Rebecca Martinez-Santos

For almost thirty four years, Ms. Rebecca Martinez Santos remains inspired with the beauty that sign language brings not only to the deaf people she has served but also to herself and the way she chooses to see life in the world she is living in. Sign language interpreting has become a passion that has helped her see her worth and has driven her to ultimately succeed and become one of the strongest pillars that continue to stand in the field of interpreting.

      The executive director of St. Francis – VSA Arts Philippines, Inc, humbly describes herself as a caring and nurturing person. She values dedication and good and long lasting friendships with the deaf people she has served making her a sought after interpreter. 

This Honorary Sign Language Interpreter of the Philippine Association of Interpreters for Deaf Empowerment was once a scholar student at the Asahikawa School for the Deaf in Japan where she took courses on Deaf Education and Audiology. She volunteered as a consultant and our country's representative for education and religious deaf programs between the Philippines and Japan . Understanding education as a rewarding endeavor, she also pursued a course on Psycho-educational Assessment for Exceptional Children and Teacher Academy for Theater Arts for Diasbled and Street Children at the University of the Philippines and Occupational Health and Therapy Center before she graduated Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education at the National Teachers College in 1996. To top all the trainings she have taken, she also obtained masters degree units at the Philippine Normal College, Arellano University and National University focusing on teaching the hearing impaired, speech defective and mental retardates.

      This creative and dedicated sign language interpreter has held other important positions like being the founder and SpEd Teacher of Sto. Nino SpEd Center from 1992-1994. Since 1998 until present time she is the Secretary General of the Council of Oral Educators, Inc.

      She has also made the Filipinos proud when she facilitated the DEAF Way Seminar Workshop at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. , Asia Pacific Very Special Arts and Directors Conference at Miyagi, Sendai , Japan . 

      The independent and highly skilled, Ms. Rebecca Santos, who has served the deaf for more than thirty years, is still hopeful of executing her own will with the deaf in the future. Sign language interpreting for her has become more than a task but a meaningful way of life for here she has found doors to other people's heart.

“For almost thirty four years of working with the deaf – young and adult, I can truly say that there is more than friendship among us. It's a pact, a union, a bond that no object can shatter – tested through the course of time.” - Becky Santos