Default Thumbnail

Muntinlupa’s Outstanding Teachers

September 12, 2021 Ignacio "Toting" Bunye 382 views

Ignacio BunyeCONGRATULATIONS Jason Albaro, Teacher III, Muntinlupa National High School Main (Muntinlupa City), for having been chosen one of this year’s Metrobank Foundation’s Outstanding Filipinos.

Mr. Albaro, a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) educator, was recognized for being the program director of the “I DID IT!” (Invention Driven Instructional Design and Innovation Transfer). This program “balances formal instruction with a progressive learning experience for students. Through this, he encourages students and professionals to innovate and invent solutions that can cause a change in society.” The first chlorella micro-farm in the Philippines and the rehabilitation of Muntinlupa’s small recreational lake are cited as among the successful projects from the program.

“Not once but twice!,” beamed Dr. Rante Calalang Marmeto, who until recently was the principal of Muntinlupa National High School. Dr. Marmeto was referring to the win of Mr. Albaro and the earlier achievement of another MNHS teacher.

Albaro is the second awardee from the Muntinlupa National High School, my alma mater.

In 2017, Ma. Regaele A. Olarte was conferred the same award by Metrobank Foundation. Ms. Olarte has been teaching physics (Teacher I) at the Muntinlupa National High School and is now a supervisor at the Muntinlupa DepED office.

Metrobank Foundation recognized Ms. Olarte for her advocacies in and out of the classroom.

In school, she champions invention-driven instruction, which encourages creative thinking and problem-solving skills among her students. A budding inventor, she has designed classroom equipment using readily available materials.

Working with DepEd, Ms. Olarte has authored K to 12 learner’s modules and teachers’ guides for Grades 9 and 10 nationwide. She has also served as a writer for national achievements tests in Physics.

Outside school, Ms. Olarte actively participates in outreach programs of her church and works with the DENR and the Earth Day Network Philippines as focal person for their carbon footprint mitigation campaign.

Here is a flashback to other Muntinlupa winners in the Metrobank Foundation’s Outstanding Filipinos.

The first Muntinlupeña to break into the Metrobank roster of awardees was Rowena Raton-Hibanada, better known as Awee, who is now a professor at the Philippine Normal University. At that time (2008) , Ms. Raton-Hibanada was teaching at Muntinlupa’s Pedro E. Diaz High School.

She holds degrees in Secondary Education major in Social Sciences (PNU, 1994), Masters in Teaching Social Sciences (PNU, 1998), Masters in Education major in Values Education (University of Asia and the Pacific, 2012), and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Management (De La Salle University Manila, 2017).

In 2008, she was the country’s representative to the International Teacher’s Conference in Brunei. She was a Fellow of the International Leaders in Education Program—administered by Fulbright Philippines and the International Research and Exchanges Board. In 2010, she finished the program at the University of Minnesota in the US.

In 2015, she worked as a Mentor Consultant for PBED-AusAidScholarship for teachers. She was a module writer at the School of Tomorrow and she has written School Enhancement Materials (Alitaptap) for the Diwa-First Asia Company Philippines. Since 2006, she has served as a volunteer teacher at the Children’s Church of Victory Christian Fellowship in Alabang and in Every Nation Campus Muntinlupa.

Another awardee (in 2017) was Winona Y. Diola, a Grade 5 science teacher at the De La Salle Zobel School in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa.

In 2012, Ms. Diola spearheaded the adoption of Mobile Learning Devices as a learning tool in their school. She tasked her students to create landscape designs for the school garden and design prototype domes for endangered plant species. She also creates her own iTunes U Courses, which enable students and other teachers to learn science in unconventional ways. She is very active in her school’s Project E.A.R.T.H. (Each Act of Recycling Today Helps).

The surge continues

Twenty months after the discovery of COVID 19, here is a score of what we don’t know and what we know about the disease.

What we don’t know –

-We don’t know when this pandemic will end.

-We do not know when vaccines for individuals 18 years and below will become available.

-We do not know if we can mix-match different vaccines.

-We still do know if booster shots would be needed by individuals who are already fully vaccinated.

What we know –

-The Philippines has recorded the highest reported infected persons on a single day – 22,820 last September 8.

-The same is true for Singapore which reported the most coronavirus cases in more than one year.

-Despite the availability of vaccines in the U.S., many are still anti-vaxxers. Much to the disgust of President Joe Biden, nearly half of Americans are not fully vaccinated, allowing the Delta variant to persist.

– The importation and arrival of vaccines in the Philippines is still agonizingly slow.

Note: You may wish to share the foregoing article via Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In or Viber.