Building administrators and personnel of UP Mindanao underwent training in facilities management during the Facilities Management Portal Launch organized by the Office of the Vice President for Development (OVPD) on June 24–25, 2025, at UP Mindanao.
UP Mindanao Vice-Chancellor for Administration Leo Manuel Estaña proposed the development of a Facilities Management Plan aimed at ensuring a safe, healthy, and cost-efficient working environment for the university. “We are crafting our Facilities Management Plan, which has as its goal to have a safe, healthy working environment at an optimal cost. We will have a ten or twenty-year life cycle plan for all our equipment and facilities, so that if your computer fails, you will be provided with a replacement immediately. That is our goal. With limited resources, facilities management will be able to help us out as part of our continuous improvement,” he said.
Associate Professor Joseph Gerard T. Reyes, UP Assistant Vice President for Facilities, led the training by introducing the core concepts and best practices in facilities management. Participants included personnel from UP Mindanao’s offices of Campus Planning and Development, Physical Plant, Supply and Property Management, Information Technology, Research, the Sports Complex, Library, dormitory, central administration, and the colleges.
The OVPD also conducted the soft launch of the Guided Unified System for Asset-Linked Information (GUSALI) Portal, an electronic building information management system developed by the Facilities Management Team and the Information Technology Development Center. GUSALI aims to modernize how facilities and assets are tracked, monitored, and maintained across the UP System.
In addition, participants were given a preview of UP Manila’s Room Occupancy Online Management System (ROOMS), which VC Estaña noted could be adapted for use at UP Mindanao.
To identify pressing concerns and opportunities in facilities management, the participants took part in a Focus Group Discussion, highlighting the importance of collaborative planning in campus development.
AVP Reyes lauded UP Mindanao for its proactive stance: “I am impressed that UPMin has a multi-year maintenance plan,” said AVP Reyes. “With that plan in place, planning and budgeting are eased, such as when funds are expected to be needed,” he said.
UP Mindanao Chancellor Lyre Anni Murao also emphasized the timeliness of the activity: “This launch and preview is timely as we engage in our next term in the next three years. We also have our strategic planning workshops nowadays, and one of our goals is the sustainable development of our campus, and an essential part of that is facilities management. So, we continue to learn how we can move forward with the sustainable development of the campus using the principles of facilities management,” she said.
To the UP Mindanao personnel, she added: “I hope you will carry the learnings from this workshop as you proceed with your service to the university.”
