78-year-old Cebu plumber gets college degree

DALAGUETE, Cebu, Philippines – Poor health and old age did not deter a plumber from this town from getting a college degree.

Seventy-eight-year-old Miguel Lajos Sr. was among the first batch of graduates of the University of the Visayas-Dalaguete campus Wednesday afternoon.

“My strong desire is to finish my studies despite the hardship and my age,” said Lajos in fluent English in an interview with The Freeman.

Lajos said he is set to pursue his other dream, which is to become a lawyer, the reason why he took up Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, a pre-law course.

His problem, however, is how to get to law school without having to worry about finances. His income as a plumber funded his college education.

Lajos’ three children by his second wife, now all professionals, also supported him financially, he said.

Lajos though will not have to worry about his law studies as Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas, president of the University of the Visayas (UV), who was guest speaker in the commencement rites, offered to give him a scholarship, along with other senior citizens who may want to get a college degree.

Although happy that her father finally had a college degree, Regina, Lajos’ eldest daughter by his second wife, still feels uneasy about his father pursuing law studies.

Regina, a teacher at the Langkas Elementary School, said she and her siblings only agreed that their father, who is suffering from high blood pressure, would finish college after they made him promise that he would not remarry.

She said her father has this penchant for women. He currently has two girlfriends and if he would marry one of them, she said he would have more children.

Lajos has 18 children, although only 12 of them, nine by the first wife and three by his second wife, are alive. He has 39 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, whose names, he said, he could not memorize.

Lajos, whose mother was a vendor while his father was jobless, first enrolled in the UV main campus in 1954 but only finished the first month of the semester due to financial constraints.

At 20, he married his first wife, then 17, hoping to bear children who would then send him to school. He said he really planned to have several children from the start.

It was in June 2007 when UV opened a satellite school in Dalaguete town. Despite his age, he decided to re-enroll.

On Wednesday afternoon, he marched to receive his college diploma at the town’s sports complex, assisted by two children, one a teacher and the other an architectural draftsman at the Dalaguete municipal hall. Two other children were also there to witness the event.

Lajos said he would still pursue his dream to become a lawyer, especially now that Gullas has given him a scholarship.

But as to how her father would do that, since the university’s law department is in Cebu City, is another problem, Regina said.