DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 August) – Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana has been elected as member of the Board of Trustees of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU), along with Fr. Guillrey Anthony “Ernald” M. Andal, SJ.
The new Trustees were elected during a special meeting on August 12 and will serve until February 14, 2026, according to Memorandum 2023-050 of outgoing university president Joel Tabora, dated August 16 but released on August 18.
Tabora said Andal, President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, and Maglana, governance, peace and development worker, “will play a crucial role in shaping our institution’s future.”
Maglana’s term started on August 14 while Andal’s starts on September 15 when
Tabora vacates his seat at the end of his term as University President.
Taking over as ADDU President is Fr. Karel San Juan, former President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. San Juan is an incumbent Trustee.
When the two seats were vacated, the Board of Trustees acknowledged the “importance to nominate and select two new Trustees, individuals whose credentials, expertise, and unwavering dedication align seamlessly with the University’s vision and mission, who are to serve until the remaining term of the two seats until the annual corporation meeting (in) February 2026.”
Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana, newly-elected member of the Ateneo de Davao University’s Board of Trustees.
Maglana finished AB Philosophy at the ADDU where she was a Dean’s lister. Her former teachers continue to praise her for maintaining high marks even as she was a high-profile student activist.
Maglana was Outstanding Student of ADDU’s Philosophy Division in 1987 and 1988, Most Outstanding Student of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1988 and was Best Debater in the 1986 Speechfest.
She served as President of the ADDU’s Samahan Central Board for two terms, was founding chair of the Davao Alliance of Student Councils, national chair of the 4th Buklod Atenista and Vice Chair for Mindanao of the National Union of Students of the Philippines.
She returned to ADDU in 2011 to take up MA in Anthropology, Major in Environmental Anthropology where she completed all the academic requirements and the comprehensive academic exams. She also earned some units for Master in Public Management at the University of the Philippines Open University Program.
She wrote a weekly column for SunStar Davao and contributed opinion pieces to MindaNews.
Maglana is also one of the convenors, and spokesperson, of Konsyensa Dabaw, an open movement of groups and individuals from and in Davao who are against dictatorship and martial law.
Maglana challenged the reelection bid of 1st district Representative Paolo Duterte in the May 2022 polls.
Fr. Guillrey Anthony “Ernald” M. Andal, SJ delivers his inaugural speech on his investiture as the fifth President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University on 17 June 2023. Andal was recently elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ateneo de Davao University. Photo courtesy of the Ateneo de Zamboanga
Andal finished grade school and high school at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADDU) and graduated cum laude in management economics also at the ADMU, in 1998.
He worked as branch officer of the Bank of the Philippine Islands from 1998 to 2003. He joined the Society of Jesus in 2003 and was ordained priest in 2014.
His graduate and ecclesiastical studies included a Bachelor’s Degree in Sacred Theology at Loyola School of Theology in 2014, Summa Cum Laude, which he followed up with a Masters in Pastoral Ministry also at the ADMU.
Andal served as political program development officer of the Simbahan Lingkod ng Bayan, was a radio commentator at Radio Veritas, executive director of the Jesuit Music Ministry, Asst. Parish Priest of the Parish of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace in Zamboangita, Bukidnon, and School Director of St. Isidore High School in Zamboangita.
Andal completed his doctoral studies in education (EdD) at the Jesuit University of Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles in the USA in 2020. His dissertation was “Leading from the Margins: The Educational Leadership Experiences of Jesuit Directors of Mission Schools in the Philippines and the Implications for the Leadership formation of Jesuit Leaders.”
The ADDU board is chaired by Benjamin Lizada. The other board members aside from San Juan, Maglana and Andal, are Atty. Laisa M. Alamia, Jamela Aisha L. Alindogan, Atty. Abelardo L. Aportadera, Jr., Ruben A. Bangayan, Fr. Antonio M. Basilio, SJ., Fr. Jessel Gerard M. Gonzales, S.J., Fr. Robert Rivera, S.J; Fr. Archimedes A. Lachica, S.J., Fr. Robert Rivera, S.J., Lourdesita Sobrevega-Chan, Ph.D., Fr. Mars Platino Tan, S.J., and Fr. Primitivo Viray, Jr., S.J.. (MindaNews)
