In concluding our series on the chronicle of the mother institution of the Catanduanes State University, the VNATS, we offer a sampler of some of the best of its graduates, then make account of the segue to the state colleges and finally a consideration of its impact and legacy. To start with, let us look at four of its remarkable alumni.
Maristela Tablizo Sante
The daughter of farmer parents from Calatagan, Maristela transferred from the Catanduanes National High School to the newly opened VNATS because of financial difficulties. She belonged to the first batch. At first, she had misgivings about her new school because of the modest physical appurtenances and the bias against vocational schools, but soon warmed up to it due to the good and dedicated teachers. She was also an extrovert who would make the best out of any situation. She became active in the affairs of the FAHP and participated in its annual functions, all the way to the regional level. By the time she graduated, she was among the top of the class. She went on to college at the Camarines Sur Agricultural College and finished in 1971 with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Education, major in Agronomy. She returned to Catanduanes and joined the newly founded Catanduanes State Colleges to teach Agriculture in the high school department.
After five years as teacher, she developed pharyngitis such that teaching had become a burden. She then worked at the Department of Agriculture in Camarines Sur as Municipal Agricultural Technologist. She worked in that capacity during the heyday of the Masagana 99, variously taking responsibilities as training officer, cooperative officer and report officer. She completed 41 years of service. She settled in Naga City with her family and, together with her husband, produced a doctor and a CPA in their two children. In the course of her work at DA, she got exposure to women projects under the Jessie Robredo Foundation. She became keen on women empowerment such that she got accredited by the Philippine Commission on Women as a National Trainor for Gender and Development (GAD). She still continues with her gender advocacy up until the present.
Gloria Borja Vargas
Raised by a single parent, Gloria grew up assisting her mother making and selling native rice cakes and dried fish for a living. She had two other siblings. She hailed from barangay Puniton, some three kilometres from VNATS. She was able to attend school because an uncle teacher helped them out. She enrolled at VNATS to become part of the first batch. She took the bus plying the Buyo-poblacion route but had to walk most of the time. Eventually, she came to live with a relative in Calatagan. In school, she was shy and soft-spoken. Due to the constant coaxing and encouragement from teachers, she was able to overcome her shyness and proceeded to excel in academic and co-curricular activities. She had her share of participation in the competitions during the FFP/FAHP affairs.
After high school, she went to Manila and, as a working student, was able to finish college at the National Teachers College, with a degree of BS in Education, major in Home Economics. With a college diploma, she went back to her hometown and launched into a teaching career. At first, she was classroom teacher at the Baras Rural development High School teaching Home Economics. Then she joined the CSC Main High School. She rose from the ranks to eventually serve as principal in Hawan Grande, then at Tabugoc National High School in Pandan, and finally at the Calatagan High School where she retired as Principal II. On the side, she put up a bakery as a family business. Having developed a love and aptitude for agriculture at VNATS, she maintains a vegetable garden at home that constantly supply them with a variety of vegetables and root corps.
Hermenigildo Zafe
Known as Hermin to acquaintances, Hermenigildo grew up in Palta Small, some four kilometers north of Calatagan. After elementary, he stopped schooling due to economic hardship. So he helped his father work as farmer-tenant at the Planes estate in Palta. One day, after becoming tipsy from drinking during the fiesta in Palta, he mustered enough boldness to confront his father and told him: “Tay, ma eskwela ako! (Father, I will go back to school!). His father protested on the grounds that he will have nobody to do the plowing and other chores at the farm. Besides, they will not be able to afford it. But Hermin was adamant. The next day he hitched a ride on a jeep to Calatagan and presented himself to the enrolment officer at VNATS.
He had to walk mostly to and from school. At times, he would hitch on the jeep plying the Palta-poblacion route by dangling from the door of the vehicle, holding fast to some handle bar. He brought lunch of rice and simple viand wrapped in banana leaves. Like many of the students, Hermin was shy and soft-spoken, self-conscious of his modest circumstances. Particularly, he had anxiety when going downtown for the annual fiesta parade, thinking that the people would particularly make notice of their being promdi (from the barrios). Through the years, hard work paid off; it developed in him a sense of efficacy and confidence.
After graduation at VNATS, he went to Manila intending to work by day and study by night. He went the rounds of the colleges and universities but had difficulty getting accepted because purportedly his diploma from a vocational high school was not enough. But he eventually ended up getting entry at the Araneta University Foundation. However, there were no night classes. With the help of his brother, he was able to finish a few subjects. With new credentials as transferee from Araneta University, he enrolled at the National College of Business Arts. He worked through college, first at the Tikitiki company and then at the Bureau of Census. He finished his degree of BS in Accounting but was not able to join the graduation ceremonies due to financial problems. But he did manage to have his picture taken in a toga and sent it to his mother in Palta.
Armed with civil service eligibility (2nd and first grade), he went back home to Virac and got a post at the local census office. He worked there until his retirement. On the side, Hermin became active in civic and religious organizations. After retirement he ran for election as Municipal Councilor of Virac and won.
Miguel Borja Valeza
Mike grew up in the immediate environs of VNATS, in Calatagan. Since 11 years old, he worked with the rest of his family in their major livelihood which was farming. He enrolled at VNATS in 1968 and therefore belonged to its last batch who saw the school’s transition to becoming the Catanduanes State Colleges. His high school diploma bore the seal of the new State Colleges.
Mike was a good performer since his elementary years. At VNATS, he, too, excelled in all endeavors, academic and practical. He availed of the contractual farming arrangement made available by the school administration. He had his family doing the labor on a half-hectare riceland. From here they gained modest additional income. He joined the FFP/FAHP annual convention at the regional or district level and was part of the team that competed for the parliamentary procedure. He graduated as class valedictorian.
For college, he originally planned to take up law. But he enrolled at the CSC for a BS in Agriculture, thereby sustaining his training at VNATS. A natural leader, he was active in various organizations both in and out of school. At the CSC he was with the YCSM, the Red Cross Youth and was an officer of the ROTC. In the community, he got involved with the Federated Youth Centro Catolico. After graduation in 1976, he applied and got a grant for further training in agriculture in the USA under Philippine government sponsorship. He was assigned to work in the farming enterprise of a family. He worked eight hours a day and in the process was able to acquire knowledge and skills in large scale production of high value crops not typically raised in the Philippines. However, he had misgivings as regards the paying of wages by the foster family that was deposited in an account of the Philippine government. Somehow, he was not able to enjoy the entire proceeds; he thought corruption got into the way.
Back in the country, he joined the CSC and worked for various agricultural projects under the administration of Dr. Jacinto Medallada. At CSC, he introduced new technologies he learned in the US. He left CSC in 1982 and eventually joined the Philippine National Bank where he was assigned in various capacities at different branches, until finally stationed in Naga City up to retirement.
Impact to society.
Dr. Romeo Santelices, 88 years old and erstwhile faculty member of the VNATS and later Dean of the College of Agriculture at CatSU, expressed in an interview his skepticism as to the original goal of an agricultural school such as VNATS. It was supposed to produce good farmers, as indicated in the name of the student organization “Future Farmers of the Philippines.” But no, he said, most of the graduates of VNATS did not become farmers.
There may be a kernel of truth in Dr. Santelices’ assessment. But in fairness, the graduates of VNATS, as shown in the exemplars above, made impact on the agricultural sector by contributing their due in raising the bar of practice in agriculture as professionals and experts. Aside from the four, there are numerous others that similarly built careers in agriculture related areas. On the whole, VNATS was able to produce in the span of ten years 233 graduates who otherwise would not have afforded secondary education. These were able to make an impact in their respective families and communities by living out the skills and values imbibed as VNATSians.
The transition
On June 18, 1971, R.A. 6341 converted the VNATS into the Catanduanes State Colleges. A president was appointed to start the system going, in the person of Mr. Pedro Tabuzo, a renowned educator. Soon construction of facilities commenced. As a young boy, I remember negotiating with my school friends the muddied dirt road now called “Moonwalk” just to check on the novelty of a huge concrete structure rising on the VNATS campus which is now the CSC Main Building. In April 1972 the last VNATS batch graduated under the banner of the new CSC. By the summer term of that year, graduate courses were offered. By June, the new bachelor degrees were opened and the first batch of college students were enrolled.
As mentioned in Part 1, most of the VNATS personnel, teaching and non-teaching, were absorbed into the new CSC. Others were recruited from the outside. Efren T. Sorra, for example, was brought in from the Catanduanes College by Mr. Tabuzo to serve as secretary to the president. Mrs. Ester A. Asor joined in to become the Dean of the College of Education, Engr. Solon Arcilla as Dean of the College of Engineering while Mrs. Rosalinda Ledda was Dean of the College of Nursing, among others. In 1972, Dr. Jacinto A. Medallada from the Bicol University was appointed as president.
The legacy
The singular legacy of the VNATS is its being the mother institution of the Catanduanes State University. But its obscurity was quite quick to develop through the years from its conversion, perhaps owing to the anxiety of the new and upgraded school to shake off its provincial and rural character. During the first years of the CSC, it had to combat a persistent image of being in the remote hinterlands; it suffered from bias and skepticism by the more “cosmopolitan” Virac which remained loyal to the home-grown Catanduanes College. During that time, the CSC had yet to prove its worth and the VNATS connection was not helpful at all. The first batch of enrollees, having to travel up to Calatagan, had the sense “na sinda ga-eskwela sa bukid.”
More than five decades after, the CSC/CatSU reached such record heights of achievement, becoming the premier tertiary learning institution in the province, and is able to hold on its own in the regional and national higher education landscape. Having now gained a comfortable sense of its worth, it is now the opportune time for the University to recognize and take pride of its VNATS roots beyond lip service and tokenism. It can and must derive inspiration and instruction from its VNATSian legacy and make use of it in its further pursuit of relevance, at least in two respects.
First is commitment to countryside development. VNATS vocational education was about uplifting the plight of the poor farmers. The CSC was supposedly a continuation of this abiding goal. Indeed, state colleges and universities exist for the pursuit of national development. Situated in its specific context of Catanduanes, the CatSU must address the particularities of its socio-economic conditions that remain largely agriculture-based. While it must keep at pace with the fast changing world out there, its programs in instruction, research and extension must be grounded on the needs of the Catandunganons.
Second is the legacy of excellence and hard work. VNATS to most people then was about getting good education for those who otherwise cannot afford it, the proverbial “poor but deserving.” The VNATSians were the hardy type who labored under such difficult circumstances to gain excellent education. For most of the students of the former CSC and now the University, there is the same sense of the necessity of hard work: young people of humble backgrounds from all over the Catandunganon countryside, doing their best and investing sacrifices in order to achieve their dreams. The CSC/CatSU is not a breaking away from VNATS but is its continuity.
The VNATS Alumni Association.
By the second decade of the 21st century, the oldest of the VNATSians were in their late 60s. The idea of bringing them together into an alumni association had been mulled over for quite a time by Ms. Maristela Sante and Ms. Norie Panto of the first batch (Class 1967). In May 2018, they had a simple reunion. By the next year, they held their first grand reunion. A set of officers were elected with Ms. Sante as the president. Six vice-presidents were selected, one for each of the batches.
Since then, they had been holding annual reunions. Aside from renewing affinities in their retirement years, they also aimed to preserve the memory and legacy of the VNATS. This has been achieved by the institutional recognition of the VNATS as indicated by the change of the founding year in the CatSU logo to 1961. But these VNATSians thought that yearly gathering was not enough. A core of members of the alumni association had formed a sosyodad, an indigenous form of sodality in Virac that gathers regularly for socialization and other worthy endeavors. They engage in a saving-and-lending scheme, mutual help and occasional civic projects. Meanwhile, a new set of officers has been elected with Mr. Demetrio Tadoy as president.
The VNATSian graduates had spent the most productive years of their lives living out the legacy of their high school alma mater, to their families and heirs and to the community-at-large. In their twilight years, they have formalized into an alumni association to renew their affinities with each other and to contribute their due in perpetuating the VNATS legacy. Let these VNATSians teach us the way, especially those of us at the University and those committed to shaping a better Catanduanes.