6 from Cebu schools top teachers' board

CEBU, Philippines - Six students from Cebu universities topped the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) given last March 11, 2012 in 12 testing centers nationwide.

In the elementary level, Anna Mae Villamor of the University of the Visayas ranked 5th with a rating of 85.80; Gengen Padillo of the Cebu Institute of Technology placed 8th with a rating of 85; and Jan Frelyn Paalisbo of the University of Cebu placed 10th with a rating of 84.60.

For the secondary level, Rogelio Rondina Jr. of the Cebu Normal University ranked 4th with a rating of 86; Jhen Louie Dignos, also of CNU, ranked 6th with a rating of 85.60; and Roxanne Suarez of the University of the Philippines – Cebu ranked 10th with a rating of 84.60.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Board for Professional Teachers (BPT) said the elementary level had a passing rate of 42.46 percent or 13,925 out of 32,798 passed the exams. The passing rate for the secondary level was 24.85 percent or only 7,149 of 28,764 examinees passed the exams.

Villamor who hails from Ladang, Carcar City is the fourth of five siblings. Her father passed away when she was still a sophomore in high school but her mother, a farmer, worked extra hard to send her and her younger sister to school. Their family also faced the challenges of hemophilia, a hereditary genetic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to control blood clotting that has inflicted her two elder brothers.

For two years in college, Villamor remained on top of her class and, on her junior year, was a working scholar at UV as a student assistant. On her senior year, she was among eight of 218 students who were accepted by the KFF Foundation as scholars. KFF Foundation is a non-government organization that helps less fortunate students.

Villamor said she has her mother to thank, first and foremost, for “being there all the time.” She is also thankful to her university for providing her with quality education, as well as her teachers from whom she received an “all out support.”

“Great things happen when you start to dream,” Villamor said, adding, she will “definitely teach in the near future.”

Dr. Nerissa S. Lopez, dean of the UV College of the Education, said the university will give Villamor an incentive for the honor she has brought the school.

Lopez also said that the MET Review Center where Villamor studied for LET will be giving back all the expenses incurred while she was still enrolled in the institution. – (FREEMAN)