UNC Alumni STORIES

Luz Del Dia is raised singlehandedly by a Mother who looked up to Education as the only key to liberate people from poverty and hopelessness. Growing up, Luz took to reading and observing people as a way to learn. She studied in the public school and was consistently on top of her class until she finished Valedictorian in Grade 6. She then transferred to the University of Nueva Caceres where she met like-minded students who both inspired and challenged her to be better. While she dreamt of becoming a journalist, limited resources paved way to the College of Education where she took BEED on a Jaime Hernandez and Mayor Jesse M. Robredo scholarships. Upon graduation, she was immediately invited by the UNC Elementary Department to teach in the primary school. It was in that Department where she forged lifelong friendships and established the foundation for continuing education. Without wasting time, she availed of faculty discounts and enrolled in the graduate school.

It was in that Department where she forged lifelong friendships and established the foundation for continuing education. Without wasting time, she availed of faculty discounts and enrolled in the graduate school. She also started teaching Personality Development and Literature subjects in various colleges in the undergraduate level. While at it, she held important positions in various departments as well as in the Federation of Faculty Clubs where she last held the position of Internal Vice President. After she earned her Masters in English degree, she pursued Law during weekdays and Doctor of Philosophy during weekends. These she managed while serving as a College professor, adviser to Masters students’ theses and editor of Public School textbooks representing Bicol Center of Excellence under special DepEd commission.

In March 2008, she earned both degrees in the same graduation ceremony. Having to change academic gowns to receive confirmation onstage is symbolic of Luz’s propensity for diversity and her ability to change hats where needed. She said she saw it coming as she is a penchant believer that what the mind conceives, the body achieves. It was in 2009 when she was found and invited by SM to handle a very challenging and well – sought after role in SM City Naga Department Store. In aflash, she was swept from the Academe to the Corporate world as Senior Human Resources Manager for the SM Naga Department Store Branch. Not long after, Management has decided to take her off the region and give her the Corporate Human Resources Manager role in the SM headquarters in Manila. In 2015 she was promoted to Assistant Vice President for Human Resources – a role which tested her versatility and capacity to handle key accounts and high ticket projects. She reported directly to SM Retail President and to the Sy Family.

She introduced Employee Engagement programs which have never been thought of and applied in SM. She is known for being feisty and fiery and would never back out on an argument when she believes she is right or when at stake is the welfare of the majority. Luz believes that the strength of any organization is its workforce. People – centricity or putting people at the heart of the business strategy is the core of her character and the sense of urgency is what employees remember about her as a customer service champion.

When asked about her secret to success, she would smile and say she is not there yet. But she revels in the fact that she never leaves herself out of options. In whatever she does, she is committed to a principle and not to a person or organization. She pours herself out to something that she works on and trusts God to decide whether it will work or not. She welcomes change and she wants to constantly evolve and push herself to her limits. Likened to a wine that just gets better as it ages, Luz considers herself a work in progress. She wants more in life and she will never stop until she satisfies herself.

I am the second child of the seven children of Eleuterio E. San Jose and Florencia A. Abarientos. I grew up in Gainza, Camarines Sur, the smallest among the 35 municipalities of Camarines Sur.

My father is a farmer who finished first year High School at Camarines Sur National High School, and my mother is a housekeeper who finished Grade 5 at Gainza Central School. She only studied for four years in elementary because of acceleration.

The more or less one hectare riceland that we used to tll in Gainza is not ours. It was owned by the Oliva Family of Naga City. So we give share to the landowner for every harvest. After we finished planting in Gainza, in time for summer vacation, we moved to a nearby Barangay in Manggayawan, Canaman for planting again a more or less one hectare riceland owned by the Prados of Camaligan, Camarines Sur.

For a number of weeks, my father together with my mother, my younger brother who could already help in the field, and I went to that farm using a manually driven banca to till the soil and plant that rice field. My eldest sister was the one left to manage the house and to take care of my younger brother and sisters. We all helped together in the farm so with household work. My father plows the soil preparing it ready for planting, while we help in pulling the weeds. When the soil is ready we plant the rice together. After accomplishing all the farm works in Manggayawan, we went back to Gainza. My father visits the farm once a week to monitor the progress of the plants and to put some pesticides if necessary, and so with the farm at Gainza.

To augment our income for the daily needs of the family, we resorted to do contracts of planting other fields for a fee. My father, my mother and three of us older children who could already help in the work, all together go to the fields of other farmers to plant rice.

During harvest season, we were back in the fields for the work related to harvesting. We even do harvesting from other fields to increase our income. We were given a share of 1/6^th to 1/7^th out of our work outputs.

When planting season is over in time for waiting for the plants to grow and bear the grains, we shifts to handicraft work. We made buri mats and baskets, then sell it to fund our daily needs. In the case of my elder sister and myself, during our studies in high school in the UNC, it was a consistent agreement with our parents to make and finish one mat everyday after going home from school so that we could have money to pay for school expenses the next day. After finishing the mat, it is the only time that we can study and prepare our assignments in school.

One mat is sold at P1.10 to P1.20. We share this amount everyday for our fare, the gulay for our lunch, and “baduya” or “linubac” for our snacks during recess in the morning which we bought outside of UNC Gate #2. During Saturdays and Sundays, we have a quota to make five mats, the sale proceeds of which were gathered and saved by my mother to pay our monthly tuition fees. Being a valedictorian in Grade 6, I was afforded free tuition for one year by UNC. However, it was not maintained because I was pre-occupied with work to earn for a living and cost of education.

Everyday, when we go to school, we beat the first trip available early as 6:00 o’clock in the morning. By that time we should already be ready to catch up with the lone jeepney to ferry passengers. The five-kilometer road from Gainza to Naga was a rough road. During rainy days, or when one of the bridges is being subjected to repair, there is no available jeepney, so we resorted to ride in a motorized big banca via the Bicol River to reach Naga. Also in times when there were no jeepneys nor motorized big banca because of some unavoidable circumstances of the owners, we walk the five-kilometer road in the morning from Gainza to Naga and in the afternoon from Naga to Gainza passing the PNR Bridge or the Mabolo bridge. If we wanted to cut short the walk, we stop at One Barangay, Dahilig, Gainza after three-kilometer walk, proceeded to the river bank to walk for another one kilometer, then cross the Bicol River via small banca where the opposite bank is Camaligan, Camarines Sur. Upon reaching Camaligan, we can then ride available vehicles such as jeepneys and caretelas. To save fare, we often rode the caretelas because it was cheaper by 5 centavos.

These were the usual ways how we survived and able to earn education until our high school days, and even in college days of my other younger brothers and sisters. Thank God, all of us seven children have finished a degree, the majority engaged as self-supporting students to finish studies. We are now in our respective fields of employment.

For my college days, I worked as a receptionist at the Guballa Clinic, with an agreement with Dr. Guballa to work during daytime and study at nighttime. It is located just 50 meters away from the main gate of the UNC. I stayed in that place where the building is designed as a clinic in the first floor, and as a residence at the second floor. At daytime, I do all the related works in the clinic including the utility works, plus all other related household works. After clinic hours, I was given the opportunity to attend classes and went back to the house and clinic as my home. My stay in that house is free and I am afforded three meals a day. I was given a monthly salary just enough to pay my tuition for the semester. My mother gave me P10.00 every semester for me to buy something I need in my studies such as ballpens, pencils, paper and candies when I am hungry.

After finishing college, I had the opportunity to be employed in an appliance center (Fabian & Sons), then at the Naga City Government. I started working at the City Treasurer’s Office as a casual employee in 1978, then was able to get a permanent position of Accounting Clerk. I was already very happy with my salary of P8.00 per day when I was a casual employee, more so when I got the permanent position of Accounting Clerk, got married, and bear children. But as days went by, I realized that there should be a career development for me to avoid what happened to other employees employing and retiring in the same position. I decided to strive more not only in work performance, but tried hard to earn the CPA title in 1986. By doing consistently good and remarkable performance in the disposition of my office functions and responsibilities, I had been appointed by the late Mayor Jesse M. Robredo in April, 2002 to head the Accounting Department of the City of Naga.

In June of 2013, I was very lucky to be hired as a Professor at the UNC to teach Accounting Subjects in the College of Business and Accountancy until I filed a resignation effective November 2017 because of my ailing husband which need personal attention. Aside from the enjoyment I had in my teaching career, it also helped me a lot to augment my expenses in the education of my two children who took the course of Doctor of Medicine.

The Mayor of Naga, being elected two times with 4-year term as Auditor of CITYNET, an organization of cities in Asia Pacific, sent me as his representative to audit the Fiscal Accounts of the organization. I was sent on 2012 and 2013 in Japan, 2014 and 2016 in Seoul, Korea, and lately, in November 2017 for the reporting functions in Colombo, Sri Lanka.