Mary Therese May G.

Go 20 March 2019
2015-07727

Reflection paper on the life and works of Engr. Alfredo Lazarte Juinio

Engr. Alfredo Lazarte Juinio graduated cum laude from UP ICE in 1939 and took his Master’s
in Civil Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also headed the UP Office of
Campus Planning. The two most famous constructions done in his term are the UP Gateway along
University Avenue and the construction of C.P. Garcia street which is now home to several important
buildings such as the Commission on Higher Education and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology
and Seismology. He, along with other UP Professors, designed and built the Parish of Holy Sacrifice
which is famous for its dome shape. The Parish of Holy Sacrifice is the first thin-shelled concrete
dome in the Philippines and has been declared a historical landmark and cultural treasure by the
National Historical Institute and the National Museum. Engr. Juinio also served as the administrator
of the National Irrigation Administration as well as minister of Public Works and Highways. He
headed various projects concerning the upper Pampanga river basin in Nueva Ecija. He then later
served as the dean of UP College of Engineering where his greatest contributions are the
establishments of the National Engineering Center and the UP Engineering Research and
Development Foundation, Inc.

Looking at the life and works of Engr. Alfredo Juinio, it can be said that he was able to
significantly use his life in the service of Filipino people through his career in CE. Reading about his
life inspired me greatly as a civil engineer in the making. Someday, I would like to be able to contribute
to my university. It may not be as great as Engr. Juinio’s contributions but I do hope that even in my
little ways, through CE, I would be able to make a positive impact on the life of others. I was also
inspired by the fact that he may not have graduated from the university as the top of his class but he
was still able to make significant contribution not only to the field of civil engineering but the whole
engineering field by his insistence of the establishment of the NEC. It is a good reminder that it is not
only the ones at the top that are able to make something out of their life. Everyone has a good chance
to prove themselves successful in the fields they choose to take and the secret to achieving this is hard
work and tons of patience to get there.