UP Diliman (UPD) bids farewell to four former faculty members and an administrative staff member: Carlos Ojeda Aureus, PhD, a former faculty member of the Department of English and Comparative Literature (DECL); Elsie S. Ramos, a lawyer and a former faculty member of the Departamento ng Kasaysayan; David M. Kummer, PhD who once taught at the Department of Geography (DGeog); Daniel G. Santos, a lecturer at the Department of Broadcast Communication (DBC); and Ma. Elena C. Ignacio, an administrative officer at the National Engineering Center (NEC).
Aureus passed away on April 23, Ramos on April 24, Ignacio on April 26, and Santos on April 27. Meanwhile, DGeog announced Kummer’s passing on its Facebook page on April 26.
According to a post on the DECL Facebook page, Aureus was a faculty member who “devoted his life to sharing the knowledge he acquired from decades of writing and research, and he will be fondly remembered as an esteemed professor, a generous mentor, and a cherished colleague. A keen observer of shifting social tides, Sir Caloy expressed his astute observations and personal reflections in Nagueños, a collection of short fiction set in his hometown of Naga City on the precipice of the 21st century. He led a simple life and wished to be remembered as a humble public school teacher.”
Aureus started teaching in the University as an instructor at the DECL in 1978. He retired in 2012 but was appointed as a professorial lecturer in the same department until 2014.
According to the March 1994 issue of the UP Gazette, Ramos was appointed as an assistant professor at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in 1994. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history in 1987 and 1992, respectively. She later left the University and pursued a law degree.
DGeog, in its Facebook post, described Kummer as a “Fulbright scholar, [part of a] peace corps, professor (Westchester, NY; UP Diliman), friend, ally, mentor, guardian, and geographer.” The October 1978 issue of the UP Gazette stated he was appointed as a “visiting instructor… at the College of Forestry of UP Los Baños.”
Meanwhile, Ignacio had been serving at the NEC since 2021. Prior to that, she was an assessor at the Philippine Quality Award of the Department of Trade and Industry and an administrative officer at the UPD Department of Geodetic Engineering (DGE).
For her excellent service at the DGE, she was given the college’s performance-based award for three consecutive years (2017 to 2019).
Ignacio was part of the NEC Management Committee and was NEC Anti-Red Tape Act focal person when the center was recognized by the UPD Committee on Anti-Red Tape for its valuable contribution in ensuring the University’s compliance with the requirements of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
The DBC Facebook post said Santos “was the director of communication at the Philippine Information Agency [PIA] and served as our lecturer in the 1990s.”
The PIA Facebook post said Santos was “a former staff director of the PIA Indigenous and Special Media Division.”
