Luistro commends PWU for promoting women empowerment
EDUCATION Secretary Armin A. Luistro, FSC, lauded the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) for its efforts in education and the empowerment of women.
Luistro, who was the guest speaker during the university’s 92nd commencement exercises recently, was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
This year’s theme was “Quality Service, Quality Education, PWU’s Legacy to the Nation.”
The theme served as a reaffirmation of PWU’s commitment, made by its founders 96 years ago, to provide education with substance and purpose, and contribute to nation-building.
In his speech, Luistro said: “PWU can take a bow for its trailblazing path to educate and empower Filipino women, not just to become productive citizens of the republic but … as ‘organizers of civil society, as mobilizers of their communities, and as the pillars of their homes and families.’”
The secretary said, “After today’s ceremonies, I suppose I can proudly wear your badge of honor and declare that I am an honorary woman, I am an honorary Filipina. I don’t think there’s any other Philippine university [that] could have afforded me the temerity for such a claim… ”
Leading the 692 members of the 2015 graduating class was magna cum laude graduate Drew Barie Cajandab, who received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) major in Communication Arts degree.
She alluded to the controversy over PWU ownership but expressed confidence that the university would survive the current crisis, just as it withstood a world war and civil strife, among other things.
“It has been bombed, stoned and shot at but it remains the Philippine Women’s University its founders envisioned it to be—providing not simply an education, but an education with purpose and substance,” Cajandab said.
Graduating with cum laude honors were Ann Mariel Recio (BA major in Foreign Service), Jose Michael Angelo de Dios (BA major in Communication Arts), Juhan Nusrat (BA major in Psychology), Joyce Tiffany Reyes (Bachelor of Fine Arts).
Acheline Jade Tisado (Bachelor of Elementary Education) and Jake Wallace Galvez (BA major in Foreign Service) graduated with an honorable mention.
Other guests during the commencement rites included Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Ma. Cynthia Rose Bautista, PWU chair Dr. Helena Benitez and members of the board of directors—former PWU president Dr. Jose Conrado Benitez, Conrado Benitez II and Dr. Amelia Reyes.
PWU began as the Philippine Women’s College in 1919. It was founded by Clara Aragon, Concepcion Aragon, Francisca Tirona Benitez, Paz Marquez Benitez, Carolina Ocampo Palma, Mercedes Rivera and Socorro Marquez Zaballero.
It aimed to help prepare young Filipino women for a life of dedicated service and wholehearted leadership. The college became a university in 1932, just 13 years after it opened, and became the first university for women in Asia, founded by Asians.