Alejandro Valentin Ferry (Biography)

THE BEGINNING

It was a fair summer dawn on the 26th day of June when the animals started to sound their voices, roosters and the carabaos as if they are giving a great welcome to someone with a great importance to their master Felix Linsangan Ferry, he was a farmer and a livestock grower, it is his sixth son that is coming that morning, he is already a father of five and he don’t know what will he supposed to feel, will it be happiness and joy or mere sadness from another responsibility, his wife, Catherine Langkew Valentin Ferry was very joyful that time, for the days of trouble is done and because she, together with the boy was alive, safe and sound. After that boy three more children followed making the whole family eleven, them as parents and the nine siblings: Evangeline, Cristina, Crisanto, Michael, Angelo, alejandro ferry, Joseph, Charmaine, and Gabriel.

Felix and Catherine named the boy Alejandro from his great grandfather Alejandro Perez—a Pilipino-Spanish blooded man who then changed his family name into Ferry after they have been “wanted” to the Spanish a long time ago.

PARENTS

Felix (Alejandro’s father) has not attended high school, since it was a hard thing to do, because the school is at the other side of the big river in their place, the students from their community has to cross the deep river which has no bridge that time.

He is a man from Sumacab Norte, Cabanatuan City. He inherited a less than an acre land from his father Amado Bayan Ferry for he is the last child and other than that, he is the most interested son for that field since he was a boy. They are five siblings and there were only two of them are boys. He became a miner of Philex Mining Corporation before and went to Taiwan as a seaman when he came back, he started to become a farmer.

Catherine (Alejandro’s mother) is a fruit and vegetable vendor who was a native of Mabalite, Tadian, Mountain Province. She met Felix in Philex mining when she became a waitress in one of the food section there; her brother Domingo was a miner also like Felix, that is why they are neighbors for their boarding house is in only one building.

DAILY LIFE

So much for that, we have to know who Alejandro is. He is an ordinary person from the beginning; he became so used in the field works, planting rice, different vegetables and trees. He attended his elementary education in a one kilometer far school in their place which he has to walk four times a day in ordinary schooling and six or more times when he sell carabao’s milk if it is in season, He

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wakes up as early as three o’clock in the morning and do the filtering of the milk which is being collected by his father, and then travel four o’clock in the morning, passing the fields and not housed area selling the milk to the barangay people for their breakfast. And with two peso pocket money from his mother, he goes to school in slippers after doing some household chores which his mother can’t manage anymore due to her busy preparation of fruits and vegetables to sell in the market.

Alejandro has to go to the market after class to help his mother in selling vegetables and other fruits. He made himself willing to do that to help his mother and at the same time, to save money.

During vacations his father gives him small capital for him to use in a small sari-sari store, he manages it as young as 12 and use the profit for his and his brother’s school supplies.

ELEMENTARY LIFE

He attended not any primary schooling, he entered grade one at the age of seven, was placed into a non-high rated classroom, but due to his unusual discipline and performance, he was promoted to be in the first star section when he entered in second grade, in fact, he enrolled in grade two without the guidance of his parents , he went to school with his two brothers for enrollment but they just stared at him from the school gate, he managed to ask his report card from his teacher and when the teacher noticed he has no companion, she, teacher Leonila Clacio, volunteered to go and help him enroll.

His brothers are not so nice for him, they always made him cry when their parents are away, they always order him to do many things while they eat and play and if he doesn’t, they will bully him until he cries.

He has been a laughing toy for his bully classmate, they hide his slippers after class and let him go home crying barefooted, this made his self-esteem so low. He is not a boy who always fight, he refuse fighting. When he entered into fifth grade, his teacher have been an encouragement to him and his teacher have been encouraged by him on the other hand, he had a good relationship to her that made his self-esteem increase, that time, he discovered that he is a talented singer because of his beautiful voice, this made his teacher decide to practice and train him through letting him sing every morning before the class starts and she always believed he can do it. That made him so confident until today. And from on, he became so competitive that he made it to fourth honor when he graduated.

His father seemed to be unsatisfied with his reward that graduation day that he didn’t even attended the graduation ceremony which made Alejandro so much challenged but not hurt. And he decided to make it best in high school.

HIGH SCHOOL PHASE

Summer vacation of 2007 after he graduated in elementary, he went to Baguio City with his mother just to attend holy week in his mother’s church. But more than that, out from nowhere, the decision came that he is going to study there in Baguio, not his father, not his mother, not him decided to study there, it seems like it was all approval of the decision made by someone whom they all don’t know.

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So he entered his first year high school at Pines City National High School-Joaquin Smith Annex at km. 4 Asin Rd. Baguio City.

Being academically and extra-curricular activity excellent, he was given different awards from the first year until graduation, he was the fifth honorable mention in his first year, seventh honorable mention in second year, third honorable mention in third year and valedictorian in his graduation.

His real life is far different from his school life, since he was far from his family, he has to do everything to make for a living, and he experienced selling his anime drawings to his classmates, buying and selling fish crackers and popcorns in school (though it was prohibited). Man his neighbor’s sari-sari store, receiving 10 pesos a day and he has to be there in the afternoon. At first he was supported by the DSWD-Silungan Center Baguio by giving 1800 pesos a year just enough to pay for his tuition fees in secondary school, but when he entered second year high school, he stopped attending the Saturday meetings in DSWD and that made his support also stop.

February of the year 2008, a group of Hollanders (some from Netherlands) came to their school to get another set of scholars for them to support, he has been recommended by the school administration, but he has a great problem for he is not that fluent in speaking in English and that was

one of the requirements, so they gave him a condition that if they come back at November, he should already be speaking in English fluently, that was the reason why he strived and practiced and he did.

He became so competitive that made him travel into many places; like Abra, Naga City, Manila, and many more for dish gardening competitions which he made into national tournament twice (2009 and 2010 STEP Competition). He became the editor-in-chief of their school newspaper named KA-IW. He was also elected as a year level governor when he was in second year, class president and on his fourth year high school; he was elected as the supreme student

Government president. He also left a great legacy in his Alma matter which is the school logo when the school separated from the main campus and became independent PCNHS.

One of the most important thing that he was made clear about is spirituality, he totally believed that it was his Faith to God that made him succeed in all his activities, he was adapted by the Rock Community Church of the Nazarene on October 2008 as a church maintainer and that has been his starting signal to involve himself in spirituality.

The church has been introduced to him by a certain organization in their school that teaches about God and the Bible, it was the Youth of Hope of the said Church. There he met Tytus Carting, Israel Lacay and Oliver Mata-who became his best friends.

His National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) GSA result is 99+ which made him decide, with God as his consultant, to apply for the Commission on Higher Education Full merit Scholarship, prayerfully, he went and submitted his application form alone to the CHED office asking God’s will to happen and not his personal desires, and so, he was accepted and the scholarship grant of 30,000 a year will be starting on the first semester of college.

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COLLEGE LIFE

There were so many offers to him in entering college, there have been many schools interviewing and introducing their schools to him, because of his being active and his excellent extracurricular performances, but there is a school which he can’t seem to forget, it was Luzon Nazarene Bible College—a Bible school which also offers a high school education course.

During his first semester, he became one in the dean’s list with an average of 94 and 93 on the second semester, he also was chosen as one of the campus life awardees, that is the reason why aside from his two scholarships, (Holland and CHED) he will also be receiving a 50% discount this coming first semester and a gift of 1000 pesos because of his campus life award.

He is not only an academic and extracurricular active; he is also good in leadership. He became the year-level governor for the college school year 2011-2012, National Service Training of the Philippines leader but in spite of his positions he doesn’t want to be involved in those anymore as long as he is in college.

Second year college is a challenge for him in this school, he faced many problems especially financial. He experienced skipping many meals but he still held on to God for protection and providence.

FINAL WORDS

I have been writing so many things about my life, aside from those things that I have mentioned on this writing, here is one of the last but most important thing I wanted to share to every reader of this note, I realized how trophies and fame is useless after all those I have achieved and one thing more, it is not I who is doing lot of things for my life to be colorful, it is the Lord to whom I want every praise and every worship be rendered upon.

Thanks for all readers, God Bless! And may all glory be to God!

Philippians 1:21--“for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”

Proverbs 3:5-6

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight”

HERE IS THE WORD………….…………READ IT……………….

………….LISTEN TO IT…………..………….LIVE BY IT……………….

………….SHARE IT…………………………DIE FOR IT.

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