I graduated in the summer of 1979 because I neglected Statistics in favor of Clinics. But six days after my final exams, I was invited to teach at the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation, Institute of Veterinary Medicine. Jun Micu came over extending the invitation of the dean, Dr. Francisca A. Ching. Five classmates were already members of the faculty there: Jun, Alice Cambay, Flor Gonzales, Mildred Araniador and Cynthia Bernabe. I handled Microbiology and Virology laboratory classes. In 1981, due to some unpleasant turn of events in the Institute, Jun and Flor left for CLSU. Cynthia left earlier before this and Alice left later leaving behind Mildred and me.
In 1983, I got married to Rey C. Miranda, a Pre-Med student from UE who pursued Vet. Medicine and was my student in Microbiology in 1980. It was in same year that I stood my ground together with only 26 faculty members in the University against a move by the administration to convert all faculty members to contractual basis and disregard security of tenure. This principle almost cost me my job were it not for the favorable ruling of the Labor Relations. In 1984, I was appointed Chairman of the Dept. of Microbiology and Public Health.
In 1985, Mildred left for the Fatima Medical Sciences Foundation and the following year, I was invited by a friend, Dr. Zoilo Lapuz, who was then the dean of the CVM in the same school. At Fatima, I was appointed chairman of the Dept. of Parasitology and Pathology, then later, as chairman of Medicine and Surgery. In 1989, I was appointed chairman of Microbiology and Public Health. I handled subjects in Parasitology, Pathology, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Microbiology and Virology. In October 1989, I resigned from work, hoping to rest and get pregnant for until that time we haven’t got children.
I was then conducting board reviews in Microbiology and Pathology at a university belt review center and vet schools such as GAUF, Fatima Medical Science Foundation and Dr. Francisco Yanga College from 1987 up to 1994, then I quit out of delicadeza because I was then a dean of a vet school. In May 1990, I was invited to Araneta to conduct review classes in Microbiology and was convinced to go back to teaching. I rejoined the faculty in June 1990 under the deanship of the late Dr. Jose Valenzuela. Again, I was appointed chairman of Dept. of Microbiology and Public Health. It was during this return to Araneta that I got pregnant with my first child. I gave birth in November 1991.
In June 1993, I enrolled in UP Los Banos to pursue my Masters degree in Microbiology. However, the following school year, I had to take my leave of absence from Los Banos because I was appointed dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at GAUF. While I was dean, I gave birth to my 2nd child in 1995. I held the position for three years and would have had another term have it not been for dirty politics and intrigues. For me, relationships are more valuable than titles and positions so that in June 1997, I took a leave of absence from the University for a year, then eventually resigned and left the academe after 18 years. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from what happened then, it is that: if you do good things to people, don’t expect them to do you good things in return. And much more, don’t expect them not to do you harm.
For three years after I left the job I love so much, I became a full time wife to my husband and full time mother to my kids: Abigail, now 15 and in 3rd year high school, and Jericho Rey, now 11 and in the 5th grade. In 1997, my husband who is an equine practitioner, put up a business partnership with a client. Miranda, Sotto and Associates, as it was called, sold horse medicines and paraphernalia, did diagnostic work and rendered veterinary services. The following year, it became a corporation and I became one of the stockholders and company treasurer. It was renamed Stud and Stable, Inc. In 2001, our medical technologist resigned and I took over the laboratory. During the surra outbreak in 2001, our laboratory was the first to identify the protozoan agent. I then performed serological tests to detect positive reactors and identified the parasite by direct microscopic exam. Basically, our laboratory runs hematology and blood chemistry with our automated IDEXX machines, the first of the kind in the Philippines in 1997. (There is one now at the Ocean Adventure in Subic and at Herma Farms in Batangas). I also perform CELISA test for the detection of EIA antibodies.
In 2001, I was nominated to the Board of Veterinary Examiners by the Philippine Veterinary Medical Association. The PVMA president then was a classmate, Enrico Flores. I was not taken in but another classmate made it to the board, Angel Mateo.
I consider myself semi-retired now, working for our own company. I have reached a point in my life when I no longer think I have to prove myself to anybody anymore. Being your own boss, you know and having attained what you aspire for. I am a simple person with simple joys and aspirations. I now enjoy watching my kids grow and discovering the things God wants to do with my life.
