MagPEACE first lawyer-graduate
Faizah Gadys Karon-Tejero
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By
Ali G. Macabalang
COTABATO CITY – After almost a
decade of existence, the Maguindanao Program on Education Assistance and
Community Empowerment (MagPEACE) has finally produced a full-fledged lawyer
among its thousands of student-scholars belonging to poor families.
“Alhamdulillah (Praise the Lord).
Governor, may lawyer na po kayo (you now have a lawyer). Maraming salamat po
talaga sa tulong niyo (thank you very much for your help),” Faiza Gladys
Karon-Tejero, 28, said in a text message to Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu
over the weekend.
The governor, who founded MagPEACE
some eight years ago, shared to the Manila Bulletin Tejero’s text message,
describing it as a “blessed tiding” because it was the first information he got
after performing Suboh (dawn) prayer on Saturday.
Tejero received her diploma in law
study at the Ateneo de Davao on April 29, exactly a year ago yesterday, as one
of the 6,700 scholarship grantees of the MagPEACE. She took the bar exam last
November and “good news” about her passing the test reached her last Friday,
she said.
While reviewing for the bar exam,
Tejero said she joined the workforce of the Commission on Elections in Region
XI where she is “planning some projects for Maguindanao including an
outsourcing initiative with an international NGO” to reciprocate her benefits
from the MagPEACE.
In time with Tejero’s graduation
last year, Bai Apiyah Haron, then 26 years old, also marched as graduate of
study in medicine equally subsidized by the MagPEACE.
In a Bulletin interview last year,
Haron Miling, father of the future doctor, said his daughter was bracing for
review to take the subsequent medical board exam.
“If my daughter makes it,
God-willing, she would pursue her promise to spend voluntary services to fellow
residents of Maguindanao,” Miling said.
Tejero and Harona are among more
than 1,000 scholars who graduated in collegiate and post-graduate studies with
full subsidies by the provincial government under MagPEACE, program officials
said.
They said MagPEACE still sustains
more than 6,700 scholars with a minimum stipend of P6,000 each.
Gov. Mangudadatu founded the
program upon few his gubernatorial election in 2010, starting with 1,000
scholars to address high illiteracy rate and massively produce professionals,
provincial administrator Abdulrahman Asim said.
Groups of educators in Japan and
the United Kingdom awarded MagPEACE founder Mangudadatu with plaques of
recognition in 2016 and 2017, respectively, Asim said.
Asim said Mangudadatu has accepted
an invitation from the United Federation of Fil-Am Educators, Inc. (UNIFIED)
for him to receive another citation on May 26-27 in Washington DC for the
MagPEACE institutionalization. (Ali G. Macabalang)
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