Cebu’s first university: UV, a strong pillar in nation-building

UV is not a business corporation. It is the haven for learning that nurtures and develops future leaders and public servants. It is fountain of wisdom from which future leaders drink the water of discernment and deeper knowledge of all that really matters most in life. Above all, UV is a leading pillar for nation-building, the home of the honest and true public officials and government personnel, small and medium scale as well as large businessmen, pioneering industrialists, tradesmen and entrepreneurs, seafarers to the seven oceans of the world, teachers, policemen and law enforcers, judges, justices, arbiters and public officials, labor leaders and management officers, artists, composers, sportsmen and journalists, authors, poets and men and women of letters.

One very important alumnus of UV was the late Ernesto “Boy” Herrera who started in the university as a Law student and a campus student leader. He rose to prominence as a labor leader under the tutelage of another UV alumnus, the late Atty. Democrito T. Mendoza, founder of ALU-TUCP and pillar of the Philippine labor movement. Boy Herrera was a propagandist and labor educator of ALU (Associated Labor Unions). He became well-known because of his distinguished role in the Agrava Commission which was created to investigate the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. Herrera led the majority who pointed to General Fabian Ver, Marcos' AFP Chief of Staff as the brains behind the killing. The chairman, Justice Corazon Agrava, dissented. After that Herrera was voted as a senator of the Republic.

The other great Visayanians include Supreme Court Justice Regino Hermosisima who penned many landmark decisions in criminal law, labor law, political law, mercantile law, civil law, and taxation. He served as a member of the powerful Judicial and Bar Council that screens nominees to all levels in the judicial system, including Comelec and COA commissioners, as well as military generals, ambassadors, and consuls. It was also in UV where appellate justices Portia A. Hormachuelos (a Judicial Excellence awardee and a Court of Appeals division chairwoman) and Pampio Abarintos (also chairman of another CA division) graduated, as well as the late Cabinet Secretary Sergio “Cerge” Remonde.

UV produced two Cebu governors. First, and foremost is Atty. Eduardo R. Gullas, the only governor who had visited all the barangays in the entire province, and has consistently promoted local government autonomy and community development. The other was the late Francisco Emilio F. Remotigue, a lawyer from Argao and Ronda, Cebu, who rose to national prominence as a member of the first Marcos cabinet. He was appointed as the first-ever DSWD secretary, when that agency was called SWA or Social Welfare Administration. Both Governor Gullas and Governor Remotigue were my wedding ninongs. There were three lawyers who inspired me to take up Law, Remotigue, Gullas, and my idol, Chief Justice Davide (who is not from UV but is a friend of the Gullases).

For having educated, trained, and molded the character of such eminent Visayanians, UV can be called truly as a strong pillar in nation-building. Other universities produce millionaires. UV produces honest and patriotic nation-builders. UV is not here for the money, UV is committed to nurture strong nation-builders. As president of the UV Alumni Association Inc., I am immensely proud of our alma mater.