Featured LPU Davao Employee of the Month: Mr. Erwin Laya
Sir Erwin B. Laya was born in Makati, Metro Manila. His parents are both Ilocanos. His father is from Ilocos Sur whereas his mother is from Ilocos Norte. Even if Sir Erwin’s ethnic root is Ilocano, he never had a chance to learn how to speak Ilocano. As he shared, “I have five siblings and I am second to the youngest. I have one brother and four sisters and majority of us are professionals. One of my siblings is a Medical Doctor, the other one is an Accountant, and the rest have their own businesses. My youngest sister is now living in Australia and she is working in one of the ICT Companies there. Since I’m the second to the youngest in the family, I think I am my father’s favorite because as I can remember, I don’t do any household chores when I was young.”
Sir Erwin would always look up to his parents and describe them as very hardworking. Sir Erwin shared, “My father really tried his best to finish his schooling and really tried his best to work for us. In fact, before he landed in his Managerial position in one of the biggest companies in Makati City, he worked as a part-time Security Guard first in that same company. On the other hand, my mother right now is working in the DepEd (Central Office – Accounting Division). Just like my father, my mother also worked hard for us that she often worked overtime. We even reached the point that my mother and I don’t usually see each other even though we live in the same house. It’s either she’s sleeping when I go home or I’m sleeping when she goes home.” He added, “But then, I realized that they sacrificed a lot just so they can provide all the things that we need and for that, I am so thankful to them.”
Sir Erwin’s parents sent them to a Catholic School and for Sir Erwin, with that kind of Catholic formation, that’s the time where he developed his attitude, dream, and ambition to become a priest someday. Even in his elementary and high school days, he is very active in their church activities and he is also a member of the Boys Scout of the Philippines. He said, “That’s where you will see that at a young age, I was inspired to serve people and that’s why I decided to enter the seminary.” He further added, “But before I entered the seminary, I enrolled in an all exclusive for boys schools from my elementary to high school where I also thought of wanting to experience having female and male classmates, so I decided to take up BS Nursing. I have good grades in my one year in Nursing and even if I only stayed for one year, I already experienced and learned a lot of things.”
Sir Erwin’s parents did not really agree with him when he decided to enter the seminary but he felt the need to do so and so they allowed him. When Sir Erwin was already in the seminary, he shared, “I really cherished and valued my seminary formation. One of the things that I realized when I entered the seminary was that I am used to having a lavish lifestyle and I’m always desiring for more. But when I entered the seminary formation, that’s when I realized and decided to live a simple life and to be contented with what you have and also to detach yourself from the material things.” He added, “I have a lot of realizations when I was in the seminary that I even planned to become a missionary priest. In my seminary formation, they don’t just teach you how to pray, to educate you, to form you to become a good priest but they also prepare you for your ministry and for yourself to become a better person and that is one thing that I always value. All the experiences, the joy, and the pain in the seminary formation helped me to become a better person.”
But after more than eight years in the seminary, Sir Erwin decided to leave in the formation house because personally, he realized that the religious formation is not for him. He said, “Even though my family and friends regretted that I left the seminary formation because I am almost there with my goal, for me, there are no regrets. I just told them that it’s okay because I am just simply following the Divine’s plan for me.” He added, “I really need to leave the formation house and focus on becoming a layman. But the acts of service still remain in me. In fact, when I was given the opportunity to be exposed in the abandoned communities like in the squatter’s area in Manila, in the Lumad areas in Mindanao, NPA camps, MILF camps, and even in the Abu Sayyaf camps, that’s where I saw what was really the problem in our society and I saw the value of serving without any borders. Whether you are a Christian or Muslim, still, you deserve to be a recipient of service.”
When Sir Erwin decided to leave the seminary, he consulted his spiritual director and his spiritual director advised him that if he wanted to stay here in Mindanao, he should stay in Davao City because of security reasons and that’s the reason why Sir Erwin is now living here in Davao City. Sir Erwin reminisced that when he arrived in Davao City, he had no relatives nor friends here until such time after two months, he got a job in Brokenshire College as a College instructor teaching Philosophy. Sir Erwin said, “After two years of teaching in Brokenshire College, when the population of the instructors is getting bigger, our Dean decided to assign me to become a Discipline Coordinator handling Humanities and Social Sciences. Also, that year, I met my wife. For me, I can say that it’s like destiny. No awkward things happened and maybe our feelings for each other developed because we were always teased by our colleagues. On August 16, 2008, I decided to commit myself. Of course, before I commit myself to a relationship, I really enjoyed my life being single after how many years being inside the seminary. It’s because I promise myself that when I get married, I will really focus my attention on my family. When I and my wife got married, we need to work in different places since it’s in the institution’s relationship of affinity rule and that’s when we decided that I’ll be the one to stay in Brokenshire and she also transferred to UIC.”
Sir Erwin values his 11 long years in Brokenshire. Brokenshire taught him a lot not only in terms of teaching but also in managing and giving all of his best. There are two key positions that Sir Erwin was handling during that time. One was being a Discipline Coordinator handling Humanities subjects and the second was being the Head Student-Employees Discipline Committee. After how many years in Brokenshire, he decided to resign with a heavy heart because Brokenshire really helped him in so many ways. Sir Erwin transferred to PWC but due to some reasons he decided to resign and transferred to St. John Paul II College of Davao and stayed there for two years. After that, he tried to apply to public school/DepEd. As per Sir Erwin, “I’ve waited for too long for the result in DepEd but sadly my application has been misplaced. That’s when I decided to move forward and applied to Christian Colleges of Southeast Asia (CCSA) and got hired and work there for two years. After two years in CSSA, “I said to myself that I need to level up and that’s when I saw a good opportunity at LPU Davao when I knew that they are hiring. That’s why I’m now here in LPU Davao.”
Sir Erwin also has these so-called 5 Essentials in Life that serve as his guiding principles in life. These 5 Essentials in Life are based on his experiences and these are also the things that he’s inculcating to his students, and most especially to his two kids. These are:
- Always be honest.
- Push yourself to be innovative beyond your imagination.
- Do not let opportunities pass you by even the time and the circumstance are not completely right.
- Perform random acts of kindness.
- Be the best person you can be.
As per Sir Erwin, “I’m promoting and applying these Five Essentials in Life to my students as well as to my kids. In fact, the second essential “Push yourself to be innovative beyond your imagination” is special to me because I don’t imagine myself being an editor but then I became one. While leaving my worldly life here in Davao City, especially when I was still in Manila, I was a former Magazine editor of Diwa Scholastic Press. I handled Alitaptap magazine and this magazine was one of the Scholastic magazines of Diwa Scholastic Press for Social Sciences in Elementary. Aside from that, I was also a lifetime member of the International Philosophy Organization which is the International Society for Philosophers, and was given the chance to be a guest editor in one of the open electronic journals for Philosophy and that’s when I realized that I did it. That’s why I am really promoting my 5 Essentials in Life as my advocacy because I believe that by following these, I know everyone can be successful and that is also what my mother taught me.”