Colegio de San Juan de Letran, which will mark its 400th year of existence in 2020, begins the celebration this year with the recognition of Letranites who have done great things in the country on March 23 at the New World Hotel in Makati City.
Colegio de San Juan de Letran is a private Roman Catholic Dominican institution of learning in Intramuros, Manila. The college was founded in 1620. Letran has the distinction of being the oldest college in the Philippines and the oldest secondary institution in Asia.
The school has produced Philippine presidents, revolutionary heroes, poets, legislators, members of the clergy, jurists and it is also one of the only Philippine schools that has produced several Catholic saints who lived and studied on its campus.
The campus contains two statues, representing the two foremost alumni in the fields of secular and religious service: former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon and Vietnamese Saint Vicente Liem de la Paz.
Starting this year, Letran Alumni Association is awarding 100 Letranites a year to complete the 400 Great Men and Women or “Grandes Figuras.”
One of the first 100 of “Grandes Figuras” or Letran’s 400 Great Men and Women to be given a Most Outstanding award this year is Cavite 2nd District Rep. Strike Revilla who’s a Letranite from Batch ’93. Revilla had served as mayor of Bacoor, Cavite for nine years, before seating in the House of Representatives. “I am so proud to be part of Letran’s Grandes Figuras. This inspiration will make me work three times harder,” the lawmaker said.
Letran has programs in Business, Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Information Technology, Digital Arts, Communication Arts, Accountancy and Engineering.
The colleges are divided into six departments: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration and Accountancy, College of Education, Institute of Communication, Institute of Information Technology and College of Engineering.