# List of Central Philippine University people

The following is a partial list of notable Central Philippine University people. The list includes associated people of the university which includes alumni, professors, faculty members and other people who were conferred with honorary degrees which are known as Centralians. Notable people of the university include:

## Alumni and associated people

| Name | Notability |
| Jose V. Aguilar | First Filipino recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Asian equivalent of Nobel Prize) for his work as the "Father of the Community School Movement" and served as consultant on Elementary education and later to the UNESCO Consultative Mission to the Philippines |
| Leo Tito Ausan Jr. | Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines) and former Philippine Consul General to Germany |
| Alexis Belonio | Filipino inventor, engineer, scientist and the first Filipino Rolex Awards for Enterprise awardee. He was included also by the Rolex watchmaking company on its list of 10 model innovators in November 2008; one of the first seven modern day Filipino heroes awardees and recipient of the first ever Yahoo! Philippines Pitong Pinoy Awards in 2011 |
| Lejo Braña | first Filipino Certified Professional in Packaging; first Filipino and Asian to receive a prestigious award in the packaging community in the United States and worldwide of being elected to the US Packaging Hall of Fame. |
| Ferjenel Biron | Former Iloilo fourth district congressman; author of cheaper medicines bill in the Philippines |
| Hernan Biron | Iloilo fourth district representative (congressman) |
| Leonor Briones | Former Presidential Adviser for Social Development with Secretary/Cabinet Rank, former National Treasurer of the Philippines and present Secretary of the Department of Education (Philippines). |
| Nicasia Cada | One of the first three nurses who graduated from a nursing school in the Philippines |
| Dorotea Caldito | One of the first three nurses who graduated from a nursing school in the Philippines |
| Glenn Catedral | First Filipino Recipient of the American Field Service Scholarships in 1956 |
| Peter Irving C. Corvera | Present Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) – Philippines Undersecretary for Public Safety and Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines) awardee). |
| Rodolfo Ganzon | first popularly elected City Mayor of Iloilo and Senator of the Philippines |
| Felipa De la Pena (Gumabong) | One of the first three nurses who graduated from a nursing school in the Philippines |
| Arthur Defensor, Sr. | Present governor of Iloilo Province |
| Hansel Didulo | Assistant Secretary of Department of Agriculture (Philippines) |
| Franklin Drilon | Senator and Present Senate President of the Philippines |
| Katchry Jewel Golbin (Alienette Coldfire) | Third place winner of the 11th season of La France a un incroyable talent (France Got Talent) |
| Hope V. Hervilla | Assistant Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development |
| Enrique Zaldivar | former congressman and Philippine Ambassador to Brunei. |
| Edgar T. Espinosa Jr. | Former Congressman from Guimaras |
| Danny Fajardo | President, editor, and founder of the Philippine renowned and leading newspaper Panay News |
| Daisy Avance-Fuentes | Former congresswoman and present governor of South Cotabato |
| Maria Daziella Gange | Filipina beauty pageant, second winner of the Miss Filipinas Heritage and the second representative of the Philippines to the international pageant search Miss Heritage. She is also hailed as the first winner of the Miss Filipinas Heritage who came from Visayas and Mindanao. |
| Otoniel Gonzaga | Internationally known music virtuoso and tenor singer. |
| Leonor Orosa-Goquingco | Philippine National Artist in Dance, Mother of Philippine Theater Dance and Dean of Filipino Performing Arts Critics; first Filipina and the only dancer sent on the first-ever cultural mission to Japan (1939) and the first Philippine folkloric ballerina or ballet dancer |
| Richard S. Garin | Iloilo first district congressman and former Vice-governor of Iloilo Province |
| Ramona Palabrica Go | United Nations Consul General and the Philippines first female army general in the history of the Armed Forces of the Philippines |
| Jovelyn Gonzaga | Team captain and member of the Philippines women's national volleyball team who battled in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore; member of the Philippine Army Lady Troopers and was named in 2013 as the Shakey's V-League Open Conference Most Valuable Player |
| Eliza U. Griño | The first exchange professor sent to China by the Philippine Government to teach English to university students |
| Benigno Hinolan | writer of the first biography article of the Philippine national hero Graciano López Jaena in 1923 |
| Felipe Landa Jocano | historian and dubbed as the first and foremost Filipino Anthropologist |
| Gilopez Kabayao | Renowned musician (international violin virtuoso); patriarch and member of the musical family, The Kabayaos in the Philippines; Ramon Magsaysay Award awardee |
| Guillermina Kilayko | Female athlete and was acclaimed as the"No. 1 Best Softball Catcher" in 1960s in the country |
| Gregorio Licaros | fourth Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines. |
| Ferdinand Marcos | 10th President of the Philippines. |
| Rosendo Mejica | Renowned Ilonggo and Visayan journalist, educator, and labor leader; considered as the Dean of Visayan Journalists and also established the longest Ilonggo existing newspaper in 1913, the Hiligaynon |
| Genera Elvegia Ruiz Mendoza | first woman Nurse General and Brigadier of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Florence Nightingale Awardee from the International Red Cross |
| Pablo Nava III | Congressman and represents the Append Partylist |
| Alexander Pama | Retired Vice-Admiral of the Philippine Navy and Undersecretary of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) of the Philippines. |
| Custodio Parcon Jr. | Philippine Navy Lieutenant Colonel and one of less than 20 graduates of the Philippine Military Academy to have awarded the prestigious Philippine Medal of Valor by the President of the Philippines |
| Salvacion Z. Perez | Former Governor of Antique Province and congresswoman candidate |
| Reynato Puno | Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Philippines |
| Claro M. Recto | former Filipino senator. |
| Isabelo de los Reyes Jr. | fourth Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church, known as the "Father of Ecumenism in the Philippines". |
| Pedro E.Y. Rio | The first Filipino Doctor of Education degree holder |
| John D. Rockefeller | American business magnate and philanthropist; founder of the Standard Oil Company (which dominated the oil industry and the first great business trust in the United States), the Rockefeller Foundation, and the one who gave a grant in 1901 to the Northern Baptist Churches to establish Central; regarded as the richest person in US history |
| Estrellita B. Suansing | Nueva Ecija 1st District congresswoman. |
| Lucio C. Tan | Chinese Filipino business tycoon |
| Hector Tarrazona | Former colonel of the Philippine Air Force; founding member of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement; 2010 senatorial candidate under Ang Kapatiran Party, and consultant/chief of the Airmen Examination Board at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines |
| Nielex Tupas | National Youth Commission Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer |
| Loreto D. Tupaz | Considered as the one who pioneered the modern Nursing; Florence Nightingale of the Philippines |
| Alfonso A. Uy | Chinese-Filipino businessman; former and first President of Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry who came from the Visayas and Mindanao; recipient and awardee of the Dr. Jose Rizal Award for Excellence in Business and Commerce |
| Spicy Morena Louise Aurelio Vail | Former Filipina woman beauty pageant and the first Binibining Pilipinas winner to place as a semi-finalist (top 15) in the Miss Universe pageant in 1965; (she is also included in the magic five of the said pageant (Miss Universe) in the said year also (1965)) |
| Rene C(artera) Villa | former acting chairman of Local Water Utilities Administration of the Philippines |
| Perfecto R. Yasay, Jr. | Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Philippines) and former SEC chairman of the Philippines (1995–2000) and 2010 Philippine Vice-Presidential candidate; the first public official who stood up against a President of the Philippines on the issue of corruption and abuse of power and EDSA People Freedom Awardee. |
| Calixto Zaldivar | Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. But later than that he also became a Congressman, Governor of Antique province and executive secretary of the President of the Philippines. |
| Enrique Zaldivar | Former congressman and Philippine Ambassador to Brunei. |

## Presidents of Central

| Name | Tenure | Alma Mater |
| William Valentine, D.D. | 1905–1906; 1907–1914 | Colgate University and University of Chicago |
| Charles L. Maxfield, D.D. | 1906–1907 | |
| Francis H(oward) Rose | 1914–1916; 1938–1941 | |
| Henry W. Munger | 1916–1917 | |
| Mary J. Thomas | 1917–1918 | |
| Alton E. Bigelow | 1918–1922 | |
| Harland F. Stuart | 1922–1938 | |
| R. Fred Chambers | 1941–1942 | |
| J. Morris Forbes | 1947–1950 | |
| Almus O(liver) Larsen | 1950–1952 | |
| Peter H. J. Lerrigo | 1952–1956;1957–1961 | |
| Linnea A. Nelson | 1956–1957;1965–1966 | University of California Berkeley |
| Joseph T(urner) Howard | 1961–1965 | |
| Rex A. Drilon | 1966–1971 | University of the Philippines Diliman |
| Agustin A. Pulido, Ph.D. | 1971–1996 | Silliman University and Indiana University |
| Juanito M. Acanto, Ph.D. | 1996–2008 | University of the Philippines Visayas and International University of Missouri |
| Teodoro C. Robles, Ph.D. | 2008–2023 | Montana State University |
| Ernest Howard B. Dagohoy D.Min., M.Div. | 2023-Present | Central Philippine University |