They Could Have Chosen Easier Lives. Instead, These Four Teachers Went Home to Serve Poor Children in Remote South Cotabato.

Judy Ann Yatan, one of four teachers who returned to her hometown after completing a four‑year teaching course, is pictured with her pupils during a classroom session at Danlag Elementary School in Tampakan, South Cotabato. (John Unson Photo)

COTABATO CITY — They could have chosen teaching jobs in bustling towns, closer to better roads, modern conveniences and more opportunities.

Instead, four young women who became teachers through a private company scholarship have gone back to their isolated hometown to teach children from some of its poorest families.

Angelee Tediong, Renalis Amisola-Ingaslo, Judy Ann Yatan and Florence Florito are now teaching at Danlag Elementary School in upland Tampakan, South Cotabato.

The school stands in Barangay Danlag, a community that remains largely underdeveloped and is home to marginalized Blaan communities as well as non-Indigenous settlers.

For the four teachers, however, returning home was not a sacrifice they wanted recognition for. They described it as an obligation — and a way of giving back.

Their college education was supported by Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI) through its scholarship program under the company’s Social Development and Management Program.

Their own parents could not afford to send them to college in institutions far from Tampakan.

Now they are using the education they received to help another generation of children dream of becoming professionals.

“To show gratitude to our schooling benefactor and as a special missionary effort, we returned to our hometown to teach school children that we want to finish high school and college too,” Florito said.

Turning opportunity into service

The four teachers reportedly turned down opportunities to teach in more progressive parts of South Cotabato, including Koronadal City.

Instead, they chose Danlag — where many pupils come from families who survive through farming, farm labor, construction work, driving tricycles and selling fruits and vegetables in local markets.

Yatan said returning to Tampakan was an obligation for her and her fellow teachers because they themselves had benefited from SMI’s scholarship program.

Their hope is straightforward: to help children in Danlag finish their education and eventually become professionals who can contribute to their community.

Florito said the four teachers are committed to supporting efforts by municipal and barangay officials to promote socio-economic development in Tampakan.

Their story drew praise from traditional community leaders and local government officials, who separately thanked the teachers on Saturday, September 12, for choosing to serve in their hometown rather than seek easier assignments elsewhere.

Two Region 12 governors — Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. of South Cotabato and Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza of Cotabato — also lauded the teachers.

Tamayo, who chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council 12, expressed appreciation for SMI’s humanitarian programs in Tampakan and surrounding communities, including health, livelihood and social-service initiatives.

A scholarship that comes full circle

The four teachers are among the beneficiaries of an SMI scholarship program that has produced 1,002 professionals since it began more than a decade ago.

Their journey illustrates the intended cycle of education: someone receives an opportunity, builds a career and then returns that opportunity to the community.

For Tediong, Amisola-Ingaslo, Yatan and Florito, that return has taken them back to a remote elementary school where many children face economic hardships their own families once knew.

They are now teaching those children that poverty does not have to determine how far they go.

And in choosing Danlag over a more convenient posting, the four teachers are making that lesson part of their own lives.

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