With dogged determination, Julito made himself a cut above the rest in the academic world.
He started as a substitute teacher at the Wawa Elementary School in Tanay and remained so for two years.
Raised to provisional status, he taught for one year at Sitio Linutan in the far away mountain barrio of Sta. Ines, also in Tanay. From there, he was transferred to Sitio Nayon, also in Bo. Sta. Ines, where he stayed for another two years. In 1974, already married, he earned the right to teach at the Sta. Ines Elementary School, the barrio población where he worked up to 1982. During the assignment, in 1979, he passed the Professional Board Exam for Teachers (PVET) enabling him to qualify for a stint at the Ilaya Elementary School in Tanay Poblacion, where he taught up to 1991. It was here where his thirst for higher education flowered.
While busy as a classroom teacher, he enrolled for his Masters in Education, Major in Agriculture, at the Roosevelt College in Cainta, Rizal finishing the course in 1989. As a reward for his effort, he was promoted to Techer-in-charge and, following a one-month stay at Barrio Laiban, he was assigned to Sta. Ines Elementary School from 1991 up to 1994. From there, he was transferred to Barrio Cuyambay in Tanay, Rizal as Head Teacher.
But Lito’s love for knowledge was unquenchable, almost equaling his preparation for higher posts, and he enrolled for doctoral studies at the Technological University of the Philippines. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Head Teacher at the Jala Jala Elementary School where he stayed from 1996 to 1998. From there, he was raised to Principal 1 assigned to the Sampaloc Elementary School in Tanay for one year and followed immediately by his subsequent promotion to Principal 11 at the Quisao Elementary School in Pililia where he now currently presides.
Last May 2002, Lito became a Doctor of Education, major in Industrial Education. Fully equipped with his hard-earned degrees, Julio Bedan, Class 63-64 now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his peers in the higher education bracket, fully qualified to run a State University, if fate and luck would allow it.
“Today’s preparation determines tomorrow’s performance,” has been his personal creed, like a true boy scout of old. It has unfailingly guided him in his long quest for excellence and, like a mantra, attached to him almost as a second skin. Even in love.
His future wife came from a very big family, the 9th out of 11 children. Like Julito, she was a BSEED graduate. A picnic in Daranak falls in 1969 brought them together. As fate would have it, Flor was assigned to Sta. Ines, Julito’s own station, and it was inevitable that they would travel the same route daily, even on weekends when they returned to their family homes in the Tanay población. Over time, the group of young professionals mostly teachers and all commuters to Sta. Ines from the town poblacion, earned the sobriquet, “lucky 13.” But luck, indeed, was what they need in negotiating the dozens of rivers and streams that characterize the route to Sta. Ines. It was here where Julito’s training and background came into play. At no time would Flor find herself unaided as she tried, quite naively, to avoid the moss-laden, slippery rocks that serve as the footbridge in crossing those rivers and streams. With a shared burden, the attraction grew and developed. Before long, their understanding deepened and on December 6, 1970, they became ‘an item’ sharing the bonding melody of theme song, “Till…” which, dreamily, turned those tricky rocks into ‘paths of gold…’
It has unfailingly guided in his long quest for excellence and, like a mantra, attached to him as second skin.
On a cold day of January 19, 1974, Julito Berdan and Flordeliza Nuas tied the knots and became loving parents to two young professionals, Sheila Marie and Alekhine, who are both already married with beautiful offsprings of their own. Sheila Marie whose birth date falls on October 1, 1974, finished Mass Communication, major in Broadcasting and has Cyrille Ashlei, 1 year old, as her first-born. Alekhine, who was born on November 14, 1977, is a Registered Electronics and Communication Engineer. He is married to Maricris, herself a Registered E.C.E. Their first child, Karl Daniel, is now aged two years old. Maricris is currently pregnant with their second child.
The interview couldn’t cover everything, as he was almost late for an appointment that he had compromised himself earlier. He smiled, a bit looking, amused at how illegible my notes look. Why, of all things, did I fail to bring my tape recorder along? I smiled back. My memory would trustingly aid my notes, and vice-versa, like I do when cross-examining a witness in court. But Julito is not an ordinary witness in court. But Julito is not an ordinary witness. His accomplishments categorize him as an expert. And I never cross-examine an expert. And I never cross-examine an expert with incomplete notes! The difference, of course, is that he is my classmate, a member of Class ’64, and as we both grow old, that is all that matters…the rest are mere bonuses.
NOTE: “Aiming High” is part of the book “FOOTPRINTS, Class ’64” written by Atty. Amadeo R. Fulgado, published in 2005.
