Regis Cebu Leadership - Leader Maricel Ngo -Call to Arms

To our respectable professor Mr. Jorge Saguinsin, to my co-leaders, God's morning.

I can make a difference as a mother and as an educator.

But , what can a leader of a tertiary school located in the Eastern Visayas: the Philippines'  3rd poorest region, with 37.2%  of its population living below poverty line do?

I do not have the power. I do not have the authority and even resources to help our region  at least reduce the poverty rate. But I have the hope. I can influence young people.  I have the vision. I want a long-term solution and that is ….. educating the young people, inculcating into the minds of our students and my children the virtue of patriotism and importance of rural development.

My advocacy is simple..  to influence young generations including my own children to work and serve their hometown. 

As a mother, we can start influencing our friends who have children. It should be an ultimate goal of every parent to provide nurturing environment at home.  How can you expect your children who will soon grow up to go back to their hometown if only the memories they remember are sad stories?

Teach our children to appreciate our hometown's cultural values, heritage, homegrown products, and the beauty of our natural resources and tourist destinations and the native foods we have in our place. How can you expect your children to appreciate them if you yourselves do not patrionize them?

For a multiplier effect, increase your network of parents in your hometown. Those parents who have resources and do not mind spending on their children's learning development.  Equipping our children with the necessary non-traditional type of learning is expensive but look at it as an investment. Their soft-skills and leadership skills will be enhanced. Their character and values will be developed.

 Why spend on these trainings? Because, we are molding our children to become responsible members of our society. They are soon to be movers and shakers of their community. We should envision them to grow up gaining lot of work experience outside our hometown and doing benchmarking, having studied different cultures, having been exposed to international standards, having met a lot of influential people globally who are their mentors and coaches.  Then, they go home and serve their hometown to contribute to the local economy through job creation, practice of their profession and even being a public servant. I have seen a handful of these Ormocanons I envisioned my children to become with parents who set such ideals of influencing their children a deep love fof their hometown. In 10 years, 20 years, I want to double or even quadruple their numbers and that includes my children.

I am inspired by the story of a couple raised from privileged families who earned their doctorate degrees in physics from the State University of New York. The Bernidos couple is well respected and admired because of their accomplishments as physicists. They chose to moved to the poor and remote municipality of Jagna, in Bohol province to run an old and struggling high school owned by the mother of the Mr. Christopher Bernidos. They commit to ensure that "those who have less in life should have more" in education. In the speech of Victoria, she said  and I quote " I therefore accept this award with a renewed commitment to the ideals engraved in my parents' hearts by the noble example of great men like President Magsaysay, which they passed on to their children, and which we now pass on to our students."

Like the Bernidos couple, I am blessed to serve a school. Every teacher and school administrators must be passionate and committed in educating the young people. Students can be educated like the way parents educate their children as I previously mentioned, I urge that the school should incorporate into their curriculum student-driven activities that are geared toward achieving a higher level of patriotism and love of their hometown. The school should actively participate in the programs of the local government or any civic organizations especially those that promote culture and local tourism. The school should always look at the opportunity where students can experience real life education. Producing graduates who are no ordinary employees of a company but a think tank of a corporation .. graduates who have the entrepreneuadjurial mindset that help the company's operations viable… Graduates who have the passion to serve the community…. Then, they go home, like my children, to serve their hometown to contribute to the local economy through job creation, practice of their profession and even being a public servant.

It may look still far in achieving my vision for my hometown but I choose to ACT and BELIEVE. AGAIN, My advocacy is simple as a mother and as an educator: I will influence young generations including my own children to work and serve their hometown and be a nation builder.

Thank you.



<adjudged as the best speech by the judges.  congratulations>

Maricel Reyes-Ngo,MCS

Mobile No.: 0928-5549795