John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University

John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University (JBLFMU) is a private maritime university founded in 1948 by Captain Juan Bautista Lacson, a 1920 graduate of the Philippine Nautical School. It grew out of a 1931 review school for marine officers into the Iloilo Maritime Academy and became the first maritime education institution in the Visayas and Mindanao, and the first private maritime school in the Philippines. Its Molo campus on M.H. del Pilar Street, Iloilo City, opened in 1976, serves as the university's head office, and houses the Philippines' first maritime high school, established in 1990. JBLFMU offers maritime degree programs such as Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering, a College of Business, basic education through a Senior High School with the General Academic Strand and Technical-Vocational-Livelihood tracks in Home Economics, ICT, and Industrial Arts, and graduate programs delivered partly through open and distance learning. The university's quality management system was the first in the Philippines and third in the world to earn Det Norske Veritas (DNV) certification, and its programs carry PACUCOA Level IV re-accreditation. JBLFMU has additional campuses in Arevalo, Iloilo City, and Bacolod City, and is a major supplier of Filipino marine officers.