July 26 Update
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MESSAGE TO SMS ALUMNI
On July 2, 2004 during the
Centennial Celebration of the St. Louis Exhibition
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
by
Rufino B. Bomasang
Chairman, St. Mary’s School of Sagada, Inc.
As those of you who are online will
hopefully agree, I have tried my best to keep you all updated regularly on
developments at SMS. However, I understand that some alumni are not yet
online and do not have up to date information. I have therefore been looking
forward to this opportunity to have fellowship with SMS alumni and friends on
this centennial celebration of a very important event in American and
Philippine history and to update you on what the St. Mary’s School of Sagada,
Inc. (SMSSI) has so far accomplished. As you are probably aware, the alumni
association agreed to set up a corporation in order to enable SMS to continue
operating after the diocese said it could no longer continue supporting the
school starting 2005. Unfortunately, before the corporation was organized,
Manong Frank Longid, SMAA President, died in June 2003. As we all know,
Manong Frank had a tremendous passion for SMS and had worked very hard, even
using his own personal resources, to keep SMS alive for at least the last ten
years.
Subsequently, Mrs. Mel Longid and
the alumni officers prevailed on me to help get the corporation registered and
then to lead it. I readily helped and got the corporation registered in
September, 2003. However, I had reservations about leading it after
conducting my own due diligence on the actual situation of the school. Among
others, I found out that faculty morale was very low, discipline among
teachers and students was very lax, enrollment was declining, quality books
donated by Meros were hardly being used, and to top it all, SMS had the
unenviable reputation of being a consistent tailender in academic
competitions. I therefore told the alumni that I was not interested in
leading the corporation, if the intention was just to keep SMS alive. I said
that I would rather see the school closed than continue operating as a
mediocre institution. I did not have Manong Frank’s emotional attachment to
SMS, which led him to say that closing SMS was never an option.
On the other hand, I recognized
that whatever accomplishments I have had in life could be traced to the
quality high school education I obtained at SMS. I believe this is also true
for most of us here. I also told the alumni that SMS had great potential to
become once again a leading institution in the Mt. Province and possibly in
the entire Cordilleras but this entailed a lot of work. Among others, it
means a revamp of the faculty, a sustained campaign for financial support,
specially from the alumni and friends, and ultimately an increase in tuition
fees to lessen dependence on outside support. The proposed vision was to make SMS the school of choice for parents who want and are willing to pay for
quality education. I then said that if the various stakeholders of SMS,
especially the alumni, the diocese, and key members of the Sagada community,
agreed with this vision, then I would be willing to lead the corporation,
inspite of my busy schedule running a major subsidiary of the Philippine
National Oil Company. During a membership meeting in Baguio and during the
organizational meeting of the corporation held on November 2, 2003, the
stakeholders enthusiastically agreed to support my proposed vision and the
action plan to implement the vision. On this premise, I was elected Chairman
of SMSSI.
Today, I am pleased to report the
following accomplishments in our pursuit of making SMS the best high school in
the Mt. Province by 2008 and the best in the Cordilleras by 2008, thus making
it the school of choice:
1. Established a formal sisterhood relationship with
Brent International School Manila on January 9, 2004. Among others, this will
allow SMS to be a recipient of donated books, computers, and laboratory
equipment. This was followed by a visit of Brent directors to Sagada and the
dispatch of a Brent librarian to guide the newly hired SMS librarian. When we
appealed for donations for urgent repair and renovation jobs, Mr. Dan
Chalmers, the Brent Board Chairman, was the first to respond. Furthermore,
Ellen Gawigawen of St. Luke’s Hospital, told me that Mr. Robert Kuan had
agreed to contribute to the improvement of SMS facilities, although we still
need to work out the details. Mr. Kuan was one of the Brent Board of
Directors who visited Sagada and who has strongly pushed for the sisterhood
relationship with SMS.
2. Signed a memorandum of
agreement with the diocese
effectively transferring the management of the school to SMSSI,
retirement by the diocese of all faculty members with tenure,
and
leasing land and buildings for the next twenty five years.
3. Hired a professional librarian in March 2004, who
has since then been working hard to catalogue all books and ensure that they
are all properly arranged. This was made possible by an earlier commitment
from Ed Abeya and Nellie Abeya Pit-og to finance the salary of a librarian.
4. Recruited 8 new faculty members
from 160 applicants, replacing
all the old teachers who were retired by the diocese, except
two who reapplied and qualified. The new faculty are all young,
computer literate, and willing to learn and apply new
teaching
methods.
5. Convinced Mr. Dennis Faustino,
currently Assistant Principal of
International School Manila, to become principal of SMS
upon his
retirement, starting school-year 2005-2006. He brings
with him
his experience in a school of world class caliber and
his contacts
with potential major donors. He is Tagalog and a Roman
Catholic, but is a Sagadian by choice. Dennis has
lived in Sagada
for the last 30 years and has generously supported all
sorts of
community projects (i.e. Sagada softball team, St.
Theodore’s,
St. James, St. Mary’s Parish, etc). We also convinced
Mr. John
Guitilen, who did well during his short stint as
principal of SMS
before he entered politics, to act as Officer-in-Charge
for school
year 2004-2005. Incidentally, Mr. Guitilen agreed only
when he
learned that most of the old teachers, whom he knew
very well,
had left.
6. Successfully arranged a 3-day
workshop by teachers from SMS
and nearby public and Episcopalian schools on
teaching
strategies, particularly on science education. This was
conducted by the world famous Dr. Josette Biyo and her team
from
Philippine Science High School, together with a youth
camp
for SMS students. Among others, the workshop
demonstrated
to the Sagada community the corporation’s new
commitment
to academic excellence in SMS. Major companies
in
Manila as well as the Sagada municipal government willingly
shouldered the cost of the Biyo workshop, including logistics of
bringing the team from Iloilo to Manila and back.
7. Finally, I am pleased to report that we have
received a very enthusiastic and positive response from the SMS alumni (US and
Philippines) to our appeal for financial support for the 1st phase
of a 3-year facilities improvement program prepared by Dennis Faustino and the
SMS administration. The 1st phase includes urgent repair and
renovations to make the classrooms more conducive to learning (better
acoustics, warmer, better illumination, better tables, etc.), repair of girls’
toilet and construction of boys’ toilet, construction of water cistern to make
running water available, and installation of security grills. I am pleased to
announce that we not only have enough pledges for the 1st phase
costing 640,000 pesos, but pledges for the repair and renovation for part of
the 2nd phase scheduled next year costing 260,000 pesos. These
pledges, some of which have been actually received, although all the checks
are still in the process of clearing, are summarized as follows: toilets
130,000 (Dan Chalmers), two classrooms 130,000 (Killip Family), one classroom
65,000 (Class 62), one classroom 65,000 (Gulian Family), one classroom 65,000
(Bawaan Family), one classroom 65,000 (Gomowad Family), one classroom 65,000 (Bacdayan
Family), one classroom 65,000 (Capuyan Family), water cistern 100,000 (SMAA
MMLA Chapter), and security grills for all other rooms 150,000 (Dr. Alipit et
al). Work has started and the first room is scheduled for occupancy today.
Once again, I would like to thank
all those who responded to our appeal and all the others who gave us words of
encouragement. Because of your moral, spiritual, and financial support, a new
SMS is slowly but surely emerging. I now have absolutely no doubt that our
vision for SMS will be achieved even before 2008. In fact, Dennis Faustino’s
vision is bigger than mine. He wants SMS to become an institution that is not
only the best in the Cordilleras, but among the best in the Philippines before
the end of his five-year contract with SMSSI. That means before 2010. He is
currently preparing a 5-year strategic plan to be presented to the alumni
during the centennial homecoming in December which I hope you will all attend.
Today, I am also pleased to inform
you that the earlier misinformation and campaign among a disgruntled few
against the corporation has fizzled out. The parents have become very
cooperative and returned their children to SMS, inspite of the increase in
tuition fees. One old teacher who used to be very critical of the corporation
and who pulled her son out of SMS decided to return her son. There is very
good teamwork among the new teachers and their morale is high. Discipline
has been restored in the school with the teachers setting the example. After
one student was caught throwing stones into school and disciplined, vandalism
has practically stopped. In the last PTA meeting, parents expressed their
satisfaction with what has happened so far and are all looking forward to a
rejuvenated SMS. Even after SMS has increased tuition fees, we have almost
the same level of enrollees as last year. We expected only 100 to 150, but
over 170 enrolled.
Yes, things are looking up indeed
for SMS, but a lot still needs to be done. There are also a lot of
opportunities for the rest of us to do our part in this worthwhile undertaking
of making SMS the best once again. You can contribute at least 24 dollars a
year to help cover the projected deficit the next two years. You can adapt a
faculty for 200 dollars a month. You can also finance part, or all, of the
other proposed improvements for the succeeding years, which will be detailed
in the December homecoming. Finally, for those who made pledges, you can
write your checks now.
Thank you and may God continue to bless you all.
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