Tuesday, March 25, 2008 A day after she was fired, Tomas gave her new job
LIKE an answered prayer, former Cogon Central Ramos daycare teacher Martha Ricablanca was summoned to the Cebu City Human Resource Department yesterday and told she will start with her new work on April 1.
She will be under the City Department of Social Welfare and Services and will report to the Special Development Center in Barangay Labangon.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier said that since the barangay is not reconsidering its decision to fire her after 14 years of teaching pre-schoolers, the City will hire her as a daycare program supervisor.
Ricablanca said she does not know what her job description is. But she learned that hers is a “daycare worker 2” plantilla, which is a “supervisory position.”
Happy but sad
She was happy, but at the same time sad that of 152 daycare workers in the city, six were likewise fired by the new set of officials in their respective barangays.
She said she will still fight for the realization of a Magna Carta for daycare workers.
“I will not stop…I will still help fight for our Magna Carta, kay mao ra nay kasandigan namo (it’s the only thing we can rely on),” she said.
Ricablanca said she was told that her appointment papers are already being processed.
She heads the Cebu City Daycare Workers Federation, Region 7 Daycare Workers Federation, and National Federation of Daycare Workers in the Visayas.
A certified trainer of daycare workers, she was supposedly eyed as the next president of the National Federation of Daycare Workers.
Recognized
In her 14 years as Cogon Central Ramos daycare teacher, she turned the barangay’s decrepit daycare classroom into a five-star center recognized nationwide.
Last Feb. 16, she topped the Department of Education examination given to all daycare workers and community development workers of the city.
Ricablanca said she pities the daycare workers who, like her, are victims of politics, saying she could see their dedication in helping mold the minds of kids in the community.
She particularly mentioned Barangay Punta Princesa’s Emmy Almaden, whose appointment was extended only up to the end of April.
Almaden, Ricablanca said, is eyed to replace her as federation president. (RHM)
