Gimar Reyes has heeded the call of his life. From a farming community in Iponan, Cagayan de Oro City, the call led him to the indigenous highlands of Aurora. It was a call he heard as a six-year-old who sold his father's harvest at Cogon Market with his mother ... and it echoed as he was named among the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines last February 9, 2017, at the republic's palace of power.
Words by Angelo Lorenzo
Gimar Alingig Reyes may be far from home for now, but he's never forgotten how far he's gone.
At an early age, he experienced the value of hard work. The eldest of three children, he was raised by a tenant farmer and a teacher.
"I grew up in a farm," he recounted. "My father had to tend the land for income." But as a tenant, his father had taken deep concern for the family's financial necessities. With the rise of urbanization and the gradual taking of arable lands for commercial use, future source of income was unforeseeable. So, his father had to send Gimar's mother to school. A degree could secure her a job. For this, Gimar's father worked twice as hard.
It was in his mother's school where Gimar was introduced to education. "There were days when my mother took me with her so she could look after me. Sometimes, just to help with my father with the expenses, she had to sell bags of peanuts, wrapped yemas (custard candy made from egg yolks and condensed milk), and maruyas (saba banana fritters coated with a light batter, deep-fried until golden and lightly dusted with sugar), among many snacks she prepared every night which I helped her pack, to her classmates."
On days when her mother had to take exams, little Gimar was left under the supervision of his grandmother. He knew early on that this was the measure his family had to undergo to acquire their necessities and live within their means. His father farmed, his mother studied, and when the land was ripe with cantaloupe, eggplant, coconut, and cacao, they sold these produce at the Cogon Market.
When his mother finally completed her schooling, it was time to reap the harvest. She became a teacher and was able to add to his father's earning.
"It was my family's triumph," he stated. Testifying from this experience, he knew the value of hard work and realized the importance of education with the desire to learn and give back what he had been given.
SERVICE. As a JVP fellow, Gimar Reyes has been assigned to serve the marginalized Agta Dumagat community in Sitio Maninit, Barangay Tinib of Casiguran, Aurora. Supplied photo.
A call to serve
Gimar finished his secondary education at Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School (MOGCHS), one of the earliest schools established in Northern Mindanao. As an exemplary student in the science class of his batch, he was qualified as a city college scholar upon graduating and went to Xavier Ateneo, the first university in Cagayan de Oro City, where he stayed to learn for the next four years.
But his first year as an Elementary Education major led him to cope with the necessary adjustments. On days when the uniform was not prescribed, most students flaunted branded clothing styled in reference to those of celebrities and fashion models, signifying social status. Times spent on breaks before, between or after classes were mostly held in teashops, cafés, and malls. Allowable absences in classes were simply availed by easy choices.
"I was shocked," Gimar remarked from his past observation. "Back then, I was shy to eat at the Magis canteen because I didn't want others to see my meal and compare it with theirs. I remember sneaking into the sixth floor of the library and ate there alone," he recalled. "I was caught once, and the librarian admonished me. But I told my reason — I had to study right after so I didn't have to go out anymore."
He knew he was in the university for his education, and he wanted to achieve what his mother had. He never took this purpose for granted. He managed to reach out and befriend many in his classes, and didn't allow influence that could hinder him get in the way. In his second year, his name was among those in the dean's list of the School of Education. "I pushed my potential," he said. "It reached a point where I embraced the diversity at XU."
EXEMPLARY STUDENTS. TOSP finalists strike a pose during the national wreath-laying ceremony at the Luneta Park in Manila. Supplied photo.
Integrated in him in this pursuit was the Ignatian principle of magis (doing things with depth and excellence). Finishing college, earning a degree, then finding a job were not enough to encompass his dreams that developed while at Xavier Ateneo. He wanted to do more out of his potential.
Thus, in the second semester of his sophomore year, he volunteered for the Kristohanong Katilingban sa Pagpapakabana - Social Involvement Office (KKP-SIO). The former social involvement arm of Xavier University, it was one among Cagayan de Oro City's active aids for the Tropical Storm Sendong victims in 2011. He participated in tutorial sessions, medical missions, and immersions held at Xavier Ecoville, the resettlement site established in Lumbia by the university for the displaced evacuees during the tropical storm.
"I was able to experience the truest sense of being one with the people," he related. "I hold on to my experiences, and I knew what the people felt because I had been through a similar situation."
It was Gimar's opportunity to improve on his teaching skill during tutorial sessions with the children in the community. But more than his exposure was the fulfilling reality of knowing that kids have learned to read, write, identify images, and spell their names by his and his fellow volunteers' collective efforts. He realized how these children showed their passion and zeal for learning. Since then, he held on to the belief that education, like air and water, should be universally provided and not be divided by social injustice.
"I take on the role to make education as a great equalizer to all the marginalized," he promised.
Balancing his academics and extra-curricular activities became a challenge, but being an honor student with the progress of his volunteerism turned to be the constant reminder of his attempt for magis. So when he reached third year, the period which he believes was the climax of his college education, he decided to apply for the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines (JVP), the longest-running volunteer service program in the country. It was also that same year when he had been chosen by KKP heads, through a deliberative consensus, as the chairperson for the Student-Volunteer Formation Center. He oversaw and organized activities by student volunteers for the community at Xavier Ecoville, along with Xavier Ateneo's National Service Training Program (NSTP) students.
In his last year in the university, he was honored as cum laude and the Outstanding Graduate of the School of Education. As this achievement mirrored his family's triumph, particularly that of his mother's similar educational completion, more accolades welcomed him. His qualification as an outstanding student brightened his path. With the support of SOE dean Dr Jovelyn Delosa and his teachers, he passed the requirements for 2016's Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP), one of the highest honors in the nation for students who excel academically, lead by example, and conscientiously take social initiatives in their community.
"It was a rigorous process," he recalled. "But being Xavier's representative was already an honor. It was overwhelming."
More than 300 students across the Philippines were eligible. They were narrowed down to 30, and eventually finalized to 10. The last time a student from Xavier Ateneo was part of the final 10 was when the present Xavier University - Governance and Leadership Institute director Dixon Yasay represented the university in 1991.
As an outstanding student, Gimar desired to serve just as he did to learn. Currently a JVP fellow, he has been assigned to Casiguran, Aurora where he immerses with the province's indigenous people, farmers, and fisher folk, and empower them in their livelihood by the program's activities.
XAVIER ATENEO. XU Student Activities and Leadership Development head Richel Petalcurin, TOSP 2016 awardee Gimar Reyes, and mother Mariza Reyes strike a pose after the awarding ceremony on Thursday, February 9 at the Heroes Hall of the Malacañan Palace. Supplied photo.
A call to love God back
Gimar believed everything he had been through was part of God's great plan, fueled by His love. To love Him back and to realize His plan is to follow His greatest commandment with the act of service.
Temporarily residing among the Agta Dumagat tribe and the community along the eastern coastal region in Luzon, he advocates for their education and rights. Specifically, he helps with the Nuestra Señora de la Salvacion Parish for seminars and workshops, handling topics such as organic rice farming to make good use of the fields which the locals inherited from their ancestors.
Campaigning against land aggressors which directly affect the customary livelihood and will most likely displace the IPs as the region transitions towards urbanization, he shares the sentiments of the locals as they struggle to keep the land theirs. In 2007, the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone which would expand in the province for commercialization, was approved by the virtue of the Aurora Special Economic Zone Act without consulting with the tribal groups. What once was a farming community could be converted to a foreign-invested eco-tourism zone which may deprive the IPs of their land of origin.
Gimar, having been raised in a farm, knows the plight of the marginalized. "Middlemen take advantage of them. They are often belittled and fooled. This unjust structure struck me at my core and I am compelled to help them. I know them because I know the feeling of having less. That's why I wanted to give back what I have received from the opportunities I have been granted."
On his Facebook profile, he displayed in his welcoming message the words: "The call to service is the call to love God back." He confessed this has been his mantra since second-year college when he started as a student-volunteer.
"Service is a life-long process," he expressed, likening it to learning. "We have to become men and women for and with others."
This is his call. From selling his father's harvest in a local market to packing bags of peanuts with his mother every night, from tutoring children of flood victims to graduating cum laude from Xavier Ateneo, from treading steep paths and riding rafts on rivers and streams in the province of Aurora to standing at the Malacañan Palace as one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines of 2016, Gimar Reyes devotes to a life of service.
Someday, he aspires to take part in the initiatives of non-government organizations for the IPs and the marginalized. For Gimar, who believes in education as a universal right, there is more that can be done by heeding and responding to His call.∎