Dr. Q and Dina Abad
THE nation lost two remarkable icons – Dr. Lourdes Reynes Quisumbing, the first female secretary of the Department of Education who passed away at 96, and Rep. Dina Razon Abad, representative of the lone district of Batanes, at 62.
I am privileged to have known both of them – Dr. Q, as she is fondly called, when we worked together for several years at the UNESCO National Commission, and Dina, during the “parliament of the street” days and as a colleague of the Liberal Party.
Of Dr. Q, some had wondered how she had been able to balance her response to the demands of family life (she had 10 children) and those of the profession and public life. Her life story is an amazing narrative which only a visionary with a superior intellect, innovative spirit, moral courage, tenacity, and patriotism would have been able to accomplish. Her invaluable contribution to education and society are too many to enumerate. She did these as dean of St. Theresa’s College where she obtained her first degree, summa cum laude, and at the various schools where she had taught and worked as administrator and policy maker – as chair, Graduate Education, University of San Carlos, dean of Graduate Education, De la Salle University, president, and later chair emerita, Maryknoll, now Miriam College, and several other universities. She was also president of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU), permanent representative and secretary-general of UNESCO (with the rank of ambassador), and the first president of the Asia-Pacific Network for International Education (APNIEVE). As education secretary, she expanded free public education to secondary level and pushed for a higher budget for education. Her primary advocacies focused on “education for all” and values education, issues that she pursued in the several books and publications that she authored. She was both a colleague and a mentor, and one of the few I would describe as being “consistent in thought, word, and deed.”
A matriarch of a large family, she is survived by 10 children, 27 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren.
The many tributes paid to Dina Abad during her wake at the Ateneo Chapel show how she is deeply loved and regarded by friends and colleagues from various sectors of society. A person of integrity, compassion, passion, love for people, devoted wife and mother, an empowered woman, a “national treasure” – these are among the words that Vice President and Liberal Party Chair Leni Robredo and other party stalwarts, LP President Kiko Pangilinan and former LP president and senator Mar Roxas, and several others used to describe Dina. “She fought every battle with ferocity and intensity,” Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo noted. Indeed, she was passionate about things she believed in but she was also a calming force when things did not turn out the way they should have.
Her early years in development advocacy were focused on rural development and agrarian reform, as a valuable partner to her husband Butch, who later held three critical cabinet posts as agrarian reform, education, and budget secretary. But it was not long before she began to do things on her own – engaging with NGOS and civil society on critical national concerns including human rights. She was elected representative in Congress where she became deputy speaker in the 17th Congress. She chaired the Committees on Energy, Government Reorganization, and Rural Development, and was active in the crafting of bills on reproductive health, freedom of information, among many others.
A graduate of Maryknoll College, she earned a master’s degree at the John Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She was founder and dean of the Ateneo School of Government.
We condole with Butch, Julia, Pio, Luis, and Cecilia. And to the family of Dr. Q., our deep condolence as well.
And to Dr. Q and Dina, farewell, till we meet again.