Grateful teacher gives Gullas 'beso'

Not only were there handcrafted slumbooks and thank-you cards as gestures of gratitude demonstrated by Mandaue City public school teachers to former Cebu first district Rep. Jose Gullas for his lobbying of House Bill 2542 or the Act Regionalizing the Department of Education Payroll Service Division. There was also a teacher from the Mandaue City School for Special Children who "mustered the courage to give Gullas a buss on the cheeks."

Maria Elena Bonocan, 43, said, "bahala na'g unsa'y ilang ikasulti sa akong pag-beso-beso ni Sir. Ako lang gi-express kon unsa kadako akong pasalamat sa iyang gihimo sa dihang naa pa siya sa Kongreso."

Bonocan narrated, eyes welling with tears, that she took almost 10 months leave from work in order to attend to her child who was set to undergo an open-heart surgery in the United States. The moment she came back to the Philippines after the operation, she hoped against hope that her salary was already deposited in her account. To her surprise, she was informed that the money would be released in the following month.

"Wa gyud ko mag-expect nga sunod buwan na-a na diay ang akong sweldo. Before, it would take four to five months una namo madawat among sweldo. If not for the immediate release of my salary, asa naman pud ko mangita og kwarta para ipalit og medisina ug pagkaon namo? Nahurot-hurot gyud ang among tinago-an sa pagpatambal sa akong anak," Bonocan explained.

Last October 9, Gullas paid the Mandaue City Central School a visit to meet the 108 elementary and secondary public school teachers to personally thank them for the cards and slumbooks that expressed words of gratitude for his lobbying of the regionalization of payroll system.

Before Gullas gave his message to teachers in a short talk, he shook hands with them one by one. But Bonocan did not only shake hands with Gullas. Instead, she pressed a cheek onto Gullas' as a way of expressing her gratitude to the former congressman.

The Mandaue City School for Special Children has 300 special children. The school is committed to providing quality and equal opportunity education for children with mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, behavioral problem, learning disability and the handicapped.

Upon learning that those attending the school are children mostly of economically challenged families, Gullas vowed to provide them with twice-a-month meals.

"Handicapped children are close to the heart of my mother (Josefina Rivera Gullas)," he said.

Recently, It was learned that the University of the Visayas where Gullas sits as executive vice president will adopt the Mandaue City Central School as its sister school. The former congressman will also adopt personally the Mandaue City School for Special Children.