Ensign Gian Clyde Busacay Bagano, a 23-year-old proud Igorot and a son of a priest from Kalinga, tops the Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) "Sinaglakan" Class of 2021.
Gian Clyde is the eldest son of Noryn and Fr. Claudio Bagano, a priest of an Anglican Church. He once failed to enter the academy on his first try last 2015 but persevered to become a member of the Long Blue Line and even graduated as the class Top 1 of the four-year residency course consisting of three-year academic studies (1st, 2nd, and 4th year) and one-year shipboard training (3rd year) onboard commercial vessels plying the international sea lanes as deck cadets.
Ensign Bagano who is also a recipient of the "Academic Excellence Award" and "Deck Apprenticeship Award" said that there is no explicit word that could describe the mixed emotions he felt when he received the news saying, "he was so excited that he almost cried in joy."
Ensign Bagano was among the thirty-six (36) yKalingas out of 162 cadets who graduated from the merchant academy in a commencement exercise held last July 28, 2021, via a virtual ceremony.
