A visit to Tuguegarao City

By Gonzalo Duque

TUGUEGARAO CITY – Some people are wondering why the Lyceum Northwestern   University has awarded  Doctorate Degrees in the recipients’ university or college campuses  instead of at the LNU.

Well, it is an innovation in the field of education which I am proud to claim as LNU’s new state of the art curriculum. I am proud to say that the university has earned plus points on this account.

Who were our honorees so far? Dr. Pedro San Jose of the University of Mindanao, Dr. Cezar Agnir of the Northern Christian College in Laoag City, Dr. Ben Nicolas of the North-western College, also of Laoag City, and just last Thursday, Provincial Board Member Dr. Victor Ventura Perez, doctor of humanities in public service in honoris causa, president Cagayan Colleges Tuguegarao.

Vic is a friend, a colleague in the PRISSA having been its regional vice president in Region I.  LNU’s visit to Vic’s place was also educational on our part because the trip broadened one’s horizons, mine and the entire troops who joined me. All the members of my party were full of ohs and ahs on the beauty of Tuguegarao City and the hospitality and friendliness of the people out there.

I am planning to invite Ermin, Gerry, Jun and Al in my future out-of-town journeys because of   the thrilling experience it gives.

What was touching in the investiture for Vic   for his doctorate degree in the Humanities and Public Service was the presence of his family, including his wife Ester Susan Baird Naguidula Perez and some of his US-based children who came just for this occasion.  Very touching, and for that alone, the romantic in me has come alive and kicking.

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While pondering education in its comprehensive sense, my thoughts came upon the cases of the poverty-stricken children who slug it out with life’s painful challenges just to acquire higher education.

I have encountered toddlers in some day care centers and public schools who during recess queue it up for cheap merienda. These scenes fill me with dread, because how could they grow up to be assets of the republic under the circumstances?

I understand the city government has its feeding program. Then Mayor Al Fernandez started a good program and the city even got a regional award for it. It was not a perfect program, but compared to the other LGU’s program, if any, it was so far the best.  I was told that Mayor Benjie Lim has his own version. Our local officials know the value of correct nutrition, hence the supplementary feeding program.

When I was vice governor, I knew that then Governor Aguedo Agbayani had a very successful nutrition program. It was during his lectures to his staff that I learned the connection between intelligence and nutrition. The late governor kept emphasizing that poverty is also a big bottleneck to providing the people, especially the young, with proper nutrition.

Correct nutrition that should start even in the mother’s womb is insurance for   a strong and healthy republic. Our government officials starting with President GMA should focus their energies in the preparation of the young for their development because the future of the country depends on them.

Probably, the program should also tap the civic clubs such as the Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and the Jaycees to educate the barrio folks especially the mothers to properly tend their children with regard to proper nutrition.

We all know that many of these foodstuffs our children buy from the stores across the school are not only bland and lacking in vitamins; they are even unclean. Sickness and early death would eventually subdue them due to these factors.

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 Many of our readers reacted rather positively to what I wrote regarding the practice of some of our friends who exhibit their faces on the city’s main streets using every kind of gimmick to advertise their private or selfish interests.

They told me to make more follow-ups because they are not happy with such cheap shot in self-aggrandizement.

Sabi ko naman, ibigay ang hilig. Ang politico gagawin lahat masunod lamang ang kapritso ng botante. But they are lowering the intelligence of the people with their low-level gimmickry. 

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