The Pioneering Years
The John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University was born from the vision of a young man who pursued his goal with a remarkable passion and zeal that set the tone of leadership in this institution. Master Mariner Juan Bautista Lacson, the founder, first started with a review school for marine officers in May 1931, thus foreshadowing the birth of the Iloilo Maritime Academy in 1948.

When it first opened with 60 enrollees, the Academy offered a two-year regular course for cadets in the nautical profession leading to the acquisition of a Third Mate license for merchant marine officers as well as reserved naval officers in the Philippine Navy. By the time it was granted permit to operate in 1949, the school had 150 junior students and 54 seniors.

The following year, it was granted government recognition and registered as a non-stock corporation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. To accommodate its growing population, the Academy transferred locations a couple of times before it settled along Muelle Loney Street in 1953. The height of activism, strikes, pickets and labor unrest in the country in 1971 did not spare the Iloilo Maritime Academy from the fury of the times.

Change in Leadership
In 1972, there was a change in leadership of the institution in the person of the Capt. Lacson’s youngest daughter, Mary Lou Lacson,who was welcomed and accepted even by union members. It was this year that marked the beginning of the expansion of IMA to JBLCF, i.e., JBLCF - Arevalo in 1973, JBLCF – Bacolod in 1974, JBLCF – Molo in 1976, and JBLCF – Puerto del Mar Training Center in Guimaras in 1995.

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