Monday, December 30, 2013

Legend: The story of Donya Maltha River



Taiheyo cement corporation
(the story behind this)
                  The small town of San Fernando has always been green with cornfields and tilled by happy people. But once, in the olden days, there appeared a mysterious woman on one of the rivers here. The mysterious woman named Donya Maltha had all the things that people needed such as wedding garments, kitchen utensils, and many more.

            Donya Maltha was very kind to her fellow men. Most of the people went to her to borrow any wedding garments or any kitchen utensils for any celebration. A villager went to Donya Maltha and asked something from her, "Donya Maltha, I need to borrow any wedding garments and  utensils  for the wedding of my daughter?." In just a blink of an eye, those things are in front of the villager. And he heard a voice coming from the mysterious woman, "You have to bring back all those things here after you used it". The villager replied, "Oh, Yes, yes Donya Maltha, I will". After the wedding celebration, the villager brought all those things back to the place where he found them. This situation happened again and again.
                           
                   Until such time that there was an abusive member in the town who broke the kindness of  Donya Maltha. The said member didn't give back all the things that he borrowed from Donya Maltha. From then on Donya Maltha suddenly disappeared. The river where she was first founded was now a mysterious place to all the people who live in this town, it is called Donya Maltha. 
                                       
                 This river can be found in Barangay Tinubdan San Fernando, Cebu. But OPPS!, this Urban Legend didn't end up here. This is only the Middle Point.

                 The said river has a secret tunnel going to the neighboring barangay which is Barangay South Poblacion. That said barangay has a corporation named Taheiyo Grand Cement. The Corporation's area is very wide enough for their transactions. In front of their very wide gate, there is a big Balete tree- I think it's almost a hundred years of existence.

                 That Balete Tree was very mysterious even until today because it was said that it was the House of Donya Maltha. Goosh!! Nobody tried to cut the Balete Tree because they were all afraid to be punished if ever they did.

Notre Dame Academy of San Fernando, Cebu Inc.




   Notre Dame Academy of San Fernando, Cebu, Inc. is the only private sectarian school in San Fernando. My Alma Matter. The History of this school was written in every student’s handbook. It was written there after the war in 1945 because all the colleges in Cebu City were destroyed, coupled with the lack of transportation facilities, Fr. Diosdado Camomot, the Parish Priest of San Fernando, established a local school, initially called the Colegio de San Carlos Branch. The school catered to the educational needs of the students from the town, Carcar, Naga, and other neighboring towns.

    The following year, the school's name was changed to Notre Dame College until the College Department was phased out in 1952. The High school department continued up to the present carrying the new name of Notre Dame Academy.

  Fr. Camomot was succeeded by Fr. Juan Boltron, then by Fr. Jose Motus, and then by Fr. Jorge Kintanar.

   The last parish priest Director of Notre Dame Academy was Fr. Constantino Batoctoy. He was responsible for the construction of the present high school building, with the support of the late Julio Cardinal Rosales, one of the proprietors of the school.


    In the school year 1969-1970, Cardinal Julio Rosales installed Sr.Lilia Hilarion, an ICM nun, as the first director of Notre Dame Academy.

   The following year, the Oblates of Notre Dame took over the management of the school as requested by Cardinal Rosales who personally went to Cotabato to get the OND sisters for his schools in the archdiocese.

   From then on, several OND sisters had been designated as directress of the school. The first OND directress of the school was S. Salvacion Pagsuguiron, OND.


   The OND school is one of the ministries embarked upon by the Oblates of Notre Dame to share Christ’s Mission of evangelization.

It is called to be:
A COMMUNITY OF FAITH- committed to the person of Jesus Christ, the model teacher.
A COMMUNITY OF FIENDS- bound together in the friendship of Jesus Christ, committed to the formation of the total man.
A COMMUNITY OF DISCIPLES- committed to the radical following of Christ the Poor.
A MARY-LIKE COMMUNITY- gifted with Notre Dame as its Mother, Model, and inspiration.

    Notre Dame Academy has an old building where the Admin section, Library, Clinic, and Faculty can be found. Of course, if there’s an old there should be new. The new building was built last 2008-2009. It cost millions. Speech Lab, Computer Lab, Science Lab, H.E section, and classrooms could be found in the new building.  Student services include religious Services, a Library, a Clinic, a Canteen, a Laboratory, and a Chapel.

    And for the school activities, there is a wide variety of co-curricular activities provided for the students. These activities aim to promote and develop the cultural, social, and spiritual consciousness of the students, so that they may become productive, responsive, and creative members of the school, family, and society.

    I’d experience a lot of things here which involved the academic and extra-curricular activities. I attended the MTGP training in MHCS, Vocation Jamboree, Recollection, Retreat, and OND youth encounter in Abuyog, Leyte. Notre Dame Academy gave me wondrous experiences and molded me into a better Christian.


The Municipality of San Fernando, Cebu

Municipality of San Fernando, Cebu

Municipal Hall

San Fernando is a second-class municipality in the province of CebuPhilippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 60,970 people
In 2005, Metro Cebu's definition was expanded to include Danao City in the north and the municipalities of San Fernando and Carcar down south



THE RATIONALE OF THE REVISED MUNICIPAL SEAL/LOGO OF SAN FERNANDO

    The logo or municipal seal of San Fernando, province of Cebu, promulgated under Resolution No. 172 series of 1999, Ordinance No. 3 is the product after collating 10 participating entries coming from bonafide residents of this municipality.
The ensembles comprising the logo or seal of San Fernando have the following meaning narrated as follows:
      As we can see from the center of the logo, the year 1858 was inscribed on the pathway leading to the municipal hall where the replica of the late Juan Diyong, the first San Fernando resident who assumed leadership inquest for social justice.
       The late Juan Diyong carried on his right hand the flaming torch in broad daylight, lighting his path on the way to the town hall. The flame burning red expresses his burning desire to serve the people of the municipality.
       This is exclusively contained on a diamond square giving emphasis to men’s early exploitation of the town’s natural resources.
        From the four corners of the diamond square, the upper right reflects the smoke-belching chimney of an industrial complex with mechanical gear on its side depicting the industrial development of the present times. On the same corner, one can observe a communication tower sending and receiving signals involving communication as an essential factor for development towards progress.
       This means that the municipality is geared towards industrial development.
       In the lower right corner, one can see an open book with a feather pen reflecting education, an essential thrust of LGU emphasizing literacy to the people. It exists by giving free education to the less fortunate as mandated by the constitution of the Republic.                                                                                                                                     In the upper left corner, we can see a group of people converging, representing the community, wherein the residents are peace-loving and law-abiding citizens.
       Then on the lower left, heads of cattle, kernels of corn, and fish, represent staple products and foods expressing the continuing agricultural development of the town.
       With these, it is safe to say that San Fernando is an agro-industrial area in a community of development.
       On the lower portion, we can see twenty-one (21) green leaves mushrooming from the circle which represents 21 barangays of the municipality.
       To top it all, we can see the bold letters inscribed on the outer layer of the circle bearing the identity as Municipality of San Fernando, Cebu, an expression to the whole world that our town exists and is part of the province of Cebu in the Philippine archipelago.