WWII True Stories contest winners announced

MANILA, Philippines—The story of a boy from Mountain Province who found values worth emulating from the Japanese invaders during World War II won first prize in the third WWII True Stories essay writing contest.

Dixi Dawn F. Abigo, third year student of the Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School, is this year’s winner in the competition jointly sponsored by the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) and the Learning Section of the Inquirer.

Abigo’s prize consists of a MacBook laptop and a PVB savings account with a P10,000 deposit. The winner’s teacher coach will get a PVB savings account with a P5,000 deposit.

The country’s three major island groups—Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao—are represented in this year’s winning entries.

Second prize winner is Vincent Jude Nuñal, third year student of the Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

He wrote about the daughter of a man charged as a Japanese collaborator, although he was secretly helping Filipino guerrillas.

Cristella Gabiana, fourth year student of St. Mary’s School in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, is third with a love story that unfolded during the war.

In fourth and fifth places, respectively, are Francis Thaddeus Lazaro, third year, Ateneo de Manila University High School, Quezon City; and Rommel N. Padilla, fourth year, Candating High School, Candating, Arayat, Pampanga.

Lazaro’s story was about a boy who had to kill three men when he was just 16. Padilla wrote about a soldier who was accused of high treason.

The winning essays will be published in subsequent issues of the Learning section. Winners will be notified by the PVB of the date and venue for the formal awarding of prizes.