4 Cebu grads top CPA Licensure Exam
A mother’s sacrifice paid off for a a 21-year-old working student from Cebu City who placed second nationwide in the Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination.
Antonio Dandan Sanchez Jr. of Inayawan, Cebu City, said he can now find a good job and ask his mother to stop working as a housemaid in Manila.
“Pahunongon na nako siya og trabaho. Ako napod ang motrabaho. Ako maoy mosuporta sa pamilya so mouli na siya,” said Sanchez, who graduated cum laude last March 2010 from the University of San Jose-Recoletos, where he drew a small allowance as a working student.
(I’ll ask mama to stop working. It’s my turn to support the family so she can come home.)
Sanchez got a score of 92 percent in the national exam for accountants, a profession that is much in demand with the business process outsourcing (BP0) boom in Cebu and Metro Manila.
Three other graduates from the University of San Carlos (USC) also landed in the top ten.
Both Hegiño Javellana Chua Jr. and Viktor Xenon Oliva Lequin of USC landed in fourth place with a score of 91.57 percent.
Gilson Ycong Pino, also from USC, scored 90.71 percent and placed sixth.
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced that 2,130 out of 5,259 exam takers passed the CPA Licensure Examination given last May.
Sanchez said he immediately phoned his mother in Manila after the school’s review center informed him of the exam results.
He said Carina was overjoyed, and coming home on Sunday.
Sanchez was a working student since his first year in college to have extra cash for personal expenses. His mother worked as a housemaid in Cebu and Manila, sometimes accepting laundry jobs, to support his studies
His father, Antonio Sr., who stays at home in Cebu, used to work as a baker.
Sanchez is the only son and youngest of four children. His eldest sister is also a working student while the others struggle with financial needs in their studies.
Sanchez recalled that it wasn’t easy for him to pursue his college studies because of financial pressures and that he sometimes wanted to stop, if not for the encouragement of his parents.
The CPA topnotcher was the class valedictorian in elementary school and graduated with honors in high school.
He said he only went out with a few good friends to avoid being distracted.
He advised poor students to always pray, listen to their parents and have the drive to succeed.
Sanchez thanked his family and USJ-R officials for his success, saying he had several teachers who supported him.
For his performance in the CPA exams, Sanchez will receive a P100,000 cash reward, a laptop and other rewards from his school, said Dr. Noe Quiñanola, USJ-R comptroller and director of the school’s CPA Review Center.
Awards will also be given to other school topnotchers in other courses.
Quiñanola said the USJ-R Accountancy Department has consistently produced achievers.
Last year, the no. 1 topnotcher in the CPA exams came from USJ-R and received a P150,000 cash reward from the school.
For the CPA board exam last May 15,16, 22 and 23, Quiñanola said 81 from USJ-R took the exam and 49 passed.
