Palawan ACT 1:

Quiet Send-off, Loud Welcome 

After five years of traveling only to nearby cities and towns (not more than 50 kilometers away), I mustered enough courage to fly to Puerto Princesa, Palawan on Dec. 3 for the awarding of the Gawad Teodora Alonso national winners. 

As one of the judges invited by DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Resources, I felt I needed to complete the job and congratulate the winners personally. 

Tony decided to send me off and also to come up for air as we have been cooped-up at home since the pandemic. He took a photo of me entering the airport terminal. 

I was speechless when I arrived at the Palawan airport seeing a horde of DepEd staff holding a huge streamer, welcoming me. From thereon, it was happy noise all the way until my assigned room at the hotel.  

Since everyone (judges and guests) had checked in the day before or much earlier, they were finished with dinner when I arrived. They welcomed me with wacky poses, then left . . . 

. . . and I had the dining room all to myself. I spent the rest of my time, before turning in, to thank the Lord for His grace that traveled with me.