ABOITIZ Economic Estates is positioning a new Batangas State University (BatStateU) campus within its flagship LIMA Estate to help attract more global locators as the estate expands.
“We’re putting a university here so that we can attract investment into the Philippines because we have the talent. What we expect to happen, because we have the talent here, we expect more companies to invest here in LIMA here in Batangas, which will lead to job generation,” Aboitiz Economic Estates President Rafael P. Fernandez de Mesa told reporters during a media roundtable on Monday.
The 10-hectare campus opened on Monday with nearly 1,000 students, Aboitiz Economic Estates said. BatStateU expects enrollment to eventually reach tens of thousands.
The partnership is intended to align BatStateU’s curriculum with the workforce requirements of LIMA locators in electronics, semiconductors, automotive, food and beverage, and manufacturing, according to Aboitiz Economic Estates.
BatStateU President Tirso A. Ronquillo said the university, as the country’s national engineering university, is mandated to provide free, high-quality education that prepares students for employment.
He said the campus offers 10 programs, seven of which are engineering-related and three technology-oriented.
“The presence of the industry experts in our classrooms will make these experts identify who are these best students, and [they] can be right away employed in their companies or industries,” Mr. Ronquillo said.
LIMA Estate spans 1,100 hectares and hosts more than 200 companies employing about 75,000 people, according to Aboitiz Economic Estates.
The company said it plans to expand the estate by another 500 hectares over the next 10 years and eventually support 250,000 jobs.
Aboitiz Head of Operations for Economic Estates Clifford M. Academia said the estate’s community is changing as it accommodates more office workers and students alongside factory employees.
“It’s an entirely different dynamic when you have office workers versus factory workers,” Mr. Academia said. “We want to make sure that the day-to-day life is organic [and that] they can really feel themselves as part of the community and envision themselves growing in the community.”
BatStateU Campus Director Albertson D. Amante said students have expressed interest in living within the estate.
“The questions that they’re asking now is, are there support also for access to accommodation and the likes? And the good thing is, they’re looking into really moving into the estate,” he said, adding that on-site dormitories are planned.
In May, Aboitiz Economic Estates said the first 200 hectares of its TARI Estate in Tarlac City would become operational by the second quarter of 2026.
The article was originally published in Business World and written by Juliana Chloe A. Gonzales.
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