REPORT ON THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF ST. MARY’S SCHOOL OF SAGADA, INC. 

By 

Rufino B. Bomasang

Chairman, Board of Trustees 

I am pleased to report that since St. Mary’s School (SMS) was incorporated into the St. Mary’s School of Sagada, Inc. (SMSSI) just two years ago, the school has been effectively turned around from an institution on the verge of closure to a revitalized institution well on its way to becoming not just the best high school in the Mt. Province and the Cordilleras, but among the best in the entire country.  

I would now like to enumerate some of the steps we have taken to bring SMS to where it is now. 

To launch our ambitious program to revitalize SMS, we invited no less than Dr. Josette Biyo and her co-teachers at the Philippine Science High School West Visayas to conduct the centennial summer science workshop for SMS teachers and students in early 2004. We also hoped to send a signal to the Sagada community and other stakeholders that we really meant business in our avowed goal of revitalizing SMS.   As some of you know, Dr. Biyo became world-famous and a national icon for winning the Intel award for science education in an international competition in the United States in 2002 and was later honored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by naming a planet after her. Private corporations (including San Miguel), government agencies, and educational institutions (including UP where she was commencement speaker in 2004), were therefore all vying to invite Dr. Biyo to speak, if only to inspire their management and constituency.  Despite her very tight schedule, she agreed to come to SMS.  In her short stay here, she inspired teachers and students to do their best in everything they do and even got some of the young students to like science and mathematics. In turn, she was overwhelmed by the warm reception from the Sagada community and impressed with the school’s potential. She has therefore agreed to help SMS in future endeavors. 

We established a sisterhood relationship with Brent International School Manila (BISM). The most immediate effect was that Dr. Dan Chalmers, the Chairman of the Board, was the first one to respond to our call for donations for the first phase of the upgrading of the physical facilities of the school last year and he has continued to support us in our other fund-raising activities.  BISM also sent its librarian, Ellen Valdes, who happens to be an SMS alumna, to help identify the needs of the SMS library. Later, several members of the Board of Trustees of BISM (including Robert Kuan, who is also Chairman of the Board of St. Luke’s Hospital) visited SMS. One important result was that Mr. Kuan has agreed to consider financing the renovation of one of the dormitories to be used by visiting doctors from St. Luke’s and teachers and students of SMS. 

We successfully effected the transfer of the school’s management from the Diocese to SMSSI through a Memorandum of Agreement. There were initial problems, especially with the separation of faculty members, who were employees of the Diocese, but all problems have been ultimately resolved to the satisfaction of both parties. Although SMS is now independent of the Diocese, it remains very much an Episcopal institution. 

We completely revamped the SMS faculty by bringing in fresh young blood. For the school-year 2004-2005, we hired the best from over 150 applicants to replace the old faculty members earlier separated by the Diocese.  For 2005-2006, we again screened over 100 applicants and chose new teachers to replace some of the teachers hired the previous year who had left for one reason or the other. From what I gather, we now have a faculty of young, enthusiastic and dedicated teachers who are not only eager to teach what they know, but are willing to keep learning new things. 

We revamped not only the faculty, but the school administration as well. For the school-year 2004-2005, we brought back Mr. John Guitilen, an SMS alumnus (Class 1956), as principal. He was hired as transition principal preparatory to the ultimate take-over by Mr. Dennis Faustino, Assistant Principal of International School Manila (ISM) and a long time Sagadian by choice, whom we had convinced to join SMS after retiring. Mr. Guitilen had earlier proven himself as an effective administrator in previous assignments at SMS and in the public schools. Considering that 2004-2005 was the first year that SMS was run by the corporation and there were several transition problems, Mr. Guitilen did very well. Among others, he was able to instill discipline.

I can now tell you that we had struck a bonanza in hiring Mr. Faustino as his involvement in SMS has accelerated the revitalization of the school. Even before he retired from ISM, he prepared a five-year strategic plan for the school, which was later enthusiastically approved by the Board after extensive consultations with various stakeholders of SMS (i.e. alumni, faculty, etc.). Since the American missionaries pulled out, this was the first time a five-year strategic plan was ever prepared. I am not even sure if there was one when the Americans were around. The plan, if and when fully implemented, would not only make SMS the best in the Mt. Province and the Cordilleras, but among the best in the entire Philippines. 

An integral part of the five-year plan is a very extensive upgrading of the school’s physical facilities. The upgrading program includes the following: renovation of all the classrooms to make them more conducive to learning; installation of security grills; construction of new modern toilets; construction of a water cistern; construction and equipping of science laboratories (biology, chemistry, and physics); construction and equipping of a computer laboratory; upgrading of the library; construction of a sports complex; and renovation of the boys and girls dormitories. The upgrading of physical facilities was to be done in phases, presumably starting during the school year 2005-2006 when Mr. Faustino would take-over.  

Even before he formally became principal, however, Mr. Faustino expressed his strong desire to have some of the upgrading projects completed by the time formally started.  Accordingly, I initially started asking a few of my close friends in Manila for donations and as I had earlier mentioned, Mr. Dan Chalmers immediately responded with a check for the construction of modern toilets for boys and girls. After I informed the alumni about the upgrading project and the favorable response from Mr. Chalmers, pointing out that he was not even an alumnus of SMS, I got an outpouring of commitments from alumni and their families, especially for the room renovations. The first to respond were the Killip and Gulian families in the United States. Certain alumni sub-groups, such as Class 1960 and SMSAA Metro Manila Chapter and locally based alumni, such as the Capuyan family, likewise responded and pledged to finance specific projects.  Thus, by December, 2004, when we had the centennial alumni homecoming, the 1^st phase of the upgrading program was almost finished and we were over a year ahead of schedule. 

The next major project after the room renovations was the construction and equipping of the science laboratories. Thanks to Dr. John Alipit, who financed the construction of the laboratories and Mr. Faustino himself who helped equip them with microscopes, these laboratories were completed  before the school opening last June and are now being used.  

Also, before Mr. Faustino went up to Sagada to assume his duties as principal, he told me that the computer laboratory had already been finished but there were no computers. He wanted to have the computer laboratory also running by school opening in June. When I told him that I could organize a golf tournament to raise money purposely for the computer project, but it would take months to organize said tournament, he offered to advance the money for the computers provided we pay him before the end of the year. I immediately accepted his offer and the computer laboratory was up and running by the opening of classes.  

Today, I am pleased to report that even before the tournament is held (it is scheduled for November 7), we have raised more than enough money from donations to the golf tournament not only to pay back Mr. Faustino for the cost of the 18 computers, but to pay for three additional computers and the installation of the internet connection. I believe we succeeded way beyond our expectations primarily because we had a good story and we asked almost all the donors to send their donations directly to SMSSI and not to the tournament organizers. I am pleased to report that all sponsors for 18 golf holes are SMS alumni, and their friends and families. Said alumni are mostly members of the newly organized St. Mary’s School of Sagada Alumni and Friends Foundation (SMSSAFF) in the United States. They are led by Mr. Raymond Alipit whose family and network of friends and classmates are sponsoring 8 of the 18 holes. They all deserve our heartfelt gratitude.  

Supplementing the alumni donations are corporate sponsors, mostly my friends in the energy and mining sectors, whose donations match the alumni donations. I am pleased to report that the two biggest corporate donors (platinum sponsors) are Shell Exploration B.V. and Middle East Petroleum Services Ltd. The former is the operator of the famous 4.5 billion dollar Malampaya gas-to-power project (the largest single industrial undertaking in Philippine history) and is a partner of PNOC-Exploration Corporation, the company I used to head as President. The latter is the owner of AustralAsian Energy Limited, a small private oil and gas exploration and production company which I currently head as Chairman.   

For the computer laboratory, however, we thank not only Mr. Faustino and the donors for the golf tournament, but Mr. Kent Sinkey, the computer expert from the University of Cincinnati who has opted to live in Sagada like Mr. Faustino. He is now teaching teachers and students not only from SMS, but from nearby high schools as well, on how to use and maintain said computers. Some SMS alumni have said that Messrs. Faustino and Sinkey are God’s gift not just to the people of Sagada, but of the whole Mt. Province and I fully agree. After all, “aditako bokodan di gawis.” 

Finally, I am pleased to report that mainly through the continuing fundraising efforts of the SMSAFF in the United States, enough funds have been raised to renovate the Stapleton Hall as an interim dormitory for teachers and students from outside Sagada. The ability of SMSAFF to raise funds has been substantially enhanced after it got a much-coveted tax-exempt status, thanks to the hard work and valiant efforts of some of its key officers and members, especially Lambert Sagalla, Inez Killip, and John Alipit. 

The renovation of the Stapleton Hall was not part of the original 5-year plan, but Mr. Faustino recommended and the Board approved it because we expect that with the new SMS, we expect an influx of students from other places starting next school year. Here again, “aditko bikodan di gawis. 

SMSAFF is also actively raising funds for the library upgrading project and in fact has almost raised the total amount needed. Half of the money raised came from an anonymous donor (who I understand is the husband of an SMS alumna married to a Hungarian). This was the same donor who donated money for computers when SMS was still under the Diocese. May God continue to bless this anonymous couple. 

Finally, we are all grateful to Dr. Faustino for renovating this room where we are now from the ordinary auditorium that it once was to a first class theatre and multi-purpose hall, using his own personal funds as another og-ogbo contribution on his part. Among others, it has much better acoustics and illumination.   

Today, therefore, I am once again pleased to say that we are over a year ahead of schedule in our program to upgrade the physical facilities.  In my 40 years implementing projects in the private sector and in the government I can say that this happens very very rarely. I like to believe that it has happened in SMS because as a small corporation we have the ability to make bold decisions and move quickly without being stifled by government, or even church, bureaucracy. We have been able to do this in turn because of the trust, confidence, and support from all the stakeholders of SMS, particularly the members of SMSSAFF and SMSSI.  Thank you for your trust and confidence. 

Just as important as the upgrading of physical facilities, if not more so, is the upgrading of the faculty and the curriculum, which are being done on a continuing basis under the leadership of Mr. Faustino himself. We can see all of these in his weekly reports. I just came from a business trip around the world and in the process have also been able to meet with SMS alumni worldwide, most of whom are members of the SMS yahoo group. Without exception, the feed back that I got from them are very positive.  

Even as I am pleased to report about these accomplishments, I would like to point out that a lot of work still needs to be done. On the physical facilities, we still have to undertake the renovation of the Stapleton Hall, the library upgrading, the construction of the sports complex, and the renovation of the boys and girls dormitories. The two big projects, the sports complex and the two dormitories, will need millions of pesos. I am confident that on the basis of what has been accomplished so far, I believe these amounts can be raised, if we all work together. 

For the long term, I believe that the continuing challenge for the corporation is to ensure the sustainability of financial support for SMS. The needs of the school are unlimited, but the one that I would like to especially highlight is the need to continually develop the faculty and to pay them a compensation that encourages them to stay in SMS. I strongly believe that they should be paid more than those in the public schools. SMSAFF is doing something about this through an endowment campaign, although it is still a long way from raising its targeted amount. I am sure that other chapters of SMSAA can be organized and encouraged to follow the lead of the Metro Manila Chapter, which conducted a pledging session for its members to make regular contributions to support SMS.  I hope they fulfill their pledges. We are also all looking for corporate donors who can help SMS on a regular basis and/or make substantial contributions to the endowment fund.   

Ladies and gentlemen, I am confident that these efforts will succeed if we can demonstrate indeed that SMS is not just an ordinary high school but is  the high school that provides the best education for Igorots in this part of the world to survive and prosper in the fast changing world of the 21^st century. This will make SMS the school of choice and I have no doubt that  parents will be willing to pay a lot more for tuition and other school fees for quality education of their children. This will substantially lessen, if not eliminate, the school’s dependence on outside donors.

Finally, I would like to share with you a dream that Mr. Faustino and I share. We look forward to the day (hopefully five to ten years from now) when SMS will be part of a confederation of Episcopal schools in the Cordilleras, particularly St. James in Besao, St. Alfred’s in Tamboan, St. Paul’s in Balbalasang, and All Saints in Bontoc, all providing the quality education that can not be provided by government schools due to their inherent limitations.  We think this is only possible if said schools are incorporated following the SMS model. I personally think Mr. Faustino himself could well be the overall coordinator of said schools as some sort of Superintendent of Schools. After all, “aditako bokodan di gawis.”    

Mr. Thomas Friedman, author of the book “The World is Flat,” a best seller, says that our dreams must exceed our memories if we are to survive and prosper in this flat new world. For us here at SMS, I have no doubt that this is so. Mr. Friedman, however, hastens to add that it is not enough to have dreams. We must act to realize our dreams. 

Thank you.