Fr. Florencio Testera, O.P., who held administrative posts in different colleges and faculties in UST across four decades, died on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at the UST Hospital. He was 95.
His death was confirmed by the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary – Binondo Chinese Parish in Manila, where he had served as a parochial vicar.
Testera suffered from septic shock, Fr. Raymond Mi, the vicar provincial of the Holy Rosary Province, told the Varsitarian.
He was admitted to the UST Hospital on July 16 and diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, complicated heart rate and urinary tract infection, according to Mi.
Testera battled with vertigo and Parkinson’s disease for years.
He began his regency at UST in the late 1960s, first at the College of Nursing from 1969 to 1976 and later at the College of Science from 1982 to 1987.
He served as dean of the Faculty of Canon Law from 1979 to 1987 and assistant dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters when Fr. Tomas Martinez, O.P. was dean.
In his later years, Testera led the Lorenzo Ruiz Academy, a Dominican-founded school in Binondo, as director and treasurer.
Lorenzo Ruiz Academy principal Evelyn Lagamayo remembered the kindness of Testera to his students.
“It’s a great loss to us. He’d been a school director, a good regent in UST, and he treated all our students well,” she told the Varsitarian.
Mi described Testera as a “joyful friar with a strong determination.”
“He didn’t lose his humor when we knew he was under great pain, especially during the last 45 days in the hospital,” he said.
Testera arrived in the Philippines from Spain in 1957.
The former regent earned his degree in philosophy in 1950 and theology in 1954.
Testera was business manager of Philippiniana Sacra, the official journal of the UST Ecclesiastical Faculties, from 1972 to 1990.
He authored “Canon Law Digest of the Philippine Catholic Church,” a compilation of decisions promulgated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, published in 1995.
Testera’s remains will be interred at the Santuario del Santo Cristo Parish Church in San Juan on Thursday, Sept. 1. With reports from Sheila May S. Balagan and Hannah Joyce V. Andaya
