Campus Overview
The University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Olongapo serves as an extension to the main campus of UP in Diliman. It was established in 1984 in response to the request of the local government of a top-caliber tertiary-level education. By 1985, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed by the local government unit (LGU) of Olongapo City and the UP system permitting UPD – Extension Program in Olongapo (UPDEPO) rights to uphold classes at Olongapo City National High School during weekends. By September 2011, it was granted its own building situated along Rizal Highway, Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) by virtue of another MOA signed between UP and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). UPDEPO is home to graduate students taking up Master of Management offered in trimesters (“UPD Extension Program in Olongapo”, 2017).
The location of SBFZ may pose threats from natural hazards as the area is near a structurally-controlled potentially active volcano, Mt. Natib, and near the coast of South China Sea. UPDEPO, being in the premises of SBFZ, may be subjected to landslides, debris flows, flash floods, and storm surges. As a newly-built building, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) may still be foreign to UPDEPO, but with the strategic structure of the campus having an open field and a manageable 2-storey building, it will just take a few years for UPDEPO to be resilient to the aforementioned hazards.