Back in high school, she was the campus fashion icon all with her finely-chiseled cheekbones and her arching eyebrows, leaving behind her trails the enamored stares of both boys and girls. She was into all sorts of mischiefs with her gang from the equally iconic Romans Class. But she wasn’t just all about good looks. In debate competitions, she word-wrestled with college debaters. In academic contests, she battled with the smartest kids in the region. In press conferences, she competed with other campus journalists and anchors in radio broadcasting. She was the classic beauty and brains, immortalized.
University Achievements
After graduating from STEFTI in 2012, she studied BS Accountancy at the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College (UPVTC). She took and passed the Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examinations (CPALE) in 2017. She was chosen by the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) Tacloban as the speaker during the oath taking ceremony of her batch of new CPAs.
She joined the UP Tacloban Debate Society (UPTDS) and competed at various debate competitions all over the country. With her team, she won the 8th Visayas Universities Debate Championship (VUDC) in 2015 and the 10th Eastern Visayas Debate Championship (EVDC) in 2016. Also in 2016, she was awarded as one of the top 10 Best Speakers in the Visayas during the 9th VUDC held in Cebu City. In Eastern Visayas, she was declared Best Debater a total of five times over the ten years that she has been involved in parliamentary debating.
In the field of debate adjudication, she won as Best Adjudicator during the 2nd VUDC – British Parliamentary in 2016, and also served as guest judge and Adjudication Core in various tournaments in Eastern Visayas and Cebu. Quite a tough nut to crack, right?
Present Job as a Certified Public Accountant
In March 2018, she started working as a Corporate Planning Analyst for the Anflo Group of Companies, one of Davao region’s biggest homegrown conglomerates. The Anflo Group is best known for one of its companies, Tagum Agricultural Development Co. (TADECO), which is the largest contiguous banana plantation in the world.
In her line of work, she handled multiple company projects operating in different industries and reported directly to top corporate executives, to deliver her feasibility results. Over more than three years, she has helped secure approximately PHP 3 billion of corporate loans.
Because of these achievements, she had recently been promoted to Supervisor and Team Lead. She also hopes to complete more relevant projects that will generate multiple jobs for people and uplift the local economy.
When asked about how STEFTI has helped her acquire these skills, she has this to say:
“During my time in STEFTI, I joined multiple academic competitions such as Pakaritay, Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge, debate tournaments, and journalism press conferences, which made me a very competitive, goal-driven person. At a young age, I have always been in competition with myself and I genuinely loved joining tournaments because of the high-energy environment and the competitive pressure.
These experiences taught me to always push the limits of my capabilities and to deliver my best in whatever venture I undertake. They taught me to be independent, strong-willed, and confident in my abilities. Every medal I brought home was a testament of what I could achieve if I persevered.
However, I did not always win. Because of this, I realized early on that failure is a normal part of life and that it makes the learning experience richer and more rewarding. Through failure and mistakes, I learned to take accountability for my actions and I also learned to accept that I will always have more knowledge to discover and skills to develop, in whatever stage I am in life.
This mindset helped a lot in my work where I constantly need to interact with people who have higher positions and more experience than me. Without the strength and confidence that STEFTI taught me, I would have been easily intimidated and it would have reflected in the quality of my work. And so, I constantly remind myself that I would not have been hired if I was incompetent, and that my colleagues will learn to respect me as long as I respect myself, I take responsibility for my work and I always deliver my best.
After more than three years in the company, I am grateful for the relationships that I have established with top executives, who are almost always surprised when I tell them that I am just 25 years old.”
According to her the most compelling aspect that stands out during her stay in STEFTI is the way it hones students’ talents, whether that’s in journalism, public speaking, music, dance, sports, art, theater, and many others.
“STEFTI students are INCREDIBLY talented and creative. Any student who enrolls in STEFTI could definitely find an interest group that he belongs to.”
“It also has talented teachers who can conceptualize amazing performances such as “The Passion” by the STEFTI Dance Troupe and the performances of the STEFTI Drum and Lyre Corps during the Banda Rayhak. I could also never forget all the extravagant plays we performed during English Month, most especially “The Odyssey.”
As a parting advice to STEFTI students who aim to be accountants like her is never underestimate yourself!
“I was always used to being one of the top students in class until I entered UP where everyone was also a top student during high school. Everyone was smart, diligent and studious, and they seemed to grasp Accounting lessons faster than I did. Compared to my classmates, I struggled harder to pass my subjects and that really had a negative effect on my confidence. At one point, I accepted that I was mediocre.
However, I was determined to pass the CPALE in one take because I did not want to delay the fulfilment of my parents’ dreams. And so, upon entering review classes, I told myself that my mindset had to change. It was time to stop comparing myself to others and just focus on myself. I concentrated on the subjects which I found challenging and I developed my own study schedule and routine, without making reference to the routine of my classmates. While they were studying summarized review materials, I was rereading our accounting books from cover to cover. Some people thought that I was wasting precious time by going back to square one, but I knew that that was what I had to do in order to learn. When I stopped paying attention to other people, I started doing well in review, even better than my classmates! I consistently made it to the Top 10 in pre-board examinations and by God’s blessing, my efforts paid off when I saw my name in the successful passers of the Board Exams!
Similarly, in work, you will encounter people who are smarter and more successful than you but that should not intimidate, discourage or hinder you from delivering excellent work, just because you think you are not as smart or as skilled as your colleagues. In fact, you should try to learn something new from them, whether that’s a new finance topic, a new mindset, or a new work approach.
And at the end of the day, who you will become is the result of the consistent effort you put in. So, WORK HARD and PRAY HARDER.
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