Pangasinan Fifth District Representative Ramon V. Guico III on December 9 discussed future projects for Binalonan with Hawaii-based educator and author in the Office of the Congressman at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.
Guico III was with his wife Maan Tuazon- Guico, University of Eastern Pangasinan President Dr. Evelyn Abalos-Tomboc, Councilors Josephine Caburnay and Bryan Louie Balangue, Sangguniang Bayan Secretary Janet Flores, Press and Publication Head Teresita Dacpano, Municipal Tourism Coordinator Angelica Peregrino, Staff Writer Victoriano Alambra and Technical Assistant to the Office of the Mayor Jessica Tabilin.
Born in Laoag and now Hawaii-based educator and author Aurelio S. Agcaoili deliberated with Congressman Guico and the group the establishment of a Center for Carlos Bulosan Studies, a center that would celebrate and honor the life and works of Binalonan’s son, and considered Pangasinan’s literary hero, Carlos Sampayan Bulosan.
The project will highlight Bulosan’s 1) immigrant and exile experience akin to the experiences of the diasporic people of the Philippines today, 2) his work in people empowerment, labor rights, economic rights, and the struggle for social justice, and 3) his literary life.
The center will become a venue for research, training, and development with regard to the three issues.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, curriculum designer and developer, Agcaoili proposed to UEP founder Guico III and UEP President Tomboc the possible offering of a Graduate Program for UEP, Master of Arts in Multicultural Education: Ilocano.
The project would “inaugurate the academic and formal recognition of community and first languages as resources in community development, in the formal education, and in civics and citizenship.”
If approved, the course will be the first of its kind in this part of the country.
Agcaoili also promoted and distributed his 2019 Edition of the Ilocano-English/English-Ilocano Dictionary which supports the intents and purposes of the enhanced Education Act of 2013.
The author said that in this act, the K-12 has been instituted and a lot of indigenous and first languages has been included as the first languages in the education of children from Grades 1-3, and then a transition to Grades 4-6.