Dr. Pingkoy Duque is new LNU president
THERE was changing of the guards at the Lyceum Northwestern University (LNU), one of the premier universities in Dagupan and Pangasinan, when former Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairman and Health Secretary Francisco “Pingkoy” Duque III assumed as president of their family-owned institution, taking over from his brother, Dr. Gonzalo Duque.
Duque III becomes the fifth LNU president. The first was their late father, former Pangasinan Governor Francisco Duque Jr., followed by their mother Florencia Tiongson Duque, then the late Dr. Salvador T. Duque and Atty. Gonzalo T. Duque.
The two Duque brothers were sworn in as fifth LNU president and second LNU chancellor by their elder brother Cesar Duque, chairman of the board of trustees and other members of the board namely Dr. Grace Duque-Dizon, Dr. Luz Duque- Hammershaimb and Dr. Marco S. Duque, son of the late Dr. Salvador Duque.
In his speech, the new LNU president paid tribute to his parents and siblings for nurturing the school “to become what it is today”.
The new LNU president cited the university’s 42-degree and post-degree courses, including technical and vocational courses and the satellite school in Urdaneta City.
He hailed his late brother Salvador for leading in the rehabilitation of earthquake- devastated Dagupan City by founding the Metro Dagupan Construction Earthquake Rehabilitation Foundation.
He also cited his elder brother Gonzalo’s services to Dagupan City and Pangasinan representing the university.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Duque reminisced how LNU started as Polyclinic School of Nursing and Midwifery.
A medical school consortium was soon initiated by the Duque patriarch, supported by various schools in Pangasinan. With the death of the late Pangasinan governor, one school outside of Dagupan wanted to buy the share of the then Lyceum of Dagupan but the new president then Florencia T. Duque boldly resisted it.
They did not sell their share of the school of medicine and instead bought the Northwestern College that gave birth to the name Lyceum-Northwestern College.
Atty. Duque said that their mother was planning to put up an agricultural school in Lobong, San Jacinto when she died at the age of 59.
He said when his eldest brother Salvador was president and chairman of the board of MDCERF, his group sued government officials and agencies right and left which was just a ploy to hasten the rehabilitation of Dagupan City from the rubble of the July 16, 1990 earthquake, that worked.
It was during Atty. Duque’s incumbency that the school earned its university status and a deregulated status from the Commission on Higher Education.
On the same occasion, Mayor Belen Fernandez hailed the Duque brothers for their achievements that benefited not only Dagupan but the whole nation. She thanked, in particular, Atty. Duque as LNU president for extending the services of the university to the city.
Fernandez presented to the two Duque brothers two separate resolutions passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod commending the two Duques for their services to the city and to the nation. (Leonardo Micua)
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