Vianca Pearl Inot Amores and Marianito Jesus Berdin del Rio

After topping their class for accountancy at University of San Carlos (USC) in April, the second cousins reviewed together for the board exams. Amores, who graduated summa cum laude, shared her knowledge on taxation and law, while Del Rio, who graduated magna cum laude, helped her with math and auditing. On her own, Amores studied from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight, poring over her books and notes for 45 minutes, then taking a break for 15 minutes. Del Rio did the same. It was no surprise then that when the results came out recently, they emerged on top of the heap, with the same rating of 92.67 percent. As they basked in public adulation over their joint success, they admitted sharing the dream of topping the exams. Throw in prayers, too, they said. “I can say the Lord is amazing. My cousin and I were destined for this, and there is no such thing as impossible,” Del Rio said. Taking up accountancy wasn’t on top of their mind when they went to college. Amores wanted to take up culinary arts, while Del Rio thought engineering suited him. But they followed the advice of their fathers, who are first cousins, to take up accountancy. Both will be working with the country’s top auditing firm, SGV and Co. Seven other graduates from Cebu—four from USC and three from University of San Jose-Recoletos—landed in the top 10. USC was in the news last month when results of the 2016 bar exams came out, with its graduate Karen Mae Calam topping it, and three of her fellow alumni landing in the top 10. Also last week, another USC graduate—Wayne Lorenz Tandingan—topped the licensure examination for chemical engineering. This Catholic university in Cebu is truly on a roll.