Kids for the Earth

Concern about the environment, garbage disposal, denudation of forests has taken root not just among the "green activists". Fortunately, even our children realize the importance of taking care of our environment. For the past eight years, the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has provided a venue for grade school students to express this concern via a short story writing contest called "Kuwentong Kalikasan, Katha ng Kabataan" (KKKK). Entries from the past as well as current year show how deeply the children feel about the environment.

That the garbage problem can no longer be ignored is underscored in "Bago Mahuli ang Lahat", a grand prize short story winner, Segment A, in the 8th RCBC "Kuwentong Kalikasan, Katha ng Kabataan" contest. It is a contemporary tale about a boy hooked on computer games by Princess Morillo, an 11-year-old Grade 4 student of Baesa Elementary School in Caloocan City, mentored by Mrs. Melanita B. Pantalla.

Princess modeled the boy in her story after her brother who often ignored their mother’s instructions to throw their garbage. The boy in the tale was absorbed into the computer game and was finally threatened by a tidal wave of garbage.

Princess and three other grade school students received grand prizes of P30,000 each, scholarship packages and trophies at awarding ceremonies earlier this month at the Carlos B. Romulo Auditorium at the RCBC Plaza in Makati. The mentors as well as the schools also received cash awards. All finalists received savings account passbooks worth P3,000.

Jane Maureen Amata of Botolan South Central is the latest in a growing line of prodigious writers in her school. From the past RCBC- KKKK award given to the school, they were able to buy a refrigerator for the use of the teachers. Today, they can focus on another prized acquisition.

But for Jane, the lahar washed landscape that still surrounds her childhood haunted and inspired her to write about a river called Maningning, and how it refused to flow again into the Santa Ana village where the townsfolk cut down the trees she nurtured. Her composition is the first winner in Segment A, English category. Her English teacher, Mrs. Corazon Datugan proudly believes there will be more winning writers in their crop of students in the years to come.

Dominic Agustin Briguera, a tall 12-year-old from Naga City, won for his simply woven tale about a family that changed its usual Christmas celebration for a stay in the beach where his grandmother lived instead. It became a time for bonding between generations, as Dominic learned how much richer a life as simple as his grandmother’s can be. He learned values he knew he could bring home and live with.

Naga Central School II was a-bloom with streamers congratulating Dominic for his feat. And Dominic’s mother, Rebecca, quietly informed us that Principal Domingo Balares, Sr. rented an open top jeep the day before and had Dominic driven through the streets around the school. Mrs. Zenaida Gerez, Dominic’s mentor, had been promoted to another public school but his new teacher-in-charge, the twenty-something Ruel Indicio, accompanied Dominic during the interview.

The school editor-in-chief, Dominic is also a veteran of competitions, emerging third in the Quiz Bee 2001, third again in Battle of the Brains 2002 and a runner-up in a recent regional news writing bout in General Santos City. He is also the drum and lyre corps bandleader and his band ranks first in Naga City.

Dominic plans to be a writer and a pediatrician. Of her seven children, Rebecca admires Dominic’s study habit the best, noting his focus on perfection. An assignment must not be done "for completion only". Dominic is the latest of her children to be accepted as a scholar in Ateneo de Naga, placing 10th in the entrance exams.

It is a long and tortuous, bone-jarring drive over a rocky and narrow mountain trail that winds precipitously around the mountains of Benguet. One is filled with wonder when the bumpy ride ends after some three hours travel time still with no Bokod in sight. When one finally descends into the tiny valley, it is as though time has stopped. There is a municipal hall, and behind it the Bokod Central Elementary School which dates back to 1948. Bokod is said to have taken its name from one of its earliest settlers named Bokot. However, the Spaniards mistakenly thought they heard Bokod when they asked for the name of the town.

Part of the school was destroyed by a landslide after the Intensity 7 earthquake in the 1990s. Today, the school has a little over 100 students who declared a holiday to cheer for 11-year-old Gieson Madiano, who is in Grade 6, and his winning entry, "Ang Tinig". His proud mentor is Mrs. Prescilla Ebasco.