2. Education is a lifelong journey that begins with a dream and culminates in a
commitment to inspire change. And the encompasses the content of local television’s
newest original movie series, TITSER, which is an inspiring tale of the human spirit’s
tenacity in the face of challenges.
Titser or The Teacher (international Title) is a Filipino Movie and drama
television Series created and developed by Nessa Valdellon and executive produced by
Alemberg Ang. It is Directed by indie Filmmaker and head of the Ateneo Filipino
Departmenr Dr. Alvin Yapan.
GMA News TV is producing this series in the hope that viewers start to take a
more serious look at our education problems and perhaps begin sending more
impoverished children all the way through college.
Introduction;
3. Lovi Poe – portrays Michelle Maturan, a high school valedictorian from a poor
barrio school who dreams of becoming a teacher.
Mara Lopez – portrays Rosa, Michelle’s Best Friend and Toughest competitor.
Agot Isidro - portrays Teacher Sandra, Michelle and Rosa’s mentor and
inspiration who leads her own fight against a corrupt principal.
Irma Adlawan – portrays Principal May Deroca, the corrupt principal in the
fictional San Simeon High School.
Gardo Versoza – portrays Sir Gil, the Coop President who encourages young
people of the province to enter agribusiness instead of looking for a work
abroad.
Rocco Nacino – portrays Mayor Joseph Santiago, whose idealism changes the life direction of
Michelle.
Mikael Daez – portrays Kurt Reyes, the son of the family that hires Michelle as a
housemaid.
Carl Guevarra – portrays Neil, the most play boy/ Popular Boy in San Simeon High
School
Cast and Characters
4. Michelle and Rosa are best friends and both
senior students of San Simeon High School. The two
struggle against fate and financial limitations to
reach their goals of finshing school and puruing
their dreams of becoming a teacher.
Pilot:
5. Michelle and Rosa are in a tightly contested
battle for the valedictorian post. The school principal
pits the girls against each other in a series of
interviews. But competition is set aside when the girls
discover something is terribly amiss in San Simeon High
School -- resulting in the suspension of their mentor
Ma’am Sandra.
Corruption:
6. Michelle graduates as valedictorian of her high school
class. Along with the top honor, she has been promised a
college scholarship in Manila by their provincial Governor
Antonio Rubio. But Michelle cannot even afford
transportation to the big city to avail of the scholarship. In
comes a visiting recruiter, who offers Michelle and her
Classmates airfare and lodging in Manila. Will this be the
solution to their predicament?
Graduation:
7. Michelle Maturan arrives in manila to avail of her
College scholarship, ony to discover it was a Scam! Her
mentor Sandra goes in search for her scholarship documents
but there are none on record. The Governor, who takes
credit for providing an annual 16M worth of scholarship to
deserving children in his province- including Michelle –
cannot be contacted. In a disturbing several of fortune, the
high school valedictorian must give up her dreams to look
for work as a domestic helper. She accepted into the Reyes
household, only to encounter verbal then physical abuse.
Broken
Dreams:
8. .
Funds for the reconstruction of unsafe classroom
are diverted by principal May into her own pockets,
putting the children’s lives in danger. The teachers, led
by Ma’am Sandra, are left with no other option but to go
on strike. This leaves the students without teachers and
the teachers without income for weeks. Meanwhile,
Ma’am Sandra’s former star students Michelle and Rosa
return from their sojourn in Manila to rebuild their lives
in the town of San Simeon. Michelle finally begin college,
only to encounter a new setoff bullies and challenges.
Rosa, pregnant from her high school sweetheart, goes to
live with her in-laws where she is treated as a little more
than the house help
Tragedy in
San Simeon
High School:
9. Teacher Sandra, just recently promoted to
Principal on Simeon High school, has a lot on her
hands. After dealing with the corruption of the
previous school head, a valedictorian forced to
work as domestic, a tragic school accident and the
teacher’s strike, dating is the last thing on her
mind. Sandra has absolutely no interest in the
cooperative President introduced to her insistent
wards Michelle and Rosa. She even tells him so
straight to his face. But the girls invent all sorts of
funny ways to bring their two single, middle-aged
mentors together.
A Love
Story:
10. Michelle finally begins work as a substitute teacher
balancing this with heavy requirements on her final
year in Sibilan University. As a teacher, Michelle
encounters students whose heartbreaking stories
mirror on her own childhood. One of the children,
Joeffrey, has to climb a mango tree during lunch
break as this is the only way he can eat in peace.
Joffrey is so poor, his baon consists only a boiled
camote every day- making him the prime target of
the class bullies.
Michelle
as a
Teacher
11. Before Joffrey takes notes, he has to erase lessons from
the back pages of his old notebook as he cannot afford a
new one. Teacher Michelle does her best to help the boy.
Meanwhile, love is in the air in San Simeon. Teacher
Sandra Finds her heart melting after patient pursuit by
the Coop president Sir Gil. Kurt Reyes, now a reporter
from a national newspaper returns to investigate the
overcharging of students in Sibilan University. He is
happily reunited with Michelle, his family’s former helper,
who turns out to be the school whistleblower.
12. Mayor Joseph encounters the dedicated
young teacher Michelle on one such tricycletrip
to the town of san Simeon. She has no idea
who he is, only he served to further delay her
arrival in class.
Mayor joseph
meets
Michelle:
13. Michelle and her best friend Rosa, now a successful
entrepreneur, decide to put up an elementary school in th
mountains, so the next generation of San Simeon barrio
children will no longer have to cross rivers and walk for
miles to get to school. But many obstacles are in the path
of this school. Michelle is blocked bybarrio parents who do
not believe in her vision for their children’s schooling.
Then former employer, Mrs. Reyes, stakes a claim on the
land upon which the new school is built. Will Michelle
succeed in becoming a full fledged teacher and school
administrator.
The Greatest
Dream:
14. The movie series discussed issues in the
Philippine education: Lack of Books, Chairs
and Classrooms, Corruption in the
procurement process, the high drop out rate
and the fact that majority of the Philippine
population has only reached a high school
level or less of education
Issues:
15. Education is a continuous process and has no ending. It
takes a lot of perseverance to become a successful educator. It
begins with a dream and end in an obligations to inspire other.
Titser is an inspiring series in the film industry that shows
determination of a lady to be a teacher. This movie discussed the
issues in the Philippines education systems. Example of these are
lack of books and chairs and classrooms, corruption in a
acquisition process and the fact that most of the Filipinos
especially in rural areas has only reached secondary or less
education.
Insights:
16. It is in the feminist form of movie series that
aims to show the dedication and passion of teachers to
their chosen vocation. It also revealed the serious
matters about the situation of education here in the
Philippines nowadays. And upon watching this Movie,
I realized that as a future teacher , I need to gain more
dedication, passion and commitment on the vocation I
chose because a teacher touches one’s life and serves
as an inspiration to those students who dream to have
a comfortable life.
