82-year-old wants to thank HS teacher

The 82-year-old official of a publishing company has sought the help of Education Secretary Armin Luistro in finding her former home economics high school teacher whom she wanted to thank 63 years later.

In a letter she sent on September 5 to the Department of Education (DepEd), Teresa Alvina, an executive of Atlas Publishing Corp. who graduated from V. Mapa High School in 1948, said that only Luistro has the means and authority to help her.

“Time is of the essence. The act of thanking my former teacher, Mrs. Carmen Geronimo-Pascual, stands to be realized [belatedly after 63 years],” Alvina wrote.

The letter was sent to DepEd before it launched its “Thank You, Teacher” campaign to mark National Teachers’ Month this September and World Teacher’s Day on October 5.

“My regret is that I did not really exert that much effort to get in touch with her when I was younger [and this time], my search is limited by my own age. I did not leave Manila but I did not go out of my way to contact her,” Alvina said.

She noted in her letter that while there was nothing extraordinary about her former mentor, she wanted to find her so that she could personally convey her thanks.

“For me, it is very important to be able to say thank you now,” Alvina said.

According to her, she has done all she ccould to find out what happened to her teacher, including visiting her former high school and talking to the current principal. She also dug up Pascual’s service and government records but these all led to “a dead-end.”

All that she knew, she said, was that Pascual retired from the service in 1980. “Any information that will lead me to her will be much appreciated,” she told Luistro.