Kid from QC slums latest ‘Pisay’ poster boy

Robert John Pecayo

At age 13 and with his family facing a steep climb out of poverty, Robert John Pecayo had almost given up hope of finishing his studies and fulfilling his dream of becoming a math teacher.

His father, a former factory machine operator, had been unemployed for years because of epilepsy while his mother eked out a living selling balut. Two of his aunts supported his brother through college and his sister through high school, but there was no certainty that they could extend the same help to Robert.

But a letter that arrived in his slum neighborhood in January last year suddenly changed the equation for the boy.

Pecayo did not only go on to finish as a valedictorian at Bagong Pag-asa Elementary School in Quezon City. He also qualified for a slot in the prestigious and highly competitive Philippine Science High School (PSHS). The state-run PSHS wrote him two months before his graduation that he had passed the admission test.

And now, all he has to do is cross the street: PSHS—“Pisay” to its students and alumni—happens to be just a stone’s throw away from Pecayo’s house on Agham Road.

The Grade 7 student admitted that he didn’t know much about Pisay despite its nearness to home. “I didn’t hear much about it in the media. [But] when my classmates told me they were taking Pisay’s entrance exam, I asked myself: ‘Why not give it a try, too?’”

Mom sees ‘a natural’

Pecayo’s mother, Beverly, said she was simply overcome with joy upon learning that out of the 15 examinees from Robert’s class only her son made it.

Beverly, 44, said she considered her son a “gifted child.”

“I believe he’s naturally intelligent. When he comes home, he actually doesn’t spend much time studying and usually plays games with other kids in our neighborhood. During periodical exams, he would study at home for about five minutes and that’s about it,” she said.

But since entering Pisay, Beverly noted that her son now spends at least an hour studying his notes and books after class. Robert admitted that he had to change his study habits as he was still adjusting to the tougher school life in Pisay.

“In my previous school, we usually spent an entire week just for one lesson; now I have only two to three days [per topic],’’ Robert told the Inquirer on Saturday. Algebra remains his favorite subject for “it is difficult and it challenges me.”

Pecayo’s story was cited last week by Secretary Mario Montejo of the Department of Science and Technology as he encouraged students from public schools and low-income families to aim for scholarships in the country’s premiere secondary school specializing in science, math and engineering subjects.

The application period is usually from June to August at the various PSHS campuses around the country. With the main campus on Agham Road, the other Pisays are in Ilocos Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Baguio City, Pampanga, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Cebu, Leyte, Lanao del Norte, Davao, South Cotabato and Agusan del Norte.

“We are reaching out to our youth who may be less fortunate but can be competitive in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering. This is one way of broadening our prospects in building a pool of science and technology experts who will someday become the country’s leaders,” Montejo said in a statement.

According to PSHS executive director Larry Cabatic, the school system hopes to “accommodate more qualifiers from less fortunate families.”

He noted that 60 percent of the passers now come from families who may be considered well-off, from as high as 90 percent 10 years ago.

Must be above average

In 2014, 23,000 applicants took the school’s National Competitive Exam and only 1,320 students made the cut. The test measures the applicants’ scientific and quantitative abilities, abstract reasoning and verbal aptitude—areas where their scores should be above average.

Of the total number of passers, the top 240 are admitted to the Diliman campus in Quezon City.

The government spends around P140,000 a year for every Pisay student. The amount covers the student’s school fees, a monthly stipend of P500 to P4,000, depending on the student’s financial needs, and a uniform allowance of P1,800.

For this year, the PSHS school system has a budget of P1.4 billion or an average of P111 million for each of Pisay’s 13 campuses, according to finance chief Ma. Concepcion Sacay.

Cabatic said the school regards these figures as investments rather than as expenditures. “We are investing in the future of these students. Pisay scholars are the leaders of tomorrow and they can shape the future of our country.”