by Stephen J Pedroza

To help advance faculty members of Xavier University’s College of Law, the family of former Cagayan de Oro City Councilor Lourdes Maestrado– La Viña has established, in honor of her late husband, the Gabriel La Viña Jr Fund.

“My mother wanted to do this endowment for my father because he was very proud for being a Law teacher,” said Atty Antonio “Tony” M La Viña, dean of the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) at the Ateneo de Manila University.

The fund will be added to the budget granted by the Commission on Higher Education to improve the teaching pool of XU Law.

“Hopefully, we will be able to send most of our young faculty members to Ateneo (de Manila) for a faculty development program,” said Atty Raul R Villanueva, dean of XU Law.

Thanksgiving

During the thanksgiving mass on Nov 30 held at the Loyola Chapel, XU President Fr Roberto “Bobby” Yap SJ, who was also the celebrant of the service, expressed his gratitude to the La Viña family for their generosity.

As a token of his appreciation, Fr Bobby gave Mrs La Viña a copy of the coffee table book, “Jesuits in Mindanao: The Mission” which chronicles the journey of the Jesuits in establishing academic institutions (including XU) in the island.

Her late husband was a Law professor at XU for 14 years and some of those who became prominent figures in the city were once under his teaching auspices.

“He taught a generation of lawyers in Cagayan de Oro during the 60s and 70s,” Atty La Viña said, adding that one of them was former Mayor Pablo “Ambing” Magtajas.

During the Martial Law

In an online post, the ASoG dean wrote, “Among the things [my father] was known for was that he engaged in dialogue with the student activists of that time, mostly Kabataang Makabayan [members].”

At the height of the Martial Law in the 1970s, Gabriel La Viña opened his house, which was then under construction, as a “transit point” for some activists before joining the underground forces.

He continued: “Years later, when I was already a human rights lawyer and activist myself, some of those former students would come to me and thank me for what my father did.”

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