History of Pila

     
Not content with just being an assistant, Miss Rivera enrolled at the Philippine Normal School in 1902, a year after it was established. As one of its early graduates, she subsequently taught English and literature in her Alma Mater. When the Pila Intermediate School was set up in 1914, Mr. McCloud invited her to become its first principal. (A trusted assistant of Miss Rivera in the school was a mild-mannered Pileño, Mr. Fructuoso Vidal (1893-1994) who was to become the father of Cardinal Vidal of Cebu). Miss Rivera was promoted in 1917 as the assistant dean of the Philippine Normal Hall in Manila. In 1919, she and six other Filipina educators founded the Philippine Women’s College, which became a university in 1932. It was the first private educational institution for women in the Philippines to adopt English as the medium of instruction as well as the first university for women in Asia. Because of her accomplishments in the field of education, Miss Rivera was regarded as “The Pride of Pila” (Gleeck 1881: 44-50, Ruiz 1964, Santiago 1992; Department of Public Instruction 1905: 27-28, Philippine Women’s University 195: 6). (62)
     
Like Miss Rivera, her town mates began to branch out into other professions in the early 20th century instead of confining themselves to supervising their family farms. As a pensionado (government scholar) to the United States, Dr. Manuel Rivera y Rivera graduated in 1913 as a Doctor of Pharmacy from Milton University in Baltimore, Maryland. In the same year, the first lawyer of the town, Atty. Jose D. Relova, received the LI.B degree from the University of Sto. Tomas. So did the first dentist, Gregorio N. Agramon, earn a licentiate in the field at the UST in 1913(University of Santo Tomas Alumni Association 1972: 6-D and 8-D). The first physician, Dr. Teodoro Alava y Rivera obtained his MD. degree from the same institution in 1915.(63)