Call her Alessa, of Good Samaritan Colleges

Everyone calls the president of Good Samaritan Colleges (GSC) in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija by her moniker Alessa—and that’s how she prefers it, to not call attention to herself or her position. Everyone who has met Alessa describes her as unassuming, even down-to-earth. Behind the calm demeanor, however, is a no-nonsense higher education institution administrator—experienced and qualified.

“My lola [Catalina T. De Guzman] gets the credit because she had all the business acumen—a pioneer businesswoman who, without pension upon retirement, was just lucky in founding GSC. Lolo [Peregrin P. De Guzman Sr.] was a doctor [Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist]; lola was his patient,” said Alessa. Credit also goes to her father, mentor, and predecessor, Peregrin T. De Guzman Jr., who was president of GSC for 40 years.

“He was the ultimate feminist—my father,” said Alessa. Indeed Peregrin T. De Guzman Jr. was his mother’s son—business savvy and astute manager—so he made sure that Alessa would be ready when it was her time to take the helm of GSC.

Alessa was in elementary school, in third grade, when she decided to be around her father rather than wait for him when he got home from work late in the afternoon or evening.

“I answered the phone in his office, filed his papers,” said Alessa. “I worked for him, with him. He sent me to the bank to open accounts or deposit money. Later I learned that he had called the manager to remind [him or her] not to help me.”

She has been doing work for GSC, not just because she is the granddaughter of the founders nor the daughter of its owner. She has done work in various capacities that an ordinary employee would be either awed or too stressed and quit.

“I would shadow [my father]. I went with him to events. After two years he told me to build the student affairs office. His instruction was for me to ensure that students have a good experience as [Samaritans, of being part of Pamilyang Samaritano or Samaritan Family],” said Alessa.

Alessa’s father did not want her to feel comfortable in an office. His next marching order for her was to formalize GSC’s human resource department.

“He wanted us to take good care of our employees,” she said. By this time, Alessa was not not only familiar with her father’s work ethic, she subscribed to it. Not long after institutionalizing the HRD, she was mandated by her father to focus on marketing GSC

“We did not have brand. We had no tagline,” said Alessa. Now the Samaritan Family is known for their “competence, compassion, and commitment.”

After her stint in GSC marketing Alessa was appointed as Chief Administrative Officer, where she helped “establish units from the ground up.” Later, as VP for Operations, she worked toward GSC’s “strategic redirection as well as partnerships and infrastructure.”

Allies, aspirations

“There’s so much to learn,” said Alessa, when she was elected by the GSC trustees (BOT) to succeed her father who had passed on. “But I am teachable even at my age; I am willing to learn. I seek out opportunities to learn even more.”

Thanking Far Eastern University BOT chairman Aurelio Luis R. Montinola III and FEU president Juan Miguel R. Montinola, she said: “Sir Gigi and Sir Johnny are helpful in building our network. Recently we participated in a leadership summit, where topics such as artificial intelligence and talent management were discussed.” This collaboration, which began last August 25, 2022 when GSC became an official FEU Partner “marks a significant step toward strengthening GSC’s academic capabilities and expanding opportunities for its students and faculty.”

Alessa cited the “overlap of values of both FEU and GSC. We share goals like nation-building and transforming society.”

“Right now we’ve doubled in total population. Yet we are well aware that growth strains processes. Therefore we are working hard to handle such—making sure it doesn’t crash our systems,” said Alessa. If only her grandmother who established GSC initially as a School of Midwifery with only 90 students in 1973 could see her now.

During Alessas’s tenure she hopes GSC will be the employer or college of choice of its stakeholders. She likewise looks forward to “building a future together” with them.

Her sense of fulfillment comes when she sees that GSC has made a difference in the lives of its employees and students. This sense of fulfillment is affirmend when she is told stories of employees being able to buy property, of alumni passing their boards, of previously underperforming students now excelling in scholastic competition.

“We are an agile and resilient community. Things move faster here as my father had always wanted ‘everything to be done yesterday’,” said Alessa. “We have experienced economic difficulty, drop in enrollment, people accepting pay cuts.”

GoodSam is a living testimony of a community’s ability “bounce back,” she said.

Family, faith

“When you’ve seen these hard times, when you’ve been through the worse of times, you become cheerful,” said Alessa. “We thrive in a positive environment. A sense of humor is one’s biggest asset.”

Alessa wears this sense of humor like a badge of armor or honor—claiming that she is not one’s ordinary “child of owner” or COO.

Managing her time is not difficult. Like choosing to be around her father when she was little, Alessa now works well at home as she does in GSC. She divides the week proportionaly between them.

“Mornings are for the kids. Then I usually have working lunches. Afternoons are for meeting with the deans or principal as well as performing administrative task assigned by the BOT. But I have a cutoff, often late in the afternoon, because evenings are for family,” she said.

Those who know Alessa attest that a big part of her personhood is her faith, and her passion to serve others.

“We must keep stress at bay. We could manage it by connecting with others,” she said, recalling how Stage 4 cancer eventually killed her father. “Problems are a part and parcel of life. All we can do is work for solutions, and try our best.”Everyone calls the president of Good Samaritan Colleges (GSC) in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija by her moniker Alessa—and that’s how she prefers it, to not call attention to herself or her position. Everyone who has met Alessa describes her as unassuming, even down-to-earth. Behind the calm demeanor, however, is a no-nonsense higher education institution administrator—experienced and qualified.

“My lola [Catalina T. De Guzman] gets the credit because she had all the business acumen—a pioneer businesswoman who, without pension upon retirement, was just lucky in founding GSC. Lolo [Peregrin P. De Guzman Sr.] was a doctor [Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist]; lola was his patient,” said Alessa. Credit also goes to her father, mentor, and predecessor, Peregrin T. De Guzman Jr., who was president of GSC for 40 years.

“He was the ultimate feminist—my father,” said Alessa. Indeed Peregrin T. De Guzman Jr. was his mother’s son—business savvy and astute manager—so he made sure that Alessa would be ready when it was her time to take the helm of GSC.

Alessa was in elementary school, in third grade, when she decided to be around her father rather than wait for him when he got home from work late in the afternoon or evening.

“I answered the phone in his office, filed his papers,” said Alessa. “I worked for him, with him. He sent me to the bank to open accounts or deposit money. Later I learned that he had called the manager to remind [him or her] not to help me.”

She has been doing work for GSC, not just because she is the granddaughter of the founders nor the daughter of its owner. She has done work in various capacities that an ordinary employee would be either awed or too stressed and quit.

“I would shadow [my father]. I went with him to events. After two years he told me to build the student affairs office. His instruction was for me to ensure that students have a good experience as [Samaritans, of being part of Pamilyang Samaritano or Samaritan Family],” said Alessa.

Alessa’s father did not want her to feel comfortable in an office. His next marching order for her was to formalize GSC’s human resource department.

“He wanted us to take good care of our employees,” she said. By this time, Alessa was not not only familiar with her father’s work ethic, she subscribed to it. Not long after institutionalizing the HRD, she was mandated by her father to focus on marketing GSC

“We did not have brand. We had no tagline,” said Alessa. Now the Samaritan Family is known for their “competence, compassion, and commitment.”

After her stint in GSC marketing Alessa was appointed as Chief Administrative Officer, where she helped “establish units from the ground up.” Later, as VP for Operations, she worked toward GSC’s “strategic redirection as well as partnerships and infrastructure.”

Allies, aspirations

“There’s so much to learn,” said Alessa, when she was elected by the GSC trustees (BOT) to succeed her father who had passed on. “But I am teachable even at my age; I am willing to learn. I seek out opportunities to learn even more.”

Thanking Far Eastern University BOT chairman Aurelio Luis R. Montinola III and FEU president Juan Miguel R. Montinola, she said: “Sir Gigi and Sir Johnny are helpful in building our network. Recently we participated in a leadership summit, where topics such as artificial intelligence and talent management were discussed.” This collaboration, which began last August 25, 2022 when GSC became an official FEU Partner “marks a significant step toward strengthening GSC’s academic capabilities and expanding opportunities for its students and faculty.”

Alessa cited the “overlap of values of both FEU and GSC. We share goals like nation-building and transforming society.”

“Right now we’ve doubled in total population. Yet we are well aware that growth strains processes. Therefore we are working hard to handle such—making sure it doesn’t crash our systems,” said Alessa. If only her grandmother who established GSC initially as a School of Midwifery with only 90 students in 1973 could see her now.

During Alessas’s tenure she hopes GSC will be the employer or college of choice of its stakeholders. She likewise looks forward to “building a future together” with them.

Her sense of fulfillment comes when she sees that GSC has made a difference in the lives of its employees and students. This sense of fulfillment is affirmend when she is told stories of employees being able to buy property, of alumni passing their boards, of previously underperforming students now excelling in scholastic competition.

“We are an agile and resilient community. Things move faster here as my father had always wanted ‘everything to be done yesterday’,” said Alessa. “We have experienced economic difficulty, drop in enrollment, people accepting pay cuts.”

GoodSam is a living testimony of a community’s ability “bounce back,” she said.

Family, faith

“When you’ve seen these hard times, when you’ve been through the worse of times, you become cheerful,” said Alessa. “We thrive in a positive environment. A sense of humor is one’s biggest asset.”

Alessa wears this sense of humor like a badge of armor or honor—claiming that she is not one’s ordinary “child of owner” or COO.

Managing her time is not difficult. Like choosing to be around her father when she was little, Alessa now works well at home as she does in GSC. She divides the week proportionaly between them.

“Mornings are for the kids. Then I usually have working lunches. Afternoons are for meeting with the deans or principal as well as performing administrative task assigned by the BOT. But I have a cutoff, often late in the afternoon, because evenings are for family,” she said.

Those who know Alessa attest that a big part of her personhood is her faith, and her passion to serve others.

“We must keep stress at bay. We could manage it by connecting with others,” she said, recalling how Stage 4 cancer eventually killed her father. “Problems are a part and parcel of life. All we can do is work for solutions, and try our best.”

Alessa (center) with her family at her investiture as president of Good Samaritan Colleges.

Alessa delivers a message during the Good Samaritan Colleges 53^rd Foundation Anniversary.