The Mother, Front and Central
Ma’am Letty
Being born to education is something that the majority of people here in Calauag are familiar with. Most of us would, one way or another, have an immediate family member (parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or cousin) who is a teacher. Some may even be born with a school as a neighboring building.
But imagine being born at a time when an institution that your father started was also in its infancy. Imagine growing up as that institution grew and developed. Finally, imagine living your whole life where your name is almost synonymous with the institution in question. That is a life that our very own, Mam Letty, mother of Calauag Central College, has lived and is continuously living.
When Leticia Magsino Fernandez was born, Calauag Institute was just one year old. Although one would think she was groomed at an early age to be a teacher, most people who knew her then would tell you that she really wanted to be an educator even at a very young age. She spent her elementary and early high school years here, which by then has become Calauag Central College. But with encouragement from the family friend, Felisa Ylagan, she was sent to Manila to finish high school at the Centro Escolar University, where she eventually took up and finished an education degree majoring in Biology.
From there, she spent years teaching high school science at CCC. A few more years saw her younger sister, Fe, who was also her student, teaching Math alongside her. And eventually, she and Jose V. Aguilar, who became the school administrator but also taught Math, became not just a colleague but her husband. By the time she took the reins of being CCC’s Executive Vice President from her father in 2008, her eldest son had by then inherited the school administrator post from his father.
Involvement in parish and community projects also led her to discover the power of community involvement. This is why she undertook an approach that would allow Centralians to be more involved and learn more about life through these projects, and as such, made her and the school even more in sync.
Of course, all the information above was just passed on to me as stories, and any or all inconsistencies may be blamed on the author’s memory and/or interpretation.
And speaking of faulty memory, I don’t even distinctly remember the first time I met her. Being one of the sons of a teacher who spent almost two decades teaching here, it was most probably here in Central where I first saw her. Most of my childhood memories are definitely of me spending time here while my mother was having her classes, and Tita Letty may just have been in a majority of those memories.
I may also have been, as a very young child, always in awe of her. Dressed impeccably in her uniform, she had always been the epitome of an educator for me. She was even once tagged as “The Grand Lady of Calauag Central College”
But for me, she will always be Tita Letty, the aunt who would laugh at my antics as an unusually precocious child. And when I returned to Calauag a few decades later, and eventually found myself being a teacher here, I also found myself returning to that same dynamic, Mam/Tita Letty still laughing at my antics as a deeply irreverent adult, who just happened to be her employee.
Most of those who taught here in CCC described her as motherly, both from the personal and professional context. Her only sister, who was born almost ten years after her, said that seeing her older sister with friends inspired her to be more confident. Although often seen as a very exacting mentor who has very high standards especially when it comes to how a teacher should be, she is also seen as the type of mother who could never say no to her five children when they were growing up.
It is therefore not surprising that as a grandmother, she is known to be both a strict disciplinarian and an enthusiastic spoiler. Faith in God and love of family would be valuable advice that her grandchildren will always remember. She was even remembered by some of the teachers as using the word “kapamilya” to mean Centralians even before the word was popularized by a TV network.
There’s probably more, she is so many things to so many people, but it would take more time to uncover all the many roles she played and gain the insights of the people she has affected and inspired. Yet, for us Centralians, she will always be the mother of Calauag Central College.
I remember during meetings with her, she always ends her motivation to the teachers with a statement that has stuck with me for a long time. To wit: “More than anything, love your students. Because with love, anything is possible.” And so with love, Leticia Fernandez Aguilar, Mam/Tita/Mama Letty, went from a child born into education to the educational icon—the mother, front and central—that she has become.
About the author Chipee Barros is a junior high school, senior high school and college teacher, the communications coordinator for the school, an unusually precocious child and a deeply irreverent adult. Additional acknowledgement is given to the following, who have freely given their valuable insights given the very brief amount of time I had in writing this article: Mrs. Fe F. Pera, Mr. Jose F. Aguilar III, Mr. Jonathan F. Aguilar, Dr. Honester U. Jorvina, Mr. John Paul F. San Lorenzo, Dannielle A. Caña, and Julianne M. Aguilar.
