10 Facts About Pedro Orata

Pedro Tamesis Orata was a Filipino educator known as the Father of Barrio High Schools.

Pedro Orata is the founder of the Urdaneta Community College, the country's first community college, and a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1971.

Pedro Orata supported his studies by working on a railroad gang, washing dishes, and through a partial pensionado support from the Philippine Government.

Pedro Orata finished the bachelor's degree in education at the University of Illinois and the master's and doctor's degrees at the Ohio State University.

Pedro Orata was first assigned at Bayambang Normal School but was sent to the Philippine Normal School in Manila.

Pedro Orata was appointed as Division Superintendent of schools in Isabela in 1928 and in Sorsogon in 1931.

Pedro Orata returned to the United States in 1934 and taught at his alma mater, Ohio State University, until 1936.

Pedro Orata gathered doctors, lawyers, engineers, pharmacists, and other professionals to establish a school in a roofless church divided into four sections by lines drawn on the floor.

In 1948, Pedro Orata was appointed as a staff member of the UNESCO in Paris and in 1960 was designated as the first Dean of the Graduate School and then director of curriculum development at the Philippine Normal College.

Pedro Orata founded the Urdaneta Community College in 1966 with the support of the municipal government using the proceeds from the town's fiesta celebration.