GRATEFUL students of the Pimpila Elementary School in Pamplona, Cagayan this month showed how to give back to a police officer’s hard effort to improve their condition by emerging as champions in a Cagayan Valley athletics and young journalists’ event.

The young schoolchildren’s dream to emerge as ‘champions’ started early last year when Police Colonel Hansel M. Marantan, then the chief of the National Capital Region Field Unit of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, started a fund drive to build the multi-purpose Pimpila school gymnasium complete with a conference room, a broadcast laboratory with a sound system.

The gymnasium also had another conference room for the Parent-Teacher Association where parents and teachers can discuss their priorities to further improve their children’s education.

On Friday, Col. Marantan happily told me the good result of the gym he built upon the wish of his late mother Mrs. Milagros Araneta Matamis Marantan, a former Pimpila head teacher known as everyone’s mother in their town.

“Tingnan mo eskwelahan ni Nanay, champion na. We gave them facility for sports and for arts and literature and they made it. May ilalaban na rin sa Palarong Pambansa,” the member of PNP Academy ‘Kabalikat’ Class of 1998 said.

Hansel also spoke of the Pimpila students’ ‘very big improvement.’

“ Ang pinakaimportante doon, na-lessen yung gadgets’ use if not nawala na sa mga bata. Parati silang nasa gym for practice—ball games and broadcast. We except champions from that school and doon na din gagawin ang mga district meets nila to take advantage of the good facilities. Hindi ko alam na ganyan kaimportante sa kanila yung structure. To think nasa barrio slang yan Pimpili Elementary School but we now call it Barangay Sta. Cruz,” the official said.

It turned out that the Pimpils Elementary School emerged as the overall champion during the 2023-2024 Pamplona District Schools Press Conference which is a gathering of the best elementary school writers in the municipality.

As a result, its writers in different English and Filipino categories will represent Pamplona in the Congressional District 2 Elimination to be held at the Western Cagayan School of Arts and Trade in Lasam municipality this coming March 8 and 9.

The Pamplona School winners-turned Congressional District Qualifiers were Arnold Brando Marantan Mandolado, Ayesha Janine Ramos, James Jaylord Dumlao, Leo Battung, BJ Lance Dela Cruz, Jovayne Cabading, Rich Eiron Esteban, Earl Lawrence Hagunos, Vivian Ramos, Lawrence Yvon Buenavista and Edwin Talosig.

The 11 topped the following categories: English Radio Broadcasting, Copy Reading/Headline Writing, Technical Application, MOJO Filipino, MOJO English, English Vlogging, Filipino Editorial Cartooning, Filipino Column Writing, English Column Writing, Sci Tech English and Collaborative Desktop Publishing.

The school also emerged 3rd place overall in Radio Broadcasting Filipino/Best Infomercial in Radio Scriptwriting and Broadcasting with Precious Battun, Rhea Mae Guiang, Rich Eivan Esteban, Arieza Sabado, Edwin Talosig, Jaycell Ann Baddu, Divine Kyle Tamayo, Maria Avigail Arellano, Jorenz Ivan Arellano, Kristine Medrano, and Jaczen Mondero earning top spots in their respective categories.

On the other hand, the recently-concluded Cagayan Valley Regional Athletic Association saw young student Brent Kaizer Pira qualifying in the disc/discuss throw event after emerging 2nd, 5th and 10th in the triple jump, 200/400-meters relay and javelin throw.

Two other students, Mansor Usman and Divine Kyle Tamayo, also placed 5th in the 200/400-meter relay. Tamayo likewise emerged as a strong competitor in the triple jump and 200 and 400-meters race.

Congratulations are in order for the Pimpila students and their teachers-instructors who really have showed how they can give back to efforts to improve their condition and genuinely uplift the lives of the youth, the real future of the country.

How time really flies? In 2022, Col. Marantan told me he wants to fulfill the wish of his beloved mother to have a gymnasium for their school. In July 2023, his late mother’s cherished dream became a reality as the Pimpila gym was finally built and inaugurated without any government fund involved.

The herculean effort to build the gym was launched by the official, a known ‘Mama’s Boy’-turned president of the Pimpila Elementary School Alumni Association with the help of the Pimpila PTA, the police and other generous stakeholders and friends. Hansel’s father Olympio and brother Engineer Joel supervised the construction of the gym.

The official who has been feared by criminals and other lawbreakers was grinning from ear to ear as he, joined by hundreds of Pimpila kinder and elementary school students, their parents and teachers led by principal Desy Decano and Joan Tagoc and local police and government officials inagurated their ‘labor of love,’ a sprawling Pimpila multi-purpose gymnasium last July.

It was really a dream come true for all products and present students and teachers of the Pimpila school located in Pamplona, a 4th-class municipality in Cagayan province. Col. Marantan’s noble act has been widely applauded by Cagayan Valley local government and police officials and residents and lawmakers.

It was actually Hansel’s tribute to his late mother and out of his love for the Pimpila folks. May the Pimpila gym produce world-class Filipino athletes and journalists and broadcasters in the future. I also hope and pray that more cop-initiated noble projects like the Pimpila gym will be realized soon. My congratulations to all.