Republic of the Philippines

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY

James Bryan Macaranas Prima May 2, 2020

Bachelor of Secondary Education – Major in Social Studies
BYPROF ED 109 – The Teacher and The School Curriculum
Dr. Amado C. Ramos

ROLES OF THE TEACHER IN THE COMMUNITY

1. Who is Mr. Randy Halasan?

ANSWER:
It is a truism that it takes a village to raise a child. But it seems equally
true that it takes just one person to launch this collective process of education.
In the Philippines, where a public school system has been in place for over a
century, many communities remain either unserved or underserved. Where
physical access is difficult and dangerous, government’s presence weak and
facilities are meager, and people are too poor to even claim an education, the
work of public school teachers is nothing less than heroic, and yet largely
goes unheralded.
This is the story of thirty-one-year-old Randy Halasan, a teacher in
Pegalongan Elementary School, serving the indigenous Matigsalug tribe living
in one of the remotest villages in the mountainous hinterland of Davao City.
Mr Randy Halasan, 35, is the head teacher in Pegalongan Elementary
School, the poorest and most isolated school in Davao City serving the
Matigsalog tribe and locals from Bukidnon.
Mr Halasan was one of City Savings Bank’s Outstanding Educators in
2016 for his leadership in education. In 2014, Mr Halasan also received the
Ramon Magsaysay Award (established in 1957 to honour people or groups
who change communities for the better and is often described as Asia’s Nobel
Prize) for Emergent Leadership for his dedication in nurturing his Matigsalog
students and their community to transform their lives through quality
education and sustainable livelihood. Mr Halasan was cited for going beyond
the call of duty to students by serving as a bridge between the Matisalog
community and government agencies.
Convinced that education is key to the Matigsalog’s survival in a
changing world, Mr Halasan has convinced parents to keep their children in
school, discouraged the customary practices of early and arranged marriages,
and promoted values of self-help and equality in the community. He
established the Sitio High School to continue the studies of the young
members of the tribe. He also organised the Pegalongan Farmers Association
in 2011 and the Pegalongan Matigsalog Youth Association in 2016. With Mr
Halasan’s help, the Matigsalog community acquired a rice-and-corn mill, a
seed bank, and horses for transporting their farm products. Its forest
rehabilitation contract with the government has expanded from 22 hectares to
 100 hectares in 2014 because of its successful tree replanting programme. Mr
Halasan’s strong advocacy for the welfare of the community also led to the
construction of roads and hanging bridges leading to Pegalongan Elementary
School.

2. Why he was given the 2014 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent
Leadership?
ANSWER:
In electing Randy Halasan to receive the 2014 Ramon Magsaysay
Award for Emergent Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes his
purposeful dedication in nurturing his Matigsalug students and their
community to transform their lives through quality education and sustainable
livelihoods, doing so in ways that respect their uniqueness and preserve their
integrity as indigenous peoples in a modernizing Philippines.

3. What were the challenges that Mr. Halasan when he started his career as a
teacher? Did you have the same predicaments?
ANSWER:
To reach Pegalongan from his family’s home in the city takes Halasan
seven hours of travel – two hours by bus, an hour over extremely rough roads
by habal-habal motorcycle, four hours of walking, and crossing the waters of
two treacherous rivers. When Halasan first arrived in Pegalongan in 2007, he
was one of only two teachers in a two-room schoolhouse, teaching multi-
grade classes between Grades 1 and 6. There was no electricity, amenities
were primitive, and the place was virtually cut off from communication with the
outside world. The young novice teacher’s first thought was that he would
seek a reassignment out of the place the first chance he could get. No, we
don’t have the same predicaments because I am not living in a remote are. I
can easily go to the school.

4. How did he manage to overcome these challenges? If you were Mr. randy
Halasan would you do the same?
ANSWER:
Moved by compassion for the children who have to walk miles and
cross rivers just to get to school, and who often fall asleep in class from
hunger and fatigue, and driven by a sense of duty to help the impoverished
and defenseless forest tribals against the encroachments of powerful
outsiders, Halasan has embraced the Matigsalug community as his own. He
has turned down offers for reassignment, and his family often does not see
him for many weeks on end. I have a heart for teaching, I do have
compassion and dedication to serve our society but I am very sorry to say that
I can’t do the same what Mr Halasan did to these people of Pegalongan. It is
because I am not physically fit I easily get tired because I have a weak heart.
If I pursue this I might die without serving anyone. I must save myself first in
order for me to save others from ignorance.