Between being kind and being right

I believe that my life is simply time borrowed from my Creator. I never know when my time is up and that makes my every moment very precious. I do not only count the hours, the days, the months – but every second towards the forthcoming Centennial Celebrations of the of the University of the Visayas, the legacy of my father and its founder Don Vicente Gullas. Likewise, The Freeman, founded by my uncle Paulino Gullas, is also turning 100 years old. Both were founded in the same year, 1919. I look forward to these two momentous events with great anticipation. 

Papa Inting and Mama Pining were great parents – very humble and grateful servants of the Lord. Now I realize, my siblings – Inday Sering and Mayor Eddie – and I were indeed lucky, blessed with understanding parents, who were very supportive to our endeavors.

Mama Pining was the disciplinarian; she was also our bread-winner, the strength that kept our family together, especially amid the cruelties of World War II. But Mama did not spare the rod, so to speak, and even made kids us kneel on mongo beans as punishment for misbehavior. Papa, on the other hand, never laid a hand on us even when were naughty kids. His vision for us kids growing up was clear and simple. He wanted Inday Sering to be a teacher, Eddie to engage in community service in whatever capacity, and for me, being the youngest, to devote myself in running the University.

Papa was a lawyer by profession – but he was an educator by heart. And he was, no doubt, a visionary. My siblings and I have witnessed how thousands and thousands of students of the then Visayan Institute, now UV, have found their places under the sun because of the school that Papa started.  Our graduates may not be wearing crowns but are royals just the same, bringing with them the Visayanian spirit of love and service to humanity wherever fate leads them.

Out of his love of the past and his sense of gratitude, it saddened my father that many of the country’s schools at the time did not display photos of Philippine heroes. He made sure that this was not the case his school.

The Visayan Institute had very humble beginnings. Papa Inting rented a small place for classrooms, arranged for the City Library as his school library, and the Cebu Normal School grounds where to hold his PE classes. It was an ingenious way of starting a school. From there, with determination and clear vision, he was able to make the school grow.

Having witnessed how hard Papa and Mama worked nurturing the then fledgling school, it sends shivers down my spine to see what is happening now with the other schools. Today’s school owners seem to have embraced the sad idea that “the first generation builds, the second generation improves, and the third generation squanders.” Sad but true, as evidenced by many family-owned businesses in the country and even right here in Cebu. Many long-established businesses have now fallen into the hands of powerful conglomerates and tycoons.

I see this as a great challenge for our family, for the future generations of Gullases in whose hands lies the perpetuation of the legacy of Papa Inting and Mama Pining that has stood for nearly a hundred years now.

We, the second generation Gullases, have tried to do our best done in upholding the University in in honor of Papa Inting and Mama Pining. We are constantly reminded by their teachings – to be humble, humane, compassionate and understanding in dealing with our fellowmen, to have a heart for the less fortunate. Our parents’ teachings may be distilled to a few words: “It is better to be kind than to be right.” I myself try to live by it, no matter how others may argue its wisdom.

We’ve been taught that to be born into a life of privilege did not mean that one could just throw his weight around, demanding respect in the process. The third generation Gullases shall pick up the challenge and do their share in keeping the legacy of our forebears alive and burning. They – as much as we – owe it to Papa Inting and Mama Pining.