The City Council celebrates Constitution Day with the designation of Adopted Son and the awarding of honors to retired teachers

Businessman José María Téllez ‘Popi’ and sports director Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ were recognized during the ceremony.

The Estepona City Council held today the institutional ceremony on the occasion of the Constitution Day in which the businessman José María Téllez ‘Popi’ and the sports director Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ were appointed as Adopted Sons of Estepona. In addition, special mentions for their professional careers were given to eight retired teachers who have worked in schools in the municipality.

José María Téllez ‘Popi’ took his first steps as a ham cutter in the winery where he worked, and in 2010 he began to participate in cutting competitions throughout Spain, carrying the name of Estepona by flag. For the last fourteen years, and always with great success, he has organized the World Ham Cutters Competition in the city, where the best professionals from all over Spain meet.

Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ was born in Basauri-Vizcaya but has strong ties with the city of Estepona, as he lives here for long periods every year. He is sports director of professional cycling teams and has always been linked to the sport. In 2017 UAE Team Emirates made official the signing of Joxean Fernandez as Sport Manager of the team and from that moment began a reconstruction of the team under a policy of incorporating young talent. Under his leadership, Pogacar won the first Tour de France. In 2021 he was named ‘Tourist of Honor’ by the Estepona City Council and his involvement was important for our city to host one of the stages of La Vuelta. In addition, in recent years ‘Matxin’ has hosted his teams in Estepona hotel establishments for their training, also contributing to the promotion of the city.

Special Mentions

During the course of the institutional act of the Constitution Day, which has been developed in the Felipe VI Auditorium, have also been delivered special mentions, which this year have recognized the careers of eight teachers who have developed their activity in schools in the municipality:

Antonio López Sernández, Bachelor of Arts (specializing in Philosophy) from the Complutense University of Madrid and Doctor of Philosophy and Educational Sciences from the University of Malaga. In 1971 he arrived in Estepona to teach Philosophy at IES Monterroso. He was appointed Professor of the same center. For 7 years he was head of studies, and served another 9 years as director. He was also honorary associate professor of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Malaga and professor of Police Ethics at the Police Training School of Estepona.

Francisco Chao Espinosa, born in Estepona in September 1950. He graduated in Chemistry from the University of Granada in 1974 and, after military service, worked as a high school teacher at the San José School in Estepona for 38 years, of which he was Head of Studies for 35 years.

Francisco Medina Infantes, born in Estepona in 1957. In October 1968 he entered the Monterroso Institute, which was inaugurated that year, and there he finished High School and COU. He graduated in Mathematical Sciences. He worked as a teacher in several schools in the province of Malaga, including the Monterroso High School, where he was also in charge of the Secretariat, the Head of Studies and the Direction of the Center for fifteen years. He has been an inspector of Education. Now dedicated to researching local history, he has just presented the book ‘A look back’, a study on Education in Estepona during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Isabel Pitalúa López was born in Estepona in 1943. Affectionately known as Miss Beli, she began her teaching studies at the Normal School of Malaga and passed her exam for the Revalidation for Teachers of First Teaching in January 1969. She taught at the Academia Juan XXIII and the Academia Don José Álvarez. Later he developed all his teaching activity in the Colegio Patrocinio San José, where he remained until his retirement.

Julio Pérez Santander was born in Abla (Almería) in 1950. He graduated in Philosophy and Letters, Romance Philology Section, from the University of Granada in 1974. He has been Associate Professor of Language and Literature at IES Monterroso, where he was Head of Department. Throughout his professional career he has given numerous courses and participated in congresses and symposiums of scientific character or didactic updating in ICE, CEPSs, Universities of Granada, Malaga and Salamanca, and in the National University of Distance Education. In 1992, he became a Professor of Language and Literature. From 1979 to 2010, the date of his retirement, he has continuously carried out his educational work at IES Monterroso.

María del Carmen Ortega Morell was born in Málaga in 1950. Graduated in Philosophy and Letters, English Philology Section, from the University of Granada, she has been Associate Professor of English at IES Monterroso, where she was Head of Department. Throughout her professional career she has taken part in courses and participated in congresses and symposiums of a scientific nature or didactic updating in ICE, CEPSs. She has attended English improvement courses in Bournemouth, London and Oxford, and in 1992 she became a Professor of English. Between 1979 and 2011, the time of her retirement, she has uninterruptedly carried out her educational work at IES Monterroso.

Alicia Corzo López de Bustamante was born in Estepona in 1950. She studied in Granada and began her educational career at the San José School in 1974. In 1975 she moved to the Monterroso Institute until 1986, and continued at the Mar de Alborán Institute. He has taught in high schools in San Pedro, Marbella and Manilva, to conclude his professional career at the Instituto Mediterráneo. She has combined her career giving maintenance classes in the afternoons. She was one of the first women to teach Physical Education.

Felisa Suárez was born in Bedmar (Jaén) in 1942. She arrived in Estepona in 1971 and began teaching Language and Literature in different schools and institutes. With a degree in Philosophy and Letters (specializing in Romance Philology) she began in 1978 as an interim teacher and, later, as a numerary teacher of Spanish Language and Literature at IES Monterroso. For years she has participated, without profit, in the Seminario Mayor San José de Cajamarca, in Peru, as a teacher of Language and Literature and Latin, both face-to-face and telematically.

The institutional act of the Constitution Day has counted with the performances of the Municipal Band of Music of Estepona and Julia Fernández-Llébrez, winner of the first prize of the X Contest Estepona Crea 2024.