Sitio Macabud is one of the 11 barangays of Rodriguez Rizal. I was able to visit the place when I volunteered to join the feeding program of our company in the area.
About 300 students, plus the 12 teachers assigned in the school, feasted on spaghetti and bread brought by the group.
I enjoyed the sights in going there. There were lots of trees along the bumpy and rough road. It’s my first time to go there.
I just heard of it before - that it’s a shortcut in going to some parts of Bulacan Province, that it’s a favorite trail among bikers.
But I heard it’s also dangerous there because of the presence of NPAs. I watched a video on YouTube of the actual ambush of some soldiers by the rebels in the area. You wouldn’t imagine that such a beautiful and peaceful place could be an abode of armed men.
I met Teacher Elvie, the longest serving teacher there in Macabud Elementary School. She has been in the school for seven years already while her co-teachers were either fresh graduates or have been teaching there for two to three years only.
Teacher Elvie could have transferred to a less remote or more known school in the lowlands but she chose to stay, out of her love for the school and the pupils.
The construction of additional three rooms has just been completed by the Rizal Provincial Government.
Most of the students there walk for hours in going to and coming home from the school. They walk for long distances, enduring the rugged terrain of the road. I really admire their diligence. I hope they will be able to fulfill their dreams.
I remember my experience in my elementary years. I also used to walk to school. But the difference is that, they walk on roads full of trees while I used to walk on concrete pavements in the subdivisions of Marikina Heights, under the heat of the sun. I console myself by counting my steps, “31, 32, 33…”
Even the teachers walk the road downhill when the last trip of the jeepney has already passed by.
And if they are able to ride in it, they sit on each other's laps or on the aisles. The students and teachers there sacrifice so much!
Some kids still opted to play in the schoolyard after their classes.
But most went out of the gate immediately, in troops, to tread back to their homes. I bid them goodbye...
“Nalaman kong marami palang libreng lecture sa mundo, ikaw
ang gagawa ng syllabus. Maraming teacher sa labas ng eskuwelahan, desisyon mo kung kanino ka magpapaturo. Lahat tayo enrolled ngayon sa isang university, maraming subject na mahirap, pero dahil libre, ikaw ang talo kung nag-drop ka. Isa-isa tayong ga-graduate, iba’t-ibang paraan. Tanging diploma ay ang mga alaala ng kung ano mang tulong o pagmamahal ang iniwan natin sa mundong pinangarap nating baguhin minsan…”
- Bob Ong
