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He Was a Man of His Word
With poverty staring at me in the face every day as a young child, I started to dream in high school that someday someone would give me an opportunity to pursue a college education that would take my family away from a deplorable life. My parents were tenant farmers and after every harvest, we were left with nothing but more debts. So I decided to find ways to finish college at whatever cost. Then my path crossed with that of Dean Demetrio A. Quirino Jr., my future mentor and employer in Manila. I left my hometown for Manila to take a competitive examina- tion at the Guzman Institute of Technology (GIT). I topped the scholarship examination and was granted the President Ramon Magsaysay scholarship award for a one-year full scholarship with stipend. First Lady Luz Banzon Magsaysay handed me the certificate in the presence of Demetrio A. Quirino Jr., dean of the Department of Engineering and Architecture. I did not know then that GIT was having its own problems and to my disappointment, the school closed after a year. But Dean Quirino promised that he would call me back once the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP), a new school they were in the process of organizing, was up and going. I prayed to God first, and then with a heavy heart abided by Dean Quirino’s advice to return home. God must have been listening. It did not take long before I received a telegram from Dean Quirino, the chairman and president of TIP. He was calling me back to Manila ASAP because TIP’s newly formed administration was giving scholarships, and I was one of those chosen to receive such
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