Third District Cong. Francisco Benitez’ credentials have been cited when he was endorsed as new Education Secretary by the Negros Occidental Chapter of the National Movement of Young Legislators.
Among the accomplishments they cited were Benitez’s “extensive and impressive” educational background.
According to the congressman’s website Kikobenitez.com, Benitez earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature with minor in Southeast Asian studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his B.A. in comparative literature (summa cum laude) and English (cum laude) from Cornell University.
Comparative Literature, according to University of Buffalo, is “the study of two or more literatures in comparison… and their multi-dimensional components which may encompass aspects such as the historical, gender, economic, cultural, social, philosophical, religious, and linguistic factors of the distinct cultures being analyzed.”
His website also said that he served as faculty at the University of Washington-Seattle, where he wrote “many essays exploring the friction between subjectivity, empire, and the nation-state in the literature and film of insular Southeast Asia in the late 19th and 20th centuries and the evolution of Filipino identity through periods of national transition and global transformation”.
The website added that in 2011, he returned permanently to the Philippines to lead the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) into its centennial.
“Under his leadership, the PWU strengthened its commitment to a holistic education that cultivates family solidarity, environmental consciousness, and civic participation through progressive pedagogy aided by digital technology,” the website added.
The PWU was founded by the Benitez family in 1919. It started as Philippine Women’s College and was founded by educator and civic rights leaders Francisca Tirona Benitez along with six other women, Clara Aragon, Concepcion Aragon, Paz Marquez Benitez, (sister-in-law of Francisca Benitez) Carolina Ocampo Palma, Mercedes Rivera, and Socorro Marquez Zaballero.
As PWU president, the congressman received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in the 2017 Asia’s Education Excellence Awards.
