Nine Cebuanos land in top 10

A farm boy and a part-time college lecturer were among two of the nine education graduates from Cebu who landed in the top 10 of the September 2012 Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET).

Jerome Llena Abregana, a 22-year-old graduate of Cebu Technological University (CTU) Argao College of Education and 22-year-old Jess Roel Quiñanola Pesole of Bacayan, Cebu City each garnered an 89 and 86.40 average respectively in the exam.

Pesole’s 89 average topped the 2012 LTE while a batchmate from the University of San Carlos (USC), Reginald Raymund Aviles Caturza, ranked number 10 with an 87.20 average.

Caturza graduated Magna Cum Laude last March. He majored in Science and Math.

Abregana, a young farmer from Canbantug, Argao town, said he was still in shock over his achievement.

“It took me a long time to sleep last night,” said Abregana, the second of four children to Teodoro and Marieza, both farmers.

A valedictorian up to high school, Abregana said he would head to the farm after classes and during his free time.

He stopped for one year after high school and managed to attend college after being elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairman in 2007.

When his term ended in 2010, he found it difficult paying for his studies.

Through donors, he graduated cum laude at the CTU Argao College of Education. Abregana thanked God and Saint Pedro Calungsod for helping him pass the exam and said he would find work to help his parents.

He worked for two months in a language school and applied at a call center but Abregana said he believes he should teach.

“I promised that once I passed, I would become a teacher,” Abregana said.

Lynette Camillo, director of the CTU Argao College of Education and Arts & Sciences, said they consider Abregana as the school’s first topnotcher.

Their previous best was topping the regional exam level in 1998, she said.

For his part Pesole first graduated with a degree in Psychology at the USC and took up Education which he finished last March.

Pesole is a part-time teacher at the Cebu Normal University (CNU) College of Arts and Sciences department.

He graduated class valedictorian at the Maria Montessori International School in barangay San Jose, Cebu City. Pesole, the older of two siblings, said he didn’t expect to top the exam.

“I’m hoping for the best but also expected the worst so that if the worst thing happens, you can’t feel that it’s the end of the world”, Pesole said.

His parents Rogelio and Lolita were ecstatic on hearing the news, he said.

University of San Carlos (USC) College of Education dean Antonio Batomalaque was happy on learning that two of their graduates landed in the top 10.

“We’re very very happy for this achievement especially that we will be celebrating our 75th anniversary or diamond anniversary next year,” Batomalaque said in a radio interview.

Batomalaque said the two topnotchers will receive medals, laptops and scholarship grants for their nearest kin.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Board for Professional Teachers (BPT) released the exam results last Monday evening.

The results showed that 25,136 elementary school teachers out of 50,997 examinees (49.29 percent) and 20,834 secondary school teachers out of 47,892 examinees (43.50 percent) successfully passed the exam held in 22 testing centers around the country.