RELEAH H. Pascua, a 2008 forestry graduate, occupied the ninth spot in the list of 10 highest places in the Licensure Examination for Foresters conducted July 3-4 in Baguio City.

She recorded an 85.05 percent passing rating, only 1.70 percent lower than the score of Jane T. Afidchao of the Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology-Bayombong who topped the examination.  The University of the Philippines Los Banos still produced the most number of topnotchers with four including the second placer. Nover M. Matso of the Benguet State University placed third.

The other MMSU passers were: Joseph M. Buyag, Roselyn S Malapira, and Clarence Revel C. Ralleta – all 2008 graduates.  They were among the six examination-takers who registered a 66.67 percent passing score for MMSU.  Ten graduated from the program last April.

Exactly 379 graduates from all over the Philippines took the test.  One hundred ninety-four passed the examination recording a 51.18 percent national mark.

Of the 43 forestry schools in the country, only 14 had institutional passing rating higher than the national record. The rest were below the national score including 16 that had zero passing percentage.

In a letter to President Pascua, Dr. Jose T. Agustin, forestry department chair, reported that MMSU has been registering for four consecutive years institutional ratings higher that the national record. He thanked the school administration for providing the examinees free transportation when they went to the Nueva Vizcaya State University for their formal review and to Baguio City for the actual examination.

He expressed hoped that the graduates’ performance in the recent licensure examination will attract more students to enroll in the program which has been  temporarily frozen this school year due to very low enrollment especially in the freshman year.