HAU th founding anniversary celebrates

LESLIE M. MEDINA

Holy Angel University (HAU), the first Catholic coeducational school in the Philippines, marked its 90th foundation anniversary last Wednesday, March 8, 2023, with various activities celebrating the University's nine decades of existence and its role in the socio-economic and cultural life of Filipinos, especially Angeleños and Kapampangans.

The celebration started with a wreath-laying at the gravesite of the founder Juan D. Nepomuceno, who, in 1933, created a new high school in Angeles City to provide accessible quality education as an alternative to Manila schools. Holy Angel has since become one of the largest and most prestigious private universities in the province and the country.

The Holy Mass followed at the University's Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel. OIC President Leopoldo Jaime Valdes delivered a Founders Day message and introduced the newest HAU Board of Trustees members to the academic community, including its Chairman, Most Rev. Florentino Lavarias, D.D., the Archbishop of San Fernando and a college alumnus of HAU.

The celebration's highlight was conferring the Founders Day Awards on six individuals chosen by the University for their outstanding contribution and achievement in various fields, including an alumnus, a retiree, a Kapampangan artist, a Kapampangan scholar, and two Filipinos advocating Catholic education and community service. The awardees were:

DR. EUSEBIO DIZON, a retired scientist and archaeologist of the National Museum and an educator whose works focused on the exploration, excavation, and research of specimens and artifacts, recipient of the Juan D. Nepomuceno Cultural Award (Research and Scholarship category);

RAMON GUILLERMO R. TUAZON, Senior Media Development Specialist at the UNESCO Myanmar Office and the Secretary General of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), press freedom advocate and laid down the groundwork for Myanmar’s mass media transition to a free press, recipient of the Laus Deo Semper Award (for Community Service);

RAMON DAVID, a prolific composer, singer, arranger, and producer of music CDs who raised the quality of Kapampangan music to global standards, recipient of the Juan D. Nepomuceno Cultural Award (Arts and Culture category);

RHODORA ANGELA FERNANDEZ, Executive Director of the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC), is instrumental in managing the Department of Education’s voucher program for Senior High Schools and in training junior and senior high school students in the DepEd-funded In-Service Training Programs, recipient of the Order of St. Michael the Archangel for a Layperson’s Outstanding Contribution to Catholic Education;

FRANCISCO G. ADVIENTO, long-time Dean of Student Affairs and Mathematics teacher of Holy Angel University, recipient of the Order of St. Raphael the Archangel for a Retiree’s Outstanding Service to the University; and

DR. JOHN C. DE LEON, high school alumnus (HAU Batch ’86), Executive Director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), seasoned research for development manager with 30 years of successful experience in market-driven plant breeding, commercial seed product development, heterotic pooling, and genomic selection; recipient of the Order of St. Gabriel the Archangel for Outstanding Achievement by an Alumnus.

The Center for Kapampangan Studies unveiled the HAU History Room in the afternoon. Then, the University Student Council (USC) began the four-day celebration called University Days with a festive parade. The Founders Day celebration concluded with a free concert at the University Theatre by the HAU Orchestra conducted by Maestro Edwin Lumanug, featuring opera classics by Verdi, Mozart, Bizet, Mascagni, and Massanet.

HAU History Room unveiled