The lone examinee of Mandaue City College (MCC) under Dr. Susana Cabahug passed the recent Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET).
Maribel Mirafuentes, a 30-year-old mother from barangay Alang-alang, Mandaue City, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Bachelor of Secondary Education last March 12.
She took the national examination last September and passed.
Four fellow graduates were advised not to take the exam as they were still taking a review.
“I was really overjoyed and I thanked the Lord that my sacrifices as a working student really paid off,” she said.
Mirafuentes, who has a seven-year-old son, came from a poor family in Samboan town, southern Cebu. Her father died when she was five years old.
She was a consistent honor student in the elementary grades and went on to San Sebastian High School in the Poblacion.
As a student, Mirafuentes would start walking from her house in the mountain barangay at 4 a.m. to make it to school in time for the flag raising ceremony.
She graduated as the salutatorian in high school and pursued a degree in education at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Cebu City. She worked as a househelper to support her studies.
When her employer migrated to Australia, she dropped out of school and worked in several companies until she married John Philip, a security guard.
In 2008, she was about to enroll again in a private university but she was advised by her husband’s supervisor to transfer to Mandaue City College, with its affordable tuition of P100 per unit.
Her passing the teacher’s licensure exam, she said, was “a combination of prayer and hardwork.” She thanked the support of her teachers, the administration and her husband.
She has since applied for a teaching post in the Canduman National High School in Mandaue and continues her job as volunteer teacher of Alternative Learning Systerm in her barangay. /REPORTER Jucell Marie P. Cuyos