“Of course,” said Dr. Tony Racela, Jr., FUPFA’s Executive Director, in a phone call he made to Dr. Gambito. “There are many ways you can donate. And no donation is too small.” Little did Dr. Racela know, that at that time, he was speaking to an alumna who had just written a check to FUPFA for $30,000.00!
“I nearly fainted when the check arrived,” Dr. Racela recalled. “We were deeply touched by Dr. Gambito’s generosity. The donation seemed to come out of nowhere.”
But after talking with Dr. Erlinda Gambito, he found that the gift came from somewhere very special indeed, from her point of view. Both of Dr. Gambito’s parents, Nemesio and Nieves Gambito, made great sacrifices to ensure that Erlinda and her brothers obtained their college education at UP.
Born into a large family in Ilocos Sur, Erlinda’s father moved to the United States in the 1920’s. After ten years of hard work, he obtained a masters degree in education from The University of Missouri. There was little opportunity in finding work where he could best apply his expertise when he returned to Ilocos in the 1930’s. So Nemesio Gambito moved to Cebu where he served as Dean of the Teachers College of Cebu University for decades. He even had a brief faculty position at the UP in Cebu.
But it was Erlinda’s mother, Nieves, who was the driving force behind her and her brothers pursuing their studies in the UP. When she lost her battle with cancer eight months after Erlinda’s father died, she passed knowing that she had done an excellent job raising the family and seeing her dreams come true. And she was also aware of what her daughter, Dr. Erlinda Gambito, intended to do.
And so, in December of 1995, Dr. Gambito established The Nemesio and Nieves Gambito Memorial Award. By her magnanimous gift through FUPFA, the Memorial Award now perpetually funds faculty awards in the Teachers College in Diliman as well as library acquisitions for the UP Cebu Library.
“This is payback time. Payback to my parents and my alma mater,” Dr. Gambito said. “This is also in honor of the teachers who have helped me through my learning years.”
“She is a credit to her entire family,” Dr. Racela commented, “especially her parents, whose hard work and sacrifices they made during their lives will now continue to payoff in perpetuity through The Nemesio and Nieves Gambito Memorial Award.”
FUPFA salutes Dr. Erlinda Gambito, College of Medicine, Class of 1966. She embodies the spirit of her parents, the spirit of UP, and the spirit of The Philippines.