SU recognizes Outstanding Sillimanians; FVR is 1st Eminent Persons Lecturer

         Another batch of Outstanding Sillimanian Awardees (OSA) has been given recognition during Silliman University’s 107th Founders Day celebration. The Outstanding Sillimanian Awards convocation was held at 9:30 a.m. on August 28 at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium.

         After thorough screening, the six who have been chosen for the award are the following: Rev. Francisco Jugueta Beltran in the field of specialized ministry; Efren Bede A. Cordura in the field of package engineering; Dr. Ester Ponce De Leon Timbancaya Elphick in the field of education; Dr. Marie Marjorie Evasco in the field of creative writing; Atty. Alfredo Flores Tadiar in the field of law; and, Dr. Romulo G. Villanueva in the field of community health service.

         The OSA is given to graduates of Silliman University who have made an exemplary impact on their respective fields and to alumni whose lives have become living examples of excellence, character and service. Each of them has been nominated by various alumni chapters that have seen their worth to receive the award.

Alfredo Tadiar Rev. Francisco Beltran Romulo Villanueva Efren Cordura Ester Ponce De Leon Timbancaya Elphik Dr. Marie Marjorie Evasco

          Rev. Francisco Beltran spent a greater part of his active ministry in the military chaplaincy. He considered this as an opportunity to counsel and to serve God and his countless children. His ranks from captain, to major, to lieutenant colonel has been instrumental in reaching out to the other soldiers and their families.

          Rev. Beltran was nominated by Silliman University Alumni Association of Northern California (SUAANC). He received the Legion of Merit Award, which is the highest peacetime army award, the United Nations Mission in Haiti Medal, and other awards that recognize his passion to his ministry.

         Efren Cordura defined package engineering as the science and art of designing, testing, costing, manufacturing and handling of a package so that the product is received from the manufacturer to the consumer in the intended manner. He has been working in the packaging industry as a consultant and as a package engineer for 45 years. Cordura is one of only two Filipinos to become certified as a packaging professional by examination in the United States.

         His nomination also came from the SUAANC. The “walking encyclopedia of packaging,” according to one of his friends, Cordura showed the Silliman spirit through sharing his talent and mentoring rookie engineers in package design, troubleshooting and implementing corrective measures in companies like Guthy-Renker Corporation in Santa Monica, California, OPI International in Los Angeles and other similar companies.

         An advocate of English as a second language, Ester Elphick exemplifies a true Sillimanian through her passion and faith in education as the hope for our future. She is the chief lexicographer in the Cuyonon Language and Culture Project, Inc. which aims to create a dictionary of how this language is spoken and other cultures that can be transmitted thereafter. She is a lead teacher and curriculum developer in the Middletown Adult Education English as a Second Language (ESL) Program.

         Elphick was nominated by the Silliman Alumni of New England. She has lived a life of committed excellence in her faith and in her chosen career, living up to the Silliman motto, Via Veritas Vita.

         A multi-awarded creative writer and the president of the Creative Writing Foundation, Inc., Marjorie Evasco excelled in the field of literary compositions. Her works have been included in the canon of Philippine Literature and have received awards from the Carlos Palanca Foundation, National Book Awards for poetry, Book Development Association of the Philippines, and others.

         Evasco’s distinguished teaching, research and publications have gained her several prestigious international fellowships like the International Retreat for Writers in Hawthornden Castle, Scotland. She is currently a full professor and university fellow in the Department of Literature in De La Salle University, Manila. She was nominated by the Metro Manila alumni chapter.

         Alfredo Tadiar has been recognized as the “father of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the Philippines” because of his commitment to ADR. He pursued his ADR advocacy and helped in the negotiation with military rebels who sought to topple the government of then President Corazon C. Aquino. Tadiar is the Executive Director of the Center for Research, Studies and Training on Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics (REPROCEN), a joint project of the UP Colleges of Law and Medicine.

         Now a retired professor of the University of the Philippines College of Law, Tadiar is still being invited to continue teaching administration of criminal justice and population law. One of his students remarked that what he really admires about Tadiar is that even if he is already knowledgeable, he still does not stop studying. He was nominated by the Metro Manila alumni chapter.

         Romulo Villanueva has been an active member of NAILS, an organization that repairs homes of low-income families in the US. He is a devoted health care physician and even helped the patients during the Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. He has received the Allegany Health Right for his outstanding community service and is now a member of the board.

         Though on call as a physician, Villanueva still values family life and extends his Christian values to those who are in need. The medical missions he has participated in have shaped him and have also gained him awards like the medical missions in Cebu City; Calamba, Misamis Occidental; and, Ayacucho, Peru. He was nominated by the Silliman University Alumni Association of the National Capital Region of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., USA.

          Meanwhile, former President of the Republic of the Philippines and Silliman alumnus, Fidel V. Ramos, was the inaugural lecturer in the First Annual Founders Day Eminent Persons Lecture Series, considered as a tribute and service to the Silliman alumni and the community, at 10 a.m. on August 26 at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium. Mr. Ramos, who spoke on “Development and the Filipino,” last visited Silliman University in August 1993 as the incumbent President where he was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities.