Tourism advocate Dante Balboa (aka. Elmer Anisco) proves that he is indeed the “Educated Hunk” of Philippine showbiz. In the recent school semester, he finished his Master of Arts in Filipino Degree at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
He finished his Masters with a very high total average of 1.13 or Summa Cum Laude, despite having a very hectic schedule with his tourism advocacy, teaching, showbiz part-time, theater, modelling projects, and managing his food business.
Dante has spent 34 years of continuous studying, with 17 years in undergraduate courses: five years with BS Architecture in PUP, then pursued his studies at UP Diliman, with additional two years each in BA Film and Audio-Visual Communication, BA Anthropology, and BA Philosophy. These, along with additional one year each in Landscape Architecture, BA Communication Research, BA Linguistics, BA Psychology, then MA Anthropology and MA Philosophy for three years.
Then he went back to PUP to take up MA English Language Teaching and MA Communication (non-thesis) for four years, and lastly MA Filipino for two and a half years 2 including his thesis. He even took a Certificate and Short Courses during semestral breaks.
For his M.A. thesis, Dante chose a topic related to his advocacy. “The title is ‘Naratibo sa 1,001 Talon ng Pilipinas: Tungo sa Pagbuo ng Aklat Pang-Turismo sa Wikang Filipino.’ It is a combination of quantitative and a narrative approach. Actually, it is the thickest in the history of thesis books because it has more than 2,000 pages.”
Dante’s desire for knowledge inspired him to take many courses. “I devour knowledge, I felt that the more you know many things, the more you feel empty. I mean, no one can grasp the entirety of knowledge. The universe is so big and we’re so little to know everything. But I am not saying that knowledge is the key to success because I still do believe that “life strategy” and God’s will or destiny will always prevail,” he shared.
“All of us can manufacture our success but God will choose who will prosper or not. When I was young, I always have this in mind that I want to have a record as the man who studied several courses, but when I heard that Prince William of UK already took several courses, I backtracked.”
He studied a lot because he wants to have a meaningful and productive reward every year. He didn’t want to concentrate on showbiz where success is not guaranteed unless one gets lucky. He feels he is like Superman with his ability to multi-task. Even if he is studying, he was also teaching in different universities, while accepting showbiz, theater, modelling and architectural projects, plus managing his own food and sewing business. He has always planned his life by setting goals.
“I still have many goals. I won’t stop my studies until I finish my Doctoral degree. I’m planning to take my PhD in Filipino in Malikhaing Pagsulat in UP Diliman this coming school year. I still do my advocacy for our country. I want to hold a photography exhibit, do an informative tourism book, and still accept offers for speaking engagements in schools. Of course, I am still interested to appear in theater and showbiz projects. I also plan to direct a play or a film someday.”
He continues, “Life is too short, I want to live my life to the fullest. I want to have a meaningful legacy when I am gone, and my primary goal is to get a Guinness World Record, to become a National Artist someday, and be physically fit.”
If you’d like to help Dante with his tourism advocacy, you may contact him through his Facebook account Elmer Anisco or at 09178968287.