{"id":26022,"date":"2014-09-17T09:13:46","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T01:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=26022"},"modified":"2014-09-17T09:45:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T01:45:52","slug":"at-60-lolo-antonio-is-finally-back-in-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/17\/at-60-lolo-antonio-is-finally-back-in-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"At 60, \u2018Lolo Antonio\u2019 is finally back in elementary school"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shutterstock_130532804\"<\/a><\/p>\n

True to the spirit of \u201cbetter late than never,\u201d and \u201cyou\u2019re never too old to go back to school,\u201d sixty-year-old grandfather Antonio Abelardo has decided to go back to the elementary level, in pursuit of a goal to better himself.<\/p>\n

Abelardo, who his schoolmates warmly call \u201cLolo Antonio,\u201d is a beneficiary of the free education program for the elderly and out-of-school youth of the municipality of Rosario in Cavite.<\/p>\n

The municipality\u2019s oldest elementary student is being supported by Mayor Jose \u201cNonong\u201d Ricafrente Jr., the Department of Education (DepEd), and Cebuana Lhuilier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI).<\/p>\n

Lolo Antonio – who earns his keep collecting garbage in the barangay of Wawa – is a part of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program launched in the town of Rosario on September 12, 2014.<\/p>\n

He hopes to someday finish elementary and high school, and says he is not bothered by being with students 40 to 50 years younger than him. To him, the most important aspect is the learning process.<\/p>\n

\u201cMahirap ang walang pinag-aralan, hindi makabasa at hindi sumulat. Sa school marami kang matututunan, ang importante ay makatapos kahit high-school. (It\u2019s hard to not have an education; with neither ability to read nor write. In school, I can learn much; what is important is to finish something, even if it\u2019s just high school),\u201d Abelado said.<\/p>\n

Sixteen ALS Community Centers have been set-up by the CLFI, with DepEd\u2019s support, throughout the country. Students have greatly benefitted from the teachers, computers, and various teaching aides and materials provided by the free-education ALS program.<\/p>\n

Cesar Vidal, CLFI executive trustee said that \u201cthe ALS is the means to realize the goals of the concerned in terms of academics, livelihood, and spiritual and social enhancement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program was conceptualized by Mayor Ricafrente, a lawyer by trade. who himself\u00a0 was a scholar; likewise having come from an underprivileged family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

True to the spirit of \u201cbetter late than never,\u201d and \u201cyou\u2019re never too old to go back to school,\u201d sixty-year-old …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,3],"tags":[7847,7848,7846,7849],"class_list":["post-26022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-lifestyle","tag-alternative-learning-system","tag-free-education","tag-lolo-antonio","tag-mayor-ricafrente","mauthors-angie-duarte","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}