In a caucus in Islamabad, senior leaders of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) hailed the historic signing in Manila of the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia, and leaders of more than 300 ruling and opposition parties in Asia, expressed hope that the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) could promote similar agreements in Pakistan and Afghanistan with the Taliban, the Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist groups in Myanmar, the Buddhist and Muslim groups in Thailand, and other conflict areas in Asia.
In a statement, they said that in a region, and world, “facing many conflicts and flashpoints, and looking for peaceful solutions, Filipinos should be thankful that they have found theirs.â€
They congratulated President Benigno Aquino and the MILF led by its chair Murad Ebrahim for the long-drawn out but successful peace pact facilitated by Malaysia under Prime Minister Najib Razak and other Asian and European organizations.
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It was a unique commencement exercise. Graduating students spoke on stage, recounting their happy experiences in school, and thanking their instructors for giving them inspiration and joy.
The venue was Temple Hill International School, a private school at J.P. Rizal, Project 4 (just behind the Quirino Medical Center), Quezon City.
It’s a small school, with the whole high school population consisting of about 40 students only, with the graduating class at the 6th commencement exercise made up of only three high school seniors, and four “moving-up†students who just finished the sixth grade.
The small student population means each student being given quality individual instruction. And the facilities and courses are more than DepEd’s elementary and secondary education requirements: a science lab, cooking lab, a well-stocked library, painting lessons, carpentry, agronomy, computers, automotive, religion, Chinese, math, music, culinary arts, sewing, etc. taught by highly-trained teachers using the tried-and-tested, plus innovations of the Montessori-method.
I attended the event upon invitation of the school president, Illuminada “Luming†Gomez Woellhaf, in whose nursery school, the Philippine Montessori Center in White Plains, my son Andres took his three-year nursery schooling in the 1970s. It’s the same school that the actress Ruffa Gutierrez, and the Temple Hill International School sixth commencement exercise speaker, Jaime Gaffud, attended.
Nearly a decade ago, Luming decided to open an elementary and high school in a three-story building in a quiet residential area in Project 4. The Angeles couple enrolled their daughter Maria Eliana there (she’s entering fifth grade in June), and their son Jose Benjamin Jejomar Binay Angeles, now 12, and entering high school also in June. Their twin kids, Ito and Pepi, are attending nursery at PMC.
Another friend of mine, Malou Villar Chipeco, was at the graduation program of her grandson Ian Chipeco Manotoc (son of Malou’s daughter Rio and TV personality TJ Manotoc), who will be a college freshman in June. The Chipecos also have a daughter, Mica, turning fifth grade at THIS, and a son, Inigo, a preppie at PMC.
Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Dr. Elenita Binay proudly watched their grandson Benjamin put away his prepared speech, and talk extemporaneously about his life experiences. And he used to be so shy, said Luming Woellhaff. That’s on account of THIS teachers giving their students encouragement. In fact, the school policy is not to fail students, but helping them overcome deficiencies.
Mary Nicolette D. Albelda, shed a river of tears as she thanked her mentors for giving her so much joy, and Juan Paulo P. Katigbak was all confidence and good looks as he talked about life at THIS.
The three other moving-uppers were Kaitlin Renee D. Rosales, Ricardo O. Sobrevinas, and Dwayne Nicholas Y. Tiu.
I must mention how good the Rev. Fr. Victor Angelo Parlan delivered his homily at the Eucharistic celebration before the graduation rites.
The guest speaker, introduced by social studies teacher Ma. Victoria T. Huang, said Jaime Gaffud learned the ABCs and more at the Philippine Montessori Center. Luming Woellhaf agreed when I asked her, that Jaime must have shown signs of brilliancy at a young age at PMC, though his education expanded with his attending St .Francis School, Ateneo de Manila, and the University of Asia and Pacific.
For look at him now, 40ish, working in one of the largest prestigious French multinational banking and financial companies in the world, the Societe General. He joined this 15-year old bank in 2008. The bank has 154,000 employees and is present in 76 countries, and is ranked by CNN and Forbes Business magazine as “one of the world’s most admired companies to work in.†Last year he became the compliance manager for Societe General’s African entities, his responsibility involving designing, training, supervising and fighting money laundering and corruption, in particular, in African countries. He should be working in the Philippines to ferret out corrupt legislators and NGOs.
Jimmy did not engage in high-falluting scenarios made jokes and make the graduating students feel at ease, and posed them challenges on what they can do with their chosen fields in the future. Be a good architect, a good chef, a good person, he said in summary.
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Email: dominitorrevillas@gmail.com