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NORDIS
WEEKLY January 16, 2005 |
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Orata founding of first HS in Pangasinan not hoax |
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URDANETA CITY (Jan 10) – Factual error in history cannot be reverted in a snap, a local legislator said on Wednesday. The rumor which has been hounding the city for almost a decade now caused local personalities to scramble for proofs. Former Councilor Rufino Ortiz, supported by Engr. Cesar Queyquep, both residing at present in United States has been urging local legislators to ‘rectify a historical error’. Ortiz asserts in a letter that former town Mayor Mariano Moreno, not the late Dr. Pedro Orata, founded the first public high school outside the provincial capital, the Pangasinan Provincial East High School now called Urdaneta City National High School. Councilor Jennylin Sison, Chair of the local Committee on Education said “There is no way we can change the course of history in a snap. There must be tons and tons of proofs to set the records straight.” The matter should not tarnish the image that kept the luster of ‘good old man’s’ name, Sison added. Dr. Teofidez Calvero a long-time confidant and also well-known mentor in the city said, “The late Orata at the onset of liberation from the Japanese in 1945 through the appointment as Director of Education of certain Capt. Kramer of the liberation force established the school starting with a roofless church.” Thirty-five students were enrolled in a 3-month secondary curriculum and immediately graduated in April 1945. Orata, then called to Manila as Chief of the Curriculum Division of the Bureau of Education, persuaded then Bureau Secretary Francisco Benitez to grant the graduation, countered Calvero. Among the pioneer graduates who supported Dr. Calvero’s claim was Mrs. Amparo Tamayo. Dr. Andres Beltran and Mr. Bartolome Cajas, both from class ’46 also upheld the claim. In 1948, Orata joined the UNESCO as Program Specialist to study local conditions of education in various countries and helped in the establishment of community schools. He was given a Magsaysay Award for community service in 1977. The recognitions he earned surmount the issue, said Calvero. “If he’s alive today, he wouldn’t mind and let the others claim what they claim,” a teary-eyed Calvero added. # Jhong dela Cruz for NORDIS |
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