Mrs. Patricia Banagudo

Mrs. Patricia Banagudo, or Nanay Ping-Ping as she is fondly called by most students who frequent the Cafeteria in the Augustin A. Pulido Hall, has been with the Food Services Department as food server for almost 20 years. She also sometimes handles the cash register and helps in dishwashing and cleaning the facility. Nanay Ping-Ping is proud to say that she has never been a picky worker and can even lift heavy stuff in the past but has since stopped due to ageing and some health issues.

Her family moved to Dumaguete from Bindoy, Negros Oriental when her father was diagnosed with leukemia and needed to be closer to the then Mission Hospital on the Silliman campus. With hospital and household bills piling up, she had to help make ends meet by getting a job in Dumaguete.

Nanay Ping-Ping’s association with Silliman University started when she was selling vinegar to the Cafeteria in the early 90s. She was then hired as a part-time worker to determine and assess the quality of the rice purchases of the Cafeteria. In 1997, she was granted regular status as an employee of the Food Services Department.

It was around the same time when their family moved to Dumaguete that Nanay Ping-Ping found her partner in life with whom she has three children. All her children are now grown-ups: one is a government employee, another is a seafarer, and the third has just started her own family.

Aside from the opportunities that Silliman University has afforded her to provide for her family, Nanay Ping-Ping said that it is the friendly work environment that has kept her serving Silliman for two decades. In her years of service, she has never felt the need to look for another job somewhere else because she loves being in the University.

When asked if she had any unforgettable experiences in Silliman while working in the cafeteria, she recounted one moment that really touched her heart. Nanay Ping-Ping shared that when some of her regular customers, who are student-nurses, learned that she was admitted in the Silliman University Medical Center, they regularly paid her a visit until she was discharged.  It was that point in her career that she realized that the students view her not only as a server in the Cafeteria but a mother figure.

Nanay Ping-Ping is currently supporting her granddaughter who is now in the Senior High program in Silliman. Even if she admits that it is challenging to still continue working given her age, Nanay Ping-Ping said all hard work pays off every time she sees her granddaughter’s report card with high marks.

Practical yet optimistic, Nanay Ping-Ping believes that it is not possible to have good days every day. Life is full of ups and downs, but to her, it is always up to the person to make the best of what he or she is given.