Justy Tuquib together with Sir Eddie Moya. Contributed photo | Justy Tuquib
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Teachers are our second parents in school. They also help mold us to become the a successful individual in the future.
This is why Justy Tuquib, 25, a teacher from Bohol, made sure he’d honor the person who inspired him to become an educator.
Tuquib did this by posting a photo of him visiting his former teacher in Bohol last October 7, 2019, two days after Teacher’s Day.
“I took the photo last May 19, but decided to keep it and post in time for Teacher’s Day,” says Justy, now a Senior High School instructor in a university in Cebu.
He recalled the visit to his former teacher, Eduardo “Eddie” Moya, who, according to Justy, taught him how to pronounce the words “chaos,” and “champange.”
“I was really shocked when I saw him. He was thin, and just had a stroke,” Justy added.
Sir Eddie and Justy crossed paths at the Aguining Elementary School, Bohol, when Justy was still a young dreamer.
“I knew about his situation when I went back home in Bohol to emcee for an event, it was then I knew I had to pay him a visit,” he said.
When he went to the house of Sir Eddie, he was nervous at first because of the many things going on in his mind, like Sir Eddie not being able to recognize him.
But everything changed when he heard one familiar voice saying, “Kinsa maning bataa?”
“I’m Justy sir, you don’t recognize me anymore? (I almost cried seeing him),” he said.
Justy introduced himself and named a few of his batchmates it was then Sir Eddie recognized him.
“Ahh you were the one who reads so fast!,” Justy recalled Sir Eddie saying.
It was a moment Justy would remember forever as he hugged his teacher tightly.
“He’s one of the best for me because he went beyond his limitations just for us to learn,” he said.
Justy said he plans to visit Sir Eddie this Christmas and this time bring him gifts and tag along some of their batchmates to just go down memory lane with the teacher who inspired him to become a teacher.
“There’s no other reason why I visited him and posted it- GRATITUDE. I wanna payback the heroes behind the great stories of ordinary people. Sir Eddie is one of them,” says Justy. /bmjo