UL confers honorary degree to Gina de V
GEORGINA De Venecia, wife of 4th District Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr., was conferred the degree of Doctor of Humanities (honors causa) by the University of Luzon during its 9lst Commencement Exercises held Saturday.
Mrs. De Venecia said this honorary degree, her fourth, is the most special to her as “it comes from a distinguished university in my home city of Dagupan”.
In her speech during the ceremony, she congratulated UL for its “unswerving commitment to excellence in education and proof of this is its having earned the prestige as the first and only university north of Manila that has been granted an ‘autonomous’ deregulated status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)”.
The honorary degree was awarded to Mrs. De Venecia by Dr. Mac Arthur Samson, UL president, and Dr. Emmanuel Angeles, CHED commissioner Angeles.
Mrs. De Venecia also congratulated the parents of the graduates and hailed them for their sacrifices for the sake of their children’s education.
Addressing the graduates, she said they are never too young to start doing things for themselves, do whatever they can to bring about change, and most importantly, “to recognize the opportunities that life presents before you.”
“My personal life was not always easy. I lost my dearest daughter in a fire, my father and elder brother died early, and I had to work while studying in New York, but I count my greatest blessings to be those times when fortune smiled at me, so much that I could do the most to improve the fate of others,” she said.
Mrs. De Venecia, who has earlier announced her intention to run for congress in next year’s election, served five terms as president of the Congressional Spouses Foundation, Inc., during which time she focused the group’s efforts towards helping abused women, street-children and the elderly.
She established The Haven for Women, a 16-building facility in Muntinlupa City for the rehabilitation of women who have been victimized by domestic violence, rape, incest, forced prostitution, and illegal recruitment, and The Haven for the Elderly, a foster home for abandoned senior citizens.
She founded the INA (Inang Naulila sa Anak), following the loss of her daughter KC who died in a fire that razed their home in Makati City, to help mothers who have lost their children live through their pain and get on with their lives.—LM
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
