La Consolacion College Bacolod did more than post impressive numbers in the January 2026 Architect Licensure Examination—it quietly made a case for how long-term academic preparation matters.
This year, LCC Bacolod produced 59 newly licensed architects, the highest number in the program’s 62-year history, with 100% of its first-time takers passing the exam. That performance did not merely edge past the national average; it decisively outpaced it. Nationwide, 1,998 of 2,434 examinees passed, translating to an 82.09% passing rate, according to the Professional Regulation Commission—the highest ever recorded in modern iterations of the exam. For context, the January 2025 ALE posted a 58.71% passing rate, while most previous years hovered between 54% and 65%.
Those figures alone are remarkable. But the deeper story lies in who these passers are.
The January 2026 cohort marks the first batch of Senior High School graduates, many of whom came from the Arts and Design Track—a track that, in Negros Occidental, is offered in its most comprehensive form only at La Consolacion College Bacolod. Long before licensure results were announced, these students were already immersed in visual literacy, design thinking, and disciplined creative work—skills foundational to architectural education.
LCC Bacolod’s architecture program, after all, is no newcomer. It is the pioneering institution offering an architecture degree in the province, with a legacy that includes 28 topnotchers and placers, among them the first Filipina to top the Architecture board exam. Yet history alone does not explain today’s outcomes—especially given how the licensure exam itself has changed.
In recent years, the Architecture Licensure Examination has become more difficult to pass, having removed practical drawing components and shifted entirely to theoretical assessment. Alumni have described the exam as particularly demanding in structural conceptualization, building technology and materials, and utilities—areas that require not just rote knowledge, but deep conceptual grounding.
Against that backdrop, a 100% passing rate among first-time takers is not accidental.
If LCC Bacolod’s current success signals anything, it is this: early, well-aligned academic foundations matter. Senior High School was not merely a transitional phase for this cohort; it functioned as an academic runway. By the time students entered the Bachelor of Science in Architecture program, they were not starting from zero. They were already fluent in design language, accustomed to critique, and trained to think spatially and analytically.
At a moment when Philippine education is grappling with questions of preparedness, curriculum coherence, and licensure performance, the January 2026 ALE results offer a compelling lesson. Excellence at the end of the pipeline is often built years earlier—quietly, deliberately, and with vision.
For architecture education in Negros Occidental and beyond, LCC Bacolod’s milestone is not just a celebration. It is an argument at a moment when proposals to roll back Senior High School in the Philippines refuse to fade. The experience of this cohort suggests that the question is not whether Senior High School works, but whether it is implemented with purpose and alignment. In this case, stronger foundations translated into measurable success at the highest professional gate.