Correspondent Cris Evert Ruffulo led CDN’s storytelling session on Wednesday held at the J Centre Mall in Mandaue City.
Heroism was the central theme in last Saturday’s Story Hours as 20 children from St. Dominic Savio School of Lapu-Lapu City and Don Calixto C. Yongco Sr. Memorial Elementary School in Mandaue City spent an afternoon of listening to a story and writing their own stories inside J Centre Mall.
The story of boy hero, Keybird Padilla, who helped policemen capture the robber who took a schoolteacher’s pair of earrings, was read to the schoolchildren.
The real-life story, which happened in August 2003, narrated how Padilla quietly followed the man to his hideout and reported the place to a watchman which led to the arrest of the robber.
This brave act earned Padilla the moniker “Batang Bayani” or Boy Hero and earned him a college scholarship, an award from the Cebu City government, and several articles published on Reader’s Digest and local newspapers.
His life story was also aired on ABS-CBN’s drama anthology, Maalala Mo Kaya.
With his mother Rowena, Padilla used to live on the streets of Barangay Ermita located near the Carbon market, Cebu City’s biggest public market.
Last March 2017, Padilla graduated with a degree in Information Technology from the Asian College of Technology (ACT).
Now 25 years old, Padilla works as a junior programmer of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.’s microfinance program.
“I hope that my story can serve as an inspiration to other children … that they will strive hard to finish their studies and do their best to serve the community,” he says.
Writers
The storytelling session is part of Story Hours, a literacy development initiative of the Basadours, Cebu Daily News and J Centre Mall which brings together children from public and private schools in Metro Cebu area.
After the storytelling session, children had their chance to create their own stories with the assistance of the Basadours. They wrote heroic stories on “Super Teacher,” “Dog Power,” “My Papa, My Hero” and “Fireman to the Rescue.”
Mother Rowena Doliente accompanied her daughter Nesha Faith to attend the session. They live in Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.
“I was smiling the whole time because I saw that my daughter was having fun. I saw her actively participating in the group activity and contribute to the story,” says Doliente, 38, who originally hails from Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.
She said Nesha Faith loves to write her own stories, and Story Hours reinforced her love for the written word.
Books
It was also emphasized to the children that heroism does not only involve dying for the country like what our national heroes Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal did.
One can be a hero by doing simple acts of goodness and kindness every day.
Apart from storytelling and story writing sessions, Story Hours is also a venue where children from the private schools donate books to children from the public schools.
Grade school teacher Anna Mae Auxtero, who represented Don Calixto C. Yongco Sr. Memorial Elementary School, was teary-eyed when she accepted the books and expressed her gratitude to the children and parents of St. Dominic Savio School.
“I didn’t know that there are people like the organizers of this event who think about small but inspiring ways to help those who are in need,” says Auxtero, a 25-year-old public school teacher.
Straight from her graduation at the Cebu Normal University in 2012, Auxtero decided not to pursue the life of a teacher and applied for a job as a call center agent until the teacher’s calling knocked on her door in 2015.
She gave up a job that pays more than her current salary. She has been teaching for two years.
Teaching in a public school located in the upland barangay of Tawason, Mandaue City, taught Auxtero the values of patience and determination.
She says Barangay Tawason can be accessed from Barangay Talamban in Cebu City. Except for motorcycles, there is no other means of public transportation going to their school from the Mandaue City center.
“I am overwhelmed and happy that some of our children are here to experience this. There are only a few of them who came because it costs P20 for a motorcycle ride from Tawason to the city. A lot of families cannot afford that,” she says.
Auxtero juggles the work of a Grade 1 adviser, school paper coach, Boy Scout advancement counselor and Mother-tongue Based Multi-Lingual Education coordinator in line with the implementation of the K to 12 program.
The storybook “Keybird: Ang Batang Bayani” written and illustrated by volunteers of the nonprofit organization, Basadours, which advocates for literacy development, is in Visayan and English.
The group is still looking for funds to print the storybook and distribute to schools and reading centers.
Last Saturday’s event was the 12th and the last session of the second run of Story Hours under the current partnership of Basadours, CDN and J Centre Mall.
A culmination activity will be held on September 30 which includes an exhibit and presentation of a book that will compile the stories written by children in the yearlong Story Hours run.