A Special Feature on Br. Gus 07.18.2007

Turning around the lives of less fortunate youth is one of the strong suits of Br. Gus Boquer FSC, EdD, the eighth president of DLSU-D and DLS-HSC. For the greater part of the past two decades, Br. Gus has worked towards the reformation and rehabilitation of the youth-at-risk by pioneering pursuits such as the Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center, which has brought a significant number of children in conflict with the law back to the right track.

“I started it in Bacolod. There are children with cases in jail. Nobody wants them. Even their parents don’t want them. And so, we start their lives again to [help them] become productive members of the society,” says Br. Gus.

What may sound to be an ordinary temporary shelter is actually the refuge of juvenile delinquents aged 15 to 21, charges against whom range from assault to rape and murder. Obviously not an easy project to bring off, the Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center has evolved through Br. Gus’s 18 years of service in a land that he once called home and where he stayed as president of the University of St. La Salle for eight years.

The good news is that the communities of DLSU-D and DLS-HSC, in line with their thrust to utilize their facilities and resources in service of those in need, will soon be establishing the same kind of support system in Cavite not only for the poor young people of the province but also for the underprivileged boys of Manila and the entire CALABARZON region. The two Lasallian institutions know that a plan of such pharaonic proportion will work only as well as the local and national governments support it, and Br. Gus is taking that lesson into his office.

“I want to relate well with the city and those representing the public in Congress so that we can work as a team. We can help them,” the Brother President says.

Programs of empowerment

Another defining characteristic of the new president of DLSU-D and DLS-HSC is his divergence from the standard priorities of ordinary academe leaders: whereas most administrators tend to be too inward-looking as they focus on the economic and academic concerns of the school, Br. Gus goes out of his way to revolutionize the way poverty-stricken families live by putting into action intervention programs designed to empower people through such projects as small business loan facilities.

“We have one program that [we] started in Negros—for 1,700 families now. Tinuturuan namin silang maging entrepreneurs. It’s a loan that we give them [through funds] that we get from Europe. We train them—for example, sila ‘yung gumagawa ng mga sweets. We teach them how to start a little store. After one year, they return what they borrowed. ‘Yung hiniram nilang Php 3,500, nag-net ng Php 50,000.
So far, it’s 97 percent successful,” he recalls. Now, Caviteños have something to look forward to as Br. Gus promises to put up a similar facility in the province.

Reward for virtue

Both local and international communities recognize the dedication of Br. Gus to helping the less fortunate populations. In 1996, the Government of the US Territory of Guam conferred upon him the highest award that a non-native of Guam can receive, the Ancient Order of the Chamorri, as a tribute to his dedicated service to humanity especially to the poor. It is for the same reason that he was given an honorary doctoral degree in Educational Leadership by the St. Mary’s University in Minnesota, USA in 2006.
In the Philippines, he has just been given commendation by the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan for helping various sectors of the province particularly the marginalized beyond the call of duty.

Elevation of intellectual pursuit

While it is true that Br. Gus devotes much of his time taking care of people who need his help outside the confines of the academic realm, he never loses focus on the direction
that he wants to set for DLSU-D and DLS-HSC in terms of intellectual growth. Positioning both institutions vis-à-vis the leading universities in the country, he wants to lead his team towards attaining full autonomy from the supervision of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Br. Gus is positive that during his tenure as president, DLSU-D will reach Level IV accreditation by the PAASCU and consequently acquire full autonomy from CHED. If that happens, the University will have the freedom to:
• Offer a new course/program in the undergraduate/graduate level/s without securing permit/authority from the CHED
• Establish branch/es or satellite campus/es without the prior approval of the CHED, but with information to the CHED Regional Office where the new branch/campus is to be located
• Offer extension classes and distance education course/program and to establish affiliation with recognized foreign higher education institution/s in pursuit of international standard of education

Leadership of Animation

Leading by example in animating members of the two institutions under his guidance, Br. Gus welcomes excellence in management coming from anywhere and anyone. Like a beaver helping to build a shelter for a colony by bringing in any size of twig that it deems fit, each member is believed to have something to contribute for the betterment of the organization. For this reason, the Brother President puts great value in regular dialogues between himself and all members of his team, down to the rank-and-file and even students.

He also believes in dynamic leadership by way of changing leaders as often as necessary. He explains, “It’s good to change leaders every now and then para bago ‘yung mga ideas na pumapasok.”

This principle is akin to the Far East Asian system of public governance, specifically in Japan and South Korea, in which civil servants up to the director level are assigned different tasks in different departments once every two years. This system has a number of advantages, including continuous flow of fresh ideas in an organization, life-long enhancement of skills and multi-tasking capabilities of all members, and effective prevention of corruption bred by familiarity with the position.

The strong conviction and unchallenged passion of Br. Gus as a leader has been nurtured by more than half-a-century of continuous education. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in Education from DLSU-Manila in 1966, he finished his master’s degree in Educational Administration and Leadership at St. Mary’s College of California in 1981. He also earned a doctoral degree in Education from the University of St. La Salle in 1998 before receiving his honoris causa doctoral degree from St. Mary’s University in the USA in 2006.

In his bid to usher growth and development into the institutions he serves, it has become the Brother President’s wont to make “improvement through infrastructures” and “improvements of the heart,” a rare combination that strengthens an administration made larger than life by the lessons he has learned and eventually taught throughout the world. His virtues have earned him a lot of rewards, but the best is yet to come.

Now that Br. Gus has made Cavite his new home, there is much to celebrate and look forward to. The members of the communities of DLSU-D and DLS-HSC will surely welcome in their lives a Brother like that.