LNU at 91: The Virtue of Vintage
In winemaking, the grapes have to be
carefully selected by the winemaker first. These grapes determine the quality
of the wine more than any other factor. After the harvest, the grapes are taken
into a winery and prepared for primary and secondary ferment for weeks or even
months to decrease the acid in the wine and soften its taste. The time from
harvest to drinking can vary from a few months for lower quality wines to over
twenty years for top wines. Different batches of wine can be mixed before
bottling in order to achieve the desired effect. However, only about 10% of all
red and 5% of white wine will taste better after five years than it will after
just one year.
Consider then that the Leyte Normal
University is the wine still in the making in its 91st year, and
that the people who have come, gone, and stayed all combine to be the
winemaker. Its roots date back to 1921 when it came into being as the
Provincial Normal School, a mere adjunct of the Leyte High School. Eventually, the
roots sprouted leaves and it became a degree-granting four-year college
complete with a training department in 1952, when it was known as the Leyte
Normal School. Then the young plant grew as it was converted to the Leyte State
College by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 944, signed by then President
Ferdinand Marcos. And on February 23, 1995, through the efforts of the late
Cong. Cirilo Roy Montejo and former Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani, the college was
converted into what is now known as the Leyte Normal University through RA
7910, making the young grape plant ready for harvest, ready for winemaking.
As in
fermentation, LNU as a wine in its 91 years has decreased in acidity and
increased in softness, in quality, in sturdy longevity. We have staged varied
performances with youthful vigor and lavishness; we have promoted our
institutional development through improvement of school resources and upgrading
of literary and musical programs; we have vied for institutional accreditation
– all with the aim of establishing ourselves as one of the best in the region.
Yet all these were done in the spirit of youth and the desire for pride, pomp,
and circumstance. Now that LNU is 91, all the brash novelty of its early years
has faded, replaced with a quiet grace that neither boasts nor thinks only of itself
– the wine knows that it is prepared to be the best not for itself, not to
boast of its special taste, but for the people who will drink its sweetness,
the LNU clientele. There have been experimental stages, periods where we
ventured to add a new course or two, to take a different tack, to innovate, but
all of these were done to get where we are now. In its 91st year,
LNU is continuously identified as a provider of quality instruction and
competent graduates. The University still maintains the reputation of being the
best teacher-training institution in Eastern Visayas and the Center of
Excellence for Teacher Education in Region VIII from 1996-2001, and 2008-2011. And
as evidenced by our recent recognition as one of the top 20 SUCs in the
country, we are part of that 10% of all red wines or 5% of white wines which
tastes better after so many years.
This is because in the LNU winemaking,
everybody cooperates. From the grape planters or the school founders who sowed
the best seeds of quality education and plant the best varieties, the grape
pickers or the faculty who expertly select the grapes, the winemakers or the
administrators who see to it that all is done to achieve the desired goal –
everybody helps in the process, and so the best tasting wine owes its good
taste not really to itself, but to the people whose hard work and patience made
that good taste possible.
We
have been under able administrators like Mrs. Jesusa A. Brillo, Mr. Jose B.
Ledesma, Mrs. Obdulia R. Cinco, Dr. Magdalena S. Ramo, Dr. Purificacion M.
Flores, Dr. Cres V. Chan-Gonzaga, and the current University President, Dr.
Evelyn C. Cruzada, continues to lead us to more dynamic innovations, to farther
reaches, to greater heights. We have also produced outstanding people in their
respective fields such as last year’s 90th Founding Anniversary
Outstanding Alumni Dr. Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III for Health and Medicine,
Team Manager of the Philippine Football team Azkals Dan Stephen Palami for Sports and Recreation, Romeo B.
Almonte of the Congress for Political Affairs, Ranulfo C. Docdocan of ABS-CBN
for Media and Communication, Ronerto V. Dazo for Social Work, Arturo O.
Gabrieles for Management, Ruperto B. Golong Jr. for Law, Joanne G. Gomez for Trade
and Industry, Pablo P. Quianzon for Civic Service and Norberto D. Tuazon for
Peace and Order. As a teacher education university, we also have Outstanding
Teacher Educators namely: DepEd Undersecretary Yolanda Quijano, DepEd Regional
Director Luisa Yu, LNU former President Crescencia V. Chan-Gonzaga, Sonia
Palami of St. Therese Educational Foundation, Mindanilla Broto of the
University of Eastern Philippines, Gilbert Importante and Eric John
Estoque. These
people, along with the students, the faculty, and the personnel that are behind
LNU’s breathing walls are all part of this 91st birthday. We have
made this possible.
In
her closing message during the Faculty and Personnel Show, Dr. Cruzada,
impressed by the presentations, asserted that, “Excellence is not about winning competitions or even topping board
exams; this evening, the faculty has shown us that when everybody works
together, this is what you get, a show which if it was on television, it would
be a top-rated show.” A good show, a good wine, anything good and great is
a result of the inherent talent, responsibility held by the makers, and the
physical stamina that results after such great management combined with sheer
talent.
Truly,
at 91, LNU is at its vintage best. It will get older, but in the process, it
will get better still.
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