Quirino and Abad are 2017 PACU Person of the Year awardees
Dr. Teresita U. Quirino, chairman and founder of the Technological Institute of the Philippines (T.I.P.), and Atty. Antonio Abad Jr., president of Far Eastern University-Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (FEU-NRMF), were awarded the 2017 Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) Person of the Year during the celebration of PACU’s 85th Anniversary and National Conference.
Dr. Quirino and her late husband, Engr. Demetrio Quirino, together founded T.I.P. 55 years ago. T.I.P. today has become one of the leading engineering and technology schools in the country.
Dr. Quirino served as president of PACU from 2004-2006 and chairman of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA) from 2005-2006.
Atty. Abad is former dean of the colleges of law of the Far Eastern University (FEU) and Adamson University (AdU). He is founder of Antonio H. Abad and Associates and has been PACU legal counsel since the 1980s.
The PACU Person of the Year Award is conferred upon an individual for distinguished and outstanding service, continuously championing the cause of Philippine Education.
PACU had previously given the award to only eight persons: Jose P. Laurel (1954); Sergio Osmeña, Sr. and Elpidio Quirino, posthumous and joint (1955); Armand V. Fabella (1994); Virgilio delos Santos, Sotero H. Laurel, Helena Z. Benitez (2007); and Alicia S. Bustos (2012).
This year’s Search Committee was made up of Dr. Ester Garcia, Dr. Ma. Cristina Padolina, and Dr. Reynaldo Vea.
PACU is the oldest among the member associations of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA). PACU is composed of 187 member schools from the different regions in the Philippines and is headed by its current president, Dr. Dhanna Bautista-Rodas.