ON OCTOBER 26, 2019, the Sigma Tau Mu Sorority of the Fraternal Order of St. Thomas More of the Ateneo de Davao University College of Law celebrates its 50th Anniversary, half a century since I founded it in 1969.
The story of how the sorority came to be, however, began two years before, in 1967 when the Tau Mu Fraternity was born.
Nine friends, Berting Sarenas and Ramon Alojipan in their senior year, Roger Fernandez, Ben de Guzman, Jess Albacite, Rudy Raymundo, and Rudy Ylaya, who were in the junior year and my classmates in the sophomore year, Ed Dacanay and Larry Ilagan organized and founded the Tau Mu Fraternity on July 29, 1967.
They named their fraternity with the Greek letters Tau and Mu in honor of St. Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England; the lawyer-saint who was martyred when King Henry VIII had him executed for refusing to recognize the king as the Supreme Head of the Church of England in rejection of the Pope.
St. Thomas More’s famous words in choosing his faith over his king, “I am the king’s good servant but God’s first”, became the motto of the Fraternal Order of St. Thomas More.
All of the nine were my close friends and constant companions but since they organized their fraternity, they had many activities and outings that excluded me as well as other female friends.
I kept nagging them to allow me to join but they flat out refused saying that a woman could not be a member of their fraternity. This was still in the late 60’s when feminism was not yet politically correct and, in fact, women in law school were more the exception than the rule. When I was a freshman, there were only two of us though a third student also enrolled later but by the time I got to my senior year, I was the only one left in the batch.
If they, the boys, thought I would take their refusal to allow me to join sitting down, they were dead wrong. It took me some time but in 1969, I finally organized the Sigma Tau Mu Sorority and became its sole lady founder.
The first batch of female law students who joined me were Atty. Josefina Brandares-Almazan, Judge Andrea Estela Asistido-Dela Cruz Delia Llanes, Girlie Juson-Picio and Atty. Marcelinda Omila-Yap. They became my first Tau Mu sisters.
At that time, I, and even the nine founding fathers of the fraternity, would never have believed that what we started would grow as it has and, after 50 years, the sorority alone already has nearly 700 members.
What is more, many of our members have dedicated their lives to illustrious careers in the legal profession. Many, like me, joined the judiciary while many more were successful in private practice as well as in public service and I dare say all have never lost the sense of family as sisters in our sorority.
In telling this story, I cannot help but swell in pride, not of my own achievements but because of the unbelievable growth of the family I started, this grand group of women all ready to answer the call “For the Sor, For the Sor, For the Sor!!!” (Judge Virginia Hofileña-Europa)