Dr. Leticia Bianito Ursua

Dr. Leticia Bianito Ursua

Communication Educator

 

Dr. Leticia Bianito Ursua is a Leyteña by birth, but as fate would have it, she ended up graduating in her elementary years in Tacloban City, her high school studies in Mandaluyong, Rizal, and her collegiate days at UP Diliman.

 

Being a daughter of an ordinary soldier, a strange twist in her journey railroaded her destiny and ended up as a graduate of Bachelor in Secondary Education degree at the University of the East, Manila. In dire need of a job, the city girl now suddenly found herself negotiating primitive country roads -- hole-filled and bumpy, powdery with dust in summer and heavily muddy during the rainy season -- as a lowly teacher at Tococ High School in the barrio of Tococ, Bayambang.

 

One time, she recalls, she was too late to take the last carromata ride going to town, so she had no choice but to walk all the way home. One carromata going that way was too full to take her in, so she took the difficulty on the chin. But she heard something that she'd never forget. A group of women mockingly laughed at her, saying, "Oh poor city girl. Why did she have to come here, anyway?"

 

In Bayambang, she met her husband, Mr. Greg Ursua, who served as Community Affairs Assistant at the Office of the later Governor Aguedo Agbayani and also as Human Settlement Officer of Bayambang. The couple established a modest home and grow a family near Estacion (now Zone V).

 

Dr. Ursua was a hardworking and ambitious teacher. She seized every opportunity to advance in her career. Her rise was fast.

 

In 1971, she transferred to Bayambang National High School which was then one of the biggest high schools in Pangasinan as a teacher of English. At BNHS, she became, among other things, the adviser of the official school organ, "The Leader," a Master Teacher I. She was also an Outstanding Teacher awardee.

 

Then in 1985, she transferred to PSU when the whole campus was still a College of Education.

 

Apart from being a professor of English in the Languages Department of PSU, she had also teaching load in the PSU Laboratory High School where she also became principal for one year. She has always been in the world of campus journalism both in the secondary and collegiate levels.

 

Her name is a legend among school paper advisers representing the PSU Lab High School, Banyuhay, and the PSU college paper, The Reflector.

 

To her name are appended a master in Education, a major in English degree earned at PSU, a Doctor of Education degree Major in Higher Education and a Dip.TESOL certificate granted er on scholarship from the SEAMEO-Regional Language Center, Republic of Singapore.  She has authored books in Speech and in Language Teaching, all with copyright and ISBN.

 

She was a veteran adviser and organizer of various schools press conferences at the division, regional, and national levels several times over.

 

The peak of her career speaks of her as Professor 6, an enviable post any professor would aspire for.

 

She retired as the Director of Institutional and Planning and Public Relations Office of the PSU-Main Office in Lingayen.

 

She remains busy even after she has retired from a state university. She’s presently a professor at the University of Luzon Graduate School. Moreover, she is the Media Affairs Officer of the local government of Bayambang, where she provides valuable assistance through her media connections and insightful advice on writing and related matters.

 

Among other pursuits, she sat as President of the Rotary Club of Bayambang during the Rotary Yer 2016-2017. She is still an active member of the Club up to now.

 

She was also a recipient of Outstanding Professional of the Municipality of Bayambang Award.

 

Outside of her chosen profession, Dr. Ursua is, of course, a loving mother to Lily Luz and Aris (both PSU Elementary Lab alumni) and grandmother to an architect, Deniese, a medical doctor, Ira, and an engineer, AJ.

 

The wisdom she gained through the years shines through in every facet of her life, a life well-lived because it is lived to the fullest, to the best of the multiple abilities she was gifted with.

 

Dr. Ursua and her husband had also helped several students as scholars, among whom were relatives, Vangeline Bianito Valdez, Lilibeth Bianito Munda, and Roxcell Mamita de Guzman, and non-relatives and total strangers, Lincoln Ariz and Jane Balatico Buya from Dasol, Melanie Padilla Donayre from Sta. Barbara,

Precy Maningding Fortez from Calasiao, and Jesus Soriano from Brgy. Tambac, Bayambang.

 

Lincoln Ariz is now the grade school department Principal of Lourdes School Mandaluyong. Melony was a faculty in PSU Bayambang before she taught in South Korea and later moved to Texas, USA. Vangeline, Lilibeth, Roxcell, Jane, Precy and Jesus serve in the public schools.