By madrilena de la cerna
The first time I heard about San Pedro Calungsod’s being a catechist, I recall how as students of a Catholic school we were made to teach catechism in the public school. When we were third and fourth year high school in St. Catherine’s School in Carcar, Cebu, we taught catechism in the barrios and the poblacion every Wednesday afternoon. We had a briefing on the week’s lesson every Monday at noon break. This was an extension of our religion classes. Then in college at St. Theresa’s College, each student was either a catechist or a social worker. I chose to be a catechist because I was taking up Education. This time the schedule for catechism was 7 in the morning from Tuesday to Thursday to avoid conflict with the schedule of classes.
Posted: October 28th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
The tragic field trip of the Cebu International School last September 12 drew a loud clamor for canceling field trips in schools. In my 43 years of teaching experience before I retired, going on field trips was among my activities usually held towards the end of the semester or the school year. Field trips are full of fun and learning if well planned, properly conducted, and evaluated in various ways.
Posted: September 30th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
Culture and heritage are associated with the old, the rare and the few. Involving the young in efforts to preserve our cultural heritage was once thought impossible but the KKK (Kabataan, Kultura, Kabilin) program of the Cultural Heritage Program of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) is making it possible and non-expensive.
Posted: September 16th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
I first heard about Jesse Robredo in 1990 through the news but it was different when I went to Naga (it was not a city yet) to attend a national conference on local history at the Ateneo de Naga in October 1990. I joined the group of history professors from UP Diliman and UP Baguio. We arrived the day before and stayed in a pension house in the heart of Naga because the accommodation for delegates was quite far from the conference venue. Early morning of the first day, we found a perfect place to stay, a dormitory run by nuns with vacant rooms since students went home during the conference days. This was right in front of the conference venue. The three-day conference was well organized. Every end of the day, delegates had the chance to go around the town which was so clean with trees abounding the roadsides.
Posted: September 2nd, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
When one turns 50 there is anxiety but when a high school class turns 50 there is a different kind of excitement. Just like preparing for the Olympics, Class’63 of St. Catherine’s School is gearing up for a gold in 2013.
Posted: August 19th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
Coordinating and hosting the 5th Memorial Lecture of Pinanggang Sugbuanong Banay at the ILC Room of UP Cebu on July 20 was challenging and fulfilling. Challenging because a week before the memorial lecture, the Library building which housed the Conference Hall, the original venue of the lecture, was ordered vacated due to several cracks in the beams. We could not bargain for one week delay of the evacuation because the building was beyond repair. The alternative venue (I chose the ILC or Interactive Learning Center) provided a more intimate and friendly atmosphere though it could accommodate only 95 people. The photo exhibit was not a problem because the lobby of the Undergraduate building was just the right venue.
Posted: August 5th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
For UP Cebu High School students from 1975 to 1992, MPH was the Multipurpose Hall that used to stand on what is now the Sugbo Cultural Center. Built in 1975, the only other building aside from the administrative building, when UP Cebu did not have the library building which houses the conference hall and the audiovisual room. Neither was there the undergraduate building nor the management building.
Posted: July 22nd, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
Part of the monthly treats of the families of distinction of Cebu City is a one-day trip to the hillylands of Cebu City. As a member of the Diamond Corps Group, I have joined three hillyland trips with three different families and I could not help wonder at the richness and the lushness in these hills. It was in 1981 when I first visited barangay Busay and Babag where I brought one section of the YCAP class (a fourth year subject then required as a community extension). The issue then was the planned conversion of the vegetable and flower farms into a golf course.
Posted: July 8th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
The whole UP Cebu community was stunned with the sudden death last June 17 of Michael Mark Mende, a well-loved professor in Psychology. He had been suffering from a very serious heart ailment, just before his death with only 15 percent of his heart functioning. Psychology students past and present, colleagues in the Social Sciences Division, friends in and outside the campus will greatly miss him. The overwhelming outpouring of their love for Mike during the four-day wake until the burial so touched his family relatives who said they never expected that Mike was so dear to us.
Posted: June 24th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
This week was truly an apt ending to the National Heritage month of May. I had two encounters with memory keepers, a member of the family who helped promote puso making which has become a cultural icon of Cebu, and a close encounter with a historic building for the Gabii sa Kabilin ( Night of Heritage).
Posted: May 27th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
This weekend brought me for the first time to Tubigon, Bohol province to document the proceedings of the First AGAK National Assembly. AGAK is the acronym for Aksyon Ginikanan Alang sa Kabataan, the latest program of Feed the Children Philippines which focuses on effective parenting as the key to a successful family and a child-friendly community. The assembly theme “Empowering Parents, Building Child -Friendly Communities” articulates the program’s goals. Agak is also a Cebuano word which means helping someone to move on without pulling or pushing but going with the one being helped, then after a while letting go when the one being helped could manage on his/her own. What is striking is the similarity of the nature of the program to its meaning in Cebuano.
Posted: May 13th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
The search for the 75 Families of Distinction of Cebu City, who were recognized on Feb. 24, 2012, the 75th Anniversary of the Charter of Cebu City, has become more significant with monthly activities. These include a photo exhibit, a memorial lecture or presentation of each family’s contributions to the City, a one-day Laag-laag sa Sugbo eco-tour, and an evening of cultural presentations at the Plaza Independencia which take place every third weekend of the month.
Posted: April 29th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
By madrilena de la cerna
Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation where people are extorted with a nude image of themselves they shared on the Internet through sexting (from the words: sex and texting). They are later coerced into performing sexual acts with the person doing the extorting, and are coerced into performing hard-core pornography. It is exactly what it sounds like: sexual extortion.
Posted: April 15th, 2012 in CDN - Opinion,Cebu Daily News | Read More »
