the Philippine Island of Luzon in November 2004, the Ateneo launched Task Force Noah, its disaster response initiative, which has continued to contribute to disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas that include Calatagan in Mindoro and Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte. The Ateneo earned the highest possible accreditation status, Level IV, the second Philippine university to earn this, from the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). That same year, the Ateneo de Manila celebrated its 145th anniversary, and the 145th anniversary of the return of Jesuit education in the Philippines. It also launched the countdown to its sesquicentennial in 2009.

As typhoon relief efforts wound down in January 2005 the Ateneo, Gawad Kalinga, and other partners launched Kalinga Luzon (KL), a program dedicated to the long-term rehabilitation of typhoon-stricken communities in Luzon. 2005 also saw the rise of initiatives such as the Social Involvement Workshops and other fora, especially in light of the political crisis sparked by allegations of President Arroyo's cheating in the 2004 presidential elections. The Ateneo also established more tie-ups and foreign linkages, as well as prepared efforts leading to the development of the Leong Center for Chinese Studies in the university.

In early 2006, members of the Ateneo de Manila University and affiliated Jesuit institutions were part of movements calling for action on the political issues that continue to rock Filipino society. The Ateneo de Manila University also intensified its social development efforts, launching Kalinga Leyte, a program for the long-term rehabilitation of Southern Leyte, with its GK partners. The Ateneo has also expanded the scope of its involvement with Gawad Kalinga and has begun to drive GK initiatives throughout Nueva Ecija, and in other provinces such as Cotobato and Quezon. Midway through 2006, the Manuel V Pangilinan Center for Student Leadership was completed The University also began ground-breaking for the development of several projects: the Ricardo Leong Hall, which houses several units of the Loyola Schools' School of Social Sciences and the Confucius Institute for Chinese Studies, as well as the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health facility in Ortigas, which welcomed its pioneering batch of professional students in June 2007. In December, the Ateneo also launched AGAP-Bikol in cooperation with other Jesuit-affiliated and civil society groups, in response to the devastation wrought by typhoons in the Bicol area. On 5 December 2007, University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., launched Frontline Leadership, a book project of the Ateneo School of Government (sponsored by German foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung), which narrates the performances of four former local officials, an unnamed female governor in the Visayas and one incumbent: Naga Mayor and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Jesse Robredo, former San Fernando, La Union Mayor Mary Jane Ortega, former Bulacan Gov. Josie de la Cruz, and former Surigao del Norte Gov. Robert Lyndon Barbers.

In October 2008, 66 faculty members from different departments, including members of the Theology Department, challenged the position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the Reproductive Health Bill pending before the Philippine Congress University president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. explained that their position was not the position of the university, but stressed that these faculty members had a right to express their views as individual Catholics and that there should be continuing efforts on the critical study and discussion of the bill among Church groups including the University and in civil society.

In November 2008, the University began work on building a new Rizal Library facility. In December, the a new set of university dormitories was inaugurated. the Ateneo High School was granted Level III accreditation by the PAASCU, the highest level in the country.

2008-2010 saw the University's basketball teams win three consecutive championships in both UAAP men's and junior's basketball, the only double three-peat in UAAP and NCAA combined history. The University's men's basketball team also copped several national titles, including 2 Philippine Collegiate Championship titles in 2009 and 2010, and two University Games titles in 2008 and 2009.

In September and October 2009, students from the University organized Task Force Ondoy in response to Typhoon Ketsana. The task force conducted relief operations in various areas struck hard by the typhoon, particularly in Marikina City.

In May 2011, the University was granted Level IV Re-Accredited Status and Institutional Accreditation by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) and the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), the first time that both citations were awarded to a university simultaneously.

2011 also marked the end of the presidency of Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., who was succeeded by Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, S.J.

On 25 November 2011, the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) awarded the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Schools Level IV Re-accreditation for 21 academic programs as well as Institutional Accreditation.