The Office of Alumni Affairs (OAA) held on February 16 the first of its series of alumni get-togethers via Zoom. “Usapang Alumni: Coming Home… Again (Our Gratitude and Wish Lists: Foundations for Unitas)” drew more than 180 alumni Dragons, who had the opportunity to listen to UA&P founders Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas and Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao. Also present in the reunion was UA&P President Dr. Winston Conrad B. Padojinog, himself an alumnus. Part of the program was the sharing of the alumni’s recollections of UA&P life and their personal or joint initiatives. We share with you today some of their sharing expressed in letters.
Dear UA&P,
I am grateful for this opportunity to write you a thank-you note from the depths of my being. The five years I spent in your esteemed institution have been among the most fundamental years of my life, and I am most grateful for this gift.
The solid foundation you instilled through values education has prepared me to contribute to dialogues on values in various platforms and with different audiences—from the Creative Evangelical Catechesis at St. Paul University and the Family Rosary Crusade TV Program to the 2018 UN South-South Development Expo in New York.
Dr. Antonio Torralba’s “Joy of Teaching” has prepared me to bring culturally and developmentally appropriate values education concepts to community leaders through Bagong Lumad Artists’ Foundation, Inc. by collaborating with global and local communities (United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, British Council, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Civil Service Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources).
The academic rigor you required has equipped me to take part in relevant research (Social Network Analysis, The Decentralization Code, Open Data, Mindanao History and Ethnoecological Coastal Resource Management) and allows me to now explore new avenues for researching initiatives that concretize Laudato Si’.
Now that I am consciously exploring deeply Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ for my role at the Sacred Springs Dialogue Institute of Spirituality and Sustainability at the Loyola School of Theology after almost two decades of riffling through it since I left your halls, I realize the strong image that St. Pope John Paul II’s “civilization of love” has imprinted in my worldview, with much credit to Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao’s Towards a National Culture of Excellence.
While I do miss my desk as a teacher of Music Appreciation and the precious guidance and artistic affirmation from Dr. Bett Ramirez that accompanied the role, I enjoy a lifetime friendship with this superwoman. And I still miss my occasional chats and lunches with Dr. Rina Villegas whose motherly authority was truly reassuring; how I would love to see her again! To this day I give credit to the mentoring I received from Dr. Tonton Torralba while being his junior faculty member for Developmental Psychology, which really led me to my life as a teacher. He has remained my teaching model for over two decades after MAVE.
Thank you, UA&P. I am always at your service with a grateful heart.
Pauline Angela Salvana Bautista
Master of Arts in Education Major in Values Education, 1999
Dear UA&P,
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my dearest alma mater. Through the knowledge and values I acquired from UA&P, in my own capacity, I was able to initiate the following in my workplace and in the community where I belong:
As Chief of Policy, Planning & Research Division, I was able to establish a culture of research in DepEd SOCCSKSARGEN. During the pandemic, I initiated researches including The 21st Century Classroom Teachers of DepEd SOCCSKSARGEN: Meeting the Global Challenge of the Digital Era with Innovation and Creativity; The 21st Century Literacies of School Heads Towards Developing Integrative Mechanisms in Managing Multimodal Learning Delivery Platforms; and The Supervisory Competence of Instructional Leaders in Supervising the New Normal of Learning Delivery: Basis for Holistic Interventions.
As graduate professor of Notre Dame of Marbel University Master in Public Administration (Seminar in Public Governance), I have been implementing research-based intervention programs following the GLEN Framework (Good governance, Livelihood project, Environmental protection, Nurturing organizational effectiveness).
I contextualized the National Culture of Excellence Values Framework (Personal Integrity, Family Solidarity, Civic Responsibility, and Universal Charity) through the QuaMETASEA Framework (Quarterly Monitoring Evaluation, Technical Assistance & Synergistic Enhancement Activity).
I concretized the value of the sense of humanity by practicing corporal acts of mercy. My friends and I feed the hungry (regular charity work for an orphanage in General Santos), visit the imprisoned (regular visits and giving of provisions to the Women’s Correctional in GenSan), bury the dead, and visit the sick.
Glenn A. Bisnar
Master of Arts in Education Major in Values Education, 1998
Dear UA&P,
I graduated with a degree in BA Humanities specializing in Communication Arts in 1994, the second batch of CRC students. I attribute a lot of my success to the lessons learned at the University. I wish to thank everyone—from the administration and the support staff to all the professors I’ve had. They all helped provide this wonderful culture and atmosphere of learning that my fellow students and I needed.
I was a shy freshman but I was pushed to learn skills in Rhetoric and understand Wisdom and Truth in my Philosophy and Humanities classes. I was eventually hired as one of the first four employees of a BPO in 1997; that company now has close to 3,000 employees in Manila. I eventually rose through the ranks using my communication skills as effectively as I could, also speaking for those who could not express themselves well enough. I was eventually promoted to a regional post for the same company and was based in Singapore. 
All throughout the seven promotions I have gained in the 21 years with the same company, I always remembered St. Josemaría Escrivá’s words on sanctifying whatever work we do for God’s glory, and I taught my staff this nugget of wisdom wherever I was assigned. I retired from corporate work in 2018 and now freelance as a Life and Career Coach and a motivational speaker on Growth Mindset while spreading God’s hope, love, and ways to whomever I meet. My sister also graduated from the University when it became UA&P, and now my nephew is enrolling this school year to uphold our support for this fine institution.
Kind regards,
Karlo Antonette Soriano-Sta. Cruz
Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with Specialization in Communication, 1994
Dear CRC/UA&P,
I would just like to thank you for inviting me to the get-together earlier this week. It was nice seeing old faces and meeting new ones. But even more, it was a welcome break from the crazy world out there, a refreshing calm that can only be felt when you come home. And this is what CRC/UA&P has been for me all these years – a second home that has helped me and understood me even as I battled my health condition throughout my college years and beyond. So again, thank you! And if there’s anything I can do to repay this, just let me know.
Sincerely,
Gerard Jude L. Castillo
Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with Specialization in Political Economy, 1997
Banner photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels.
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