Alumni Updates (February 26 – March 4)
Fifty-seven participants coming from 25 alumni chapters in the country and abroad, attended the three-day Alumni Summit held February 16-18, 2018 at the Silliman University Conference Center, Guy Hall. The summit, initiated by the 50-year-old Silliman Alumni Association Inc. (SAAI), revisited the association’s vision, mission, and goals, by-laws, handbook on chapters, and its institutionalized activities that support the association and activities in the university. Theme for the summit was “SAAI: Sustainability of Its Relevance within the Silliman University Community”.
Overseas alumni chapter representatives coming from the National Capital Region (Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia), Silliman Alumni International Chicago Chapter and SUAA Sydney Australia Inc., were also in attendance. Summit co-facilitators were Bagong Bayani and Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee Dr. Perla Rizalina Maturan-Tayko and fellow alumna Susan Monte de Ramos Soldwisch. Group facilitators were SAAI officers: Dr. Hilario Abel Gomez (president) Roberto D. Montebon (vice president) and members of the Board of Directors Atty. M. Mikhail Lee Maxino and Leo G. Mamicpic.
The Silliman Alumni Association, Inc. (SAAI) Greater Bacolod Chapter gathered for a Fellowship Dinner and Induction of Officers for the year 2018-2020, last February 23, 2018, at the L’Sea Restaurant in Bacolod City. Invited guest speaker was SAAI President Dr. Hilario Abel B. Gomez. Silliman University Alumni and External Affairs Director Ruben N. Bokingo was also present and gave the latest University and alumni updates. Also present during the alumni gathering were two Outstanding Sillimanian Awardees: Bacolod-based Ms. Nelly Aluamento-Jocson (Nursing Service 2000) and New York-based Mr. Miguel C. Braganza (Performing Arts 2015).
The newly inducted officers of the Greater Bacolod Chapter are: Jennylind Quial Demerre-Cordero (president), Joni Cleo Pacalioga (vice president), Ma. Maureem Maestrecampo (secretary), Rosseni Gubaton Mina (treasurer) and Santiago Simeon III (auditor). The Board of Directors is composed of Catalino Alisbo, Jose “Joe” Cordero, Marcos P.S. Cordero, Ceasar L. Pacalioga and Amor Pioquinto.
The unveiling and turn-over ceremony of the bust of the late Hon. Cornelio T. Villareal, Sr., a distinguished Sillimanian who was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 5th and 7th Philippine Congress was held February 15, 2018 at the Justice Venancio D. Aldecoa Moot Court. Present during the turnover ceremony were the son of the late Speaker, Atty. Williman L. Villareal, and his grandson, Mr. Miguel Villareal.
Silliman University College of Law Dean, Atty. Sheila Lyn Catacutan Besario, in her words of gratitude and acceptance, said that finally there is now a face we can identify the Villareal Hall with. The Villareal Hall was named after the late Speaker. Silliman University was close to the heart of the late Speaker who fondly recalled how a Christian minister persuaded and supported him to study in Silliman. When he became Speaker of the House, he played a key role in obtaining most of the funds for the construction in 1963 of what is now known as the Villareal Hall, the home of the College of Law.
The late Speaker Villareal graduated from Silliman University with a degree in Associate in Arts in 1924. He obtained his degree in Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines in 1929. In 1965, Silliman conferred on him a Bachelors of Law degree, honoris causa.
The Villareal Bust donation was made possible through Atty. L Mikhail Lee Maxino’s UP Law classmate, Atty. Ernestine Villareal Fernando. The Bust of Cornelio T. Villareal, Sr., came from the same studio mold of famous sculptor Anastacio Caedo which appears in the halls of Congress at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City.
