Learning humility from JRG

Tomorrow, February 1, is the 75th birthday of The FREEMAN chairman Dr. Jose (Dodong) Gullas who is concurrently the Executive Vice President of the University of the Visayas.

Happy birthday, Sir Dodong!

Seventy-fifth is a milestone of a birthday, JRG recently told us. Not many are gifted by God to live up to such a ripe age, he said. How true! Because even at 70 one could look around and count his friends and associates who are still alive and he would find that most of them are gone. This writer, for example, who is only a shade younger than the former congressman, tried at one time doing this, and what did he find? Among the ten or so people who were his "barkadas" eight have already answered the call.

Be careful, Sir Dodong now and then reminds his school executives, any day could be your last. Perhaps it was this thought which made him ask forgiveness from the members of the university council in a meeting before the December break this year. Forgive me, he said solemnly, for any word or act which must have caused you injury. And our response was a heart-throbbing quietude. We could not say anything because most of us were teary-eyed. When the heart is full the mouth cannot speak? The truth of this struck us to the core. We were so deeply touched because it was our very own boss who figuratively bowed before us, a klatch of professionals whose academic sophistication is not used to such humble gesture.

Later as we shuffled out of the conference room we caught a glimpse of Sir Dodong's epiphany: He who wants to lead must first humble himself. And it was inevitable that we remembered Jesus washing the callous feet of a band of believers he called his disciples.

 To most of us that was a striking lesson in humility. For how many of us, so-called educators, had bent low before the rank-and-file in our office and uttered that magic word of reconciliation? This writer had worked closely with the top hierarchy of the education department for thirty years. Yet not one of them, the country's leading mentors of values, had ever asked forgiveness from us, their subordinates. This writer too was like them, all too proud to own up to his shortcomings. Now I know where we stumbled. Now I realize how puny we were in our smugness and affectation. Compared to UV's executive vice president in terms of achievements, many of us education leaders in and outside the government (at least during my stint at DepEd) had little to show. Consider this:

1 As a university executive, Sir Dodong has spearheaded (along with brother Congressman Eddie Gullas and sister Gliceria Gullas Lucero), the school's rise into one of the leading tertiary institutions in the Visayas, a feat for which he was awarded as one of the Ten Outstanding Cebuanos a few years ago.

2 As a congressman of the first district of Cebu (2001 to 2004), he succeeded in regionalizing DepEd's payroll service office thereby improving its financial operations to benefit more than 480, 000 teachers and officials nationwide. People who are not familiar with public school teachers' salary payment system cannot fully appreciate the importance of this accomplishment. But for sure they must have heard of delayed payments, unauthorized deductions, wrong computations, unimplemented salary increases and the like. These were part of the teachers' calvary then, and for how long? For more than 50 years!

There were a number of moves in the past Congresses to decentralize the payroll system of the education department. But these died a natural death, perhaps due to strong oppositions from various sectors (including government financial institutions, mega money lenders, etc) whose interest would be adversely affected. Ironically, it took a neophyte congressman from Cebu in the 12th Congress to break the clutches of these financial bodies from the Manila-based payroll office of DepEd.

3 As a sportsman, be revitalized Cebu's inter-collegiate sports program giving it a new direction and a diversified field of competition. More than this, he has envigorated UV's basketball teams (the Lancer and the Baby Lancer) to become for eight consecutive years the champion in the annual CESAFI tournaments.

4 As an advocate of Cebuano culture, he has initiated a general revival of Cebuano songs by giving awards to local composers and interpreters. And of course, he is the man behind the creation and development of the now internationally-acclaimed UV Chorale.

5 As a newspaper executive, he revived the publication of The FREEMAN, and nursed its growth into one of the most respected newspapers in the country..

These are but few of Dr. Jose Gullas' landmark accomplishments which, viewed as a backdrop, makes his humility more remarkable and worthy of emulation.

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