28/05/2026
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๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐. I. CARRYING MORE THAN HIS OWN DREAMS. At first glance, Marcelo Panaguiton Cruz looks like someone many students in college would simply call โKuya.โ At 48, he moves a little slower than most of his younger classmates at the Iloilo State University of Fisheries Science and Technology (ISUFST) Main CampusโPoblacion Site. Some days, there are visible traces of hospital work on his arms. Some days begin with checkups and hospital visits before Marcelo quietly returns to school and sits through another class. He rarely complains. Yet behind that quietness is a life shaped by poverty, sickness, loss, sacrifice, and a deep refusal to surrender.
Long before he became a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) student, Marcelo was already carrying responsibilities heavier than most teenagers ever should. Growing up in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, he learned early that survival was not romantic. It was sweat in rice fields. It was long afternoons selling snacks and fruits. It was labor in sugar plantations at Hacienda Fiametta while other young people his age worried about school dances or weekend outings. โGrowing up in a financially challenged family, I supported myself by selling snacks and fruits and by working in rice fields and sugar plantations,โ he recalled.
He graduated from Barotac Nuevo National Comprehensive High School in 1995, but college had to wait. Life demanded something else from him. His fatherโs medical needs became a priority, and Marcelo left for Manila to find work. There was no dramatic speech about sacrifice then. Like many Filipinos, he simply did what had to be done.
His familyโs story carried wounds that would break many people. His eldest brother, a rebel returnee who later served in the Philippine Army, disappeared in 1999 and was never found. Another brother was killed in an ambush in Capiz in 2002. His older sister died during the Tatalon massacre in 1985. Years later, their father passed away. Through all of these, Marcelo remained standingโnot because life became kinder, but because someone in the family had to keep going.
At 18, he worked at Ever Supermarket and SM Department Store as a salesman, warehouseman, and customer service clerk. He later joined CLCMV under the Giant Carrier HomeSuite brand and climbed his way up through persistence and discipline until he became a regional head. It was not glamorous work, but it taught him something many schools cannot easily teach: dignity in labor.
Then came Saudi Arabia.
In Riyadh, Marcelo spent years working first as a salesman and later as a store manager. The adjustment was difficult. Different culture. Different language. Different people. Marcelo worked with people from many countries, yet many of them shared the same quiet reality of overseas work โ enduring homesickness while trying to provide for family back home.
To keep expenses low, he often waited for closing-time discounts and survived on instant noodles. Fellow Filipinos working in fast-food chains would sometimes quietly hand him meals. He stayed in small crowded rooms just to send more money home. โLife abroad required many sacrifices,โ he recalled, almost as if he had already accepted hardship as normal.
When Marceloโs father died in 2010, he faced a painful choice. The money for a plane ticket home became burial assistance for his family instead. โIt broke my heart not being there,โ he admitted. Some sacrifices happen without anyone noticing.
When Marcelo finally came home, he focused on caring for his 83-year-old mother, a PWD. He tried rebuilding through a small piggery business, but the outbreak and the pandemic eventually destroyed it. Life once again forced him to start over from scratch. Yet he still chose to continue.
II. RETURNING TO A DREAM DELAYED
At an age when others were preparing for retirement, Marcelo was just beginning college life.
For him, education was unfinished business.
โWhen I was younger, I was not able to continue college because I had to work early and help support my family,โ he shared. Returning to school was not about chasing prestige. It was about reclaiming a dream life interrupted decades earlier.
What surprised some people was why he chose ISUFST.
Back when the institution was still known as ISCOF, Marcelo heard people underestimate it compared with larger universities in Iloilo. But instead of being discouraged, he became more determined. โI wanted to help prove that a school from Barotac Nuevo can also produce world-class students,โ he said. โA personโs success does not depend on how famous the school is, but on the studentโs determination, hard work, and willingness to learn.โ
That belief mirrors the larger spirit of ISUFST itself. From being known primarily as the countryโs first and only fisheries university, ISUFST has steadily expanded into technology, education, agriculture, innovation, and community development while remaining deeply rooted in public service. Under the leadership of President Dr. Nordy D. Siason Jr., the university has embraced the idea that education should not only produce professionals but also transform lives and communities. Marceloโs journey somehow feels like a living reflection of that mission.
Today, ISUFST continues to earn recognition here and abroad through research, innovation, and inclusive education. But beyond the awards, its real pride is found in stories like Marceloโsโproof that education still gives quiet hope to people fighting hard battles.
Inside the College of Information and Communications Technology (CICT), Marcelo became more than an older classmate. He became โKuya Marceloโ to many students. From first to third year, Marcelo served as PSITS president and focused on projects that could genuinely help students in practical ways.
One of the projects closest to his heart was the PSITS Income Generating Project (IGP), which provided affordable printing services. Marcelo knew how heavy even small expenses could feel for struggling students because he had lived through the same reality himself.
โLeadership is not just about leading, but about serving and helping others,โ he said.
Under his leadership, PSITS also joined outreach activities and mangrove planting programs, combining technology with community and environmental responsibility. Marcelo never treated leadership as performance. He practiced it the way many ordinary Filipinos do โ through useful work done quietly.
III. FIGHTING THROUGH ILLNESS ONE DAY AT A TIME
Then his body began sending warnings.
During his first year at ISUFST, Marcelo quietly carried more than academic pressure. He kept ignoring the dizziness and weakness, believing it was just exhaustion from student life. Then one day, his vision suddenly darkened and half of his body lost sensation. He was rushed to the school clinic, where his blood pressure reached a critical 194/170.
Doctors later diagnosed him with a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA).
But that was only the beginning.
In the months after, he was also diagnosed with severe hypertension, diabetes, enlarged heart and liver, pulmonary fibrosis, depression, and short-term memory loss. He underwent several MRIs and angiograms, and this month, doctors advised angioplasty with three stents.
Even one illness can already break someoneโs spirit. Marcelo has been carrying several. Marcelo received several.
Yet he still attends class.
There are days when he goes to school physically weak after laboratory tests or medical appointments. Sometimes he enters classrooms with bandages still wrapped around his arms. Balancing hospital visits, medications, and school requirements became part of daily life.
โThe biggest challenge is dealing with physical exhaustion while still trying to fulfill my responsibilities,โ he admitted.
But the hardest part, he said, is not his own suffering.
โThe hardest part for me is seeing my mother worry about my condition,โ Marcelo shared. โAfter everything she has already been throughโthe loss of my three siblings and my fatherโI cannot bear the thought of her seeing me in a coffin.โ
That sentence alone carries the weight of an entire lifetime.
Still, Marcelo continued showing up.
At ISUFST, he found not just a school but a community that refused to let him fight alone. His classmates helped him catch up on lessons and projects. Faculty members extended patience and understanding during difficult periods. The university clinic closely monitored his health. Because of safety concerns regarding his condition, his OJT assignment was placed within the school clinic itself where he could be observed properly.
โOur School Nurse Mary June Bracamonte and University Physician Kharlle Jhoen Hautea regularly checked my condition,โ he said gratefully. He also acknowledged Dr. Nina, Sir Facelo, Dr. Diamante, Sir Noel, Sir Bordon, Sir Tormon, Sir Kenth, Maโam Roxanne, Sir Alipe, and many others who helped him continue despite the circumstances.
Those small acts of concern stayed with Marcelo for years. For him, they became reminders that kindness still exists even when life feels exhausting and unfair.
โThat experience taught me that genuine care can help a person survive difficult moments,โ he recalled.
IV. A DIFFERENT MEANING OF SUCCESS
Unlike many stories people see online, Marceloโs journey is not built on instant success or dramatic victories.
It is about endurance.
About a man trying to heal, study, lead, and care for his aging mother while quietly fighting illnesses of his own.
Perhaps that is why his story resonates deeply.
Over time, Marcelo came to define success differently. โSuccess is not measured by how easy the path is, but by how much you endure, persist, and grow through every challenge,โ he said.
Even while struggling himself, he never lost the desire to help others. He extended assistance to relatives needing medicine or school expenses. As a student leader, he tried creating programs that eased burdens for fellow learners. He understood hardship not as an abstract idea but as lived experience.
Perhaps that is why many students felt safe around him.
His classmates describe him not only as resilient but also approachable and thoughtful. The PSITS office, he said, became his โsafe home.โ During breaks, he would stay there thinking about future projects and ways to help students more effectively.
There is something deeply moving about that image: a man carrying illnesses many younger people would already struggle with, quietly sitting in a student office planning ways to help others.
Despite everything he carries, Marcelo now prepares to graduate with quiet dreams for the future. He hopes to earn a Diploma in Teaching, pass the LET, care for his mother, and someday serve others through public service.
Then he said something painfully honest:
โI also hope and pray for more time to live.โ
Those words stay with you.
More than policies or goals, Marceloโs story reminds people that resilience is sometimes just surviving another difficult day.
Sometimes resilience is a tired student quietly choosing to keep going after another hospital visit
Sometimes courage is staying alive for a mother who has already buried too many loved ones.
Sometimes courage is returning to school at 48 because a dream refused to die.
And sometimes, courage looks exactly like Marcelo Cruz quietly walking through the halls of ISUFSTโtired, hurting, hopeful, and still moving forward. (Herman Lagon | Noel Banca | PAMMCO)
The Sea Treasure The CLARION The Blaze-ISUFST DC The Igang Publication Golden Grains- Iloilo State University of Fisheries, Science and Technology
