Gabay Guro marks 11th year with Grand Gathering 2018

I’ve always admired this PLDT-Smart Foundation’s project Gabay Guro. Because it reminded me of my teachers, those who molded my mind during my educational years.

When I wasn’t of school age yet, it used to be that my parents exerted the most authority in my life. But once I got into the classrooms, the  portals of education, my teachers took over, even more authoritative in fact. In high school, I used to have a teacher, female, who I idolised. She was strict but in a caring way. The first love letter I received from my first suitor, not a classmate but one in a higher class, she intercepted. She has already read it when I got my hands into that letter.

But instead of getting angry at her, I appreciated what she did because she also advised me on a lot of things, especially in dealing with matters of the heart. She made me trust her and told her things I couldn’t tell anyone else especially my mother. We remained friends even after her retirement and long after she moved to Canada when her husband, also a teacher, died.

Anyway, Gabay Guro marks its 11th year with “Grand Gathering”  for teachers at the SM MOA Arena on Sept. 23.

In time for National Teacher’s Month, PLDT-Smart Foundation’s education advocacy and flagship program Gabay Guro is celebrating the occasion by bringing together thousands of teachers from all over the country.

Organized as the biggest tribute for Filipino teachers, the star-studded event features celebrity performances led by Megastar Sharon Cuneta, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Ogie Alcasid, Martin Nievera, Jaya, Gabby Concepcion, Randy Santiago, and Christian Bautista, among others.

ONE OF THE NEW FACES OF GABAY GURO – GABBY CONCEPCION

As a grand treat to teachers, Gabay Guro is also raffling off exciting prizes, including gift certificates, smartphones and gadgets, home appliances, livelihood packages, vehicles, and a brand new house and lot!

“Gabay Guro’s annual Grand Gathering is our big ‘Thank You’ to all our beloved teachers who dedicate their life to the invaluable role of educating our children,” said Gabay Guro Chairperson Chaye Cabal-Revilla. “They are our partners in nation-building through education, and we look forward to continuing our mission to support and uplift them as we mark our 11th year.”

The event is exclusive to teachers, and admission is FREE. For a chance to secure tickets, teachers may visit Gabay Guro’s official Facebook account at www.facebook.com/gabayguro and follow its official accounts on Twitter and Instagram at @PLDTGabayGuro for updates.

Empowering teachers across the country

Established in 2007, Gabay Guro aims to honor and empower teachers across the country through seven pillars: housing and educational facilities; scholarships; trainings; livelihood programs; broadbanding and computerization; innovations; and the Teachers’ Tribute.

Since its founding, Gabay Guro has built and donated over 40 classrooms nationwide and provided over 1,300 scholarship grants through its 47 partner schools. Of its scholars, 800 have graduated, with 234 finishing with honors. Over 500 graduates have also passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers.

Over the years, more than 40,000 educators have also benefited from Gabay Guro’s regular training programs, which include personality development, emotional intelligence, English proficiency, information technology, leadership, and creativity, among others.  To promote an innovative mindset and unlock opportunities for teachers, school leaders, staff, Gabay Guro also links schools to communities and industries through workshops and interactive seminars.

Award-winning advocacy program

Over the years, Gabay Guro has teamed up with various organizations, including companies within the PLDT Group, to improve the quality of life of teachers and their families by launching livelihood programs for teachers.

The organization has also partnered with local government units to bring the “Grand Gathering” experience to the provinces through the “Teacherfest” celebration, which was recently held in Bataan, Butuan, and Bulacan, and will soon be staged in Ilocos, Cebu, and Davao.

Gabay Guro’s efforts have been recognized by various award-giving bodies including Gawad Tanglaw, Anvil Awards, Philippine Quill Awards, and the Philippine Association of National Advertisers Awards.

Gabay Guro Grand Gathering 2018 is made possible by the support of Colgate-Palmolive; Devant; Enchanted Kingdom; FINTQ; Foton; Gen Korean BBQ House; HBC; Honda; Kettle Foods Corp.; Landco; Manila Doctors Hospital; Motorlandia; MPTC; MVP Rewards; MyPhone; PECCI; Penshoppe; PLDT Home; Red Planet Hotels; Reyes Haircutters; SGV Foundation; Smart; Standard Insurance; Stanford University Batch 2018; Sun; Sunsilk; Suzuki; Telescoop; TNT; and Yamaha.

For more information, visit the Gabay Guro’s official website at www.gabayguro.com and follow the organization’s official Twitter and Instagram accounts at @PLDTGabayGuro.

GRACE KALAW KATIGBAK - She paints, she dances, she performs!

At her age (68?), Grace Kalaw Katigbak considers herself more an artist than anything else but her passion for dance hasn't ebbed a bit. She believes “if I still can walk, I still could dance!” She studied ballet with Totoy Orteza “but my real teacher in ballet would be Tony Fabella and also William Morgan.

“I danced with Tats Manahan, Eddie Alejar and Tony Fabella a long time ago. We created a dance company, the Manila Metropolitan Dance Company.”

But more than a ballet dancer, she is now more engrossed in painting, an endeavor which she started doing in earnest 16 years ago. When we interviewed her early this year, Katigbak was in the midst of preparation for her solo art exhibit in New York which was held in April. She intended early one to name her exhibit “Wound” because it somehow showcased the pains and trauma of her life.

If she was so excited about the exhibit in the Big Apple it was because it was with a performance - hers! - like her two previous exhibits, “The Glamorous Guru” held at Galería Astra in LRI Bldg. Nicanor García St. in Makati last Nov. 23-Dec. 4, 2017; and “I’d Rather Be a Butterfly Than a Vaginah!” at the Ricco Renzo Art Gallery also along Nicanor García St. last Dec. 14, 2017.

No need to raise an eyebrow: Aside from being a master with the brush on canvas, Katigbak who has humor embedded in her being, attended Stand-Up Comedy class in Second City, Chicago and Clown School in Paris. She could have been a star in Philippine teleseryes but she said TV shows don't appeal to her. The only time she worked before the cameras was when she was a newscaster with Channel 13 when she was younger.

Katigbak didn't have formal lessons in painting. It was her forth husband, an English creative director who she described as “gifted,” who encouraged her to paint. “That's how I started painting 16 years ago. I owe it to him.” They are no longer a couple though, their marriage having been annulled like the other three of her four marriages.

Actually, she only finished high school, but she broadened her knowledge by reading books. And out of this passionate whiling of time, she also became a writer: writing poems and short stories, one of which won a Palanca Award.

Her mother, the late soprano Evelyn Kalaw, sent her to a modeling school in Europe where she enjoyed the freedom of youth before getting married at 17. She has two children, a girl and a boy who is bipolar, she confessed without rancor or shame. But with her traumatic childhood (among others, she said she was molested when she was only four years old) and her unhappy married life (she was beaten and abused wife, she added), she had to undergo therapy.

What came out after therapy was a better person - “I learned to forgive even myself and I felt so liberated! I learned to let go. I finally found my individual voice which I expressed through my paintings. Now I can talk about anything freely and without fear, pain or shame. This is the message I'd like to impart!”

In “Wound,” she will put into canvas the trauma and sufferings of her life. “But I will also do stand-up, I'm going to make a presentation talking about my experiences, the painstaking I went through. For my last two exhibits, I’ve done this - art exhibits with a performance or a presentation where I talked about my past unhappy life with humor. My last husband said that with such tortured and turbulent life, either of two things may happen: Life overwhelms art or it illumines it…”

• • •

Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings today, Sept. 19, go to former Philippine Sports Commission head Peping Cojuangco, Impy Pilapil, Atty. Nelson Lidua, Dr. Nilo Apale, Dennis Herruela, Marilou Laderas, Lydia de Guzman, Danny Vibas, Fringky Palma, Gerard Ramos and Maoui David. Belated happy birthday to headwriter Aol Rivera (Sept. 18), associate producer Dani Tiongson, Patch Manela Bungubung (Sept. 15), production assistant Elisha Elaine Paquing