The pursuit of perfection is one great goal that men and institutions live for. It is one great abstraction that continually challenges men, both the great and the unreckoned, into the realization of dreams and ambitions. It is the one great law that molds the destiny of men and societies.

To FERNANDO G. BAUTISTA, this pursuit of perfection is his vocation.

His struggle began on March 10, 1908 in Tondo, Manila. Born to poor and unschooled parents, Placido Bautista and Benedicta Gonzaga, he worked himself through elementary school as a bootlack and newsboy, and through high school as a plumber. Winning his initial struggle for an education, he decided to dedicate himself to a career of educating the youth of our country.

He prepared for this career in the Philippine Normal School while he still worked as a plumber. Then, in 1928, he was graduated as an honor student, thus beginning his career as an educator.

Teaching in the elementary grades during the daytime and studying in the University of the Philippines at night, he became a Model and Demonstration Teacher in Drawing, Grade II, and Mechanical Drawing, Grade VII. He also revised the Courses of Study in Industrial Arts for Grades V-VII prior to his graduation as a Bachelor of Science in Education at the U.P. in 1934 to 1935 and was a Teacher in Reading, Grade VII, from 1934 to 1935 and was a Teacher of Special Detail in the Curriculum Division, Bureau of Public Instruction, during which he achieved his Master's degree in Education from the U.P. in 1936. He rose to become the assistant principal of the Gregorio del Pilar Elementary School, and finally to principal his own school, the Rizal Elementary School, in 1937 to 1940. He was an instructor in the U.P. College of Arts and Sciences in Baguio when the Second World War broke out.

The war years did not change his career, nor his vocation. The situation made him realize the greater need of educating the youth especially because, soon, he knew, the country would be independent. After the war, in 1946, he helped establish the Baguio Colleges. Further realizing the need for expanding educational institutions, he established the Baguio Tech in 1948, thus making his career as an educator his true vocation.

In 1969, the 21^st anniversary celebration of the foundation day of the institution he founded and nurtured, Baguio Tech became the University of Baguio. His investiture as the first President of the University of Baguio marks his formal rededication to the cause he has served so well.

As a professional educator, "Ding" Bautista has been accepted into the Phi Delta Kappa, Manila, Philippines Chapter. He had served as President of the Baguio Educational Council; President of the Philippine Association of Private Technical and Vocational Institutions; Director and Finance Chairman of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities; and Delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention representing Baguio and Benguet.

In involving himself with civic organizations and movements, he has also served as Vice President of the Philippine Normal School-Philippine Normal College Alumni Association; Chairman of the Baguio General Hospital Advisory Board; Chariman of the Health and Recreation Committee of the Baguio Development Board; past President of the Rotary Club of Baguio; past Knight Commander, Order of the Knights of Rizal, Baguio Chapter; President of the U.P. Alumni Association, Baguio Chapter; President of the Boy Scout of the Philippines, Baguio Council; and Chairman, Committee on Cultural Aspects of the UNESCO Center in Pangasinan.

He has extended his vocation from the enrichment of the mind to the development of the body so that he has consistently participated in the promotion of sports as: President of the PRISAA from 1959 to the present; Director and Vice President of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, 1962-1968; Head of the Track and Field Team sent to the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, 1962; and an Official Delegate to all Asian and Olympic Games since 1958.

He has also represented the Philippines as Delegate to the International Congress on Health, Physical Education, and Recreation in Jakarta, Bangkok, Tokyo, Rome, Mexico, and Munich, and was Head Delegate to the International Amateur Athletic Federation in Mexico City.

Through all these years of dedicate service to his career, to his profession, to his vocation, and to his chosen task for his countrymen, Fernando Bautista has been assisted by his fellow educator and dedicated, loving wife, Rosa Castillo Bautista, who has mothered seven sons: Fernando Jr., A.B. Economics (U.P.) and M.A. Economics (Fordham University); Benjamin, B.S. Architecture (National University); Reynaldo, B.S. (Ateneo) and M.A. (U.P. and Centro Escolar University); Leonides, A.B. (U.P. and Baguio Tech); Herminio , B.S. Chemical Engineering (La Salle); Virgilio, BSBA (U.P.) and M.S. in Mangement (Renssealaer Polytechnic Institute); and Joselito, still a student in U.P.

FERNANDO BAUTISTA, First President of the University of Baguio, stands today as a living paragon of the Filipino – as son, as student, as husband, as father, as educator, as a man, the basic molder of society.