Meet Krisel Aquino.  Krisel is a student from Vigan National West High School who initiated a program to teach parents how to understand and support their children’s needs. Her story started back in 2016 when she won a recognition award for good academic performance.  Instead of receiving compliments for her award, her parents simply disregarded it, saying that the award would not do them any good because it could not put food on the table nor pay the bills. Krisel said that, unfortunately, this was the relationship she had with her parents.

Naturally, an experience like this would demoralize anybody, and Krisel was aware that there were many students just like her. She knew of fellow students who would say these things about their parents – – “ang napapansin lang ang pagkakamali ko,” “lagi silang busy,” “wala silang time sa akin,” “wala silang alam sa pinagdadaanan ko,” “lagi na lang silang nag-aaway,” “mahal ba nila talaga ako?” “buti na lang may mga kaibigang nakakaintindi sa akin,” “mapapansin lang siguro nila ako pag may mangyaring masama sa akin.”Krisel turned to her guidance counselor, Ms Wilmarie Teano, for help and together, they initiated the program they called “A Millenial Child Needs a Smart and Responsible Millenial Parent.” Through the program, Krisel hoped that parents would understand the situation of their children and the role they need to play in their education.  

A series of activities was done, such as surveys, interviews, module development and planning, before rolling out the parenting training in her school.   The training module teaches positive parenting behavior and how to create an environment where children and parents can have a positive and healthy relationship with each other.  The training is designed to bridge the gap between the children and their parents.

 At first, there were only a few attendees of the program but the numbers increased every year.   What started as a small local school program has now become an advocacy that has garnered the support of the SK, PNP, Barangay and the Municipality.   Parents’ training activities are now hosted in larger venues and in different barangays.  Ms. Teano proudly reported that absenteeism, drop-out cases and cases of failing or incomplete grades among the students have significantly decresed since they started the parenting program.  Because of the program, the school was awarded the most outstanding NGO in 2019 and 2020 by the city government of Vigan.

But a most important achievement of the program is something that is personal for Krisel.  After her parents’ participation in the program, they have become more involved in Krisel’s education.  She said that her father always asks if the things she needed in school are complete or they accompany her in school activities or when she receives an award.  

Through Krisel’s spirit of community and camaraderie, she created a program to help herself and others like her.   Her hope is that the program continues to grow until every child has the supportive environment he or she deserves.

Fr. Jett Villarin, Chairman of Synergeia, started the Trustees’ meeting with this beautiful prayer.  We would like to share it with our partners . 
May we always be protected by the Almighty.

Lord of life,

Help us to listen to what you are telling us these days. Lead us to know what you are asking of us in this storm. You are inviting us to leave familiar shores while the waves are high. You are asking us to make this crossing to the other side while the horizon is dark. We do not know what this other side holds for us. We are afraid, you know our fear.

Give us faith to see you with us now, in this boat being tossed by the waves. Give us hope to hold on to when life rolls sideways and the lurching becomes unbearable. Give us love to give to each other when our hearts break, when we are tired from rowing against the wind, when we are hungry and lost and alone.

Please give us enough light to keep us going, enough silence so we can listen to how you are asking us to take heart, to keep together and not be afraid.

Our old plans are shot, our dreams disrupted. Bring your dreams then closer to ours. Turn our lives so that your longing becomes our longing. We are made in the likeness of you. You are the Lord of the waves and the wind, the giver of life, the conqueror of death. Lead us to draw boldness and creative power from your limitless love. Empower us to find our strength in you.

Help us to be brave. We take the words of Sir Francis Drake to be our prayer today:

Disturb us, O Lord, 

       when we are too pleased with ourselves, 

       when our dreams have come true 

       because we dreamed too little; 

       when we have arrived in safety 

       because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord, 

       when with the abundance of things we possess, 

       we have lost our thirst for the water of life; 

       when having fallen in love with time, 

       we have ceased to dream of eternity, 

       and in our efforts to build the new earth, 

       have allowed our vision of the new heaven to grow dim.

Stir us, O Lord, 

       to dare more boldly, 

       to venture on wider seas 

       where storms shall show thy mastery, 

       where losing sight of land, 

       we shall find the stars.

In the name of Him 

       who pushed back the horizons of our hopes 

       and invited the brave to follow Him, Amen.

It is a win for all with the signing into law of the Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) Act – for children, for families, for society, for country.  And we are grateful to Congressman Roman Romulo and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, both part of the Synergeia family, for nurturing the proposal in Congress until it became a law.    

As Congressman Romulo put it, “The institutionalization of good manners and right conduct will provide a balance so that proper conduct, good manners, patriotism and love of country may be instilled among students.”   Alongside him, Synergeia Trustee and mentor, Senator Win Gatchalian said of the bill, “Mahalaga ang GMRC at Values Education sa paghubog natin ng mga susunod na henerasyon ng mga mamamayang Filipino, ngunit napabayaan natin nitong mga nakaraang taon ang pagtuturo nito. Sa pagpasa ng batas na ito, hindi lang natin ibabalik ang GMRC at Values Education, mapupunan din natin ang mga nagging pagkukulang nito.”

GMRC will now be part of the K-12 curriculum and treated as a regular subject in schools.  It will be integrated into the daily learning activities in kindergarten, and taught as a separate subject from Grades 1 to 6. In Grades 7 to 10, it be part of the Values Education subject.   Values Education will be integrated into all subjects for Grades 11 and 12.   Under the new law, or Republic Act No. 11476, teachers with certification, diploma, and training on values education and allied disciplines are given preference in teaching this core subject.

The new law aims to instill the basic tenets of good manners and right conduct in students. An important aspect of it is that it emphasizes actual and experiential methods, rather than just conceptual and theoretical.   Content will be in the Filipino context, allowing the students to easily understand and apply it in their everyday lives. 

Sen. Gatchalian adds, “The new law strengthens learners’ character development and values formation even as the basic education system enters the new normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”  Teaching GMRC can only beneficial.   It is big step in the right direction in molding better citizens of our country.