ABAKADAmayan holds graduation

MANILA, Philippines – ABAKADAmayan, the education project of The STAR’s humanitarian arm Operation Damayan, held its sixth graduation ceremony last Friday, with 98 high school graduates who passed the Accreditation and Equivalency Test of the Department of Education (DepEd) last year.

DepEd’s Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) director Dr. Carolina Guerrero was the guest speaker at the graduation rites.  

According to Guerrero, after nine years of alternative learning system, there are now 25,000 passers out of 120,000 test takers all over the Philippines, compared to year 1999, the first ALS schoolyear, when there were only 1,000 test takers and less than 100 passers.

“More and more people are getting to know of and appreciating the alternative learning system. Manny Pacquiao (2008) and Charice Pempengco (2009) are recent graduates of ALS,” Guerrero said.

According to Melita Aguila, supervisor of ALS Manila division, “ALS is the highest form of teaching – the joy, the fulfillment experienced by the last, the least and the lost.”

In her introduction, Aguila called Guerrero the “saint” and inspiration of ALS.

ABAKADAmayan had only three graduates in 2004, two in 2005, nine in 2006, 14 in 2007, 21 in 2008, and this year, 98 graduates, or a total of 147 graduates. 

First honor for this batch was Dionisio Aclo, who achieved a score of 123. Second honor was Rosemarie Tolentino, with a score of 120; and third honor, Aurora Andres, with a score of 115. Honor students each got a medal and a gift pack from The STAR, while each graduate received P500 cash gift from STAR president and CEO Miguel G. Belmonte, and an 8” x 10” framed graduation photo.

Aclo delivered his valedictory speech, emphasizing that “there is always room for growth, no matter how old you are.”