Dr. Rex Divinagracia Drilon was born in Dumangas, Iloilo on April 21, 1905. On the same year, Jaro Industrial School — the forerunner of Central Philippine College (CPC) — later to become Central Philippine University, was opened in Jaro, Iloilo. The school which was under an American administration will be led later by its first Filipino President Dr. Rex D. Drilon.

Drilon spent his childhood and primary education in Dumangas, his hometown. He finished his secondary education in 1925 and his Associate in Arts (known then as pre-law) in 1927, respectively with honors from Central Philippine College.

He obtained his Bachelor in English (through a scholarship) at Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon in 1931 and his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Master of Arts in Editorial Writing from the University of Missouri in 1937.

He taught in High School and College English classes in the country and abroad—particularly at Central Philippine College from 1938-1939 upon his return to the Philippines. He also served as Assistant Professor of Political Science and Acting Secretary to the President of the University of the Philippines.

He served during the war as an officer of the Panay Guerilla Movement. He resumed his academic work as a faculty in 1945, and also served as Dean, Head, Officer and Director of several units of CPC. CPC formally changed its status into a University on April 1, 1953.

On May 10, 1966 in the historic meeting of the CPU Board of Trustees, the university’s first Filipino president, Dr. Rex D. Drilon, was elected. Dr. Drilon subsequently started his tenure as president on June 1, 1966. His appointment marked the Filipinization of the CPU administration.

His installation into office on April 21, 1967 was administered by his Excellency, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. A fifty-voiced choir sang “This Nation Will Be Great Again” with lyrics written by Rex Drilon himself and music composed by Frederick E. Bieler who also conducted the Festival Chorus.

During his presidency, a momentous event happened. On Christmas day, December 25, 1969, the entire university property – land, buildings and equipment – was turned over by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society to the Filipino Corporation of Central Philippine University. “This was the largest real estate transfer in the history of ABFMS…The deed of donation earned for itself the distinction of being an event without parallel in the history of religious foreign missions. The ABMFS is the first such religious foreign mission to award Filipino title to its properties in the Philippines.”

“A GREAT CENTRAL” was the vision of Rex D. Drilon, his all-consuming passion. When he became President in 1966, it was a turn of a new era characterized by political and social unrest throughout the land. Above all the tumult he nourished his vision and held it high as light in the darkness urging the Board of Trustees, faculty, students, alumni, and friends with the imperative: “We shall move this school as it has never been moved before. Central will be great.” Rex Drilon brought to the Presidency an unparalleled combined acumen of an educator, administrator, and humanitarian.

He was a topflight journalist and political scientist with very strong libertarian and nationalist fervor. He accepted the prestigious yet difficult position prepared with a wealth of administrative experience gained from the places of responsibility he occupied in Central Philippines College and in the University of the Philippines.

President Drilon took his task keenly aware of the role his administration had to play: that of a bridge between the years of American leadership and support, since the founding of the school in 1905, and the unknown future. He very well knew that the success or failure of the University would be his responsibility and that of his Filipino colleagues. In his inaugural address, he appealed for support. In conclusion he said:

“If your Filipino president fails, then the Filipino name is marked
forever.  But if your Filipino president succeeds with your help,
with your loyalty, then the Filipino name shall be honored —
You honor yourselves.”

A staunch advocate of academic freedom, he organized the University Forum where students and faculty could experience what he termed “a free market of ideas.” He allowed students to speak their minds with “no holds barred+ and encouraged the students to write and express themselves in the Central Echo on university policies and student problems, as well as on problems of the local and national governments. He was a humanitarian of the highest water, a champion of the less privileged and the underdog but a thorn in the flesh of the arrogant and the sanctimonious and those who would betray the “Central Spirit.”

Dr. Rex D. Drilon died a sudden death on that sad morning of February 21, 1971. Loved and mourned by thousands, he was brought to his final resting place at the Evangelical Garden by a procession of thousands of students, faculty and staff, friends, and admirers, seen as one of the longest ever witnessed by Jaro.

As a final tribute to its first Filipino president, the University bestowed upon Dr. Rex Drilon the Distinguished Service Award, which was presented to Mrs. Independencia Q. Drilon during the 1971 Commencement Exercises. On March 22, 2002, CPU also bestowed a Posthumous Service Award for his faithful and dedicated service.

Rex D. Drilon is remembered in the history of Central Philippine University as the fulfillment of the dream of his predecessors — the Filipinization of administrative leadership. He is cherished in the hearts of thousands he touched with his compassionate life. Indeed, as Nelson and Herradura wrote in Scientia et Fides, The Story of Central Philippine University, Rex D. Drilon is worthy to be called as the “Epitome of the Central Spirit.”

(Compiled by Cyrus A. Natividad and F. Neil G. Jalando-on from the writings of Nelson and Herradura, Scientia et Fides The Story of Central Philippine University, 1981 and Lucy de la Fuente, Central Echo and Link articles)