City Savings marks anniversary, honors outstanding educators

The awardees with the officials of CitySavings Bank. (CONTRIBUTED)

City Savings Bank honored six outstanding educators during its 50th anniversary celebration last Sunday at Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City.

Being a partner of public schoolteachers since 1966, the bank recognized and honored six outstanding educators, namely: Jenelyn Baylon, an Alternative Learning System (ALS) mobile teacher from Naujan, Oriental Mindoro; Randy Halasan, head teacher of Pegalongan Elementary School in Davao Oriental;  Jesus Insilada, head teacher at Wenceslao S. Grio National High School in Puyas, Cabatuan, Iloilo; Lynn Padillo, chief education program supervisor of DepEd region 5 in Naga City; Anabel Ungcad, an ALS mobile teacher from the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribe in Davao del Sur; and Luisa Yu, regional director of DepEd Region 8 (Eastern Visayas).

The awardees were honored for making a difference in the lives of their students and showing passion to empower their respective communities.

In her 11 years of teaching, Baylon has mentored the deprived, depressed and underserved out-of-school youths and adults in her province. A 2008 honoree of The Many Faces of a Teacher awarded by Bato Balani Fundation Inc., Baylon took the challenge to bring literacy to areas unreached by formal education. She was the first mobile teacher who integrated arc welding and cellphone repair to the Mangyans and taught basic functional literacy, recycling and solid waste management to 12 to 60-year-old minorities in 72 barangays in Oriental Mindoro.

Halasan serves the indigenous Matigsalug tribe in one of the remotest villages in the hinterland barangays of Davao City. The lone Filipino recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2014, Halasan travels seven hours — two hours by bus, an hour over extremely rough roads by motorcycle and four hours of walking, and fords  two treacherous rivers. When he first arrived in Pegalongan in 2007, he was one of only two teachers in a two-room schoolhouse, teaching multi-grade classes between grades 1 and 6. There was no electricity, amenities were primitive and the place had virtually no communication with the outside world. The young novice teacher first thought of seeking  reassignment. But today, nine years later, he is still in Pegalongan. What was once a two-room, two-teacher schoolhouse is now a permanent school with nine rooms, eight teachers and 210 students through Halasan’s efforts.

The third awardee, Jesus Insilada writes about the life of indigenous people and has been active in integrating culture in his writing and teaching. His drive to share knowledge with his learners motivated him to author two books, a poetry and short story collection, both in Hiligaynon, aside from review materials, modules and workbooks he wrote for his class. His novels were serialized in National Publications and adopted by DepEd Region 6. Insilada was conferred as one of the 2014 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teachers and is a three-time recipient of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature.

The fourth educator, Lynn Padillo was acknowledged for her creativity and innovation through programs initiated in the public education sector. A 2008 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher awardee and 2003 Civil Service Commission Pagasa awardee, Padillo has evolved from an ordinary to an empowered public schoolteacher because of her love for her learners. Padillo also  promotes reading among her students.

The fifth awardee, Anabel Ungcad, teaches more than 300 out-of-school youth and village elders. A 2011 honoree of The Many Faces of a Teacher awarded by Bato Balani Foundation Inc., Ungcad is determined to bring education to areas deprived of formal education amidst the challenge of walking two hours everyday from her home to the school. But her drive to give back to members of her community and erase illiteracy one student at a time  strengthens her to conquer these challenges. Ungcad is the first college graduate of her tribe. Today, Anabel sees the significant changes that education has brought to her tribe. People learned to sustain themselves through livelihood programs and are now more civilized.

The last awardee, Luisa Yu was born into a family of educators. She has been involved in the education sector for decades, starting as a primary teacher and attaining the position of regional director of DepEd Region 8. She is the only Filipino to receive the 2015 Albert Shanker Leadership award recently held in Ottawa, Canada. This award is given to a teacher or employee in recognition of his or her personal contribution to education. Her engagement and courage as head of the Education cluster was crucial during the recovery mission after supertyphoon Yolanda hit the Philippines in 2013, devastating infrastructures and leaving thousands of children without schools.