Dr. Pedro T. Orata went back to the Philippines in 1927, bringing his wife Vinda Adkins, who perished during the Japanese occupation. He taught for less than a semester at the Bayambang Normal School (now Pangasinan State University), then transferred to the Philippine Normal School, where he taught for another semester. He became the youngest division superintendent when he was assigned to Isabela and was transferred to Sorsogon, serving there in 1931-1934. 

As the first community college in the Philippines, UCU, formerly known as the City Colleges of Urdaneta (CCU) and Urdaneta Community College (UCC), is a concrete and genuine proof of Dr. Orata's solid expression of his great love, faith, and concern for the poor but capable and deserving Filipino youth who cannot afford collegiate schooling in the cities. 

Orata returned to the Philippines to work as Technical Assistant of the National Council of Education.  However, with the outbreak of World War II, he decided to go back to Urdaneta, where he met his wife, Pilar. After the war, he was tasked by the Americans to reestablish schools in Urdaneta.  Together with lawyers, dentists, engineers, and other professionals, Orata reorganized the elementary schools and opened the Urdaneta Community High School. This was the first public high school in the Philippines, which was established outside the provincial capital.  They used the old bombed-out church with no roof as a classroom. Three hundred fifty students and 15 teachers divided the space into different year levels. There were no books nor chairs, with the students sitting on floors. When they graduated, the seniors received handwritten diplomas. 

With things organized back home, Orata was called back to Manila to work for the Department of Public Instruction. With his experiences and work ethic, Orata was invited by Unesco as an educational expert and was asked to study and report on the Thai educational system. He was later called a program specialist in the Unesco headquarters in Paris until his retirement in 1960. He was invited to be the dean of the Graduate School of the Philippine Normal College in 1960 and stayed there until 1964. In 1966, Dr. Orata founded the Urdaneta Community College, now known as the Urdaneta City University, one of the country’s first community colleges.  He served as its president up to his death in 1989 without receiving his salary and allowance, opting to have these given to students who had difficulty in financing their studies.