"Today JRU's alumni and friends should just raise their glasses."
Vicente Fabella was no ordinary Filipino. He was this country’s first certified public accountant.
He achieved that distinction in the early days of the US presence in the Philippines, a time when this country was just beginning to build up a corps of professionals. America’s colonial officialdom cannot have failed to take notice of the young Filipino who was a whiz with numbers.
Vicente Fabella chose to direct his special professional capabilities towards financial education, believing that if the Philippines were to be viable as a full-fledged member of the community of nations, it had to have a corps of Filipinos well-trained for the principal professions. Accounting was among the most important of these, in Fabella’s view.
Accordingly in 1919 Mr. Fabella founded the School of Accounts, Commerce and Finance of the Far Eastern Institute, which was renamed Jose Rizal College (JRC)—as a tribute to the national hero—in 1922. JRC remained in its R. Hidalgo St. (Quiapo) location until 1950, when it transferred to Mandaluyong, which at that time was a quiet neighborhood of the nation’s capital.
This year is 100 years after 1919, and today, February 19, Jose Rizal University (JRU) is celebrating in grand style the day 100 years ago when the School of Accounts, Commerce and Finance opened its doors to the first group of Filipino students. All alumni and friends of JRU have been asked to participate in the centennial celebrations this evening at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Only a few tertiary-education institutions in this country can claim to be 100 years old or older, and there are not many cities and municipalities that can claim to be hosts of educational centenarians. Today the city of Mandaluyong joins the ranks of those hosts. The Tiger City has been hosting a tiger university.
The century-long progress of a modest school of accounting to one of the nation’s most prestigious universities has been overseen by three generations of Fabellas. Vicente Fabella was succeeded at the helm of Jose Rizal College by his son Armand, a Harvard-trained economist, who later was to become President Diosdado Macapagal’s chief economic adviser and, later still, President Ramos’s Secretary of Education. When Dr. Armand Fabella passed away several years ago, his son Dr. Vicente took his place at the helm of Jose Rizal University.
How does an educational institution—any institution, for that matter—get to become 100 years old? First, it must be run by men of principle. JRC was closed throughout World War II, and the reason for that was Vicente Fabella wanted to show his—despite enormous pressure—solidarity with the anti-Japan cause. In addition, it is well known that Dr. Armand Fabella preferred to step down as Secretary rather than agree to the break-up of the Department of Education.
A second requirement is vision. Vicente Fabella saw a first-rate institution of higher learning emerging from his modest school of accounting, commerce and finance. With his exposure to the Harvard system, Dr. Armand Fabella saw no reason why JRC could not reach the highest levels of educational achievement. Confirming the saying that the fruit does not fall far from the tree, current president Vincent Fabella has determinedly been building upon the foundation laid down by his grandfather and father.
JRU has always had a strong high school structure. Over the years it has established a business Graduate School and a school of law that is steadily gaining acclaim and respect.
The roster of JRU alumni has expanded beyond the world of commerce to encompass the worlds of governance, diplomacy, military service and the judiciary, among others. Numerous members of the banking community have passed through JRC’s portals along Shaw Boulevard.
Given the vision-filled service and the dedication that have been displayed during the past 100 years by the Fabella family and the administration of the university, there is no reason why JRU should not be able to reach another centennial milestone. But 2119 is too distant to contemplate. Today JRU’s alumni and friends should just raise their glasses and drink a toast to the success of one of the finest educational institutions in the nation.