Friday, March 29, 2019

ANAO-AON: AKO GIKAMINGAWAN NA LUNGSOD NA NATAWHAN

by: Norberto Betita


Eleksyon na sab! Sugod na sab an bago na hugna pagpili nan mga magdumaya sa ato pinayangga sanan gikamingawan na lungsod na natawhan, para tana sa pagasenso sanan paguswag nan lungsod sa Anao-aon. Pero hantod kuman ya pa gajoy makita na dako na pagkaotro sanan progreso sa ato lungsod.

Isa ra siguro an nakahatag kabantog sa Anao-aon, an pagilis nan ngayan ngadto na sa San Francisco, kapangayan sa bantog na lugar sa California sa America sanan sa iban pa na lugar sa kalibutan na jaoy parehas na pangayan. Sa ato pa entero kalibutan na an pagkilaya sa ato lungsod. Kaluoy sa ato mga unahi na mga kaliwatan na amoy naghatag nan talagsaon na ngayan na way kaparehas, na sumaya pa gani ni Francis Tom Paredes, isa sa mga mayunglaki na manunuyat nan ato Sinurigao na Linguahe, possible na gibasi sa mga nagpalibot na mga katubigan sa ato lungsod. Laong pa ni Tom Paredes sa ija paghalungkat sa possible na kagikan nan sinultihan na Anao, ija nakita na possible na may koneksyon an amo na sulti sa Anao na naggikan sa Autralia na an buot ipasabot tubig kon hamok na katubigan.

Bago pa man noabot an Santos na si Senyor San Francisco sa Anao-aon, sino amoy gibasihan sab ago na ngayan, daan na kilaya an ato lungsod sa amo na ngayan. Gani dali ra sija makilayan kay lagi, waya may kaparehas. Pero sige rakan, jaon na man. Hinaot na dili na gajod tana utrohon pa an ngayan nan barangay Poblacion na Anao-aon, para jaoy gihapon handumanan sa ato mga kapopopopoan.


Trantay singko anyos na an nakalabay, pagplano nako na magbayay an una sa ako hunahuna adto gajod sa Anao-aon ako magtukod. Naghanap na ako didto. An ako nabatian jadto na panahon jaon lupa na natungaan nan kan anhin yo Demo Besario bayay sanan ila Mende kuman. Pero ya ako modajon kay ya may supply nan mainum na tubig sa gripo. Gana tana kay suod ra an iban na mga gamit sanan mabarato ra an pagpanday sa bayay. Kaso lisod gajod kun way tubig para sa ato banyo sanan sa ato hugasan.

Sa kadugayon na nan ako pagkawaya sa Anao-aon, kada jaoy ako panahon na mobisita sa ako lungsod na natawhan amo ran waya gajoy ako makita na asenso o progresibo na kabaguhan. An mga karsada amo ra gihapon kahamok; an kadakon sa poblacion bagan waya gajoy pagkabalhin. Nangutana ako sa ako mga kalumunan kun ya bay mga plano nan mga nag dumaya sa lungsod na mga proyekto para sa pag pagpalapad sanan pagdugang nan mga karsada para magamit jadton mga kalupaan na amoy mahimo na lugar para sa pagimbetar nan mga katawhan paghuya sa Anao-aon. Laong nan ako mga lumon, jaon tana, pero babagan man nan kontra sa politiko. Ka way nada na katarungan.

                 

Kun amo jaon an panlantaw nan ato mga politiko didon sa Anao-aon na an ila partido amoy mas importante, dapat kita na bomoboto pillion rakan an isa ka linya, gikan sa mayor ngadto sa mga konsehalis, para kun sino man galing an makadaug ya nay mobabag sa mga plano nan Mayor para sa kalambuan nan lungsod.

Parehas kuman, kun nagtuo kita na si Mayor Guiea and angay, botaran rakan nato diretso an ija mga kandidato pagka bise mayor hangtod sa tanan mga konsehales. Kun pananglit gusto nato na an ija kontra na si Penat amoy ato botaran, hudton rakan nato an jaon sa ija linya pagbotar. Despwes kun sinoy makadaug, ya nay katarungan na dili malahos an mga plano kay waya na may mobabag. An bantayan rakan wayay kawat.

Inin ako komentaryo ya may gidapigan na partido, an ako panlantaw para sa kinatibukan na pagasenso nan ato lungsod na natawhan, sanan pagusad nan panginabuhi sanan kahimtang nan ato mga lumulopyo.

Kaisa, nobisita ako iban sa ako mga apo, nangadto kami sa baybay dapit sa parki. Ako nakita na jaon nay sinimento na “sea wall” pasingod ngadto sa Banbanon. Ako sab nakita na jaoy estraktura na waya kahuman, na laong pa nila taguli rakan an kwarta sa DTI kay pirme man babagan nan kontra partido na konseho. Ako nahunahuna na pagkagana jaon na lugar pasingod na ngadto sa Banbanon himoan nan “boulevard” labi na kay makita an pagsayop nan suga, amo ra nan sa Manila Bay. Tapos himuan nan mga karsada para hamok na mga katawhan sa iban na lugar na mamuhunan pag mohamok na an mga katawhan.


Jaon sab mga karsada sa lungsod mismo dapat masumpayan jaon ngadto na sa Cayansan diin jadto an dako na kapatagan, tapos koruskoruson jaon na mga karsada sumpay na ngadto sa iban na baryo para modako an lugar para bayajan sanan mahamok an mga katawhan. Sigurado ako na hamok an mobayay didon tungod kay suod ra man sa syudad sanan sementado na man an karsada.

Kun mohamok an mga katawhan sa isa ka lugar sigurado na moasenso jaon na lungsod kay an mga negosyante entresado na man mamuhunan kay jaon na may mamalit. Dugang pa, jaon na may elektrisidad sanan tubig sa gripo.

Sa bata pa ako nasuroy nako jaon tumoy nan punong sanan jaon lugar sa Cayansan. Jaoy didon tuyo ka tubod na way paghubas---jaon sa punong, sa Cayansan unahan sa Anao-aon river na an ija tubig adto manaog sa dako na suba, tapos jaon kabanan hangtod kuman nan imnanon na tubig. Inday lamang kun jaon pa ba jaon sa punong sanan sa Cayansan. Kun jaon pa man galling, pwede jaon sila mahimo na proyekto para turismo.

Jaon ato mga kahumayan didon na gikan pa sa mga katiguyangan, moabot an panahon, gani amo na jaon an nanghitabo kuman, na bisan sa pamilya nan mga kaliwatan, dili na paigo na maka suporta sa ila kaugalingon panginahanglan, kay an sa una isa ka pamilya na tagija nahimo na man na hamok na pamilya pagpangaminyo nan mga anak. Amo na an mahitabo jaon ipamaligya rakan, tapos manhanap nan trabaho sa lain lugar. An magpabilin na way pagkahurot na kapaninguhaan amo rakan an halapad na kadagatan atubangan sa ato lungsod.


Amo na dapat moasenso gajod an ato lungsod para dili na mobija an mga lungsuranon palajo kay makapanginabuhi na man sila mismo didon sa bunsuyan nan lungsod.

Amo na tana kuman na eleksyon maniguro na kita na pillion adton Mayor na tinujod gajod na moserbisyo para sa pagpaasenso sa ato lungsod ngadto na sa kalambuan sab nan kinabuhi nan mga lungsuranon. Tapos ya nay likoliko, diretso na isa ka linya rakan para ya nay babag sa mga plano sa kalambuan. Total jaon may auditor na magbantay para sa sakto na paggamit nan pundo para sa isa ka proyekto. Kun dili gajod mapugngan na jaoy gihapon kawat, diretso na kita tawag sa hotline na 8888 kay sigurado aksyonan gajod jaon nan goberno.

Sa taglaong ko na ya may ako tagdapigan na partido, an ako ra na pilion nato jadton isa ka linya sa mga kandidato na an panlantaw dili para sa ila kaugalingon o sa ila partido, kundili an karajawan sa umaabot na mga generasyon nan mga naghuya didon sa Anao-aon.

O, Anao-aon, an ako gikamingawan na lungsod na natawhan. What a beautiful place! How enduring the cherished and treasured memories of childhood and youthful amusement and laughter of the delightful long ago! How grand are the sparkling reflections of its deep blue sea! How awesome are its beaches with fine pebbles and stones! How wonderful are its crystal clear rivers and springs! How green are its sceneries and the surrounding hills and mountains of its ecosystem! What wonderful picturesque of scenic beauty and splendor that the sunset brings as the day concludes with the super sun slowly dimming its light rays down the verge of the shimmering sea! How peaceful and tranquil the atmosphere of its municipal state of affairs! How hospitable are its people! Indeed, what an inviting place for family habitation! Yet, how sad that progress and development seem to be aloof and unapproachable, notwithstanding its many resources and geographic location and proximity to the nearest capital city.


May those who have the chance to run for public office during this local election, dedicate their hearts and minds to truly perform the mantle of authority that may be placed upon them by the people and serve faithfully without fear or favor and partisan biases. May those who will be elected, initiate pending plans for progress and create new programs for development in one united effort to bring about growth and advancement for the municipality and its people which are long overdue. This they should do in acknowledgement and gratitude for the trust and confidence that the people may give them. May God open the pavilion of His hiding place and distill His blessings and let it flow in gradual stream upon our town of Anao-aon. May it be so!

Monday, March 4, 2019

CHILDREN’S GARDEN: A LEGACY OF LEARNING

By: Norberto Betita 

Teacher Angeline L. Tandan, incumbent Director & the late Teacher Irene L.Tandan, the Founder

The CGL:CI am not sure whether my meeting and shake hands with teacher Angeline L. Tandan yesterday have registered some thoughts in my sub-conscious mind that when I awoke early dawn today, Monday, March 4, 2019, the first thought that entered my consciousness was about the Children’s Garden Learning Center as a legacy of learning for many of the children and youths in Surigao City. 

The thought lingered even after my restroom call and it just didn’t leave as to have me awake until the alarm rings. What was in my mind is a sense of sincere personal gratitude to the founder of one of the pioneering kindergarten school in Surigao City---the late teacher IRENE L. TANDAN-- and those teachers, many of whom were already retired and with some having already slipped into the other side of the veil, in molding and building the educational foundations of all my five children, who studied and finished kindergarten from that beloved institution of foundational learning. It hits me so much that after my regular prayer I was kind of dragged in front of my computer and started to write those inspired thoughts while still fresh in the mind. 

The late Teacher Irene L. Tandan, CGLC founder & Husband, the late Atty. Enrique Y. Tandan
 
The memories of those many years of parent-teacher-institution partnership in molding the foundations and building blocks of our children’s quest for learning and education remains, as its alumni now occupies competitive positions in government and private institutions; and are pursuing private professional advancements in the field of medicine, law, science and technology, engineering and architecture and other progressive professions, during the last 40 years of its existence. I do not boast the fact that from the early foundational learning competencies in communications and mathematical literacy gained by my children from that humble and simple environment of the Children’s Garden Learning Center, four out of my five children had qualified to study in one of the nation’s premiere university---the University of the Philippines---although only two of them survived, the two having relinquished their scholarship in favor of reasonable priorities. Such learning foundations also motivated them to seriously endeavor to earn college degrees.

The founder of the Children’s Garden learning Center---the late teacher Irene---as she is fondly addressed by her pupils, was herself a teacher. She graduated with a degree in Elementary education and with a master’s degree in English. She should have gone far into the leadership hierarchy in the Surigao City Division of the Department of Education Culture and Sports (DECS), but having herself observed the foundational learning deficiencies in many of Public school pupils, she chose to instead establish a pre-school learning center, which by then there was only one available in the city, with a noble vision to better help prepare children for formal education. 

The CGLC founder as a young educator
       
Although her husband---Atty. Enrique Y. Tandan, a prominent lawyer---had been very supportive of her sublime and admirable vision for the children of Surigao City and the Province of Surigao del Norte, they were not that affluent as to have enough capital. Hence, they started the kindergarten school in a rented building. I knew of several plans of expansion, early on, using their real estate resources. However, according to their eldest son Enrique, Jr., a brilliant young man, who was then a first year college student at UP Diliman College of Economics, during our personal interviews and dialogues, the costs and the plight of the student’s family had always been a consideration and concern of her mother. She always justified her generous and benevolent disposition in favor of the children and their families as a token of affection, because from its inception she never wanted to make business out of the education which the school offered, but to make education its business. Consequently, the expansion plans did never materialize, except the converting of the kindergarten school into an elementary school. But through the years and until her passing, teacher Irene, left an endowment of learning that will forever be carved in the tablet of the hearts of those dearly beloved pupils she helped mold towards success, and the rest of the alumni of the school she patiently established not for material gains, but for a noble vision to help prepare children for better learning. 

Children celebrating Christmas

Therefore and up to this time, the Children’s Garden Learning Center remains to be the cheapest private preparatory and elementary school in Surigao City. Yet, its competitiveness in so far as learning capabilities of its students are concerned, continues to be at par with its sophisticated counterparts.

The school is now headed by teacher Angeline L. Tandan, a Bachelor of Science in Child Psychology graduate from the Xavier-Ateneo de Cagayan University in Cagayan de Oro City and daughter of the late teacher Irene L. Tandan. It is still housed in the same rented building of long ago. 

Cultural show and recognition

Economic development and progress and the significant appreciation of real estate market values and appraisals, attracted and enticed the owner to take advantage and dispose of the property, and thus threaten the school’s existence. But its grand and majestic vision and mission as enshrined by its founder will surely remain hallowed and consecrated to the same ideals when it was first established. Thus, it will stand on the rock of principles upon which it was built, no matter the storms, and the children will continue to recite the pupil’s creed more loudly and clear:

“We believe in the value of education.

“We thank God for our parents and guardians who care.

“We thank God for this chance to study at the Children’s Garden Learning Center.

“We shall not waste this golden opportunity to improve ourselves and be useful to God and country. We take pride in this school which is our second home.

“For optimum growth, we shall use every moment profitably, we shall obey rules and regulations. We shall respect teachers and all school authorities.

“At all times, we shall behave, upholding the good name and honor of our Alma Mater.

“To Almighty God, we return all blessings and praises.”

Then with greater fervor and solemn conviction, perform their whole-souled cry of the school’s motto:

“In the Children’s Garden Learning Center, we don’t make business out of education. We make education our business.”

In time, a new door will be opened to accommodate its enthusiastic pupils and parents, with renewed vigor and commitment for an enduring parent-teacher-institution partnership. Then the Children’s Garden Learning Center will live on forever as a provider of competitive foundational learning environment for our children and our children’s children. 

CGLC faculty and staff

As a parent, I cherished and treasured the time when I was humbled by the memory of the late Atty. Enrique Y. Tandan, who even beyond the boundaries of his prominence, had to convey our son Robert Sherwin home because we forgot to fetch him at school due to our very busy work schedule. Now as a grandparent, I cherish and love to witness my grandchildren show their respect, honor and fondness, tenderly expressed for their teacher Buding (Angeline), the school director, and other teachers for that matter, wherever and whenever they met, a substantiation of an atmosphere of tender and affectionate relationship in the school room and campus.

Then I am reminded of the words of Daniel Webster (1782-1852): “If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we work on men’s immortal minds, if we impress on them high principles, the just fear of God, and love for their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which no time can efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity.” I know that such ideals are part of what the Children’s Garden would want to leave as a legacy of learning for its students.