3 October 2025 — the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) awarded Dr. Rebecca “Ma’am Becky” Torres with the 2025 Catholic School Hero award, which honors individuals whose long years of service in Catholic education have made a profound impact on students, colleagues, and communities.
For 38 years, Ma’am Becky has been actively cultivating Ateneo de Naga University’s ever growing community of students, faculty, and leaders, serving as teacher, researcher, and leader. Recently she is a part of the President’s Office as Executive Assistant and Special Project’s Officer.
In her response speech, Ma’am Becky dedicated the award to teachers, students, mentors. She also dedicated the award to schools which serve as sanctuaries of hope.
She acknowledged her Jesuit mentors, Fr. Raul Bonoan, SJ+, Fr. Jack Phelan, SJ+, and Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ.
“To be called a Catholic School Hero is both an honor and a summons. It is a reminder that our vocation is not merely to instruct minds, but to form hearts.”
Ma’am Becky shared that we live in a time when the soul of education is under siege. She reminded the audience the importance of the humanistic foundations of Catholic Foundation and the liberal arts.
“In the face of massive corruption that continues to plague our society, the poverty that has been with us for centuries, and the impunity of the powerful and the elite — we must be resolute to remain faithful to the Catholic Education that is rooted in the teachings of the Gospel, in the teachings of Christ, in the dignity of the human person, and in the preferential option of the poor. We must protect and promote humanistic education not as a luxury, but as a necessity. It is through the humanities that we cultivate empathy, discernment, and a sense of vocation.”
“Together let us raise graduates who not only dismantle unjust social structures, but also transform them toward an authentic society where the reign of God is incarnate. Primum Regnum Dei.”
Photo credits:
– Isabel Gascon (photo of the awards)
– CEAP interview team (portrait clip from the feature video)
