BY JULIA CARREON-LAGOC
MAY 1, Labor Day, we buried a teacher: Sir Eliodoro Campos Cofreros.
He was an icon in the educator’s world, truly a topnotch citizen of Oton, my hometown, and every Otonian can vouch for that.
He was 91 when he departed for “the undiscovered country where no traveler returns” — a quote from the Bard of Avon, reflective of the eloquence of Mr. Cofreros in the many speeches he had regaled his audience.
They came in droves to honor one of their own, teachers who have looked up to Mr. Cofreros as a model in the teaching profession.
They were by themselves a friendly group who rendered a choral number on the programme held at the Holy Garden Memorial Park in Oton.
A heart-tugging eulogy of Mrs. Cecilia Sorongon-Segaya, former principal of the Oton Central School and later district supervisor, narrated the teachers’ high regard for their departed colleague.
Ditto with heart-felt memories from two esteemed retirees: Ms. Aida del Prado and Ms. Milagros Montalvo. Like Mr. Cofreros, Aida had been Principal of the San Antonio-San Nicolas Elementary School (SASNES). Milag was a faculty member of the Oton National High School. Both recalled the many lessons they had imbibed from Mr. Cofreros as they went about the time-span of their own teaching profession.
Through the years, starting at the time when this senior citizen was still in the grades, I have heard in many an affair how the teacher would be extolled as belonging to “the noblest profession.”
Endearingly and respectfully, we would utter a prolonged “Ma’am” to “Miss Titser” from the very first step we took on the school’s hallowed grounds. Miss Titser had hammered into our brains the rudiments of the three R’s — Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic — the basic Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.
Miss Titser would balance these with GMRC — the clear-cut, explicitly-taught Good Manners and Right Conduct. The three R’s and GMRC have become sacred staples in our lives — our legacy from all those in “the noblest profession.”
Of great relevance is a remarkable quote from Dr. Ramon Cabag of the West Visayas State University: “Behind the great destiny of an individual is a teacher.” The occasion was World Teachers’ Day celebrating the theme: “Education matters; teachers make the difference.” Dr. Cabag was the guest speaker.
In that same event, Mr. Cofreros was the recipient of a plaque of commendation in behalf of the “grateful citizens of Oton…for his untiring service… as educator and as outstanding senior citizen worthy of emulation by everyone.” Jottings from an old column of this keyboard pusher.
Noteworthy were the resolutions of the Sangguniang Bayan and the Federation of Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines (FESCAP), Oton Chapter — official records that enshrined in framed black and white the invaluable achievements of one venerable Otonian.
Fully deserving of the recognition, the high achiever will remain an inspiration to the audience — a mix of friends and relatives, government officials, teachers, and many other professionals.
I arrived from the States end of March. Middle of April, I told my sister Bebita that I’m going to interview Mr. Cofreros for a bit of SASNES history. He had been an exemplary Principal of this school where I and my siblings and all four of my children were in its roster of alumni. SASNES will have a weeklong centennial celebration this last week of May, and Mr. Cofreros would be a veritable source of information on the backgrounder I had in mind. He was a historian of sorts to us. He knew a lot about the town, about the folks of his time and of those belonging beyond his generation.
I was told that Brgy. San Antonio’s grand old man — weakened both in body and mind — might not be up to par for my supposed interview. Wait, I could perk him up, I replied.
Still jet-lagged, I let the days go by, only to pine for what could have been precious moments with a formidable pillar of the teacher’s world.
Seize the day, ‘tis often said. How often has this reminder taken a potshot at our inaction. How we would lament at the consequences of having held our plans in abeyance. And thus, yours truly, then a fresh graduate and a young instructor in English and American Literature, is left to ponder on the immmortal lines of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat:
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it
Carpe diem! Seize the day because the Moving Finger writes…(juliaclagoc@yahoo.com)/PN
