Just received this good news from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Finally, I'll be bound to Dapitan where Jose Rizal spent four-year sojourn (1892-1896) prior to his martyrdom. I consider it a wish come true.
Here's the short essay that took me to the NHCP's shortlist:
I am Rodel C.
Cuyco, 38 years old from Lavezares, Northern Samar. I am a licensed
Environmental Planner and has been working in the Local Government Unit of
Lavezares as Planning Officer for the last six years.
I have been
interested in studying the history of our country since I was in the
elementary. This is one of the subjects where I got high grades until college.
My interest in
studying the history of our town and of its barangays started in 2005 when I was
tasked by our parish priest to gather data on the histories of each barangay as
part of our Community Participatory Research (COPAR) for the parish. I used timeline
method and interview in data gathering zeroing in with the oldest and reliable
resource persons in the barangay. From these timelines as well as other
secondary data I was able to write in narrative form the history of our town.
When I got the
chance to visit the National Archive in Manila in 2009, I was able to get a
photocopy of old documents written in Spanish related to the creation of our
municipality.
In 2012, I have
sent queries to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) regarding
the exact date of our town’s founding anniversary. I am so glad the NHCP has
promptly sent me documents relative to this along with its correct
interpretation.
Through these
years, I have kept all these documents intact along with the timelines as well
as my collection of old photos of Lavezares.
Since 2007, the
history of our town which I have written has been used by the students,
teachers and researchers as their reference especially during our town’s founding
anniversary celebration where we usually conduct a quiz bee on local history.
Admittedly, I can
still feel a sense of inadequacy when it comes to writing history. What I only
have while writing is my passion for doing this and the little things that I
know in conducting research. That is why for all these years; I have been
longing to undergo a formal training in doing local history. Fortunately, a few
days ago I finally came across with this call for application from the National
Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) for a seminar on Doing Local
History.
With so much
optimism, I hope my desire to be part of this learning experience will now
become a reality.
