Central Colleges of the Philippines

Working for the Department of Defense of the US Government must have not entered the mind of Engr. Virgil Antonio when he first though of enrolling in 1964 at the College of Chemical Engineering in Polytechnic College of Philippines (PCP), former name of Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP). With perseverance, discipline, and hard work, he was able to reach the peak of his success.

Engr. Antonio graduated in 1969 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. He chose chemical engineering because he believed that such a course offers many incentives. One is the satisfaction derived from seeing solid, liquid, and/or gaseous materials combine and transform into useful or consumable products. Another is a complete understanding of how matter behaves in an open environment.

About a year after his graduation, he was hired by Unitech Engineering Corporation (Honeywell-Philippines) at Pasong Tamo, Makati, Rizal to serve as an Application Engineer responsible for the application of the Honeywell Instrumentation and Automation on all of the industrial manufacturing plants in the country. In 1974, he had to quit his job here because his family immigrated to the US.

Since then, he has working in USA first for Hansen & Tideman, Inc., New York, New York as a Maintenance and Repair Manager assigned to maintain and ensure that all "refrigerated containers" in the vessel are in the right temperature and in full operation prior to shipment to different parts of the world. In 1980, he transferred to Mercury Foam Corporation, Hackensack, New Jersey where he was a Process Engineer supervising the production and quality assurance of the Scrunge/Styrofoam and Revlon cosmetic products at this facility. Finally, in 1984, he got his biggest break when he was employed by the US Defense Department. He has been with the Integrated Product Team tasked to develop and produce sensitive equipment used by the US troops in the field to combat terrorism in Southwest Asia.

At this time in his career, he is grateful to the faculty and staff of PCP who had been "extremely helpful in leading me toward my professional success. They were outstanding educators and personnel who devoted their valuable time and energy in assuring exceptional teachings at PCP. Even before I graduated from this institution, I had already felt that acquiring the skills from this college would give me a competitive advantage for successful placement and for achieving the highest goals of my career."

Besides his teachers, his brothers in the Beta Chi Epsilon Fraternity are among the persons he could never forget as far as PCP is concerned. He narrated, "Part of my initiation to be inducted into the fraternity was to give three red roses and a box of chocolate to a female student in school whom the fraternity had already chosen before hand. I was also instructed by the fraternity to say to this student that, ever since I first saw her, I began to like her, and I would like to go on a date with her. Subsequently, she agreed and the date was set. On the other hand (and unbeknownst to me) the fraternity had also contacted my real college sweetheart from another school, whom the fraternity also knew. The fraternity also told her about the plan. Meanwhile, I was getting tense and anxious to accomplish the mission. As I was about to enter the meeting place (a small eatery along Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City) that particular day, I saw two women sitting side by side and talking to each other. I recognized them right away; one was my "fraternity date" and the other (Guess what?), was my real girlfriend! At that point, I did not know what to do, so I hurriedly walked away from the place and went back to the fraternity and told them the whole story. Without knowing that I had been set up, I explained to them that because of the situation, I was unable to complete the task as instructed due to the commotion I might have created had I entered the restaurant. Only then did the fraternity tell me the truth."

As an alumnus of this school, he shares this insight: "The future of the Philippines will depend on the involvement of the decision makers with technical issues and their desire to pursue a much higher economic growth in the country… Our future leaders must be able to deal rationally with complex technical challenges and with their impact on social, economic and political issues, public health, and infrastructure of the nation as a whole. To meet all these challenges effectively requires dedication, talent, enthusiasm, and the willingness to compromise with other people to reach a united common goal."

To the Centralistas of today, this is his message: "Our nation needs more students with advanced knowledge of mathematics, science skills, and ability to think independently, to solve non-routine problems, and to work effectively in a team environment. With perseverance, discipline, and hard work, the students now can attain a successful future." Such are the final words of Engr. Antonio, an epitome of success.