Noble profession

There are indeed some special people in our life we cannot forget and would like to praise and honor every time there is an opportunity and an occasion to do so. What we are now and what have become of us are largely due to their tireless efforts and dedicated work of intellectually, morally and civically shaping us during the early years of our life so that we will be fully equipped and well prepared to face the outside world. Next to our parents, spouse and children, they have mainly served as the inspiration and guiding light in our earthly sojourn towards our final destination in the next life of eternal bliss with our Creator, the Greatest Teacher of all. Specifically, they are no other than our school teachers and educators. They truly deserved to be honored and remembered like heroes and heroines.

My admiration and fondness for teachers are perhaps more intense because my late father and mother were also school teachers and educators. My father, Dr. Bienvenido A. Sison, Sr. was then a Professor in the Philippine Normal School when he met my mother, Natalia A. Celestial who was one of his students. When they got married they not only served as the strong pillars in our home – nurturing and rearing from birth, ten of us their children – but also as the conscientious mentors to thousands of school children and students in the classrooms. My father served as the General Principal of the UST High School while my mother was an elementary school teacher. To me they are truly outstanding, not only as parents but also as teachers. Thus even during their time, I already wished that outstanding teachers should have been selected and appropriately recognized and given awards.

Fortunately, a Foundation was eventually established in this country by a highly successful businessman primarily engaged in banking who finally thought that we should recognize and pay homage to these unsung heroes and heroines in our midst. This is the Metrobank Foundation established on January 8, 1979 by George S. K. Ty, sixteen (16) years after he founded the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank).The Metrobank Foundation is engaged in social development projects in the Philippines and other parts of Asia. As the corporate social responsibility arm of the Metrobank Group, the Foundation implements various programs in education, visual arts and healthcare. It also maintains an active and dynamic partnership with other organizations that likewise provide services for the disadvantaged.

The Metrobank Foundation started the Search for Outstanding Teachers (SOT) twenty nine years ago to honor the teaching profession, recognizing those who exhibit competence, remarkable dedication to their work, and effective educational leadership, as well as their various community involvements. The Search is implemented by the Metrobank Foundation in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd). In 2010, the Search has been awarded the Grand Anvil, the highest recognition during the 45th Anvil Awards given by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP). Over the years, the Search has become a sought-after award among educators as it earned the prestige of becoming a benchmark of excellence in the teaching profession.

For this year’s Search, a total of 367 teachers were nominated. They were trimmed down to 167 provincial finalists through documents review and were then reduced to 40 regional finalists who underwent interviews and teaching demonstrations before the members of the preliminary board of judges identified for each category. Nineteen (19) of the regional finalists were then selected to become the national finalists.

The national finalists then faced the 2013 Final Board of Judges chaired by Sen. Aquilino Martin DL. Pimentel III together with Co-Chairperson Supreme Court of the Philippines Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, Vice-Chairperson 6th District of Manila Congresswoman Rosenda Ann M. Ocampo and members, Albay Province Governor Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda; Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Chairperson Teresita R. Manzala; Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas Rector Very Rev. Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O. P.; and Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)  Columnist Rina Jimenez-David.

After long months of diligent selection process, the Panel finally came out with the list of Ten Outstanding Teachers for the year 2013. The winners of this year’s Metrobank Foundation Search are composed of four (4) elementary, four (4) secondary public school teachers, and two (2) professors from the higher education level. They will join the rank of 316 Outstanding Teachers who have been honored by the Foundation since 1985. In this batch of 2013 winners are the first ever Outstanding Teachers from Guagua, Pampanga in the elementary competition, Bakun, Benguet and Bacnotan, La Union in the secondary competition.

The Elementary competition winners are: Fely A. Batiloy of Special Education Integrated School for Exceptional Children (Iloilo City); Dr. Mitchel V. Rodriguez of Odiongan Central School (Gingoog City); Cherry G. Vinluan of Guagua Elementary School (Guagua, Pampanga); and Rodel C. Sampang of Pedro Guevarra Elementary School (City of Manila).

In the Secondary competition the winners are: Dominique J. Maquiran of the University of the Philippines High School in Iloilo (Iloilo City); Dr. Maria Teresa M. Bautista of Bacnotan National High School (Bacnotan, La Union); Marcelo T. Otinguey of Ampusongan National High School (Bakun, Benguet); and Maria Lorna L. Garnace of Philippine Science High School, Eastern Visayas Campus (Palo, Leyte).

On the other hand, the winners in the Higher Education competition are Dr. Alfredo C. Robles, Jr. of the De La Salle University (City of Manila) and Dr. Emilyn Q. Espiritu of the Ateneo de Manila University (Quezon City).

This year’s Outstanding Teachers will be conferred with gold medallions. They will also be presented with plaques and a cash prize amounting to P350,000 each. They will be presented together with the 2013 awardees of the COPS (Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service) and TOPS (The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers) in formal awarding on September 5, 2013 as highlight of Metrobank’s 51st anniversary celebration.

This is truly a good news we sorely need at this time.

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