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EXTRA PAGE DONOR FORM

October 3, 2008

MR. JOEL V. PAL
Chairman,  SUACONA
2943 Manor St.
Yorktown Hts., NY 10598

Dear Joel:

I am clarifying what I meant by “bridge financing” relating to the Portal West Building,   I understand that this has been the subject of questions by some of our alumni lately.   This simply means that the University is temporarily providing the funds from its Depreciation Sinking Fund (DSF) to complete the construction of the Portal West Building while waiting for donations for this purpose.   We had to finish the building for its income potential and  to avoid rising cost of  materials.

The SU Board of Trustees has approved the use of DSF money to complete the building.   The DSF finances the capital expenditures of the University.   It represents cash amounting to 50% of depreciation which we are required by international accounting standards to set aside yearly.

We expect a replacement of the advanced amount from additional donations for the building through the Tree of Life campaign which is being spearheaded by  Rev. Federico Agnir’s Committee.    In addition,  income from the building will gradually replenish SU for what has been advanced to the project.

I assure you the funds we are using (the DSF)  DO NOT COME FROM DONATIONS OR EXTERNAL BORROWINGS,  which are not intended for the Portal West Building project.   None of whatever you or others have donated to Silliman for purposes other than from the construction of this building,  had been used for it (neither their principals nor their interests).

Another matter that has been presented to us is the suggestion for Silliman to set up a Resource Develoment Office.   We are discussing it and comparing how the same might be better than the collective way we’re doing the same function here at this time,  involving representatives of different sectors including our faculty and staff unions and student government.

It may interest you to know that among others,  in September 2006,  I created a Continuing Fellowship Committee.   This has been chaired by Judge Candelario V. Gonzalez.   The committee has been assisting the University in developing and maintaining a program of promoting, accepting,  acknowledging and reporting the use of gifts and donations to Silliman.   It has,  through the SU Alumni Office,  a database of donors/donations.

I also created in October 2006, an Asset Management Advisory Committee.   It has submitted some time ago a comprehensive suggestion on possible utilization of University assets.   The committee is composed of:  Vice President for Finance and Administration, Alumni Association President,  SUMCFI President, Internal Auditor, Property Custodian,  SUSA President, SUFA President,  representative of the Alumni General Community and a representative from the University Deans Conference.

Recently, I have also appointed an Enterprise Development and Management Officer to focus on improving the productivity of our assets in the University.

These are modest measures, but presently with a capacity to undertake at minimum additional cost to Silliman.   The results so far have been encouraging:  a marked increase in support and givings to Silliman across a broad field of interests – scholarships, faculty/staff development, and buildings worth over PhP100 million in the last 2 years.

Thank you for your concern for a better Silliman.

Sincerely,

Ben

BEN S. MALAYANG III
President
Silliman University
Dumaguete City,  Philippines

                                                                              August 13, 2008

TO:      All Silliman Alumni and Friends

 RE:       Updates on Portal West and Nursing Education Buildings

 Dear Fellow Sillimanians:

    This is to update you on the status of two building projects that you our alumni have decided to embark in support of and in partnership with the University.

Portal West Building

              The Portal West Building is now basically completed. It is a four story building with a mezzanine floor on the corner of Silliman and Hibbard Avenues. The building houses commercial establishments. We are completing the Fourth Floor so locators can come in and develop the internal furnishings of their stores or shops. Locators are by contract limited to offering only products and services that are acceptable to the University. The Tree of Life décor has been put in place in the south wall of the main lobby. It shows in its leaves and stone base the names of all of you who have donated toward erecting the building. Some are names of those memorialized by other donors. An interactive computer system is in place (although its database is still to be completed) which allows the public to see the details (pictures as well as biographies) of the donors or of those they have memorialized. (Thanks to Ed and Ruby Agnir who donated this interactive system.)

    The Portal West Building is conceived as a facility that will provide a stream of income over at least 20 to 25 years, which will be used to support the University’s scholarship and faculty/staff development programs and its operations. This is in order to lessen the tuition escalation on Silliman and allow Silliman to educate more young people at lesser costs to them.

    What remains critical in the case of the Portal West Building would be the completion of the fund campaign -- led by SUACONA in the US and Canada -- to support its construction. Silliman “bridge-financed” the construction and so the University would be severely financially strained if all of us are not able to complete our commitment toward funding some 37 to 40 million pesos of this 65-million peso structure.

    This is so critical to the University and to its liquidity that we look at the Portal West Building fund campaign to be our priority at this time.

Nursing Education Buildings

    You may recall that your University had earlier decided to construct a complex of three (3) Nursing Education Buildings on campus. This was prompted by the urgent need to provide our Nursing students with specialized classroom and laboratory facilities that in recent years have become required or standard facilities for Nursing education. A room with chairs and chalkboards just would not do anymore. There is so much new gadgets and learning systems to be accommodated in a modern Nursing education facility.

    The first building, known as the NEB 1 (Nursing Education Building 1) -- a lecture/laboratory building -- has been completed using entirely University funds. These are ADF (Academic Development Fund) funds that all students in the University contribute for the purpose of investing on purely academic-related facilities and equipment that many of the University’s studentry can use. Because the Lec/Lab building can also accommodate non-Nursing classes if needed (and available), it was deemed wholly qualified for entirely ADF funding. It costs some 23 to 24 million pesos to complete.

    The second building (NEB-2) is yet to be built.   Plans and drawings have been completed but the University is still putting together its funding portfolio. This building (NEB-2) is more specialized for Nursing education than the first building (NEB-1). It is designed more heavily for Nursing education.   Again, the University is committed to put in at least 5 million pesos in ADF for this,  to complement what had been initially raised through donations from two major donors and some from Nursing alumni in the Philippines and overseas. However, one of the major donors opted to apply his donation to the third building (NEB-3) instead and so we shall need to raise about 7 to 8 million pesos (the amount pledged by the donor) in order to begin constructing NEB-2. We presently have only 14 million pesos in allocations, donations received, and pledges on hand.

    NEB-3 -- with now an initial funding pledged by a donor for 7 to 8 million pesos -- will be built after the NEB-2 has been completed. It is estimated to cost about 20 million pesos (in current prices) and is expected to be financed wholly by donations from alumni and friends.

    Silliman joins the many concerned and dedicated leaders of our Nursing alumni community in urging all alumni of the University to consider supporting this development thrust of Silliman.

    The Portal West Building is expected to benefit virtually all units and programs in Silliman. And the three Nursing Education buildings will help ensure that Silliman will continue to be a leader in Nursing education and scholarships in the country.

    Best wishes to you all. God bless!

                                                                          Sincerely,

                                                                          BEN S. MALAYANG III

SAMPLE INTERACTIVE SCREEN  SHOWING LOCATION OF A LEAF

Message from Dr. Ben Malayang III, Silliman University President

SILLIMAN BEYOND SILLIMAN

In many ways, Silliman reflects the principles in Nature with which God manifests the creative and sustaining powers of His grace.

·        Much like planting a tree, Silliman was founded over a hundred years ago, in 1901, in the form of a gift from a person of faith.

·        Much like nurturing a tree, Silliman grew to become among the great institutions of Christian learning in the Philippines and in Asia because of the labor of many persons of faith across the years.

·        Much like how a tree relies on sunshine and the fertility of soil to grow, Silliman relies entirely on God’s grace to withstand the tests of time and history.

·        And much like how a tree becomes a forest by spreading its seeds through the fortunes of wind, water and fauna, Silliman bears fruits – through its alumni and friends – who become living embodiments of its ideals in other places and climes.

As I begin a service in Silliman, I remind myself that the university is not just the campus in Dumaguete. Silliman is all Sillimanians everywhere in the world. Its further growth, its potential to become like a stately narra that lives on for more than our years, and its ability to continue to spread its distinct breed of competence, character and faith in all parts of the world, would much depend on how all of us together (faculty and staff, students, administrators, and alumni and friends) are able to do our share to keep the Silliman “beside the sea” continue to produce good fruits of Christian education and learning.

We can do this by being in continuing fellowship with Silliman. One way is by being active in your alumni chapters. They are your support communities to help you continue living the Silliman ideals in the places where you are now. Another – and I hope you’ll consider this seriously – is by supporting the efforts of the university to establish facilities like the Twin Portals Project that are designed to generate continuing revenues to sustain Silliman’s ability to give – as has been its tradition – quality Christian education at the least cost to our students.

But most important, please continue to pray for Silliman. It is all of us together.

God bless and Mizpah!

Ben S. Malayang III

Oct. 25, 2007

Dear Fellow Sillimanians,

I am writing to give you an update on SUACONA’s activities and what we are trying to accomplish vis-a-vis Silliman University.

As has been emphasized frequently, SUACONA was organized in order to coordinate the efforts of all alumni chapters in North America in a way that will fully and efficiently utilize our resources for the benefit of Silliman. Vast as our resources may be, they are by no means unlimited. It is therefore necessary to set our priorities so that we are able to give to SU something that is significant, meaningful and relevant.

Over the years, we have grappled with the issue of setting our priorities, and the common theme that always came up during our discussions was that: our priorities are dictated by the needs of SU. As an organization of SU alumni, our task is to determine those needs and respond to them. Your SUACONA leaders have always been in touch with the SU administration precisely to determine SU’s needs and how, in the overall scope of the university’s programs, the alumni of North America can contribute its share.

SU President Ben Malayang III has communicated to us, in no uncertain terms, that the area where Silliman University needs most the help of North American alumni is through the Portal West Building Project. During Tipon 2007 in Toronto (June 28-July 1, 2007), President Malayang, BOT Chair Leonor Briones, and the SU Trustees present emphasized the need for SUACONA to continue and finish its fundraising campaign. Just this past week, President Malayang wrote us once again to clarify the university’s priorities in view of the confusion brought about by seemingly coinciding fundraisers. In that letter (herewith attached, red highlights mine), President Malayang emphasized that our priority in North America is to finish our campaign for the Portal Building Project.

Our aim is to raise $700,000 towards the Portal West Building. As of recent count, we are about to transcend the $200,000 level. There’s a lot more to do to attain our goal, and SUACONA’s Portal Building Committee is now reinvigorating the campaign. We urge everyone and encourage all alumni to support this project. We assure you that your donations will be appropriately acknowledged in a way that is tangible. The Tree of Life will be installed very soon on the lobby of the Portal West Building, wherein your names and/or your honorees or memorialees will be inscribed. This will be a permanent installation which will be visible to the public now and even to future generations.

To learn more on how to contribute, visit our website: www.suacona.com, and click on the icon TwinPortal Bldg. You should be able to download the donation form. You will find instructions on where to mail your donations, which, by the way, are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Thank you for your generosity and we pray that He, who is the Giver of all good gifts and graces, will truly and richly bless you and yours.

For a greater Silliman,

Joel V. Pal

SUACONA Chairman

2943 Manor St.

Yorktown Hts., NY 10598

Email: JVPal@aol.com

Tel. 914-245-6142; 718-543-5200 x112

October 18, 2007

Dear Joel:

I thank you and the other members of the TOL Committee for the nice teleconference we had today.   It was fruitful to us in that we got your sense of issues that may affect our joint efforts to complete the construction of Portal West.

Portal West remains to be the one project that, to us,  most urgently needs alumni support in the most immediate term, particularly from those in North America and elsewhere.   This is so because the building is almost complete and we need to pay our bills soon.   The University's ability to bridge finance these bills, may even put our liquidity at risk for some discomforting time frame, unless alumni support keeps on coming.

This does not mean, however, that the University sees its other needs as being secondary to Portal West.   The truth of the matter is that, from an academic point of view, our educational facilities continue to need urgent refurbishings and development to respond to new enrolment and curricular demands.   We are presently attending to our Nursing Education facilities, to build a 3-building complex that will strengthen our ability to offer the best laboratories, specialized classrooms, and learning resources for our nursing and allied health students.   This, too, is a priority.   However, unlike the Portal West which is a commercial facility, the nursing facilities can be qualified for application of our Academic Development Fund.   We are using entirely ADF money to in fact build the first of the three buildings.   Then, too, the nursing project is a recipient of huge support from local alumni and friends, which, with only a small augmentation from our ADF, could allow us to build the 2nd building.   It would be the third building, which we anticipate to build only after completing the second, that we would still need to look for major funding sources.   Because construction of both 2nd and 3rd buildings are yet to start (we don't even have the detailed architectural and engineering drawings for them yet),  we see that all fund raising efforts among our alumni at this time, should focus on completing the Portal West.   We have the funds to complete the first nursing building, and a significant amount of local donations (including pledges) from two local donors (one nursing alumna and one friend of the University) which amount to about 80% of the funds needed to build the 2nd nursing building.

Both Portal and nursing buildings are important to us.   But in terms of the present moment (next 1-6 months) Portal would need the more urgent and critical support from our North America and international alumni.   Later, however, in the next 6 - 12 or so months, the 3rd nursing building will need our urgent attention, assuming that full funding for Portal West should have been met by then.   (The funding modality for the other Portal Building, should the BOT decide to push it next, will still need to be decided by the BOT.)

I hope this clarifies matters.   This is a sense of prioritization based on what are in fact already actual progress on the ground.

Thanks.

Ben