MANILA, Philippines – For six long years, every release of CPALE results brought the same heartbreak for Kristoffer Ian A. Barredo, but what could have ended his dream instead became the reason he finally achieved it after seven attempts.
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| Photo courtesy: Kristoffer Ian Barredo |
Barredo, a 32-year-old educator and entrepreneur from Manila, passed the September–October 2023 Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination (CPALE), turning years of failure into a story of persistence and late-blooming success.
In an exclusive interview with The Summit Express, he shared how discipline, family influence, and repeated setbacks shaped his long journey to becoming a CPA.
He grew up following the career path of his father, from accountancy toward law school, a direction that influenced both his studies and long-term ambitions.
He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is currently pursuing a Juris Doctor degree. His CPA journey began after graduating BS Accountancy from AMA Computer College–Makati.
Originally, accountancy was not his first choice, as he planned to take Political Science as preparation for law school, but his father, also an accountancy graduate, encouraged him to pursue the same degree.
His college years were marked by distractions and a two-year break from school as he explored life outside academics before completing his degree.
Looking back, Barredo admitted that one of his biggest struggles was time management.
“I’m always late and in delay for whatever reasons,” he said. “There are opportunities that lapsed because I’m late. Kaya pati pagiging CPA ko na late din.”
After graduating in 2017, he began taking the CPALE but initially lacked seriousness in his preparation, believing there would always be another chance.
“Meron pa namang next batch,” he recalled, a mindset that led to multiple failures.
The journey became even more difficult during the pandemic, when delays and uncertainty made his goal feel distant and difficult to sustain.
Despite these setbacks, his father remained his strongest source of motivation, consistently pushing him to continue after every failure.
He also carried a guiding principle from his father: “Wag mong hahayaang uuwi kang luhaan dyan.”
It was only in 2023 that he finally committed to reviewing religiously while working full-time.
At the same time, he was completing his Master’s degree in Business Administration and preparing for his proposal defense scheduled a week after the CPALE results.
He reviewed during lunch breaks, extended work hours, and focused heavily on subjects he repeatedly failed in previous attempts.
“I focused on the subjects where I was flunking during the previous six attempts,” he said.
For Barredo, failure was never final.
“For me, there are two effects of failures: it will weaken you or it will make you stronger,” he said. “I always choose to become stronger.”
When the 2023 results were released, he had already prepared himself for another failure.
While checking the list for a friend, he unexpectedly saw his own name among the passers.
After seven attempts, the dream he had chased since 2017 finally came true.
He summed up his journey with a reminder that captured his persistence: “Sometimes, being stubborn is not bad at all. Kahit ilang beses kang bumagsak, laban lang, tuloy para sa pangarap!”
Today, he continues to teach at FEU Alabang while pursuing law studies, hoping to inspire others facing their own struggles.
Sometimes, he says, being stubborn is not a weakness.
Sometimes, it is what keeps a dream alive long enough to come true.
— The Summit Express
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