Teacher from Leganes brings pride to Ilonggos



Zoilo Pinongcos Jr. recieving his award during the Search for the 2010 The Many Faces of the Teacher. photo form Zoilo Pinongcos FB

It is said that teaching is a noble profession. Teachers can be considered heroes as they are the ones that educate the populace and prepare them for their future.

But while all teachers deserve praise and honor for their noble deeds, only a few really get recognition. And one of them is Zoilo Pinongcos, Jr., of Leganes National High School (LNHS), who won two awards in the national level in 2009 and 2010 for showing exemplary performance in teaching profession.

In September 2010, Pinongcos, a pride of Brgy. Guihaman, Leganes, Iloilo was included in top five national honorees of “The Many Faces of the Teacher” which is a continuing public service and advocacy campaign of Bato Balani Foundation Inc, the social arm of one of the country’s leading educational publisher, Diwa Learning Systems Inc.

The five top honorees were chosen among the 100 nominees all over the country. Other awardees are Donald Dungog High School Teacher from Mactan Cebu; Efren Bino, Elementary School Teacher from Albay; Ambeth Ocampo, College Professor from National Capital Region (NCR) and Cristina Medina, a SPED Teacher from Laguna.

Organizers used the following criteria for evaluation:  person of integrity and morality; in good relations with students, colleagues, community members, and family; commitment and dedication to the teaching vocation; strength of values or principles applied in teaching and personal life and involvement in school and community activities.

Almost the same criteria were also used by the Metrobank Foundation when it conducted “Search for Outstanding Teachers” in 2009 wherein Pinongcos was one of the 10 awardees in secondary level from 173 nominees coming from various public and private educational institutions in the country.

Other secondary level awardees are Shena Faith Ganeta of Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas Campus in Iloilo City, Rochelle Papasin of Philippine Science High School-Southern Mindanao Campus in Davao City, and Ma. Petra Romualdo of Minapan High School in Tulunan, Cotabato.

Pinongcos, a Master Teacher 1, believed that his faith in God, achievements, innovation and community outreach programs helped him a lot to get the two awards that brought honor and name to his school.

In his 25 years in the field of teaching, he said receiving the two awards are among the rewards for his efforts and greatest achievements, aside from sharing his knowledge to his students.

Pinongcos scored high among other nominees because of his several trainings for the Intel Teach Training Program at the national, regional and division levels.

After the training, Pinongcos has shared what he learned from the trainings to his fellow teachers who have limited computer exposure and experiences so that they could acquire basic technology literacy skills and introduces them to 21st century approaches to teaching and learning process.

The awardee also served as an ICT (Information and Communication Technology) trainer for our-of-school youths and barangay officials in Leganes town.

Also as part of the innovative teaching approaches, Pinongcos has created “Barangay Ko, Tipigan Ko” (I care for my barangay), a form of learning that promotes social and community awareness among the students in which they could adopt a barangay and conduct an assessment survey on its strengths and weaknesses.

Aside from these, Pinongcos is an active extraordinary minister of the Holy Communion in the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer in Leganes, Iloilo.

Source:  Montesa Grino - Caoyonan, The News Today

Palawan’s underground river among New7Wonders

The Amazon rainforest, Vietnam’s Halong Bay and Argentina’s Iguazu Falls were named among the world’s new seven wonders of nature, according to organisers of a global poll.

The other four crowned the world’s natural wonders are South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo, the Philippines’ Puerto Princesa Underground River and South Africa’s Table Mountain, said the New7Wonders foundation, citing provisional results.

Final results will be announced early 2012, said the Swiss foundation, warning however that there may yet be changes between the provisional winners and the final list.

Sites which have failed to make the cut include Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, the Dead Sea and the US Grand Canyon.

The poll organised by Swiss foundation New7Wonders has attracted great interest, mobilising celebrities including Argentinian football star Lionel Messi calling on fans to pick his home country’s Iguazu Falls.

The results come after a long consultation process lasting from December 2007 to July 2009, when world citizens were asked to put forward sites which they deemed were natural wonders.

More than a million votes were cast to trim the list of more than 440 contenders in over 220 countries down to a shortlist of 77.

The group was then further cut to the 28 finalists by a panel of experts.

Anyone in the world was then able to vote for the final seven via telephone, text messages or Internet social networks.

Founded in 2001 by filmmaker Bernard Weber in Zurich, the foundation New7Wonders is based on the same principle on which the seven ancient wonders of the world were established. That list of seven wonders was attributed to Philon of Byzantium in ancient Greece.

New7Wonders said its aim is to create a global memory by garnering participation worldwide.

But even as the natural wonders poll came to a close, the New7Wonders foundation has set its eyes on a new survey — the top seven cities of the world. Participating cities will be announced on January 1, 2012.

source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

PNoy in World View Interview

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is the first Asian head of state to participate in the YouTube's World View interview, a monthly series of live interviews with world leaders.

On Friday afternoon, November 4, 2011, PNoy took time to answer questions from online citizens and directed to him by Google's head of Public Policy and Government Affairs in Asia Pacific, Ross LaJeunesse.

Questions and answers

“Mr. President, naniniwala po ba kayo kay Santa Claus? Kung oo, ano po ang wish n’yo ngayong Pasko?" asked 7-year-old Joshua via YouTube.

Aquino responded in stride: "Santa Claus perhaps is a personification of how people see the idea of generosity and idea of caring. It does come out at least for Christians during this period — most particularly and most, shall we say, strongly."

But on a serious note, Aquino was asked, "What are plans to improve the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal?" The question, posted by Jesse from Cavite, was the top rated Tweet as voted by people on WorldView.

Aquino's answer was quick and to the point: "A plan for it, improving both structurally and aesthetically, would be presented to me by Tuesday next week."