Saint John's Institute

Going Beyond Gold

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St. John’s Institute

ABOUT THE TITLE LOGO DESIGN The graphic design on the book cover is a contemporary rendition of the school’s logo. But this icon holds a secret. The lines forming the design are made entirely of letters from our golden jubilee theme, “Going Beyond Gold.”

Look closely, can you decipher the code?

“Going”

“Beyond”

“Gold”

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Going Beyond Gold

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Copyright © 2008 by S T . J O H N’ S I N S T I T U T E

All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced and/or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical— and without the written permission of the authors and the publisher.

Editor Abe Florendo Art Director Eduardo A. Davad Photographers Ramon Jeffrey Florendo Philip Loyola Writers Josefina G. Tiu Nelia Dingcong-Bernabe Marilou T. Geraldoy Catherine Barcelona-Carlos Ma. Vicenta P. Rio Jennifer Gochangco-Ong Angela Marie L. Golez Allen del Carmen Consultants Alfredo G. Barcelona Josefina G. Tiu Marilou T. Geraldoy Executive Director Project Manager

Fr. Noly A. Que, LRMS Ma. Vicenta P. Rio

SJI Board of Directors Benjamin D. Lopue Jr., Chairman Dennis S. Coo, President Lucy C. Ponce Eduardo S. Go Rosita C. Uy Bico Arneil T. Chua Teody R. Lopingco Nelson W. Señoron Arabelle G. Lopue Fr. Noly A. Que, LRMS Title logo design by

Caroline B. Ong Published by

S T . J OHN’ S I NSTITUTE Hilado Extension, Capitol Subdivision, Bacolod City

St. John’s Institute

GOING BEYOND GOLD Abe Florendo Editor

Published in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of St. John’s Institute

2009

t ab le o f c o nt e nts Preface By Dennis S. Coo, William Y. Chua 8 Introduction By Abe Florendo 11 Chapter 1 From Hebei to Hacarin 14

By Abe Florendo Chapter 2 Anointed by the Lord 26

By Abe Florendo Chapter 3 The Autumn of the Patriarchs 46

By Abe Florendo Chapter 4 The Rise of Hua Ming 52

By Josefina Tiu Retired But Not Forgotten 76

By Angela Marie L. Golez The Legacy of Hua Ming 79

By Jennifer Gochangco-Ong Chapter 5 Good Classmates & Lifelong Friends 80

By Cathy Carlos The Integration Issue 90

By Abe Florendo Chapter 6 The World’s A Stage 92

By Ma. Vicenta P. Rio Chapter 7 The Best and The Finest 104

By Marilou T. Geraldoy Chapter 8 St. John’s and Its Impact on Negros 120

By Allen del Carmen & Josefina Tiu Chapter 9 Reunions and Bittersweet Memories 136

By Nelia Dingcong-Bernabe Chapter 10 St. John’s Today and Tomorrow 148

By Fr. Noly Que Q&A What Lies Ahead 185

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preface A Great Leap

HE Golden Jubilee of St. John’s Institute is a great leap for the school as well as for me. Fifty years ago I was among the first batch of students in the early days of Hua Ming when it held its classes at the vacated marketplace in Shopping. There was a bus terminal beside it where people were always milling about. When we recited our Chinese poems in sing-song cadences the people outside jocularly imitated us. They would never learn to recite and sing in Chinese as ably as we did, but they would come to know that Hua Ming was becoming one of the best institutions for primary and secondary education in the province and in the country.

While reviving a trove of fond memories, this Golden Jubilee book also convincingly testifies to the continuance and durability of a dream, that of the two Founders, Fr. John Liu and Fr. John Su. This dream has seen the school through great difficulties and tribulations, especially during the early years. But with a fierce conviction and determination, St. John’s administration, faculty and staff have pressed on with the work of educating our youth and the expansion of their learning environment so that they would realize their full potential and fulfill their youthful promise.

Today St. John’s Institute has grown beyond expectations. The school has large and separate campuses for kinder, grade school and high school, adequate classrooms, modern facilities and creative curriculum and programs for their further growth and education. But structures and equipment do not a school make. It is the community of united and dedicated alumni, benefactors, administration and faculty that made St. John’s what it is today.

St. John’s is looking beyond its 50th year to more exciting things to come. To accommodate its ever-growing student population, St. John’s has started construction of a new kindergarten school and campus on a five-hectare lot in Ayala North Point in Talisay City, where will also rise a sports complex, a cultural center and a computer information center. Hopefully in five years’ time, St. John’s will also see the realization of the current administration’s pet project, a Chinese Language Center, which will be a training ground for Chinese language teachers in the country.

Indeed, the dream of Fr. John Liu and Fr, John Su will continue to live on and edify and inspire all of us here in St. John’s Institute.

DENNIS S. COO President SJI Board of Trustees

preface A Meaningful Commemoration

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HAT St. John’s Institute has come this far—all of 50 years—is a testament to the strong spirit of cooperation, the bayanihan, among the Chinese community and the people of Negros, and their abiding trust in the vision of the Founders, Msgr. John Liu and Msgr. John Su. During this Golden Jubilee celebration, we also acknowledge once more the donation of Don Alfredo Montelibano Sr. and his family, whose incalculable generosity made Hua Ming possible in the first place.

What’s also remarkable about Hua Ming is that there’s no religious order or organization behind it during its inception, unlike the other big Catholic schools in the country. Hua Ming is entirely homegrown, a pure Negrense institution. I hope it will carry on this unique and forceful tradition.

In view of the changing times, I would like to see this institution revive its original mission to teach the Chinese language and promote edifying Chinese culture and values anchored on the Catholic faith.

During our time in Hua Ming, in the ‘70s, we knew how to read and write in Chinese. With China looming as a global power, greater Chinese language teaching will equip the people in Negros to meet the new challenges and opportunities.

In the meantime, the SJI Alumni Association, following the wishes of Msgr. Su, is bolstering up the scholarship program for underprivileged students and the sports program. With the construction of a sports complex in Ayala North Point in Talisay City, we hope to be able to recapture the glory days of athletics in SJI. In the exercise of its social responsibility, the alumni association has committed to build 50 houses for each of the 50 years of Hua Ming, a joint project with the Gawad Kalinga.

“Handumanan sang Hua Ming” is a fitting tribute to the two Founders and a meaningful commemoration of the Golden Jubilee.

WILLIAM Y. CHUA President SJI Alumni Association

introduction

H

UA MING is a story of faith, optimism and determination, charged with the invincible spirit of its two Founders—Msgr.

John Liu and Msgr. John Su—whose life and work are woven into the history of this school and the Queen of Peace Church beside it. Hua Ming, now known as St. John’s Institute (SJI), although many people in Bacolod still call it by its original name, which is how oftentimes history is kept fresh and evocative, is celebrating its 50th year with the publication of this commemorative book, part of a year-long series of activities and festivities climaxing on February 11, 2009 with the Golden Jubilee “Honoring Our Best” Awarding Ceremony.

How God has worked his wonders through these two simple, humble, pious and less than saintly men of the cloth, who in temperament are as opposite as oil and water, is the essential story behind Hua Ming or St. John’s Institute. The strong fiber of their hope and determination, the shreds of their frustrations and desperations, their flawed humanity and their shining ambitions for a perfect world, marked and influenced the passage of Hua Ming through all these 50 years, from a poor and struggling school to one of the most dynamic and progressive Catholic educational centers in Negros today.

Several chapters of this book were written by SJI alumni who pounded out on their keyboards fond memories of their young years in the school and chronicled the big academic, cultural, sporting and social events of the school. And always, on the edge of their memories, loomed the image of the cheerful and ever-smiling Msgr.

Liu and the colossus of discipline, Msgr. Su. Our writers talked to their parents and other elders who could reconstruct or evoke the school’s journey from a classroom in a marketplace to a steadily expanding institution, which in 2009 will see an expanded kindergarten school and a modern gymnasium in North Point Ayala in Talisay City.

This book is thus a trove of memories of the 50 years of St. John’s Institute−funny, poignant, bittersweet, like a love story.

We would like to acknowledge the great assistance of Mercy Servida and Elvie Iremedio of the Lopez Museum and Library; the Kaisa Library, the Chinese Studies Center of Ateneo de Manila, especially Fr. Ari Dy, a very perceptive writer; the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod; and the Xavier School Library and Archives.

Many thanks to our invaluable sources: Fr. Joseph Feng of the Lorenzo Mission Institute; Msgr. Francis Chin, former parish priest of St. Peter the Apostle Church in Paco, Manila; SJI stalwarts Lucy Ponce and Rosita Uy Bico; Elena Ko, former administrative officer; Gloria Barcelona, former principal of SJI; Mary Tien, Sister Luisa Cheng, Linda Ong, Sister Mirriam Lee, Precy Tankit Ong, Nerissa Ku, Marilyn Wong, Msgr. Wang, Bro. Min, Lo Wang Ping, Joemarie Sy, Virgie Cu and Mila T. Albiño. And the guys in the Golden Jubilee office—Dianne Kathleen Siva, Elaine Reyes, Patrick Caballero, Tatiana Avila and Alejandro Medrano—who helped me sort through archival photos and CD files, and SJI driver Philip Arriesgado. Thanks to friends in Bacolod who welcomed me to their heart and hearth in this city, and encouraged me to do this book, although they are not Hua Ming alumni: these are Bambi Borromeo and Bamboo Tonogbanua.

This book would not have leapt to life without Fr. Noly Que, LRMS, school administrator and parish priest of Queen of Peace, Fr. Garry Neil Fuentebella, LRMS, high school principal, and Fr. Junerl Salugsugan, LRMS, head of Campus Ministry, who hold the future of SJI in their hands, the worthy heirs of the two Founders.

ABE FLORENDO Editor

Chapter 1

He H e Haca From To

ebei carin

St. John’s Institute

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EBEI, the northern province of the People’s Republic of China, traces its origins to the Han dynasty (206 BC-220), after which the ethnic majority in China, the “people of Han,” was named, and much farther back, in the gray mists of prehistory, to the Peking Man, the Homo erectus that roamed its plains around two hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand years ago.

Today, Hebei (also spelled Hopei or Hopeh), meaning “north of the [Yellow] River,” is a very important political province as it completely surrounds like a protective embrace the major Beijing and Tainjin cities, which also border each other. chapter 1

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From this remarkable province, which is bigger than the entire Philippine archipelago, came Msgr. John Liu and Msgr. John Su, the Founders of Hua Ming, or St. John’s Institute, in Bacolod City, whose story—that of the priests and the school—is significantly linked with the life of Negros. On the larger framework, their story weaves into the diaspora of Chinese and other foreign Catholic priests and missionaries from Communist China, toward the end of the forties and the early fifties, that took them to several places in Asia, including the Philippines.

The massive flight of priests and missionaries from this country that despised religion would greatly enrich Catholic evangelization in the Philippines.

The two Hua Ming Founders fled China soon after the outbreak of the communist takeover in 1949, when the new regime made it felt, in no uncertain terms, that the Christian missions throughout China were the enemy of the people, whose religion was the “opium of the people,” whereupon it began to fiercely run them out of the country. Hebei was then a vital Roman Catholic diocese, just as it is today: Hebei is where approximately half of the country’s Catholics reside. Communism, with its unrelenting persecutions of missionaries, to some extent happening even today, apparently has failed to fully extinguish the light of the faith in Hebei.

John Su, born on June 4, 1924, grew up in Zai-hou-si, An-Ping county, in Hebei, where his father, Su Xiang Se, a farmer and merchant, owned a large farm planted to cotton, wheat, corn and other grains, in a valley at the foot of the mountains in the often arid north. The farm was considered a large property in China at that time, and the people looked up to the owner Su Xiang Se, whose big stone house became kind of a community hall where people came for informal meetings and consultations with the elders. John Su grew up in this stone house, the youngest chapter 1

of five brothers and two sisters, and went to an elementary school in Zai-hou-si (long since gone) and later to a seminary run by the Jesuit Fathers.

Of John Su’s five brothers one became a Jesuit, Fr. Su Pei Ying, who would later be imprisoned in China, from 1954 to 1980, and who lived to see China slowly opening up to the world before dying in 1993. The other brothers also studied in the seminary but they did not have the calling; they remained in China.

John Liu, or Liu Zi Hui (meaning “shining for the young generation”), born of Catholic parents on June 24, 1926, in Da-Cao, Yao-Yang county, in Hebei province. A second-born in a brood of four, who the Chinese believed often turned out to be the “black sheep” of the family, Zi Hui, cheerful and bedimpled, whose childhood was nothing but happy, proved everyone wrong.

His parents, Jose Liu and Cecilia Liu, were devout Catholics who brought him up in strict Catholic traditions. He had an aunt on his father’s side, he said in his memoir, who “remained a virgin for the sake of God and the Church,” and who greatly influenced him in his choice of a vocation. The eldest sister took care of him and his two younger brother and sister; distance and exile had not severed their bonds, and they remained close to each other till their later years.

The young Su and Liu, according to Msgr.

Francis Chin (Jin Yin Pu), who went to school with them, went to the Jesuit-run school in Hebei.

Msgr. Chin, 84, who was also with the group of Liu and Su in their escape from China, is the retired parish priest and father director of St. Peter the Apostle school and parish in Paco, Manila. Msgr. Chin, also from Hebei, boasts of a close relation, Paul Chin, who was a Catholic martyr during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

In this school, he said, they studied Chinese language and writing (whose thousands of characters were a torture to young students), as well as Chinese mathematics, geography, history and culture, and the French language, but not

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English, as many of their professors were French (with a few Germans).

The Jesuit school was run like any other school, but like in a convent school the students ate and slept in dormitories inside the campus. After finishing Grade IV, said Msgr. Chin, students had the option to continue to study to become priests.

Those who chose to study for the priesthood were segregated from the other students; they slept in a separate dormitory and studied in a separate study hall, although they shared the same refectory with the non-seminarian students.

The seminarians studied Latin, along with the

Msgr. Francis Chin (Jin Yin Pu), who was with the group of diocesan seminarians, including Fr. John Liu and Fr. John Su, that fled China and arrived in the Philippines. Msgr. Chin is one of the few surviving members of that group.

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other prescribed grade school subjects.

“We observed a strict regimen of praying and studying,” recalled Msgr. Chin. “If you had poor grades in your homework, you got the dreaded punishment of three slaps on your palms with a ruler or bamboo stick.” It must have been tough for the young students. “You studied hard to have good grades and to avert the Jesuits’ displeasure and punishments. And you also prayed hard for God’s forgiveness for your transgressions.”

The seminarians did not pay tuition, but it was expected of their families to help out with a sack of rice or potatoes or whatever foodstuffs they could afford to give. The neighbors would also help out with a chicken or two or a bushel of vegetables; they all took pride in helping raise a young seminarian who came from their midst. The contributions, or offerings, were brought to the parish church and the parish priest would bring them to the seminary, perhaps after skimming off a measure or two of the grains for his own needs.

Records show that John Su, after his studies at the the Xianxian Minor Seminary, went on to the Jingxian Ruoshi Major Seminary (Seminarium Regionale Hopei Kinghsien).

On the other hand, in his memoir, John Liu revealed that at the age of 12, with adventure in his heart, he left his village to study in ShenXian for Grade 4; two years later he joined the Xianxian Minor Seminary in Hebei. In 1945, after the closure of the Xianxian Minor Seminary, John kept on moving like a minstrel from one place to another. In his memoir: “From Cangzhou I went to Tianjin on a boat which was transporting pears, then went to the Peiping Minor Seminary, then went to Zhengding, then in 1946 to Baoding. After studies in Baoding, in 1947, I went back to Peiping Gengxin high school, in Peiping. When I graduated there I went to Furen University.” Two and a half years of studies later in Furen, in 1949, the communists took over Peiping (Peking, now Beijing).

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Unstable Times

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F CATHOLIC EVANGELISM in China had not been interrupted by the victorious communists, China would have become the biggest Catholic country in the world, a Chinese priest asserted. Unfortunately, Mao Zedong demolished that bright possibility at one fell swoop.

The historic events that ultimately led to the flight of John Su and John Liu and their fellow seminarians, together with their Jesuit instructors, from China to the Philippines, in 1949, had been percolating in the background.

But the signs of impending doom were unheeded. Maybe because people felt there was nothing new happening: it had happened before over and over in their history, the present emperor being toppled to give way to yet another new dynasty.

But something new was happening this time. Communism was a people’s rebellion that differed from other rebellions in the past. There was no warlord or pretender to the throne thirsting for power; there was instead an ideology focused on the supremacy of the proletariat. And it had a charismatic leader, Mao Zedong, himself a peasant. Communism was indeed then the answer to the time. Civil wars were ravaging the countryside, people were hungry, they were oppressed by cruel warlords and foreign invaders, and the Emperor was far away, being kicked out of his throne.

This new people’s movement, however, did not spell the end of the persecution of chapter 1

Christian priests and missionaries in China; it actually brought it to its climax. Historically, the persecutions began long before the Chinese People’s Republic (CPR) was proclaimed in Peking on October 1, 1949, when the capital was also moved from Nanking to Peking.

As early as 1870, an anti-foreigner riot broke out in Tianjin, sparked by rumors that the strange rituals of the foreign missions were causing the unexplained deaths of children, or in the case of the arid northern provinces, prevented the rains from falling. In 1900 the rains indeed failed throughout the north, whereupon

the Empress Dowager Ci Xi, John Liu’s parents Jose also known as Old Buddha, Liu and Cecilia Liu with issued a decree ordering John’s younger brother and his family the deaths of all “foreign devils,” including priests and missionaries. This gave rise to the infamous Boxer Rebellion which left 18,700 Chinese Catholics and 270 missionaries dead, not to mention a

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great number of non-Catholic Christians and missionaries. (The Guardian, August 5, 2000. By John Gittings) The Boxer Rebellion set the stage for the rise of Mao and the Chinese communist revolution.

The Flight from China

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HE HALCYON DAYS in the seminary ended in 1949 for seminarians Su and Liu, at that time in their early twenties.

The communist army, who had entered Beijing in full force, sequestered the St. Joseph Major Seminary and used it as barracks for its nascent Red Youth Army. The army saw that the seminary was a gold mine: here were well-schooled young men ripe for indoctrination into the communist ideology. But the Father Formator of the seminary, Fr. Francis Burkhardt, S.J., immediately saw it coming. He then planned the escape of the seminarians. The destination: the Philippines. The Jesuit Father General, wrote Fr. Robert R. O’Hara (“China Mission in Exile,” Woodstock Letters, Vol. 80 No. 4, November 4, 1951), ordered that all those who were engaged in the direct care of souls should stay, while “the novices and juniors and their faculty, as well as the [diocesan] seminarians who were entrusted to the Jesuits for instruction,” should leave. Bishop Xavierius Chao, S.J., of Xian-Xian, sent the Chinese seminarians to the Philippines, because it was the biggest Catholic country in Asia and so would not be totally chapter 1

John Su’s strange, or hostile, to them. school ID Others were sent to Rome.

As narrated by Msgr.

Su to Mrs. Josefina Tiu, high school teacher (“A Journey Through Golden Memories”), Burkhardt made them slip away by threes or fours, this way to avoid being noticed by the communist soldiers who would come by to check the attendance of the students in their classrooms. It didn’t take long before the soldiers became suspicious of the number of seminarians reported sick and sent home, whereupon they intensified their watch and laid down tighter measures.

The seminarians devised their escape in desperate ways. Some, Su narrated, were let down at night through the windows of the dormitory by means of blankets tied end to end, to a waiting sampan on the banks of the river.

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They crawled under the bales of cogon leaves, meant for the construction of houses in the villages, that were the usual cargo of the sampans.

Some of the seminarians who escaped in this way did not survive because it was known later that every sampan that passed by the seminary was subjected to inspection. “A pitchfork,” narrated Su, “was thrust into the thick layers of cogon in the sampan to check for escapees who might be hidden underneath.”

Other young escapees would tell stories of walking miles and miles before getting a ride on a train or a boat, or having to work as farm hands or street construction laborers to earn money for their passage on a train or boat.

They would tell stories of overcrowded boats on the high seas where passengers fell ill or died and were thrown overboard. And they could not shake off the nightmare of the communists chasing after them, until they reached a safe port.

Worse fates awaited the priests who stayed behind in China who, like the Jesuits, on orders of their superiors, were instructed to continue with the care of souls. They were imprisoned, tortured, and subjected to long hours of interrogations and indoctrination. Some died in prison, some escaped, some were released.

John Liu, in his memoir, written in longhand and in Chinese, in the possession of his niece, Mary Tian, gave a brief account of the escape. “From Peiping,” he wrote, “we rode the train to Tianjin. It was not a pleasant trip but chapter 1

the passengers were calm, but grim and serious.

Outside the window I could see very few cars or trucks passing.” The train arrived in Tianjin on March 12, 1949 and they stayed in a hotel in Qinan, where they met the high school students from St. Joseph. They toured the place but there was nothing much to see: a lake where there was a small park and beside it a library.

They took the train to Nan Cun, a village, where people moved around in bicycles. Here they rode a car to Qingdao, “a business center with factories and stores, a clean place.”

On March 22, in Qingdao, they boarded a boat that sailed to Shanghai, a trip of two days and three nights, that he spent in bed, seasick. On the third night they passed through the Yangtze River. “It was raining hard when we disembarked in Shanghai—a big city, so beautiful.” They were housed at the Huihshen University and they were toured around, “under umbrellas John Liu since it was in his early 20s always raining.”

L i u ’ s memories of the trip from Shanghai to Hong Kong to the Philippines remain a closed book since Mary Tian does not want to show the remaining pages, saying they are too personal. Even among the people close to them in St. John’s, Su and Liu never really talked in great detail about this episode in their life. “Maybe,” says Miss Elena Ko, former administrative officer of St. John’s, “the memory was too bitter and painful for them.

It was a closed door for them.”

Msgr. Chin, speaking in his office at St. Peter the Apostle, remembers: “There were 80 or 90 of us, all from one seminary,” says the monsignor. If his memory did not fail him, he

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says, “we went by train from Beijing to Tianjin, Jinam and Qingdao, and from there by boat to Shanghai, where we stayed for three months, as Shanghai was still safe then, being occupied by the Nationalists. After Shanghai, we left by plane, arranged by the Jesuit Fathers, to Hong Kong, and then to Macao, and back to Hong Kong, where we waited for our visas [to the Philippines] to be processed.”

One of the four bishops (from Sienhsien, Yungmien, Taming and Kinghsie) who founded the St. Joseph Regional Seminary was Cardinal Thomas Tian, the very first Asian cardinal, who happened to be a good friend of Francis Cardinal Spellman.

Cardinal Spellman, a popular figure in the Philippines, was New York City’s cardinal from 1939 until Francis Cardinal his death in 1967. Politically Spellman of New York, who helped secure a well connected, he was refugee status for the called “The American Pope.”

Chinese seminarians in the Cardinal Tian asked Cardinal Philippines Spellman to write to the Philippine President, Elpidio Quirino, to allow the Chinese seminarians and priests to land in the Philippines as refugees.

Spellman’s request was granted.

Msgr. Chin said that the first group to arrive in the Philipines consisted of the seminarians, the second group the university students, the third group the high school students. His group, which included John Su and John Liu, arrived in the Philippines in May of 1949.

President Quirino, however, had to seek the approval of Congress before he could grant Cardinal Spellman’s request. In the Philippines chapter 1

communism was a political and social bugaboo.

The Communist Party in the Philippines (CPP) was organized in 1930, during a period of peasant unrest, a problem which CPP’s leaders addressed by advocating class struggle, the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a labor dictatorship. Two years later CPP was outlawed and its leaders were imprisoned.

(The Philippines, Onofre D. Corpuz, Prentice Hall Inc., New Jersey, 1965). They were pardoned in 1938 by Manuel L. Quezon who was then championing a social justice program. It is safe to assume that in 1949 the Philippine government was very cautious about letting in Chinese youths, albeit seminarians, who might have been indoctrinated by the impassioned communist army.

At the time, the Philippine government was also stepping up its campaign to check the influx of Chinese along the unguarded coasts of the archipelago in the southern islands; officials suspected that many of these illegal entrants were communist agents.

It did not make things easier for the would-be refugees from St. Joseph Seminary when in July of that year Pope Pius XII issued a provocative and controversial decree excommunicating Catholics anywhere in the world who supported communism. The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country, was not in the least inclined to incur the terrible punishment of exclusion from Holy Mother Church.

But President Quirino, bless him, had no qualms about helping the young Chinese seminarians in their plight: he would not be intimidated by the communist scare.

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The Land of Exile

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O PREPARE FOR THE EXODUS to the “Land of Exile,” as Fr. O’Hara called the Philippines, Fr. Francis Burkhardt, S.J., the Jesuit Mission’s Visitor for China, met in the Philippines with Fr. Leo Cullum, Superior of the Jesuit Mission in the Philippines, and arranged for the transfer of the Regional Seminary of Kinghsien in Hebei to the Philippines. While in the Philippines, Fr. Burkhardt was also taken to the Hacarin Farms in Bulacan, some 30 kms from Manila, where Don Vicente Araneta, an avid agriculturist, raised cattle, chickens and pigs (he introduced the White Leghorn chickens and the Landrace breed of pigs into the country).

On the farm were six Quonset huts which had been used for the agricultural school set up

by Vicente Araneta and his brothers Salvador and Ramon. The brothers generously offered these huts to shelter the refugee seminarians. The Araneta brothers were close to the Jesuits because they studied in Ateneo; one of the brothers, Fritz Araneta, became a Jesuit priest and was the first Filipino Rector of Ateneo. In her book Araneta: A Love Affair with God and Country, Sahara Heritage Foundation, Quezon City, 2007), Ma. Lina A. Santiago recalled that “the school was forced to close down because of malaria and the Huk problem. The site was vacant just when this extraordinarily large group needed shelter.” She also said, “My father [Salvador] and his brothers were instrumental in having a law passed that allowed the Jesuits of the Chinese Province to chapter 1

become permanent residents of the Philippines.”

Fr. O’Hara and Fr. James Hennessey, of the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, lost no time in drawing up plans for the partitioning of the Quonset huts. Wrote Fr. O’Hara: “We had a dining room and a kitchen in the center, two dormitories at one end for the seminarians, and a chapel and sacristy next to the dining room.

The sixth hut supplied six rooms and a recreation room for the Fathers, and the last supplied two good-sized rooms for study and class with library space between for a noise buffer.” The two felt that six huts together would take care of the needs of the seminary which “we thought would number about 50 students and six or seven staff members.” They were wrong.

The first group of 24 seminarians, probably all Jesuits, arrived in April, and were brought to the Hacarin Farms. “More seminarians kept arriving by ship and plane until we had close to capacity for the facilities that we had prepared,” said Fr. O’Hara. “Meanwhile, more and more seminarians from other sections of China were asking to be included. Finally we were notified

by Fr. Burkhardt that we should expect close to 120 students and about 13 priests. ” Temporary housing was found for the Jesuit novices and juniors in the Jesuit Villa in Baguio, while the other seminarians were taken to the Hacarin Farm “which was now bulging at the sides.”

New and larger problems were brewing.

Fr. Burkhardt wanted to relocate from Peiping to the Philippines the Chinese language school, Chabanel Hall. (Fr. Noel Chabanel was one of the North American martyrs, the missionary companion of Fr. Garnier who founded a mission in the ferocious Iroquois nation; Chabanel was canonized in 1930.) Fr. Burkhardt wanted the Chabanel Hall to be situated near the seminary or juniorate to give the language students opportunity to practice Chinese and the Chinese to practice their English. Through the services of Mr. Sinclair, a non-Catholic but a very good friend of

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the Society, a site was found in a former army and prison camp in Mandaluyong, in the southeast suburbs of Manila (now the site of the sprawling Ortigas Center) for Chabanel. The vacated camp had more than enough space for Chabanel Hall, with 24 barracks in fairly good condition. About the end of October, 1949, the seminary on the Araneta Farm was moved to the new site in Mandaluyong; the language students arrived later, singly and in groups.

In May 1950, Fr. Paul O’Brien, S.J., Vice Visitor for all Chinese missionaries and Jesuits outside occupied China, opened a Philosophate for the Chinese Jesuits in connection with Chabanel Hall and the seminary. And thus the site in Mandaluyong came to house three communities: the St. Joseph’s Regional Seminary, Chabanel Hall, and the Jesuit Philosophate.

The young seminarians arrive in Manila, May 28, 1949; with Cardinal Tian

Hebei Today ACCORDING to Fr. Joseph Feng, spiritual director of the Lorenzo Mission Institute and the grandnephew of Msgr. Su, Hebei has remained a largely agricultural province. Like it was during the young days of Su and Liu, the people grew cereal crops like wheat, maize and sorghum and cash crops like cotton, peanut, soya beans and sesame. Found in Hebei, lying northeast of the great port of Tianjin, is Kailuan, with a history of over 100 years, one of China’s first modern coal mines. It produces yearly over 20 million metric tons of coal. Much of the North China oil field is also found in Hebei.

Hebei’s capital is Shijiazhuang, an upstart city when the new PRC government moved the capital from Baoding. The industrialization that is transforming China’s countryside has not drastically changed Hebei, although Time magazine, in one of its major stories on pollution in China, wrote that Beijing has been dumping its chemical wastes in Hebei.

The bishop of the Diocese of Jingxian in Hebei (now known as the Diocese of Hengshui) is Msgr. Peter Feng, the grandnephew of Msgr. John Su and Fr. Joseph Feng’s elder brother.

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A Miracle

I

T is a miracle how Catholicism has survived and prospered in China despite the persecutions and suppressions.

According to the Catholic Standards and Times, when the communists took over China in 1949 and excluded all foreign missionaries and did everything in their power to suppress the Church, there were about 3.4 million Catholics spread over 140 dioceses, of which the most important center was Shanghai. In the early ‘50s, the religious prisoners filled the prisons to overflowing, forcing the government to banish many of them out of the country.

More havoc was wrought during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when the

rampaging Red Guards, composed mainly of young students, saw to the destruction of temples, lamaseries, mosques and churches, the desecration of holy objects and the burning of religious art. Priests and monks were ridiculed and paraded through the streets and forced to do manual labor.

And yet the flame of religious fervor was kept alive in the homes of the faithful, in the clandestine practices of their faith. Post-Mao China later came to realize that this surging spirit would not be quelled, and so drew up a new Constitution guaranteeing the right to religious freedom—and, of course, the right to propagate atheism. The resulting outpouring of religious sentiment, especially among the young, has been so intense, the authorities have to keep reminding the people that China is an atheist country, that communists do not believe in any god.

When the Church surfaced again in the 1980s, under a more tolerant regime, there were 8 million Catholics.

Today there are more than 12 million Catholics.

China today is a global economic power, thanks or no thanks to its atheistic foundation.

The seminarians with Father Rector and spiritual directors at the Hacarin Farm

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Chapter 2

Anoi A noi The L T By

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A

FTER the long journey from Beijing, the nervous and frightened group of Su, Liu and Chin arrived in the Philippines, in 1949, to a welcoming people and the warm embrace of sunshine and bright skies. As the airplane spewed them out onto the tarmac, they must have looked like a platoon of angels who had hijacked the plane from the clouds. They were wearing their fresh white cotton cassocks, the standard uniform of Catholic priests and seminarians in the Philippines, which they were required to wear back in Hong Kong. In China, seminarians wore casual everyday clothes like everybody else. chapter ii

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They were immediately brought to the Hacarin Farm where they adjusted to their new surroundings. Six months later they moved to St. Joseph Seminary in the Mandaluyong complex where they finished their Theology course; the Jesuit Theologians were sent to study in

Baguio. (The Rector in the The ordination at the St. Joseph Seminary then Sta. Cruz Church, was Fr. James Reuter, who April 17, 1955; Fr. Su would become famous in third from extreme left Manila as a theater director and producer.) “Of the 120 [diocesan] seminarians who came to the Philippines,” Msgr. Liu told this writer in a casual talk before he was hospitalized, “90% became priests.”

Fr. Su, Fr. Liu and Fr. Chin, together with other Chinese diocesan supplicants from St. Joseph Seminary and three SVDs and a Filipino from Samar, were ordained on April 17, 1955, at the Sta. Cruz Church in Manila, in a ceremony officiated

by Bishop Juan B. Velasco, O.P., Bishop of Amoy, chapter ii

China, a Spaniard, who was assigned by the Vatican to take care of all Chinese priests who came to the Philippines. Why in Sta. Cruz Church? Replies Msgr. Chin: “Because it was beautiful.”

Historically, Sta. Cruz was an important parish administered by the Jesuit Fathers.

According to historian H. de la Costa, S.J., a Chinese uprising in 1640 against Spanish oppression and discrimination against the Chinese resulted in the deaths of 22,000 people throughout the islands. The carnage stopped when a Jesuit priest succeeded in convincing the rebel commanders to lay down their arms; the Christian Chinese were then permitted to reside in the Jesuit parish of Sta. Cruz, while the pagan Chinese were inexplicably kept in a stockade in the Dominican parish of Binondo.

This historical vignette may add piquancy to the decision to hold the ordination of Chinese seminarians in Sta. Cruz, the young men who painfully wrenched themselves away from their homes and their dear parents and brothers and sisters for a life of exile in a strange land. These young men escaped possible imprisonment, indoctrination, even torture, in the hands of the communist soldiers who were flushed with victory and the hubris of unrestrained power over their enemies.

The ordination was a victorious moment as well for the Chinese seminarians—a testament to the strength of their faith, their loyalty to the Catholic Church, and their perseverance in their own convictions and calling. Seven batches of seminarians from St. Joseph, recalls Msgr. Chin, were ordained, the first batch in 1951 and the last batch in 1957, when the St. Joseph Seminary in Mandaluyong was formally closed.

But human nature being as it is, not to mention the mysterious ways of God, some of the priests in his batch strayed from their

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Born to Be Priests

A victorious moment: The newly ordained priests, with Bishop Juan Velasco, pose for posterity at the Sta. Cruz Church in Manila

sacerdotal calling. Msgr. Francis Chin, outspoken and frank as rain, confides that five of his Chinese colleagues got married; probably, he says, they were the “enlightened” priests who interpreted in their personal lives the principles of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Two, on the other hand, passed away, while five, on a happier note, became monsignors.

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HE TWO PRIESTS, Liu and Su, had not deviated from the path destined for them since they were small. The jovial and sociable Fr. John Liu, brought up by devout Catholic parents, said that his becoming a priest was a

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“natural” thing, like breathing. The reticent Fr. John Su confided to a writer that he knew he was going to become a priest when as a boy he was blessed on his knees by the much-revered Belgian priest Vincent Lebbe. Lebbe, a candidate for sainthood, went to China in 1901 with the intention of dying a martyr’s death. In China he founded two religious Orders: the Congregation of Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist and the Congregation of Little Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. He died in 1940, several weeks after his release from communist prison.

After their ordination Fr. Su and Fr. Chin were sent to Surigao where they spent a year assisting the curate in a small parish. A year later Fr. Su was sent to another parish, in Tarlac.

After two years of parochial service, Su and Chin and three other Chinese priests enrolled in the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila, where Fr. Su studied Psychology and Education.

On the other hand, Fr. Liu, just 18 days after his ordination, was invited by Bishop Manuel Yap to Bacolod City, together with Fr. James Liu (no relation; he was also a refugee from China), to take the place of the two Chinese priests, Fr. Joseph Wang and Fr. Peter Tsang, who earlier together opened the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Mission in that city, but who had to leave to continue their studies in Manila. Fr. Wang was the chaplain of this mission, while Fr. Tsang taught at Tay Tung, a Chinese high school in Bacolod.

Although Tay Tung was non-sectarian (still is), it was felt that the work of educational apostolate could be waged here. In May 1955, when the two Lius, John and James, arrived, John was assigned as assistant to Msgr. Antonio Y. Fortich, then the vicar-general, at the San Sebastian Cathedral (Fortich would much later become Bishop of Bacolod), while James taught at Tay Tung High School.

In May of 1957, fresh from his studies at UST, and after a brief stint helping in the parish in Surigao and Tarlac, Fr. John Su came to Bacolod chapter ii

as substitute for Fr. James Liu who was more and more taken up by his teaching load in Tay Tung.

Thus began a partnership between the two Johns, Liu and Su, that would significantly benefit, in immeasurable ways—in evangelization and education, as well as economically, socially and culturally—the province of Negros and the city of Bacolod; and change the lives of the Chinese and Chinese-Filipinos in this city, whose ethnic diversity would lend itself to shaping a stronger character and a more colorful culture of the Negrenses.

Bishop Yap’s Dream

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HE SEEDS OF THIS GREAT WORK of evangelization and inculturation in Bacolod were planted by Bishop Manuel Yap, one of the leading Chinese mestizos in Negros whose work and influence helped shaped the province.

His dream, said Alfredo Barcelona, a prominent Filipino-Chinese in Bacolod, past president of the Bacolod Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and former member of SJI’s board of directors, was to “unite the Filipino-Chinese communities of Bacolod...bring them to the knowledge and love of Christ and the fullness of Christian life... and integrate them into the broader society while preserving what is true, good and noble in their cultural heritage.”

The Filipino-Chinese apostolate was a vast mission. The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, in 1991, observed that “less than 20% of the Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines have had some effective evangelization.” It stressed

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the need “to intensify [evangelization] through educational and pastoral work.”

Bishop Yap’s father was a stowaway from China who landed in Cebu; he married a Spanish lady, Dona Rufina Porcia, from Mandaue, and out of their marriage was born Manuel. Manuel, a brilliant student while at the UST, was a staunch anti-Marxist. He set his heart on evangelizing the Chinese refugees in Negros soon after his chapter ii

installation as Bishop of Bacolod in 1952. It was he who requested for the assistance of young Chinese priests from the St. Joseph Seminary in Mandaluyong to set up the Chinese Catholic Mission in Bacolod .

In close coordination with his vicarBishop Manuel Yap set up the Chinese Catholic Mission in Bacolod with the help of young Chinese priests from the St. Joseph Seminary in Mandaluyong.

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general, Msgr. Antonio Y. Fortich, Bishop Yap organized Catholic mass movements, among them the hugely popular Cursillo de Cristiandad and the Barangay Sang Birhen. Early in his administration, Bishop Yap gave his support to Fr. Hector Mauri, a Jesuit, who was organizing labor unions in the sugarcane plantations and who would later make explosive exposes on the plight of the sacadas, the migrant workers from the neighboring islands of Panay and Bantayan who were hired to cut the sugarcanes in the vast haciendas of Negros. Fr. Mauri, wrote Dr. Violeta Gonzaga in her book Land of Hope, Land of Want: A Socio-Economic History of Negros 1571-1985, “served as a harbinger of the social ferment which the Church was to face in the 1970s.”

The cause of the lowly sacadas was zealously taken up by Bishop Fortich who succeeded Bishop Yap, who died in 1966, as Bishop of Bacolod and pastor of San Sebastian.

Fortich grabbed national headlines by openly and boldly preaching social justice and the right of workers to just wages. He also encouraged unionism among hacienda workers, a move which did not earn him the lasting friendship of the planters.

The burning sacada issue plunged the country’s Catholic Church into a dilemma that challenged the Church’s support of the poor and its patronage of the rich. Liu, who had served his year-long stint as secretary to Fortich, would have known how to handle the situation. He would have understood, as did Mother Theresa, that help in God’s work for the poor sometimes comes from unexpected places, including from oppressive governments.

Liu is, more than anything else, a peaceable man. “When we were in the thick of media controversies and media fights,” wrote Primo Esleyer in his newspaper column (Daily Star, June 28, 1988), “it was [Liu] who provided the sobering influence...The secret of everything is chapter ii

when to stop, he would implore [us]. He would rob us the thrills of a fight, but in a sense, he was right.”

The Conflagration

I

N 1955, the year Wang and Tsang arrived in Bacolod, a conflagration laid waste the growing commercial center of Bacolod City. The fire gutted the area bounded by Araneta-Gonzaga, Locsin and Luzuriaga and their fringes.

Many of the burned establishments belonged to Chinese merchants, who used them both as stores and residences. (Modesto P. Sa-onoy, The Chinese in Negros. St. John’s Institute and Negros Occidental Historical Commission, Bacolod City. 1980) The landed Montelibano family saw an opportunity to relocate the Chinese storeowners in the Capitol Subdivision, which they owned, north of the city. Several hectares of land were developed to attract the displaced Chinese businessmen and this became known as Capitol Shopping Center (people today simply call it “Shopping”).

As families of the displaced storeowners began settling in Shopping, John Liu and James Liu, who were appointed “delegates of the Bishop to the Chinese and Chinese-Filipinos in the diocese of Bacolod,” saw the opportunity to bring these Chinese families into the fold.

John Liu dropped his teaching job in Tay Tung High School and with James Liu and the Bishop instituted the Chinese Catholic Association that would help in the work of evangelization.

The association, originally headed by

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Benjamin Lopue Sr. and Teresa Y. Poon, two Chinese Catholic stalwarts in Bacolod, was later bolstered by the Chinese Catholic Youth Association, the Women’s Association, and the Chinese Catholic Action. John Liu would also be instrumental in the founding of the Legion of Mary.

With the work gaining ground, the need soon became clear for a center to house the growing activities of the Chinese Catholic

A generous soul: Don missions. John Liu was Alfredo Montelibano instructed by his bishop donated the land in to call on Don Afredo Shopping on which rose Montelibano and make a Hua Ming. pitch for his generosity to donate a piece of land in Shopping for the Center. It was the first of what would be many attempts by John Liu to ask for donations from wealthy families and Filipino-Chinese taipans. “It is a humbling task,” he would later say. It was beggary, basically, for big amounts

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of money. On a few occasions, he was shown the door, or it was slammed in his face. Fr. Liu, however, was generally convincing: he had tact and diplomacy and good timing—and a most disarming charm. Bishop Fortich said that nobody could resist John Liu’s secret weapons: “His two dimples.”

Nobody knew how Fr. John Liu talked Montelibano into donating a half hectare at the newly opened Capitol Shopping Center to the Chinese mission, but that’s what the gentleman did, with generosity and graciousness.

“Peding” Montelibano had donated to other schools and religious institutions; Hua Ming remains his most prodigious donation yet.

Peding Montelibano, governor of Negros island during the war years, was at the same time a valuable operative of the Allied Intelligence Bureau in Negros tasked to report on Japanese activities and those of the guerrillas. During the Marcos years, he never covered up the fact, or was ambiguous about it, that he was a Marcos loyalist. He boldly proclaimed that “of the few, three or four us in the Philippines, who helped Marcos get elected in 1965, I was Number One,” he was quoted by Gonzaga. Marcos, with his cohorts, was blamed for the collapse of the sugar industry in Negros in the early ‘80s.

Montelibano’s initial largesse to the Chinese mission in Bacolod was far ranging.

On his donated land, the two-storey Chinese Center was built and in 1957 inaugurated

by Bishop Yap with then Governor Alfredo Montelibano Jr. cutting the ceremonial ribbon.

The Center would later house a library on the ground floor and the priests’ residence on the second floor.

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In 1957, when Fr. John Su arrived in Bacolod with Fr. Joseph Kung, also a refugee priest, to help Fr. John Liu and Fr. James Liu in the work of evangelization and unification, they were joined by SJI returnees Fr. Joseph Wang and Fr. James Liu. The young priests, full of idealism and optimism and a courageous spirit fired by their flight from China, began kicking around the idea of a Chinese Catholic School in Shopping. What better apostolate could there be than a Catholic school?

“A school,” Msgr. Liu told this writer, “would be a bridge toward evangelizing the Chinese [migrants] and connecting them to mainstream Filipino culture.

Through the students we connect to their parents and through the parents we build a community of Chinese Catholics.” He strongly felt that the construction of this bridge was to be “the real work.”

The Hua Ming Mission School

I

N 1959, the Hua Ming Catholic School was founded, a mission school under the patronage of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith based in Rome. It began, quite modestly, in classrooms in the marketplace of the Shopping Capitol Center, in three stalls that chapter ii

the Benedictine Sisters Msgr. Antonio Y. Fortich, had relinquished when for whom Fr. Liu served they transferred to their briefly as secretary, newly built school. Later, championed the rights of with the help of generous the sacadas in Negros. benefactors, a ten-room school building was built near the Chinese Catholic Center. It opened its doors to 372 kindergarten and primary pupils—a substantial enrolment indicating a great number of Chinese families wanting an education for their children under Chinese tutelage.

In 1960 the Hua Ming (Hua meaning “admirable,” “glorious” and ming “China”) Catholic School was renamed St. John’s Institute, in honor of patron saint St. John the Baptist.

In 1961 the new elementary building rose behind the Chinese Catholic Center. Two years later work began on the construction of the building for the high school department; an annex to the high school was started in 1969. In 1964

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Bishop Yap laid the cornerstone for the church dedicated to the Queen of Peace; the church was consecrated and blessed two years later. The Queen of Peace Church was inaugurated in 1966, the same year that the first batch of high school graduates marched up the stage to receive their diplomas.

In 1981, the Queen of Peace Church was designated by Bishop Fortich as the diocesan shrine of San Lorenzo Ruiz, the first canonized Filipino saint, under the care of Fr. Liu. The Queen of Peace church became a full-fledged parish in 1989 with Msgr. Liu as its first parish priest. Bacolod today has nine other parishes, notably Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal at Homesite, the Most Holy Rosary in Alangilan, Immaculate Conception in Villamonte, Our Lady of Lourdes in Bata. chapter ii

The Queen of Peace Church, whose gracefully elongated arches distinguish its façade and dome and interiors, is a prominent landmark in Bacolod today.

The new kindergarten complex, with facilities for nursery children, was completed in 1984, fittingly in time for the celebration of St. John’s Silver Jubilee in that year. Four Sisters of St. Therese (the congregation founded by Fr. Lebbe)— Celina Chen, Imelda Chao, Felicitas Hong and Clara Pai—arrived from Taiwan to help out in the expanded kindergarten. St. John’s had by then expanded to two and a half hectares. (More on the history of Hua Ming in Chapter 4) Opposite page: The Queen of Peace Church under construction; above: Bishop Fortich at the blessing and inauguration of the Chinese Catholic Center, in 1957

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south of Bacolod City] that same afternoon. I’m not sure now if it was his birthday or whatever.

Mr. Cojuangco had also invited Bro. Gratian Murray. Murray, a La Salle Brother turned priest, established a Boys’ Home in Granada for streetchildren where he taught them livelihood projects. Fr. Liu was at first reluctant to accept Cojuangco’s invitation as Fr. Liu was leaving early the next morning for Manila to see Mr. Lucio Tan to ask his help in the construction of the kindergarten building of St. John’s.”

Against his better judgment, Liu told R. JOHN LIU, who was named the school driver Robert Platon to drive him to monsignor on December 5, 1983 (“I Pontevedra. After the Mass, Fr. Liu thought he like the sound of Father better,” he might as well take this opportunity told everyone after to mention to Cojuangco his his investiture at fund-raising for the kindergarten the San Sebastian building of St. John’s. Cojuangco Cathedral), is largely credited for asked him how he could help. the construction of the church “Fr. Liu said he’d be happy with a and the school buildings, thanks one-million donation from him,” to his fund-raising skills and Miss Ko narrates. “Cojuangco said his two dimples. He is rightly okay right away.” Liu was stunned. hailed as the “master builder.”

“I should have asked for more!”

He even helped reconstruct the Fr. Liu, slapping his forehead and Bishop’s Palace after it burned laughing, later told Miss Ko. down in 1984.

The next day he flew to Manila His flair for fundwith Mrs. Lucy Ponce to see Mr. raising is legendary. “He was an Lucio Tan, who also contributed extrovert,” says Elena Ko. substantially to his kindergarten “He understands the school project. importance of strengthening The young John Liu For the construction of the new relationships, not only in the high school building, estimated to work of evangelization but also cost P36 million, Fr. Liu and the in the work of finding funds finance committee composed of for the school and the church.”

Mrs. Lucy Ponce, Mrs. Rosita Uy Often, she says, good timing Bico and Miss So Ha Uy trooped out again to raise and serendipitous chance propelled the work of the money. Four million pesos came from school Liu. funds, some more money was raised in Bacolod “One day,” she recalls, “Fr. Liu received through the committee’s own family network. a call from Danding Cojuangco [the political Ben Lopue Sr. (whose grandchildren studied in kingpin in Negros] asking him to say Mass in Hua Ming) and Antonio Kaya Uy were consistent his house in Pontevedra [an hour or so drive due donors. A stroke of luck came when Angelo King,

The Master Builder John Liu

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about the Bible than I did. And I was there listening the businessman and philanthropist from Manila, to him, awed and unbelieving. It was a miracle how donated P8 million, a largesse that saw the rise of he was transformed into a sound Christian.” the Angelo King Center for Learning, the high school department.

Despite his indefatigable work in Bacolod, Msgr. Liu did not forget the people, especially the children, in his hometown of Da-Cao Zhuang. His magic touch once more worked wonders: with help from Misereor Germany and Manos Unidas Spain, he was able to construct in his hometown a small church in 1996 and an elementary school in 1999.

Msgr. Liu was deeply involved in the NeoCatechumenal Community, an organization duly recognized by the Church and is directly under the Pope, which was brought to the Queen of Peace parish by HE STERN the Jesuit priests. According to M S G R . journalist Rolly Espina, who’s JOHN SU also active in this community, may rightfully Liu faithfully attended the be called community’s liturgical services the “master until the day he became too sick planner.” “He was a dreamer, he to leave his room. has foresight,” says Elena Ko. At one time, Rolly Espina “But he’s the quiet type, a silent recalls, Liu was assigned to China worker.“ If Liu built St. John’s as itinerant priest, together with structures, Su built St. John’s a group of lay people of the academics. Among students, Fr. Catechumenal Community. As Liu was the one they ran to meet a group they rode the train to with effusive greetings when different parts of China, but for they saw him coming down the security reasons they pretended The young John Su hall; Fr. Su was who they ran not to know each other. They away from when they saw him called their mission “sharing turning the corner. Rolly Espina, the good news” whereby they a friend of both priests, puts it narrated to their audiences how this way: “Su is Vatican I, Liu is God had touched their lives.

Vatican II.” In this same trip, Liu had the opportunity Fr. Su was not known to spare the rod to to visit his family in Hebei, where he encountered instill discipline in the students, a practice that a nephew who surprised him no end. “When I left parents then greatly appreciated. One alumnus, China,” he told Espina, “he was the worst spoiled Andre Palanca, who had the courage to speak brat you could imagine. When I saw him again I was up to Fr. Su only when he was already a member astounded to know that he had translated the Bible, of the school’s board of trustees, said to him: by hand, page by page, and that he knew more

The Master Planner John Su

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“The more you beat us, the more we loved you.”

When you ask former students of SJI what’s the best thing they’ve learned in SJI, they will reply: “Discipline.” The embodiment of SJI’s discipline was Su. The school built and balanced its reputation on the temperaments and personalities of the two Founders.

The work of the two priests gave them no respite. John Su had a short stint as a teacher at the non-sectarian Tay Tung High School, some of whose students he recruited into the Catholic Action movement that held its meetings and activities in the Bishop’s Palace or in La

Msgr. Liu helped rehabilitate the Diocesan Cultural Center at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Lupit.

Consolacion College, one of the pioneer colleges in Bacolod which was run by the Recollect Sisters of St. Augustine. Tay Tung was established in 1937 by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Bacolod.

Encouraged by the number of Tay Tung students whom he was drawing into the Legion of Mary and the Chinese Catholic Youth, Fr. Su at one point asked permission from the Tay Tung chapter ii

principal to use a classroom in the school for catechism instruction after classes let out for the day. His request was met with a resounding “No!” It was absolutely against Tay Tung’s policy to use school facilities for religious purposes. Ironically, not a few of its teachers were Catholic priests and laymen. Tay Tung produced many of Bacolod’s fine citizens.

Fr. Su served as principal of St. John’s starting in 1964. He also served at the Queen of Peace from 1957 to 1959, and from 1961 to 1988. He was installed a monsignor in 1990, in ceremonies that were befitting his personality: simple, without fanfare.

“The irascible Su is known for his long and unannounced absences from St. John’s,” says Mrs. Lucy Ponce. In 1988 Su left St. John’s to undertake what should be his greatest contribution for the Chinese Mission and to the Church in the Philippines: He set up the Lorenzo Mission Institute (LMI), a seminary that would train and form priestsmissionaries to continue the work of the pioneer Chinese priests who escaped from China, some of whom had passed away or were getting older. When he met with Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, and vividly drew his idea, his dream, for the seminary, the Cardinal sat up and exclaimed: “I have the same dream!” With the Cardinal’s blessing and funding, Su set up the institute, named after St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila, a Filipino of Chinese extraction who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in October 1987.

Su was named the Founding Rector.

“This indefatigable priest went on a recruiting mission all over the Philippines,” says Fr. Noly Que, one of his recruits, now the administrator of St. John’s Institute and Queen of Peace church. “He was very selective about whom he would invite to join his seminary, so that those he chose felt truly honored.”

Su also personally saw to the building,

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both physically and academically, of Lorenzo Mission Institute. He has left his indelible imprint on the chapel of the Institute, which he himself conceptualized and decorated to evoke the aesthetics and motifs of the China he had left behind. The tabernacle is a miniature of the Temple of Heaven; a Madonna and Child wooden statue have Chinese features, the work of a Taiwanese sculptor (who also did the image of San Lorenzo Ruiz above the main altar). Su himself chose and brought over from China the ceramic tiles with Chinese calligraphy that deck the whole ceiling of the chapel. The chapel speaks very much of Su’s spirituality and asceticism that people in Bacolod had few occasions to recognize.

Pope John Paul II visited the chapel in 1995. What he was seeing was a beautiful manifestation of his exhortation, during an earlier visit to the Philippines in 1981, to the Representatives of Chinese Communities, when he said: “If you live, inspired by the Christian faith and strengthened by the specifically moral traditions, you will in a profound way be truly Christian and truly Chinese, and contribute to the richness of the whole Church.”

Fr. Joseph Feng, a grandnephew of Fr. Su and an LMI graduate, now the spiritual director at the Institute, explained that LMI is a missionoriented diocesan seminary, preferably for Chinese and Filipino-Chinese. It is the formation house of the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society (LRMI), whose priests are tasked to carry on the Filipino-Chinese Apostolate and the China Mission, through the sharing of the treasures of the faith, including “the cultivation of the love for the Chinese language, history and culture, and the promotion of dialogue and inculturation.”

The first harvest of LMI yielded seven chapter ii

priests who were immediately sent to the Chinese communities eager to have their own priest.

“We are today scattered all over the Philippines ministering to Chinese communities,” says Fr. Noly Que. “We have links with the dioceses in our places of appointment, but basically our organization is an autonomous one.” To field more workers in the Lord’s vineyard, the recruitment has been extended to Taiwan, Mainland China and Vietnam. As of now, LMRS priests man the Sacred Heart Parish in Hsinchu Hsien and the

St. Columban Parish in Msgr. Su welcoming Bei-tou, both in Taiwan.

Pope John II when he visited the Lorenzo Its very first Mission Institute in 1955. ordained priest is Fr. Esteban “Bong” Lo, from Sagay, Negros Occidental, who was ordained in the Queen of Peace Church in 1991. He’s now the Rector of the Lorenzo Mission Institute. LMI comprises one of the four seminaries of the Manila Archdiocese, all located in the San Carlos Seminary compound in Guadalupe, Makati, along Edsa, hidden from view from and unperturbed by the hellish traffic along this great avenue.

When Su came back to Bacolod ten years

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later, in 1998, he astounded everyone once more with a frenzy of projects that saw the construction of the ultramodern high school building, with library and laboratories, fifty computers for the use of students, all with Internet connections, and more computers in the faculty rooms and administrative offices. His “baby” was the retreat house and chapel of Mt. Beatitudes and retreat house in Barangay Estefania in Bacolod, on a 12-ha neatly landscaped lot donated

by Mrs. Nena Vasquez; part of the funding for the construction came from the Congregation of St. Martha in Taiwan whose Sisters would be using Mt. Beatitudes as their formation house. St. Martha was founded

by Bishop Andrew Verineux in China.

At the same time that Msgr. Su was building Mt. Beatitudes, he was also making arrangements with Mr. Alex Montelibano for a donation of a lot in Bo. Binitin, Murcia, wherein to build a monastery for the Little Brothers of St. John the Baptist, the congregation founded by Fr. Vincent Lebbe. The Little Brothers, most of them Chinese, are tasked to help the people in the rural communities to improve their farming methods and increase their food production, their ultimate mission being to establish an agricultural institute with a research center.

Su was on a roll. Described as a man with great foresight, Su drew up the plans for the construction of a preschool and sports complex and Information Technology Center to rise in the chapter ii

Above: The chapel of the Bishop’s Palace in Bacolod which Msgr.

Liu helped reconstruct after a fire in 1984. Opposite page: The chapel of the Lorenzo Mission Institute which Msgr. Su designed. Fr. Joseph Feng, spiritual director of the Lorenzo Mission Institute, is the grandnephew of Msgr. Su.

five-hectare lot donated by the Ayala Land Estate in its premier subdivision in Talisay City, some 15 minutes away by car from Bacolod City. Ayala certainly understands the incalculable advantages of having a quality school, like St. John’s, in its vicinity.

42 anointed by the lord

Going Beyond Gold

chapter ii

43 anointed by the lord

Msgr. Su’s pet project: the retreat house (this page) and chapel (opposite page) of Mount Beatitudes in Barangay Estefania in Bacolod

Chapter 3

Autu A utu Patria The

umn um n arch archs of The

St. John’s Institute

A

S OF this writing, Msgr. John Liu is confined in a special room in a hospital in Bacolod. His still features may not give away the cheerfulness and joviality of his years in St. John’s, but he was truly a “Smiling Monsignor”—an incorrigible optimist, a go-getter, and a master builder. His indefatigable educational and parochial work had earned him the Banwahanon Award for Education given in 1980 by the city of Bacolod; the title of Protonotarium Apostolicum (denoting the prestigious college of prelates of the Roman curia which traces back to the 5th century), bestowed on him in 1990; and the doctorate of humanities, honoris causa, conferred by the University of St. La Salle Bacolod in 1997. chapter iii

48 the autumn of the patriarchs

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These milestones in Msgr. Liu’s life made for great celebrations in St. John’s. The school even put out a commemorative magazine to mark his golden sacerdotal jubilee. The fetes and banquets in his honor were society events. The society writer of Bacolod’s Daily Star, writing about the dinner party celebrating his conferment of the degree of doctor of humanities, rhapsodized over the “endless dishes of giant mushrooms, crabs, succulent chicken, mouth-watering beef, and delicious fish in ginger sauce....My elegantly attired dinner companions were groaning with mock horror. We were that full!”

Msgr. John Liu, in the humility of his heart, will accept honors and fetes accorded to him if it will redound to the greater honor and reputation of St. John’s Institute and the Queen of Peace Church.

Msgr. John Su, P.C. (Papal Chaplain), who in 1979, together with Msgr. Liu, was cited by the Bacolod City government for outstanding achievements in the work of Filipino-Chinese integration, during the 25th anniversary of the Queen of Peace Chinese Apostolic Mission, has been doing God’s work in his own quiet, selfeffacing way. He would paint himself into the background even as his work was exploding prominently in the foreground. Mrs. Lucy Ponce, puts it succinctly when she says, “Msgr. Su will never put his name to anything.”

For instance, when the St. John’s Alumni Association decided to call its Fifty Houses for Fifty Years project, jointly with the Gawad Kalinga and Couples for Christ-Bacolod, the “Msgr. John Liu and Msgr. John Su GK Village, Handumanan sang Hua Ming,” one of the many events marking the year-long celebration of the Golden Jubilee chapter iii

Msgr. Liu with grandnephew Isaac, Chinese New Year 2004

of St. John’s, Msgr. Su demurred about the use of his name. It was not that he did not fully grasp the concept behind Gawad Kalinga, although he thought it was an outright dole-out housing project for the poor; he just did not want, in his typical modesty, his name bannered.

God knows that both are doing His work in their own way. And in the best way they can.

Asserts Mrs. Rosita Uy Bico, “Msgr. Liu and Msgr.

Su are priests in the real sense. They have special

49 the autumn of the patriarchs

St. John’s Institute

Msgr. Su in his earlier years

traits that set them apart from other priests.” They were simple men, formed and toughened by the hardships and rigors of their long journey as religious escapees and refugees and exiles in a foreign land. Observes Mrs. Uy Bico, “They had refused airconditioning and refrigerators in their rooms until they got sick. In their rooms they only had a bed, no aparadors. But they were energetic men, with big appetites. Su loves lechon and sisig. Liu

chapter iii

will eat anything.”

What’s great about them, she adds, is that “they are a good tandem. They care for each other, they respect each other. They are not just partners, they are friends, even better than brothers.”

Irascible and taciturn as ever, Msgr. Su, when he bade goodbye to his friends before leaving for his hometown in Hebei, complained about being like “a caged dragon who seldom sees the blue sky.” It is understandable: in his whole life he was never idle or stagnant. When he was the principal he seldom sat in his office but would go poking around the classrooms or watched over the students at recess time. To escape the solitude of his prison, he had decided to go back to his hometown. “Falling leaves,” he said, “go back to their roots.”

Back in his hometown, he said, he “may help the parish priest to hear confessions and to give homily.”

The young priests in St. John’s—Fr. Noly Que, parish priest and school administrator, and Fr. Garry Fuentebella, school principal—who have taken the places of Liu and Su, were at first apprehensive that Su may not want, or may be too weak, to come back to Bacolod. St. John’s, which he and Liu founded, will be celebrating its Golden Anniversary in February 2009; please God, they are fervently praying, let them stay around a little while longer to give meaning and significance—and lend their gracious presence—to the Golden Jubilee.

50 the autumn of the patriarchs

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Dreams &Goodbyes

I

N HIS DEEP SLEEP, in that realm between dream and reality, Msgr. John Liu must feel so at home, with his niece, the ever faithful Mary Tian, keeping watch over him. Msgr. John Su, meanwhile, was finally allowed to visit his hometown in Hebei, that big province in the vast country of China that will always be mingled with the history

chapter iii

of Hua Ming and the Queen of Peace Church and the story of the two priests who made them happen.

In his “Letter of Goodbye to My Friends” written before his departure for China, Msgr. Su declared: “To leave the Queen of Peace Church and St. John’s Institute is piercing my heart. For more than 50 years, I have helped to nurture them and watched them grow...I have contributed my share in the glory of Queen of Peace Church and the achievements of St. John’s Institute—through the grace of God and the gift from all of you...I earnestly pray and ask the Lord to continue to bless the two institutions and Fr. Noly, Fr. Garry and Fr. Junerl.”

Msgr. Su with his grand-grandniece at the airport in Beijing and surrounded by well-wishers during a despedida given to him before his departure for a visit to his hometown, in June 2008.

51 the autumn of the patriarchs

Chapter 4

R Rise ise o HuaM The

of Ming

St. John’s Institute

The Rise of Hua Ming A Calamity Turns into an Opportunity

By Josefina Tiu

O

N April 14, 1955, 18 days before Fr. John B. Liu arrived in Bacolod with Fr. James Liu, a big fire broke out in the commercial center of the city. The fire raged with great ferocity sending ballooning smoke into an almost pitch-dark sky. Despite the dangers of falling smoldering materials, the fire had an audience of the usual gawkers, brought to the site by curiosity and the excitement generated by such a huge fire. chapter iv

54 the rise of hua ming

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What caused the fire? Many theories were thrown around, such as defective wiring, a careless smoker, an overturned lamp, a candle left to burn to the nub, an untended dapog, but the actual cause remains a mystery up to this day.

Worst hit were the Chinese businessmen who were just starting to form the underpinnings of their business and, possibly, starting to take steps toward assimilation in the Filipino society by mingling with the mostly Filipinos and Spanish mestizos who were already established in the central commercial district of the city. The sad fact was, it was also reported in the papers that a great many of the stores were uninsured. It meant that they had to start, once again, from scratch.

The Chinese merchants, however, faced their chapter iv

The Hua Ming future with fortitude and Catholic School stoicism. in 1959 The Bacolod fire occasioned the first beneficence of the Federation of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, organized in 1954, which had extended the aims of its memberchambers to serving not only their own nationals but also the Filipino community and had begun to welcome Filipino merchants to their ranks. The liberalization of FCCC augured well for the work of Hua Ming in evangelization and integration and mutual understanding. The calamitous fire also sparked an opportunity.

At that time, what is now the Capitol

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Shopping Center, more popularly known as Shopping, was part of a vast tract of cogonland in the northern portion of the city, owned by the Montelibano family, headed by the patriarch Don Alfredo Montelibano Sr. The family transformed the cogonland into prime real estate, the first development being Obrero, whose name was later changed to Villamonte, followed by Capitolville, an upscale subdivision at the eastern side of their land.

But how to attract posh and upmarket buyers? Of course, make everything convenient for them. The place must be near schools, hospitals, churches and marketplaces. When the Capitol Shopping Center was being constructed, already operating in the vicinity was the exclusive boys’ school, La Salle Bacolod.

Its female counterpart, St. Scholastica Academy, managed by the Benedictine Sisters, was nearing completion, and in the meantime, the Sisters were holding their classes in the new but still unoccupied market stalls.

Fr. John Liu and Fr. James Liu arrived in Bacolod in the wake of these momentous events.

They came to replace Fr. Joseph Wang and Fr. Peter Tsang, who belonged to the first batch of Chinese priests from St. Joseph Seminary in Manila, to help Bishop Manuel Yap in the Chinese mission.

Newly ordained and hampered by the language barrier, they nevertheless plunged headlong into ministering to a burgeoning population of Chinese émigrés. Fr. John worked as assistant to the parish priest, then Msgr. Antonio Y. Fortich, while Fr. James took up Fr. Tsang’s teaching work at Bacolod’s non-sectarian Tay Tung High School, which was thought to be a step in the furtherance of the Chinese Catholic mission in Negros. The Chinese Catholics gathered for Mass in a chapel at the Bishop’s Palace beside the San Sebastian Cathedral of Bacolod. When the number of the faithful grew, the Sunday Mass was transferred to the Sacred Heart Chapel along Quezon Avenue to accommodate them. chapter iv

It was Msgr. Fortich who had the great idea of sending Fr. John Liu to Don Alfredo Montelibano Sr. to ask for a donation of a lot for the Bacolod Chinese Catholic Association’s Mission Center, which would be built with the approval of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Fr. John also had the help of T.C. Poon, a distinguished citizen of Bacolod, who was close to Montelibano. Fr. John must have been very convincing: Don “Peding” Montelibano donated a 5,000sq m lot. Montelibano probably felt that the donation would bring about a winwin situation. His donation would make it possible for the Chinese to learn more about the faith. On the other hand, the center would serve as an important hub where both young and old could assemble and thus would help convince more Chinese families to settle in Shopping.

The Mission Center, a modest two-story building, was inaugurated and blessed on May 9, 1957, by Bishop Manuel Yap, in the presence of the Most Rev. Juan B. Velasco, O.P. D.D., who was then Vicar General for the Chinese in the Philippines from his seat in Macau. The donated site was very suitable: it was in the very heart of Shopping. The center’s titular Patroness was Mary Queen of Peace.

After establishing the Bacolod Chinese Catholic Association, Fr. John Liu set about organizing the youth. The Bacolod Catholic Youth, forerunner of today’s FilipinoChinese Catholic Youth (FCCY), was formed at the peak of Catholic Action among the youth in 1955. Their activities were held either in the Bishop’s Palace or in La Consolacion College behind the Cathedral. The FCCY held its national convention in Bacolod in May 1963, and again in Bacolod in 1991, its 16th national

56 the rise of hua ming

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convention. Another national convention will be conjoined with the Golden Jubilee of St. John’s Institute in 2009.

The women of Bacolod were not neglected. In 1960 Fr. John B. Liu, along with Teresa Biyong Poon and Mary Uy Lim, gathered a group of women involved in social welfare and community development . This marked the birth of the Chinese Catholic Women’s Association, with Conchita Uy Lim as its first charter president.

In 1982 St. Mary’s Association hosted in Bacolod chapter iv

the first convention of Evangelization and Filipino-Chinese women’s education: An early classroom in Hua Ming organizations from all over the country, which gave birth to the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Catholic Women’s Organizations (FFCCWO). This federation has been growing rapidly; to date there are some 33 Filipino-Chinese women’s organizations throughout the country.

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St. John’s Institute

The Founding of Hua Ming

T

HE MISSION CENTER of the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Youth steadily grew, answering the need of the youths to gather, pray, socialize and listen to lessons about faith.

In 1957 Fr. John Su arrived. Fr. John Liu and Fr. John Su formed a formidable tandem—Fr. Liu with his dimples and winning ways that make benefactors reach for their wallets, and Fr. John Su with his visions of graceful edifices and imposing buildings and a great capacity for making these visions a reality.

Dreaming, as it were, the impossible dream, the two decided to build a school. Since many of the young people who came to the center were students of Tay Tung High School, the priests felt that it was not enough to wait for Saturdays or the end of the day to carry on the task of evangelization. And the only way they could do it was to build their own school. “It was a big and challenging task,” said Msgr. John Su in a memoir he wrote in longhand. “It drew varied reactions. Many wholeheartedly supported the idea of a school, but as many also opposed it and blocked the operation of the school.”

A school building, however, couldn’t be finished in a day, and so while the school building was being built on a lot across the Mission Center, classes were held in the marketplace classrooms vacated by the Benedictine Sisters when they transferred to their spanking new school building a little distance away from La Salle Bacolod.

Many doubted that the construction would ever chapter iv

be finished since many of the Chinese families were still trying to gain a firm footing in the business world, but as Fr. Su would always say, “God will provide.” The structure went up little by little and the funds continued to come in trickles.

One quaint practice of Chinese, to this day, is

58 the rise of hua ming

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A flag ceremony in the earlier days of Hua Ming

to donate the money received from sympathizers on the death of a family member to a Chinese temple or school. This practice helped pump up the construction fund of the school.

Hua Ming Catholic School was formally established on May 19, 1959. Some months later, chapter iv

on August 15, 1959, the Feast of the Assumption, the classrooms were moved to the new tenroom building. As many as 372 students in the kindergarten and primary levels trooped to the classrooms. “It far exceeded our expectations,” said an astonished Msgr. Su. The curriculum was basic: language, reading, writing, math and social studies—in two languages, English and Chinese, with a little Pilipino thrown in. The Chinese curriculum was necessary as the school received subsidy from Rome specifically for this purpose; the subsidy was channeled through the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith for the evangelization of the Chinese. Hua Ming was, in effect, a mission school for Chinese expatriates.

Hua Ming Catholic School changed its name to St. John’s Institute in 1960 in honor of its patron saint, St. John the Baptist.

This move may have been triggered by a growing Filipino nationalism in the ’60s, which the government drummed up with its policies of “Filipino First” and the nationalization of the retail trade, policies that were directly prejudicial to the Chinese. In 1960 Representative Joaquin R. Roces, chairman of the House committee on good government, stirred a furor by calling for legislation to “Filipinize” Chinese schools—as well as “all good Chinese”—in the country (The Manila Times, Oct. 12, 1960). In that year it was estimated that more than 54,000 Chinese students were enrolled in local Chinese schools. Chinese schools had been mandated to teach Philippine history, government, and allied social and civic subjects. But it was hardly a question of how these subjects were being compulsorily taught, but “to what extent are the young [Chinese] aliens being indoctrinated in the Philippine way of life?” asked a provocative Manila Times editorial, Feb. 10, 1960.

“Young Chinese aliens” may be a misnomer and does not reflect the fact that by the ‘60s the first generation of local-born Chinese had come

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of age, an acculturated group who could deal with both the Filipino and the Chinese way of life. The subsequent generation would be even more at home in a Filipino cultural setting than in a traditional Chinese environment, and would be speaking better Filipino than Hookien.

St. John’s Institute was there for them when these generations of Chinese-Filipinos were growing up. St. John’s is professed to teach them Chinese language, philosophies and values, but also to hasten their integration into the mainstream of Filipino life and culture. Its higher mission, however, is evangelization in the Roman Catholic faith, which does not run counter to any Philippine policies or laws.

The nationalist fever did not deter the growth of SJI; in fact, it only served to stimulate it.

1962 saw the rise of the elementary building. As the student population grew by leaps and bounds, there was a felt need for bigger school grounds and more and bigger buildings and facilities, not to mention better salaries for teachers. Teachers and students learned to cope with the limitations.

Students used to hold their assemblies and programs in a makeshift hall similar to a garage, with the students carrying their chairs from and to their classrooms; in this makeshift hall they also held their sports activities. “The school had difficulties in making ends meet,” recalled Msgr.

Su. “For expansion, Msgr. John Liu had to go out soliciting from friends and benefactors. When he had exhausted the local Chinese community, he asked the board of trustees of the school to accompany him to solicit from generous souls in Manila, Cebu and Iloilo.” He confided, “Soliciting is a difficult and humbling task. Not anybody has the courage or the guts to do it.”

The ‘60s were years of struggle for survival and growth. In 1966 the Queen of Peace Church was built. In 1968 a blueprint was drawn for the administration building to rise on a site facing 10th street including a newly acquired lot. On the ground floor of the building were the different chapter iv

offices, a conference room, an auditorium, clinic and information office. On the second floor were separate laboratories for Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Speech. On the third floor were the high school classrooms. There was also a radio station broadcasting in Chinese over 1070khz, the first Chinese language station in the Visayas and Mindanao, managed by ConchitaUy Lim The Chinese Catholic Center, the very first building, now housing the grade school library and the priests’ quarters.

Below: The Chinese Catholic Women’s Association, 1959.

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Going Beyond Gold

of the Chinese Catholic Women’s Association.

The announcer was Carmen Dy Chiu, one of the first students in Hua Ming . The signals were cut off when martial law was declared in 1972. “The administration building, originally estimated to cost P1 million, had to contend with doubled costs of construction,” said Msgr. Su. “It was an inopportune time, since the country was reeling under the shock of an economic crisis.”

The ‘70s were a period of strengthening the educational policies of the school. More and more Filipinos were enrolling in SJI, attracted to the Johnian quality of education and discipline.

“The administration considered this as the Will of God, so that ecumenism may be promoted and integration may be facilitated,” wrote Msgr. Su. In 1974 a portion of a half-hectare lot which was used for playground was converted into a gym, one of the most modern in Bacolod.

The gym was equipped with state-of-the-art sound system and could transform into an auditorium with excellent acoustics and fresh-air chapter iv

ventilation. It was later named St. John’s Institute Activities Center (SJIAC), a multipurpose venue for sports, cultural and social events, serving not only St. John’s students but also the community.

Its final cost ran into P2.7 million at that time.

“While the structure and cost are not themselves the measure of the Catholicism of the Chinese in Negros,” said Msgr. Su, “they do reflect the depth of their commitment to their mission and faith.”

The ‘80s saw the increasing number of graduates who were making good in their chosen fields. A lasting monument to the Silver Jubilee of SJI in 1984 was the kindergarten complex, a twostory building built around a covered basketball court-size ground. Every morning on this ground the little children assemble for their flag ceremony and their exercises and their singing and dancing well protected from the sun and rain. On the ground floor are the offices, audio-visual room and nursery classrooms; on the second floor are the Kinder I and II classrooms. The comfortable lighting, ventilation and coolness of the complex

61 the rise of hua ming

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never fail to surprise visitors to the kindergarten complex.

By the ‘90s, wrote Msgr. Su, “SJI has carved a niche in the academic world as a school dedicated to the formation of boys and girls in academic excellence, firmly rooted in the Christian faith and committed to the service of God and people.” To mark the new millennium, SJI finally realized a separate high school campus on a 7,000-sq-m site that used to be the football field. The imposing building boasting of the latest facilities was inaugurated on June 20, 2003, with a dedication to Dr. Angelo King, the philanthropist and magnanimous benefactor.

Msgr. John Su capped his handwritten reminiscences of the history of St. John’s Institute with a strong conviction that the school has

always kept its direction on the right track, namely that: 1. As a Catholic school, it should be a fertile ground for evangelization and a link to faith and life. Values education is not only taught as a lesson in Religion class but must also permeate the entire curriculum and other activities.

2. As a school offering Chinese classes, it puts importance on Chinese language which is a compulsory part of the curriculum. Hence, a student who fails in this subject cannot be promoted. The study of Chinese language and culture will serve as a bridge leading to friendly relations and a spirit of understanding between the Filipino and the Chinese peoples.

Fr. James Liu and Fr. John Liu organized the Bacolod Catholic Youth, now known as the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Youth, in 1956.

chapter iv

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The ‘Dean’ of Discipline

A

S PRINCIPAL of SJI Fr. John Su ruled with an iron hand and a stern face. He was firm in his decisions but he was always guided by what was good for a child. Because he was very reserved and seldom smiled, students, not understanding him, feared him; some even disliked his disciplinary methods. Only when they were out of St. John’s did they begin to realize what a valuable gift his discipline had been: It equipped them with the courage to face life. chapter iv

The children of St. Msgr. Juan B. John’s learned how to hold Velasco, with Fr. John Su and Fr. their heads high—and to do John Liu, with the better than anyone else. They were expected to do their best smart-looking first batch of high school in whatever they set out to graduates, 1964 do. When they participated in contests, for instance, and they would go to Fr. Su for his blessing, Fr. Su would tell them, “Come back with No. 1”, and in many cases they did. Students, fearing that Fr. Su would be displeased because they had not won first place, would cry all the way home. They had to be assured that as long as they had done their best, it was all right to return to St. John’s with a second or third place medal or trophy, or even none at all.

In the ‘60s Fr. John Su traveled to Taiwan to establish sister-school relations between SJI and Taiwanese schools. As his counterpart-

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principals in the Taiwanese schools happened to be longtime friends of his, he did not have much difficulty in forging these sister ties with the St. Francis Xavier High School in Taoyuan and St. Peter High School in Hsinchu. Groups of SJI students have since traveled to Taiwan, and the Taiwanese to the Philippines, visiting places of interest, regaling their hosts with cultural and musical presentations.

Fr. Su would tell them that traveling and meeting people of other lands and culture are exciting and stimulating learning experiences for young people. Travel broadens their horizons, makes them aware of the beauty and richness of cultures and experiences beyond their own environment.

Chinese families in Bacolod, then and now, generally shy away from participating in politics. They would rather involve themselves in business. But their culture has enriched the Filipino way of life. More and more, Filipinos are taking great interest and even participating in the practices of the Chinese, like in burial rites, engagements, weddings, especially in the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Homage to the Queen of Peace

W

ITH the Chinese Catholic Association and the Hua Ming school in place, Fr. John Liu, the Builder, went about broaching the chapter iv

idea of a church, where the Bacolod Bishop Camilo Gregorio installs Msgr.

Chinese community may Liu as first parish priest of worship, to prospective Queen of Peace Church, sponsors and benefactors in 1989. and anyone who would listen to him. Fr. John Su, the Planner, already had in his fertile mind an idea of how it would look like and went about gathering the best people in their fields—the architects and masons and carpenters—to realize his vision of an exquisite and magnificent shrine to the glory of God and to the Queen of Peace.

And so a church also rose right inside the school campus. “The funding of the construction of the church was a test, not only to the priests but to the Chinese Catholics as well,” said Msgr. Su. “Estimated to cost P550,000, it was to be the most expensive construction venture in Bacolod in 1963 and 1964.” Remember that it was only eight years since the big fire when most Chinese lost their shirts.

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Still, under the trying circumstances, the plan was pursued. Mr. Oscar Anglo was chairman of the construction committee; others took active roles.

“They used every influence they had to make a dream come true,” wrote Msgr.

Su. “The church is the visual symbol of the conviction that God is with us.”

The cornerstone of the church was laid in 1964 by Bishop Yap; he also presided over the blessing of the new Queen of Peace Church on May 9, 1966. Designed by Architect Eduardo Uychiat, the church is like a flower whose petals are raised in supplication to the loving Father.

It is built around a semi-circular floor plan; graceful arches make up the wraparound façade, while elongated arches form a crown above the dome.

The arches recur in the interior: in the side altars for icons illuminated with colored glass, over the main altar, in the choir loft, and on the floor of the sanctuary where the arches radiate towards the aisles. The circular structure of the church draws the eye and the mind to the altar over which floats the wooden statue of the Queen of Peace, the lovely masterpiece of Maximo Vicente, the maestro of religious images himself.

In 1979 when the Queen of Peace church, whose community then counted a growing number of Filipino faithful, celebrated its Silver Jubilee, a solemn Eucharistic Mass also marked the awarding of the Papal Knighthood of St. Sylvester to Benjamin Lopue Sr., Antonio “Kaya” Uy and Oscar Anglo, and the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice papal cross to Rosita Uy Bico and Gloria Y. Barcelona. Other recipients of the papal cross were Benjamin Lopue Sr., Teresa Y. Poon, Conchita Uy Lim and Felicisima N. Anglo, in 1964; and Lourdes T. Chua, Lourdes C. Ciocon and Jesus Puentespina, in 1994. chapter iv

On December 18, Mary Queen of Peace, the masterpiece of Maximo 1989, Msgr. John Liu was Vicente, the country’s installed as the first parish foremost sculptor of religious priest of the newly created images. On the next pages: parish of the Queen of The exterior and interior of Peace, a long-awaited Queen of Peace Church, one canonical conferment, with of Bacolod’s most familiar Bishop Camilo Gregorio landmarks officiating. Two years later, the church was the site of the first-ever priestly ordination, that of Fr. Esteban “Bong” Lo, a product of the Lorenzo Mission Institute, who was to serve the parish briefly.

65 the rise of hua ming

The Queen of Peace Church is designated as the diocesan shrine of San Lorenzo Ruiz, the ďŹ rst Filipino saint.

Hua Ming School and the Queen of Peace Church are prominent landmarks in the City of Smiles.

Pictured: Bacolod Plaza at night.

The original two-storey structure of the Hua Ming school still stands strong and sturdy, a testament to the quality of work in past times.

It now houses the parish ofďŹ ces.

Facing Hilado Street, the imposing high school building boasts of the latest facilities; it was inaugurated in 2003 with a dedication to the philanthropist, Angelo King.

They T The heyy A he Als Also lso

Served Well...

T

HEY served at St. John’s or at the Queen of Peace, in various capacities, some of them staying for several years, some of them for just a while. But they all made a difference, in their own ways, in the life of the school and the parish. Most of them had been called to other posts, here or in China; one had passed away. And they were all men of the cloth, with the exception of one brilliant lady (pictured on this page), who was school principal for the longest time and the only woman so far to hold that post in St. John’s. On the other hand are the teachers who were devoted to their work even after their retirement. They all served well.

MRS. GLORIA Y. BARCELONA Principal, 1975-2000 Now retired, in Bacolod City

FR. JOSEPH WANG Missionary Pioneer 1954-1955, 1957-1975; Principal, 1959-1961 Now at St. Francis Xavier High School Taoyuan, Taiwan

FR. PETER TSANG Missionary Pioneer 1954-1955, 1957-1965; Principal, 1963-1964 Now at St. Francis Xavier High School, Taoyuan, Taiwan

FR. JAMES LIU Missionary Pioneer 1955-1957, 1959-1962 Now parish priest in Taoyuan, Taiwan

FR. ANDREW KO Served at Queen of Peace Church 1962-1990 (when he passed away)

FR. JOSEPH KUNG Missionary Pioneer 1957-1958; Served at Queen of Peace Church 1957-1958

FR. ALOYSIUS CHI Served at Queen of Peace Church 1962-1968

FR. JOSEPH KUO Served at Queen of Peace Church 1962-66

FR. PETER WANG Served at Queen of Peace Church 1971-73, 1975-79

FR. VICENTE LIU Served at Queen of Peace Church 1960-1961

FR. ESTEBAN U. LO Served as Assistant Parish Priest Now Rector, Lorenzo Mission Institute, Manila

FR. LUCAS WANG Served at Queen of Peace Parish

FR. EMILIO ASCAﾃ前 Principal 2000-2002

St. John’s Institute

They Also Served Well…

Retired But Not Forgotten

By Angela Marie L. Golez SJI Batch 1995

I

DISCOVERED that I wanted to become a teacher a few years after I graduated from college. I had planned a career in the airline industry and made an attempt at it, but it only lasted a few years. In 2004, when I acquired my license, I devoted myself to teaching in SJI, at first in the kindergarten and now in the elementary. I live each day with passion and joy.

Teaching is a demanding job—on your skills, time and responsibility. Moreover, it entails your capacity to discover, nurture, support and encourage your students’ talents and gifts and personalities. But I love teaching, I love everything regarding it, and I embrace its challenges and its mission to instill values, to make dreams come true, to be of service to others, to make this world a better place.

Educator Dr. Martin Bautista lamented that “teachers are the unsung heroes of our country.” But I sing their praises. When I look back to my kinder and high school years in SJI, my thoughts dwell on my teachers and I am humbled and deeply inspired by their examples. In the past 50 years, SJI had the honor of having teachers, administrative officers and staff members who dedicated more than half of their lives to make SJI what it is today, a seedbed for academic excellence and discipline. Many Johnians scattered throughout the world today are stand-outs in their chosen fields because of their teachers’ diligent attention to their growth.

My kinder and Grade 1 teachers were my ‘fundamentalists.” Marlyn Wong or “Ang Sian” was my first Chinese teacher. Guelda Barroa, my Math teach-

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er, had an intimidating regal presence, but she was a brilliant teacher and had a way of teaching Math that made it so easy for me. Aida Lacbanes, my Reading teacher, had a smiling face and spoke in a distinct English accent that persuaded me to do my best in her drills. Mildred Sayson, my Language teacher, had an expressive teaching style and always had stories to tell. I also have vivid memories of my other teachers: Celedonia Valenzuela, Elsa Dulaca, Asuncion Esleyer, Ida Baloyo, Jimmy Rivera, Aida Dingcong and Elena Yu. Under Msgr. Su’s system and Mrs. Barcelona’s administration, these teachers honed their craft, polished their distinctive teaching styles, and worked for the love of their students and their vocation, thereby solidifying SJI’s growth. Linda Ong developed the students’ talents for the arts, was in charge of the bookstore, and became the Johnians’ first teachermoderator to the annual Summer Chinese Program in Taiwan. Marilou Geraldoy was faculty head who later became vice principal. Elena Ko tackled the challenging job of accounting officer. Anastacio Jara was the strict but beloved volleyball coach..

I feel this testimonial will not be complete without the mention of the well-loved Robert Platon, SJI’s school driver and traffic enforcer until his unexpected passing in 1999, and Mike de la Cerna, a talkative and jolly man who served SJI as janitor and carpenter until his passing in 2000.

Tirelessly trained by their teachers, Johnians excelled in the Rotary academic competitions and the NOPSSCEA sports events. Many Johnians

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Asuncion Esleyer

Celedonia Valenzuela

Elena Chua Yu

Elena Ko

Marietta Que Cho Co

Marilou T. Geraldoy

Maryn Ang Wong

Mildred Sayson

Jimmy Rivera

Josefina Geraldoy Tiu

Lourdes Dimacutac

Lucy Go

Prescilla Yap Cruz

Ruth Patalagsa

Ruby Saril

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Guelda Barroa

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qualified to study in the exclusive Philippine Science High School, among them my batchmate, Czar Gaston, who is now a doctor. Many SJI graduates went on to pursue higher learning in top universities of the country and graduated with honors. Johnians had the edge of being punctual, responsible and most especially, disciplined in their studies.

Sometimes, when I walk along the school corridors or find myself sitting in one of my pupils’ chairs, I fondly reminisce my own student days in SJI. I feel a kind of sadness for missing the familiar faces who have slowly exited from the campus as well as those who will be exiting in the next few years, among them, my teachers Ruth Patalagsa, Alicia Bosime, Lourdes Dimacutac and Josefina Tiu. I hope to be able to face the challenges that lie ahead of me with as much courage and honor as they had.

Teachers are also people with simple hopes and dreams, with their own human limitations and shortcomings. But they profoundly touch their students’ lives and contribute tremendously to their future and success. For their noble endeavor, I deeply admire them. In SJI’s celebration of its Golden Jubilee, it is just and fitting that they be given recognition. My teachers will always be my heroes.

St. John’s Institute

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T

HE great fire of 1955, when almost the whole of downtown business area burned down, was a turning point in the history of Hua Ming. With easy terms, Mr. Montelibano offered the displaced Chinese storeowners a tract of land that would be known as Shopping. He also donated to the emerging community of Chinese Catholics a lot for them to build a school and a chapel.

In 1959 construction of the school started but did not finish in time for the school opening.

And so we saw the birth of Hua Ming at a vacant market cum terminal along 6th St. and Lopez Jaena. A kindly soul, Mr. Peter Lopingco, donated the tables and chairs for the first wave of enrollees.

Here the students stayed for four months until their permanent school was finally finished. Constructed by Mr. Antonio Ascalon, the school building is testament to the quality of work in past times as it still stands strong and sturdy.

The students were a motley bunch. Some had parents who considered the practicality of a school that was five minutes away. Others were relatives and friends of the teachers and trustees.

There were those who enrolled to comply with the requirements of naturalization. Whatever their reasons, they all came to Hua Ming, ranging from kindergarten to grade 4. They came from La Consolacion College, from La Salle, from schools outside of Bacolod.

The children didn’t question the change of school. They obeyed their parents. They were there to have a Catholic education while learning Chinese. The majority had Chinese lineage, if

not both parents then at least one had a Chinese connection. In the later years, there were a handful of students with no background in Chinese whatsoever but they too thrived.

But even after the school had started operations, there were hardships to surmount. The early generation of students would remember times when Msgr. Liu would ask for donations from the Chinoy community on some paydays when money was short to pay the school personnel. The Lord did not ignore this new venture, and help came miraculously when needed.

The first batch of Chinese teachers was recruited from Iloilo, Manila, Dumaguete; there was a dearth of Chinese teachers and they recruited wherever they could.

English teachers though were from Bacolod. Teaching was serious business in Hua Ming. Classes were from Monday to Saturday. English was taught in the morning and Chinese in the afternoon; in the Chinese subjects students were lumped into a class according to their proficiency regardless of age. It is no wonder that the honor roll for elementary was mostly filled with high school-age students.

Hua Ming for a long time was categorized as a mission school, but with a board of trustees totally composed of Filipino citizens, Hua Ming complied with the requirements for Philippine citizenship and was de facto a Filipino school.

The vaunted discipline that Hua Ming came to be known for in later years was born of the gung-ho spirit that was much evident in the early years. It was discipline that saw Hua Ming through the difficult years. A make-do attitude, a desire to excel despite the hardships. This is the legacy of Hua Ming.

The Legacy of Hua Ming

By Jennifer Gochangco Ong

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Chapter 5

Classm Classm Good

&Fri Fri

Lif

mate mates

ifelong

iiends end

St. John’s Institute

By Cathy Carlos

S

INCE ST. JOHN’S became the school of choice for more and more non-Chinese and non-Chinese-Filipinos, starting in the early ‘70s, St. John’s student population has turned into a multicultural, polyglot mix, like in an international school. When the roll is called, it’s not only Chinese family names that ring out but also German (Sagemuller), Norwegian (Olsen), Indian (Nandwani), Spanish (Zayco, Atas, ), Japanese (Youichi). Cathy Carlos, a Chinese-Filipino who studied in St. John’s from kindergarten to high school at the peak of the so-called “nationalization” years, remembers only happy times with classmates of different nationalities. Children in Hua Ming after all pay no mind to whether their friends are white or brown or yellow. An “otherness” does not matter to them as much as do education and self-discipline and lasting friendships. chapter v

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My time in St. John’s Institute started in 1973. It was my first big school experience. I was not new to schools though, having been in preschool two years earlier when I was just out of my toddler years. But big school was different—it was just that, BIG! We had our classrooms at the old kindergarten building, that blue-colored structure directly behind the Queen of Peace Church.

When you enter the campus proper, it is that building directly to your right. It faced what used to be the old canteen where Rev. Fr. Andrew Ko supervised operations. There were five Kinder 1 classrooms on the ground floor and another five on the second floor for Kinder 2. I remember how all of us little children were assembled every morning on the open court fronting the building, chapter v

Bright smiles, shining the very nice and friendly faces: The student teacher Sun Sian beating population of St. a big hand-held drum to John’s is a colorful keep us in our lines. We did multi-cultural and calisthenics daily, doing our polyglot mix. best to follow her steady beat. The sun wasn’t so hot then, and we enjoyed our time outside the classroom as much as we did inside.

Kinder 2 saw us going through our First Holy Communion. I think we were one of the last batches to have this milestone Catholic rite at the very young age of six. We had gala uniforms for the event, our all-white “costumes” as I called them then—dresses with ruffles for the girls and longsleeved shirts and long pants for the boys. The boys had tiny black bow-ties too! I still remember the

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many rehearsals we had, with our teachers playing the role of the priest giving Holy Communion.

We were told to imagine the host being placed in our properly opened mouths, our tongues never extending past the tip of our lower lips. The girls were quite adept at this, but I remember turning green with envy when one day the boys were given unblessed Communion hosts because they couldn’t do it right. Well, a lot of them probably, if it warranted using the real stuff!

Such were the concerns of kindergarten students, and it was all wonderful.

Our entry to grade school was marked by a change in school buildings. This time, we went to the one opposite the kindergarten building, on the other side of the old canteen. It is a twostory building, which stretches from behind 10th Street on one end to the side of the SJI Activities Center on the other end. At that time though, the SJIAC wasn’t constructed yet, and I think it was all open field then. The grade school building also housed the priests’ quarters, dining hall and kitchen at the SJIAC end.

First and second graders occupied the ground floor, while the upper grades had the second floor.

And depending on the number of students, fifth or sixth graders found themselves in classrooms in other parts of the campus at one time or other.

It was around this time that the construction of the SJI Activities Center began. It was a different experience to see this huge building grow right before my little eyes each day. Sometimes it got really dusty when the wind blew strong, and who cared then that the dust could be harmful? It was like having a snowstorm in school, the kind that I could only imagine at a time when storybooks were my only means of going to all those snowy countries in Europe and America!

It was in my third grade that some interesting changes took place. We began using colors for our class section names, which I thought was a welcome change from the boring “Section A,” “Section B” and so on that we previously had. chapter v

I thought that it was cool, and it was fun to anticipate at the start of each school year what color I would be sorted into. In due time, we even learned the correct pronunciation and spelling of “fuchsia,” a color assigned to a Grade 5 class.

We also started using the Self-Learning Kits that year. These sort of replaced the use of traditional textbooks in the academic subjects.

Instead, we had activity sheets per topic, and after completing a certain number of lessons, we then had mastery tests given by the school psychometrician at a testing room far from our classrooms to see if we, indeed, had mastered our lessons. Afterward, a post test was given to further evaluate our knowledge. I thought they probably wanted to double check if our passing the mastery test was just a fluke or not. But I remember liking this different teaching method, because it seemed easy and manageable and we didn’t have to take down notes every so often.

Plus, it allowed us to go out of the classroom from time to time, even if it was only to the testing room. I was actually happy the testing room was far from our classrooms.

By the time the SJIAC was ready for use, they also managed to construct three temporary classrooms on the mezzanine floor at the back part of the building that my batch got to use first when we entered fourth grade. It did feel a bit lonely up there, far from where the rest of the grade school classrooms were, but it also made us feel a bit special because we were the only ones there!

Fifth and sixth grades brought us our first taste of real intramurals. By this I mean getting to join real sports like volleyball and basketball. In the lower grades before that, we only had simple games and I think we just ran freely around the campus when we had nothing else to do. We had batch shirts made, and I remember the excitement we had coming up with uniquely spelled versions of our names and choosing numbers to print on them. Of course the players in our batch had to have regular names and numbers, but the rest of

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us non-players had a field day with ours.

My high school years began in the ‘80s.

Again, we moved to another building—our last move until we graduated. The high school classrooms were then at the same three-story building as the administrative offices, Antonio Hall, clinic, library and various laboratories.

We occupied the topmost floor. It was good exercise for us, I guess, to go up and down those four flights of stairs eight times a day, five days a week. With each flight having ten steps, imagine how it was when we had to carry our own armchairs all the way to the SJIAC or Antonio Hall when the need arose, not to mention having to return the same afterward!

We assembled in the quadrangle fronting the building, which was flanked by the grade school building and the original convent-andchapel structure on two sides. That quadrangle could actually fit the whole student population

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from kindergarten to 4th year high school, albeit a bit tightly. We were there for the early morning flag ceremony as well as for morning and afternoon assembly before marching to our classrooms. We weren’t allowed to go up to our classrooms before the bell rang, and everyone also had to come down for recess, no exceptions.

In my first year, there was only one section.

All sixty of us were put in the biggest classroom and I must say that was one way of cementing the bonds of friendship for our batch. In the succeeding years though, we were grouped alphabetically into two sections, so that even now, twenty-three years after graduating, we can very easily determine who belonged to which class in the course of our reminiscences.

We didn’t use colors for section names in high school; we went back to just using the more formal letters A and B. In our second and third years, we had

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the opportunity to use the different laboratories.

There was the biology laboratory where a sample of a human skull sat on top of a dusty old cabinet.

There were the attendant rumors that it was a real one, and sometimes I wanted to believe them. Otherwise, how explain the ghost stories surrounding the high school building? We only had a couple of microscopes back then, but it was in that laboratory that we got to see how cells looked like. We didn’t get to use the lab that much though, unlike the bigger chemistry laboratory. That one had a dusty old smell to it, most probably due to all the chemicals that evaporated over Bunsen burners over the years.

It had a small stockroom at the back where no student was allowed, save for a few authorized to assist the teacher with the handling of chemical stuff. It was neat seeing different things react to each other, and on hindsight, I think there were

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other kinds of reactions going on simultaneously between some boys and girls in the class.

We also got to use the Lopue Speech Laboratory with all its individual cubicles. It was a new experience to talk to the teacher one-onone through headphones, never mind if she was just right there in front of the class. I couldn’t quite figure out why a speech laboratory was like that though, when the whole course was about speaking. It was very quiet in there and we couldn’t hear any of our classmates unless we eavesdropped intentionally—but that came with a scolding or points being taken away.

Extra-curricular activities were plenty in high school. We took more seriously the yearly intramurals, various club organizations, and inter-school activities. Our world expanded to take in peers from other schools, mostly through friendly competitions and leadership

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seminars. It was not uncommon for Johnians to top competitions and take the lead in many endeavors, proving to everyone that we were just as good as the next school.

The Rotary Club of Bacolod initiated one of the more important activities. The Boys’ and Girls’ Week gathered selected students from different schools in Bacolod and were given a week to sit in different government offices as well as take over the reins of other participating schools in the city. And so, while we had representatives in the government offices and other schools, we also had boy or girl principals from other schools come to stay with us.

A big highlight of our twelve-year stay in St. John’s was when we were in our last year.

The school celebrated its silver anniversary in schoolyear 1984-85, and among the many activities we had was the production of Dandansoy, a folk opera written in the Hiligaynon dialect. Amid chapter v

all our academic load and school activities, we managed to squeeze in rehearsals that practically ate up whatever remaining free time we had. But it was worth every effort put into it, for the threenight performances were a success. We even had an extra performance at the city plaza just when school was over! Our entire batch was involved, and so it became not only the school’s crowning glory but especially ours as well.

St. John’s Institute nurtured us well in those very important years of our lives, for they saw us turning from innocent kindergartners to confident high school seniors. We’ve had our share of good times and awkward moments, of pure fun and fierce fighting for our school’s glory.

We underwent personal trials and overcame tests of character, strengthened resolve and developed maturity. We were good classmates and now lifelong friends. Those were good years, and we spent them well.

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89 good classmates & lifelong friends

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T

HE Chinese had been around in the Philippines long before European navigators in their magnificent ships “discovered” the islands. Chinese traders and merchants brought with them the artifacts of their culture as well as their learning and beliefs that enriched the folk customs and traditions of the native Filipinos. The Chinese were routinely persecuted during the long Spanish colonial era, but they would not be completely eradicated; it was not until the end of World War II that the country woke up to find a growing and smoldering Chinese presence in its midst.

Many of the Chinese in the Philippines came from Fujian or Kwangtung in China. Eighty-five percent came from Fujian, today the new growth center in China, while some 15 percent came from Kwangtung. They were sojourners (hua ch’iao) in search of a better life. The pioneer Chinese in Bacolod came from Iloilo and Cebu, lured by tales of opportunities in this sugarcane-producing province.

Instinctively cliquish wherever they found themselves, they started their own small businesses and other modest means of livelihood for their survival. When they began to raise their eyes to loftier aspirations, they realized they also needed to have their own Chinese schools to keep alive the language and culture of their native land.

In his book The Chinese in Negros, Sa-onoy noted that the first Chinese school on the islands was the Anglo-Chinese School, established in 1899, in the compound of the Imperial Chinese embassy in Manila. This was followed by the Chinese Commercial School, founded in Iloilo

in 1912; the Chinese National School in Cebu in 1915; the St. Stephen’s School (1917) and the Chinese Patriotic School of the Cantonese (1918). By 1935 there were 58 Chinese schools throughout the island. “One main characteristic of these schools,” wrote Sa-onoy, “was that they educated the Chinese for life in China rather than in the Philippines.’

In Negros the very first Chinese school was Tay Tung High School, established in 1937 by the Bacolod Chinese Chamber of Commerce, in its old site along Locsin street; Hua Ming Catholic School and the Trinity School operated

by Protestants came later. “Many of the Fookien Chinese, like my father,” says Mr. Fred Barcelona, former president of the Chamber and one of the first high school graduates of Tay Tung, “had had little or no opportunities at all for formal education. My father learned the Chinese classics through self-study, thumbing the pages of his book till they were frayed. When I was in high school in Tay Tung, I saw that our textbooks carried the same articles read and reread by my father, dealing on traditional Chinese values and Confucian philosophy.”

In 1963, according to Theresa Cariño (Chinese in the Philippines, De La Salle University, 1985), “at the peak of their existence, there were a total of 161 Chinese schools with a total enrollment of 67,800 students. However, the surge of Filipino nationalism during the ‘60s and ‘70s altered the direction and emphasis of the Chinese schools. The Filipino First policy of President Carlos P. Garcia, followed by the Nationalization of the Retail Trade Act, passed by Congress

The Integration Issue

By Abe Florendo

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during the time of President Macapagal, stoked the “discrimination” against the Chinese. Then in 1973 President Marcos ordered the phasing out of all alien schools within four years.

“This affected the teaching in Chinese schools,” says Barcelona. “All standard subjects in Philippine schools were taught in English while only two or three supplementary subjects were taught in Chinese.” There was an upside to the “Filipinization” of Chinese schools: It brought in more and more Filipino teachers and students, resulting in a greater understanding and harmonious relationship between the two peoples and the hastening of the assimilation process.

In 1974 the mass nationalization of the Chinese also served, wrote Cariño, to resolve the question of legal identity. “The dilemma of being assimilated but remaining as aliens no longer bothers them,” she noted.

And it allowed the Chinese to “meet the requirements of Filipino ownership, administration and control of Chinese schools.” It also allowed the Chinese greater elbow room in doing business. “Before, becoming a citizen was a long and arduous process and you had to spend a lot of money,” says Barcelona. “And not being a citizen made it very difficult for you to engage in business.”

It was a time when Deng Xiaoping was shepherding China through radical political and economic changes. “Marcos was equally visionary,” says Barcelona. “He wanted the Chinese in the Philippines to become citizens. He forged diplomatic ties with China and abrogated diplomatic ties with Taiwan. These changed the whole story. The Chinese shifted from retailing to manufacturing industries.” And more young Chinese are even moving out of the trading sector and going into various professions. “Before only in Medicine were the Chinese allowed to take the board exams.”

Assimilation may not even be an issue anychapter v

more. Fr. Ari Dy, S.J. in his book Weaving a Dream: Reflections for Chinese-Filipino Catholics Today, said that “unlike their parents and grandparents, young Chinese Filipinos or Chinoys consider themselves primarily Filipinos. Born and raised in the Philippines, their mother tongue is one of the local Philippine languages—not Hookien or Mandarin. In fact, more and more Chinoys are losing their facility in the Chinese language.”

This saddens Mr. Barcelona, who taught in Hua Ming for a year and helped raise funds for the kindergarten building and set up the SJI Educational Foundation. “Hua Ming needs to focus on teaching the Chinese language, to make students see the importance and beauty of learning Chinese.” He adds: “China Alfredo Barcelona, is becoming a staunch supporter a very powof St. John’s erful econoInstitute, one of the my—possiprime movers of the bly ten years SJI Educational Foundation from now, it will become the world’s No. 1. More and more educated Filipinos are finding work in China. If you speak Chinese, it is an advantage. If you understand Chinese thinking and philosophy, so much the better.”

So how shall we term ourselves then? Chinese-Filipino or Filipino-Chinese? Teresita Ang-See, founding president of Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran who has made it her life’s work to champion the integration of the Chinese Filipino into Philippine society, prefers the term “Chinese-Filipino” (Chinoy) rather than “Filipino-Chinese.” Chinese, in the term Chinese-Filipino, she explains, is an adjective describing a particular kind of Filipino, while FilipinoChinese refers to the overseas Chinese who remain loyal to mainland China and consider themselves hua ch’iao in the Philippines.

But these terminologies are no longer any issue in Hua Ming.

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Chapter 6

The Wo

A Sta S ta HuaM

for age Ming in ing

World’s

St. John’s Institute

By Ma. Vicenta P. Rio

O

NE CANNOT BE OBLIVIOUS to the rich cultural and literary heritage of St. John’s Institute. SJI’s annals, trophies and awards won over a span of five decades speak eloquently of its impressive and outstanding accomplishments in such diverse fields as academics, speech tourneys, theater productions, musical presentations, chorale competitions and sports contests.

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SJI’s founders came from a land held in the iron grip of communism. Admirably, though, the repressive society of their origin failed to dampen their passion for culture and the arts. Their irrepressible spirit fired Hua Ming’s many cultural events that enriched the life of Bacolod as early as the ‘60s.

During its early years, the school hosted the performances of renowned international and national artists. The list includes performances by the National Paris Boys Choir in a concert entitled “Le Petit Chanteur A Croix Da Voir,” the Lee Tang Hua Acrobatic Group from mainland China, “Namaka” by the dancers Aldeguer Sisters, the concert of Helen Quach, the world-renowned conductor. As early as the ‘60s and the ‘70s, Hua Ming was already going global.

Wading through old photos, one is awed

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by the cultural milestones of Hua Ming that were indeed nothing short of phenomenal. From the portals of SJI have emerged the best and the finest that ever graced stage, platform or screen. Adequate training facilities have enabled the school to carve its niche in the literary and cultural arena. Its first facilities were the speech laboratory and the Antonio Hall where speech classes and trainings were held.

In the ‘70s and early part of the ‘80s the school garnered the most number of national awards in oratorical competitions, thanks to the rhetoric trainor par excellance, Ms. Virgie Cu. Ms. Cu, an awardee herself, mirrored the passion of her mentor, Msgr.

John Su, for excellence and A young string ensemble plays Chinese perfection. She took her compositions in a concert. students through correct

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pronunciation and enunciation and sharpened their public speaking skills. “I enjoyed my work in Hua Ming,” says Ms. Cu.”In training a contestant, I left no stone unturned. I tried to anticipate possible mistakes from the time a student stands up to the end of the speech when she returns to her seat. Msgr. Su and Mrs. Barcelona always offered words that challenged and encouraged.”

As far as I know, there is not a single Johnian who cannot speak with the right pronunciation and proper intonation and there was never a single year in Msgr. Su accompanies the the ‘70s and the ‘80s jubilant St. John’s Children’s when St. John’s did Choir, NAMCYA music not win an award in competition winners. Below: speech and elocution.

Kindergarten students celebrating United Nations Day. St. John’s always took

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the lead in these endeavors.

Having once trained for a national competition, I had the rare chance of experiencing Ms. Cu’s relentless tutelage. I went through six months of arduous training before I made it to the national level. I skipped classes and meals and endured tons of sacrifices while for six months I was drilled on memory, diction, breathing techniques, emotional projections. It came to a point when I felt nauseated every time I was called to practice. Little did I know then that this training would become a life-defining experience for me.

The school maintained a high school glee club and a children’s choir that held much-awaited year-end concerts.

Encouraged by the enthusiastic applause and accolades garnered by these concerts, Hua Ming decided to join the National Music Competi-

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tion of the National Competition for Young Artists ( NAMCYA ) in 1973. St. John’s Children’s Choir was handpicked by the national organizers to represent the province without the children having to go through local elimination rounds (the competition was not open to the provinces at that time). St. John’s made it to the top ten among 150 choirs that competed for three days at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. St. John’s Children’s Choir was second only to the Las Pinas Boys Choir. In 1975, the choir was invited to perform in Taiwan where they sang not only in schools but also in the City Hall to commemorate the passing of President Chiang Kai Shek.

The school has made it a point to produce one big musical every school year. Famous Bacoleno artists, among them Peque Gallaga (a much-awarded movie and chapter vi

Theatrical and cultural presentations bring out Johnians’ budding thespian and musical talents.

stage director), Dr. Ricky Gallaga, Chita Castillo, Toto Sicangco (now a production and costume designer on Broadway), Chona Valles and Louie Dormido, have contributed to the cultural development of the students and the community.

In the ‘90s when the younger priests from the Lorenzo Mission Institute in Manila came to Hua Ming, they carried on the annual tradition of the big musical, with

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dancer and choreographer Rene Hinojales taking on most of the directorial jobs. One the grandest productions SJI ever staged was “Duc In Altum: A Journey of Faith,” a musical extravaganza in five acts based on the journey of the two Founders and how God delivered them from the dark days of persecution in China to God’s promised land, the Philippines. It was produced in 2002 with a

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cast of hundreds; featured as soloists in the glorious chorale in the final act were Fr. Noly Que and Fr. Garry Fuentebella.

Many of those who did not know much about St. John’s Institute were moved by “Duc in Altum”’s powerful story. A former classmate, Sony Ong Lim, whose daughter was enrolled in another Chinese school then, said, “Through ‘Duc In Altum’, we journeyed with the two Founders into the unknown, armed with no more than faith in the Lord.

As I watched the play, I was surprised by the rise of emotions within me. Their struggles An elementary presentation, top; the National Paris Boys Choir, above; the SJI Children’s Choir in Taipei, below

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were portrayed so vividly that only then did I fully comprehend what they went through and how hard they worked to realize what St. John’s is today.

It is a legacy that would remain with us forever. It is the same legacy that I want my daughter to be part of.”

These musical productions, which mostly had religious themes, provided fertile training grounds and excellent exposure for student actors and singers and production assistants.

A memorable production was “A Thousand Lives,” a musical play directed by Dr. Ricky Gallaga that was based on the story of San Lorenzo Ruiz. It was St. John’s first all-original production with lyrics and script written by the students themselves. Erika Villanueva and Michelle Navarra wrote the lyrics of the songs which Bro. Anthony Olaguer, LRMS, now a priest, had set into music.

“Thunder in the Distance” is the story of chapter vi

Foreign artists, among them well-known conductor Helen Quach and a concert pianist, have performed at Hua Ming

Lee Ming-Yuen (meaning “Thunder that sings in the distance”), a.k.a Vincent Lebbe, born and baptized Frederick Lebbe. a French-Belgian national who willingly left his native land to work among unbelievers. His story parallels that of the Chinese priests who were expelled from China and grew to love their adopted land, or rather the Filipino people who adopted them and took them into their hearts. A brainchild of Msgr. John Su, a tribute to his hero and idol, Fr. Vincent Lebbe, the musical was conceptualized by Rene G. Hinojales, who directed it, from a script by Carlos Ma. Alfonso Melgar, and choreographed some of the dances. As usual, production cast was made up mostly of students, staff, alumni and devoted friends of SJI community.

Students were required to have good

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grades to be able to participate in these stage activities. Passing the audition came in secondary. No matter how good an actor you were or how beautifully you sang, your grades ultimately decided whether you would be taken in. There’s a plethora of talents in SJI, observed director Rene Hinojales .

“Throw a stone anywhere, anytime, anyhow and you’ll hit a Johnian who has an inclination for performance. May not yet be a Salonga, nor a Nievera, nor a Macuja, nor a Valenciano, but nevertheless a budding star that merely needs to be discovered.”

What also impressed the directors was how disciplined, punc-

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tual and orderly the cast were during rehearsals.

Those qualities should come naturally to Johnians who from their formative years were drilled by their teachers to be behaved, at all levels, in all activities and in every corner of the school campus, including at recess time.

Recalls China Gallaga, a supporter of the school’s cultural projects, whose sister-in-law, Chita Gallaga Castillo, directed “Dandansoy,” which

100 the world’s a stage for hua ming

Little Miss Hua Ming being crowned by Gretchen Cojuangco; a Chinese cultural dance; petite Maria Claras

Going Beyond Gold

Majorettes and the drum and bugle corps

was produced for St. John’s 25th anniversary. “I actually witnessed how a student was made to swallow the food he was caught chewing during a rehearsal and how the Red Sea parted every time Msgr. Su passed through a blockade of students.” Others may think discipline in St. John’s is too extreme, in many ways; however, it is this kind of discipline that has set Johnians apart from others.

Christine Abaquin, another talented Negrense who readily volunteered to help in St. John’s projects, says, “Even if I am not from this school, chapter vi

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I am captivated by the humility and simple life of the two Founders despite their great achievements for Hua Ming. They have inspired me to also share my gifts with others.”

Many alumni have contributed their talents and gifts to Hua Ming’s many cultural and stage presentations. Combined with the discipline, drive and hard work and surprising talents of Hua Ming’s students themselves, Hua Ming will always have the competitive edge in whatever it sets its heart and mind to do.

chapter vi

One director has said: “Throw a stone anywhere, anytime and you’ll hit a Johnian with an inclination for performance.”

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chapter vi

103 the world’s a stage for hua ming

Chapter 7

&F

Best Best The

&Finest the

St. John’s Institute

By Marilou T. Geraldoy

I

T was late afternoon in April and I was at the portals of St. John’s Institute, nervously clutching my letter of application in my hand. The people I wanted to talk to were not around, so I asked a maintenance personnel if the school needed a Math teacher. “I heard they already got one from Iloilo,” she said, self-importantly. “Anyway, come back tomorrow morning.”

I retraced my way back to a cousin’s boarding house and further refined my application letter. The next day I was shown into the office of Mrs. Gloria Barcelona, then pregnant with her first child. I couldn’t believe my luck when Mrs. Barcelona told me to take summer classes in Modern Math and I could teach that summer. I was in a daze when I left her room. chapter vii

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That was more than 40 years ago—how fast time flies.

I started as adviser of the feisty freshmen of ’72 who not only had a lot of ideas but also acted upon them. They plunged into school activities, like gathering ipil-ipil seeds to rehabilitate the thinning Negros forests. They are still very much around in the school. Precy Tankit Ong, Golden Jubilee executive committee secretary, can always be counted upon to attend alumni homecomings and activities, with Nerissa Ku, her able assistant. Andre Palanca serves either in the parents’ council or the alumni association.

Dennis Coo, the president of the Board of Trustees, Ricardo “Toto” Chua, and Ting Kian Uy also belong to this batch. They are the pillars of the school’s sports program, especially the basketball team, which has been doing well in the NOPSSCEA (Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural and Educational Association) and in national sports competitions.

Bear with me if I have to mention them here, because they were my first-borns, so to speak.

I was impressed with how they managed to keep their good grades despite their busy campus activities. And they were not above making mischief themselves. One time this batch was not allowed to have a Christmas party because they were seen pushing one another in the assembly line—taboo in St. John’s. They were instead ordered to wax their room. But they somehow got Fr. Su’s permission to hold their party in the evening at the Antonio Hall, with me and Judith Dumaran, a fellow faculty and friend, in attendance. I have kept such memories alive and these have kept me young at heart, in my retiring years.

During alumni homecomings we would find ourselves—Glo, Aida D, Mildred, Aida L, Guelda, Elsa, Tacio, Cely, Linda, Sony and Marilyn—reminiscing with the visiting alumni about the good old days. We recalled how we as advisers were the first to run in the relay during intramurals. We recalled the days we spent our holy retreats at the Lacson chapter vii

Ranch, and the nights we spent practicing Dondonay and the other medleys Toto had arranged for the choral singing. During these homecomings we rose to the challenge of dancing to the rhythm of our native folk dances or to the beat of modern pop; we even dared to bare our bulging midribs to dance the hula in grass skirts.

That’s just a glimpse of spicy St. John’s life. The real core of St. John’s, however, is its academic excellence. It has attracted many students not only from the Chinese community but also from the larger Filipino community. SJI graduates today are spread all over the world, creating their own niche in the community and making waves in the workplace. To date St. John’s Institute has produced 43 batches of graduates numbering 5,458.

Good Harvest, Good Beginning

A

MONG THE CHINESE a good beginning is important: the first harvest must yield good fruits. It was thus a good sign when Rubin Tan, valedictorian of the first batch to graduate in March of 1966, topped the board of architecture in 1971. Joenel C. Kho of Batch 81 ranked # 3 in the same board in 1987. He is now the proprietor of Joli’s General Merchandising, Inc. and president of UAP-Manila from 2004 to the present.

Jaime Acuña Sy graduated with no honors from St. John’s; he claimed that Pilipino was

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A Good Harvest

The early crop of graduates of St. John’s was remarkable for their drive, their ambition, their determination to succeed. They, and the many others after them, prove that St. John’s is indeed a fertile ground for nurturing young minds and young dreams.

Batch 1978 Antonina Cabaluna

Batch 1978 Lisa Dy

Batch 1978 Francis Cordova

Batch 1979 Jane Po

Batch 1979 Carson Ganihong

Batch 1982 Roberto Jaranilla Jr.

Batch 1983 Jayme Sy

Batch 1984 Christine Chua

Batch 1986 Shennan Sy

Batch 1986 Reza Maria Koa

Batch 1992 Beverley Christine Taneza

Batch 1992 Kristine Lo

Batch 1994 Amber Aguilar

Batch 1995 Angela Golez

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Batch 1995 Shara Locsin

Going Beyond Gold

Batch 1980 Peter Ong

Batch 1980 Ma. Yvette Ramos

Batch 1980 Teddy Kho

Batch 1981 Joenel Kho

Batch 1987 Bryde Javellana

Batch 1987 Joy Puerta

Batch 1987 Derek John Barcelona

Batch 1991 Anne Marie Anglo

Batch 1996 Cara Pia Capiral

Batch 1996 Cherryl Patalagsa

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Batch 1997 Apples Jalandoni

Batch 2002 Rodney Sia

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Batch 1982 Romergryko Geocadin

St. John’s Institute

his Achilles heel. After a B.S. Biology from De La Salle University, he went to take up Law at the Ateneo de Manila where he earned a silver medal in 1992; he topped the bar exams in the same year. Jennifer Ong of Batch 1999 finished Legal Management at the Ateneo de Manila University before studying Law at the University of the Philippines; she ranked # 2 in the 2008 bar exams. (Jennifer is the daughter of Preciosa Ong, Batch ’74.) Rolando Tong passed both the tough U.S. Tent Bar and the California State Bar. Atty. Peter Ong, as state prosecutor under the Arroyo administration, has been handling high-profile and explosive political cases.

In the CPA board exams, Brian

Lim, Batch ‘02, who graduated summa cum laude in Accountancy from the University of St. La Salle, was topnotcher in 2007.

Other topnotchers were Vicky Fernandez , ‘Batch 73, # 2; Carson Ganihong, Batch ’79, and Roberto Chua , Batch ’76, # 3; Beverley Christine Tañeza, Batch ‘92, # 5; Shennan Sy , Batch ‘86, # 7. Making it to the top rank of an accountancy exam indicates that indeed St. chapter vii

John’s Institute graduates top-caliber students in mathematics.

Their competency in math and science also passed the test. In Engineering, Antonina Cabaluna of Batch 1978 garnered second place in Chemical Engineering.

Other top placers were George Chua, Batch ’76, Civil Eng’g # 5; Teddy Kho, Batch ‘80, Chemical Eng’g # 5; Audie Chong, Batch ‘73, Mining Eng’g #6; Carlos Locsin, Batch ‘76, Electrical Eng’g # 6; Sherwin Yu, Batch ‘93, Civil Eng’g # 6; Rodney Sia , Batch ‘02, Electronic and Communication Eng’g # 6; Dennis Chiu, Batch ‘80, Electronic & Communication Eng’g. # 10.

In the medical field we have a whole raft of topnotchers. In Nursing, of the many who made it to the top ten, the highest was reached by Helen Go Ong who ranked # 4. In Physical Therapy, Kathleen Gay Gamboa, Batch ‘85, #3, and Charede Angderson, Batch ‘77, # 6. In Optometry , Anne Marie Anglo, Batch ‘91, # 10. In Medicine, Nelson Cabaluna, Batch ’75, ranked 4th, Francis Cordova, Batch ‘78, #6; Kristine Lo, Batch ’92, # 9. In the United States, Heidi Chua, Batch ’85, is assistant professor at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. Other

Top to bottom: Lloyd Tio, Batch 1995; Jennifer Ong, Batch 1999; Brian Lim, Batch 2002; Nemee Sy, Batch 1991

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alumni now have a very good practice in the US. To name a few: Dr. Francis Cordova in Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, specializes in pulmonary and critical care, while Dr. Ricardo Antonio Tan is with the California Allergy and Asthma Medical Group Inc. and the Antelope Valley Allergy Medical Group. The last we heard of Dr. Romergryko Geocadin, he was with the Johns Hopkins Hospital specializing in neurooncology.

Heroes of the Faith

I

N THE CELEBRATION of the 50 years of St. John’s, we would also like to spotlight our heroes of the faith. St. John’s Institute as a Catholic school feels fulfilled to see Johnians steadfastly living their faith. Some render service to the Lord as lay ministers not only in the Queen of Peace parish but in their own parishes. Others are involved in church lay organizations, helping others grow in their faith. You will find Johnians in organizations like the Parish Pastoral Council, St. Mary’s Association, San Lorenzo Ruiz Auxiliaries, Mother Butler, Servants of the Lord, the Neo-Cathecumenate, Bukas Lo-ob sa Diyos, Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen in the Philippines, Couples for Christ, Casa Maria, doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways. A number of Johnians have chosen to serve as ministers of the Lord.

The story of Fr. Roberto Jaranilla Jr., Batch ‘82, a priest at St. Joseph Church, Pomona, CA is truly inspiring. After graduating from De La Salle University in 1986 with a degree in Computer Science, he went to the U.S. to work and pursue his master’s in Computer Science specializing in chapter vii

Software Engineering. Despite the extravagant life he led – “women, wine and song,” according to him—he felt hollow and incomplete. He was struck by a lingering malaise which the doctors in the States couldn’t diagnose. He promised the Lord he would become a priest if he was cured.

And then the Lord touched Jaranilla. He attended a seminary for late vocation and in 1996 he was ordained priest. He is enjoying good health with no trace at all of the undiagnosed illness.

God’s call also came to Lloyd Tio, Batch ‘95, due to be ordained priest in October 2008 at the Manila Cathedral. Son of the very active and supportive Precy Tankit, Batch ’72, Lloyd holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of St. La Salle. In 2001, upon the invitation of Fr. Esteban “Bong ” Lo (acting principal in St. John’s Institute for two years until he was recalled by the Archdiocese of Manila to be the rector of LMI), he joined a “search in” at the Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Institute and found his calling. The smiling chinito-eyed deacon is serving at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Quezon City.

Also studying for the priesthood is Jose Paolo Lanuza, Batch ‘02, now in his second year in Theology at the Iloilo Major Seminary. Two others of Batch 2006 are now in their second year at the Bacolod Sacred Heart Seminary, John Gilbert Saonoy and Lawrence John Malong. Serving the Lord as a religious Sister of the Presentation is Joy Puerta, Batch ‘87.

Lee Mie Yee, Batch ’75, a high-power finance head of a corporation who’s responsible for building companies worth millions of dollars, is also the leading light of the Light of Jesus Community. She had wanted an early retirement so she could dedicate her time to helping the women in that community, but her boss simply would not let her go. In a way the job is a blessing because her earnings from the company help support her apostolate.

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Teaching Apostolate

Q

UITE A NUMBER of alumni have taken to the teaching apostolate. Teaching Chinese in St. John’s Institute are Jane Po, Batch ‘79, Lynny Tan Lim, Batch ‘75, and Mila Tan Albiño. Sharing their specializations and talents are Amber Aguilar who teaches Social Studies and moderates for Theatro, the drama club; Cherryl Patalagsa Pascua who teaches Physics; Angela Golez who teaches English and is moderator of the school paper, Johnian Eagle; and Cara Pia Capiral who handles Nursery, producing able kindergarten pupils.

Others have spread out to other schools: Stephanie Marie Coo, Batch ’96, teaches at Ateneo de Manila University; Dr. Lisa Dy, head of the Psychology Department of the University of St. La Salle; Dr. Junie Go and Dr. Michael Alba, who hold high positions in De La Salle University; Engr.

Joecimen Kho Ngo, chairman of the Engineering Department at the University of Sto. Tomas, who recently was assigned to Planning and Administration; Cesar Villanueva, whose advocacy for peace has brought him to far-flung places all over the world. Shara Locsin, Batch ‘95, married to batchmate Vincent Javelosa, owns a pre-school named Fun for Kids for children of middle-class families.

She runs another school, this time for free, for the children of their farm workers. Shara and Vincent’s son is in kindergarten in St. John’s.

In media, watch Apples Jalandoni, Batch ’97, over ABS- CBN, Quezon City, as she brings to you the news of the day. Do you know that chapter vii

this lady was the first and perhaps the only lady president of the Ateneo de Manila University Student Council? In the local scene, there is Marty Go, also with ABS- CBN, and Paul Moles entertaining you over FM station “Killer Bee.” In the States, in print media, there’s Nelia Dingcong Bernabe, who works as production manager of Allied Vaughn, a multimedia service company.

She shares her thoughts and experiences through her column “Flipside” in Visayan Daily Star; she often writes about SJI and Johnians.

Many alumni have gone on to take master’s studies in the States. Ricardo Barcelona took his MBA, IESE at the Universidad de Navarra in Spain and had worked in Hong Kong, China, London, Spain; he is currently based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Ricardo Barcelona is highly respected in the world of finance, voted by investors and finance directors as one of the top-rated utilities analysts. Derek John Barcelona took his master’s in Business Administration and in Information System from Boston University; he is a member of American Honors Society. Nemee Sy also graduated with honors with an MBA from Columbia University, New York.

Starting ’Em Young

W

ITH HIS ROOTS firmly planted in the ground, a Johnian soars like the eagle. In elementary and high school, young eagles are already taking wing. Since 1974 some 14 Johnians have been awarded by Jaycee International in its search for The Outstanding Students of

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Negros Occidental. So far eight Johnians have received the award for Outstanding Students of Chinese Schools in the Philippines, sponsored by the Ah Shin Educational Foundation, ongoing for the last 14 years.

Most expectably, our youngsters excel in Chinese studies. In the Overseas Chinese Schools Drawing Contest sponsored by the Federation of Overseas Chinese Schools in Taiwan, a silver medal went to Caroline Ong, while Shara Camille Locsin, Aileen Yap, Karen Ting won honors.

Cheryl Lynne Choa

and Meryl Mae Ong were awarded the Chiang Kai Sek Outstanding Award during their Summer Chinese Studies in Taiwan.

The feats of Emilio Lopue Jr. are nothing short of amazing. He was an incoming sophomore when he went for a study tour to Xiamen, China, where he was named Most Outstanding Overseas Chinese Student by the Tan Yan Kee Educational Foundation, the FilChinese Education Research Center in Xiamen. Winning third honors was batchmate Sarah Jane Tan. Lopue Jr. would later also

Top: Champions at the NOPSSCEA Math & Science Olympiad held at St. Scholastica’s Academy, January, 2006. Above: SJI winners at the Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP) competition, Bacolod Division.

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win top honors in the 5th Worldwide Chinese Youth Composition contest held by the Xiamen University of China, the Shanghai Summer Study Tour participated in by students from Chinese schools in the Philippines, the International Chinese Composition Writing Contest, and the Chinese Brush Calligraphy Contest sponsored by the Taiwan Overseas Affairs. That same summer Chona Therese Abad also garnered the Most Outstanding Chinese Calligraphy award given by the University of Jemii in Xiamen, while Jermaine Sy won in oration at Jian Tan Youth Center in Taipei.

As of this writing, Emilio, a junior in Legal Management at the Ateneo de Manila University, is one of the 110 Chinese overseas students competing in the 7th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency for Foreign College Students. In the competition, which lasts for a month, the contestants demonstrate how good they are in spoken and written Chinese,

in dancing, cooking, and song composition; they are even rated as teachers. The latest news is that Emilio won first runner-up in said competition.

No Kidding

I

REMEMBER WAY BACK in 1988, the SJI team consisting of Alvin Yu, Rose Joy Jolingan and Hannah Teisha Chua represented Region 6 in the Philippines Mathematics Olympiad, held at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. The contest lasted for 3 days. On the first day Alvin said, “Hey, let’s get eliminated so we can go around Manila.” I begged, “Let’s make it to the semifinals

The much-awarded Emilio Lopue Jr.

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at least, so we don’t lose face when we go back to Bacolod.” We made it to the semifinals. The next day, Alvin again announced, “Let’s not make it to the finals. There are a lot of things to see in Manila.” Again, I pleaded, “We’re here, let’s give it our best.” We made it to the finals, despite Alvin’s jokes. We did not win but we ranked 6.5 on a tie with the Dole Philippines International School.

The Mathematics Trainors Guild in Manila gives training to mathematically gifted children and prepares them for competitions in China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia. Always excelling in these international competitions were the Gamboa siblings: Johnson, 5th place in Math Overall Performance in Tian Jin, China in 1999; John Oliver, 3rd honors in Calculation Skills in Jiu Jiang Juang Xi; Marie Jessica, 2nd honors in the Elementary Math International Contest in Luknow, India; and Jasmine, bronze medalist in the 3rd International Mathematics Invitational Competition in Singapore. Jasmine is in Grade 6 in SJI; her elder siblings are studying in Manila. Allan Magno Pecundo won 3rd place in the China Primary Mathematics Olympiad in China; Jeanie Karen Uy was a bronze medalist in the International Mathematics Olympiad held in Shengshen, China, in 2005.

Of course, these same young people shone in local as well as international competitions in math given to all MTG trainees, like the Australian Mathematics Competition, Westpac Awards, Canadian Mathematics Competition, American Mathematics Competition, and the MOEMS (Mathematics Olympiad for Elementary and Middle Schools).

Here are some students presently in St. John’s who chapter vii

have shown the makings of a math whizz: Kam Ho Wong was the ABS-CBN Quiz Bee champion in 2007 besting students in other schools in Math, English, Science and general information. In the Math, Science and Computer Olympiad sponsored by NOPSSCEA in January 2008, Allan Magno Pecundo, Jonas Ong and Nestor Gabriel Jalandoni came out champions at the elementary level, while Ranel Ram Cheng, Jeanie Karen Uy, and Noraine Alambra won second place at the secondary .

In the recent math jousts for elementary- and secondary-level students in both public and private schools nationwide, jointly sponsored by the Metrobank Foundation Inc., the Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines and the Department of Education, with the support of the Winners at the Math, First Metro Investment CorScience and Computer poration, St. John’s represenOlympiad sponsored by tatives again brought home NOPSSCEA, 2008 the bacon. Winners in the Team Division Finals were: 1st place : Jose Ignacio Locsin & Natalia Beatrice Uy of Grade 1; 2nd place: Aaron Gabriel Lim & Lance Kilayko of Grade 2; 2nd place: Anton Raphael Lim & Jorge Montelibano of Grade 4; 2nd place: Jasmine Marie Gamboa & Stefanie Rose Tsoi of Grade 5; 1st place: Allan Magno Pecundo & Nestor Gabriel Jalandoni of Grade 6; 2nd place: Kam Ho Wong & Deo Paolo Quimbao of 3rd year high school. Allan Magno and Nestor Gabriel represented the Division of Bacolod at the MTAP Regional Competition held in Iloilo City.

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In Sports, Too

I

N THE FIELD OF SPORTS, SJI held the record of being the NOPRISAA and NOPSSCEA girls volleyball champion for 16 consecutive years. We also have a golf protégé, Mia Isabel Piccio, who at 14 was second runner-up in the Thailand International Junior Golf Tournament and champion in the Shell & Petron Golf Tournament. Mia is now studying in Manila in a school for gifted children. Meanwhile, Stephanie Guinanao Lamayo, Grade 4, was the national Taekwando champion at the Palaro ‘08.

To all other outstanding and accomplished Johnians out there whom I have failed to mention here for lack of information and space, my apologies.

Stephanie Marie G. Lamayo, Taekwando champion at the Palarong Pambansa 2008, Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

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List of Valedictorians & Salutatorians Valedictorian

Salutatorian

1965-66

Tan, Rubin

Wee, Alicia

1966-67

Cabaluna, Victoriana

Yap, Jessica

1967-68

Ong, Agustin

Chang, Julie

1968-69

Ang, Pamela

Su, William

1969-70

Poon, Marina

Ong, Nancy

1970-71

Keng, Franklin

Chuan, Julieta

1971-72

Chua, Annalee

Barcelona, Ma. Lita

1972-73

Uy, Glory

Doctora, Genevert Tan

74-74

Marjorie Ong

1973-74

Ong, Marjorie

Liu, Susan

80-80

Sylvia Tan

1974-75

Alba, Maribelle

Uy, Jonathan

1975-76

Chua, George

Locsin, Carlos

1981- 82

Alfred de Veyra

1976-77

Dy, Nena

Cabaluna, Mary Johnson

1977-78

Ledesma, Ma. Ramella

Uy, Alexander

1978-79

Ganihong, Carson

1979-80 1980-81

THOS Awardees Romergryko Geocadin 84-84

Ainette Chua

Legaspi, Rodolfo, Jr.

86-86

Shennan Sy

Ramos, Ma. Yvette

Lim, Michael

91-91

Erika Therese Locsin

Yao, Jovito

Co, Grace

95-95

Shara Camille Locsin

1981-82

De Veyra, Alfred John

Narboneta, Ma. Ivy

1982-83

Banzon, Eduardo

Silos, Mary Gretchen

1983-84

Chua, Christine

Uy, Livian

1984-85

Tibon, Ma. Renela

1985-86

Koa, Reza Maria

Don Nicolas 97-97

Cherry Mae Ang

Gamboa, Kathleen Gay

1-01

Erika Joanna Villanueva

Kho, Joan

2-02

Heather Lorraine Khey

1986- 87

Javellana, Bryde

Ganchoon, Filipinas

6-06

Jermaine Sy

1987-88

Rius, Ma. Josephine France

Jalandoni, Nestor Emmanuel III

8-08

Ranel Ram Cheng

1988-89

Jolingan, Rose Joy

R. de Luzuriaga, Maria Priscilla Remedios

1989-90

Rius, Ma. Georgina

Valderrama, Marion Tricia

1990-91

Sason, Charissa

Lim, Aileen Joy

1991-92

Benedicto, Maria Lourdes

Villo, Ma. Theresa

1992-93

Britanico, Phoebe

Ang, Ana Christine

1993-94

Ong, Lady Beth

Carbilledo, Roxanne

1994-95

Keng Seng, Carolyn

Sy, Willie Jr.

1995-96

Valencia, Celeste-Jo

Uy, Homerson

1996-97

Ang, Cherry Mae

Tañeza, John Ronald

1997-98

Go, Tiffany Blanche

Barcelona, Carmela

1998-99

Laguardia, Romeo Jr

Ong, Jennifer

Ten Outstanding Students of the Chinese Schools of the Philippines Lady Beth Y. Ong

1993 – 94

Jennifer T. Ong

1998 – 99

1999-2000 Chiu, Florence May

Quingco, Midnight Fairlene

2000-01

Chua, Jaclyn Faith

Lim, Ma. Rosario

2001-02

Azucena, Jakie Vi

Chua, Jannah Elaine

Ma. Christina Ruth C. Ham 1999 – 00

2002-03

Barcelona, Alissa

Arroyo, Neil Patrick ?

Jasmin T. Cordova

2000 – 01

2003-04

Avila, Tatiana

Lopue, Katrina Camille

Alissa D. Barcelona

2002 – 03

2004-05

Yap, Ma. Krizia Camille

Japzon, John Kristoffer

Emilio O. Lopue, Jr.

2004 – 05

2005-06

Amante, Jeaness Marie

Torrefranca, Junnie Martin

2006-07

Ferrer, Ever Joy

Sansing, Edremae Commille

Jermaine G. Sy

2005 – 06

2007-08

Cheng, Ranel Ram

Uy, Jeanie Karen

Jeanie Karen Uy

2007 – 08

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Barangay Yap

T

HE YAP FAMILY of Bacolod holds an unbeatable record in the annals of St. John’s: All 38 children and grandchildren of pioneer Johnians Ah Say Yap and Thelma Sy are graduates and students of SJI. This picture was taken on the 84th birthday of the patriarch. Everybody is in the picture except the matriarch who had passed away and a grandchild who was in a summer study tour in China. The first of the fourth generation is two months old as of this writing. They were all good students and many are now professionals. The cousins on the mother’s side also studied and graduated at SJI. Truly a shining example of success and achievement reflective of Johnian education.

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Chapter 8

St. John’s

IImp mp On

And Its

N

pact pac

Negros

St. John’s Institute

By Josefina Tiu & Allen del Carmen

I

F there’s one characteristic that the majority of St. John’s alumni have as a legacy from Msgr. Su—it’s reticence. They are reluctant to talk about themselves. If you ask the good monsignor about himself you can take a seat, wriggle around to make yourself comfortable, prepare yourself to hear nuggets of wisdom flow out from the mouth of a great man—and you are in for a long wait. You will hear nothing pertaining to himself.

Several alumni submitted their résumés—all under duress, I think, because these are very busy people, or they feel there are other more important claims on their time than doing their résumés. Of course, résumés are very dry. Nobody rhapsodizes over them. But the achievements of these people can hardly be treated tongue-in-cheek.

What are the values that formed these people?

First and foremost they say: discipline. From discipline stem other values such as punctuality, commitment, dedication, service, patience, perseverance, care for others, and self-reliance. Running through the core of these values is the guiding light: Faith in God and the firm belief in His presence in one’s life.

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Terence Paul Dacles Marine Biology

T

HE ENVIRONMENT today is like a ticking time bomb. Two Johnians, Terence Paul Dacles and Jay Jalandoni, have come forward to say by their actions “I do care to make a difference.”

Both are involved in setting up marine protected areas.

Terence Paul Dacles currently works as executive director of Northern Negros Aquatic Resources Management Council, at the same time that he is the marine biologist of Sagay Marine Reserves. He’s been setting up marine protected areas in Danjugan Island in Bulata, Cauayan and other places in Southern Negros, working with the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. (PRRCFI) and the British conservation NGO, Coral Cay Conservation.

The marine biologist considers the establishment of 10 marine-protected areas in the province as the highlight of his contribution to community life – with two of the marine parks – Danjugan and Sagay – as the best-managed reef in the country. chapter viii

He is also involved in the education programs of Danjugan through youth camps and has assisted in the establishment of the first hands-on interactive children’s museum at the Sagay Marine Reserve, Terence Paul has worked with major organizations in the country and abroad, including the highly-respected Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Global Coral Reef Alliance on coral rehabilitation through the use of solar, wind and tidal energies, and reef restoration to

protect endangered giant clams. He is executive director of Oceans Beacons, which has projects in 10 sites all over the country, funded by Lighthouse Foundation in Kiel, Germany.

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Peter Ong Justice

I

N THE TWO YEARS that he has been with the Department of Justice as state prosecutor, Peter has secured the conviction of 17 illegal loggers, an extraordinary feat by DENR standards.

He has discouraged loggers from cutting down whatever is left

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of our forest cover by sending them on a long vacation...in jail. He has also successfully brought to justice perpetrators of crimes like kidnapping for ransom, rebellion, drug-running and dealing and multiple murders. Warned about the great risks he was taking, he just shrugs: “My Alma Mater put her faith in me, expecting that I do my best... that’s the best I can do.”

A simple man, he flits in and out of Bacolod without fanfare.

He takes time to make a duty call at his Alma Mater and visit with his mentors to see how they are, patiently listening to their ailments and complaints—and their legal problems, and following them through, free of charge!

That’s how teachers reap their harvests.

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Francis Joseph Jalandoni Environment Conservation

A

S A CHILD, Francis Joseph “Jay” Jalandoni loved to explore nature. He tried to do well in school because poor grades meant he could not join Boy Scout camping trips. He looked forward to family summer vacations in Patag, the historic upland community in Silay City. After his junior year at SJI, Jay went to Oregon where he finished high school as a Rotary scholar. In his college days at the Ateneo de Manila, where he studied Management and later Social Services, he joined a mountaineering group.

It comes as no surprise then that even after serving as vice mayor of Silay City, Jay (in photo,

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extreme right), a sugar planter, who is committed to helping farmers learn how to become more self-reliant through the SIMAG Foundation, continues to be immersed in environment conservation programs.

He became a strong advocate of PRRCFI when he saw the measures that the local government of Olongapo was doing to preserve its rainforest. He came back to Bacolod and ran for councilor in Silay, with the conviction that “whatever I learned in Subic, whatever was done in Subic, can be applied anywhere in the country.” PRRCFI manages the 43-ha. Danjugan Island in Cauayan. His work includes encouraging people to be involved in environment advocacy.

He serves as director of the summer camps on the island which inculcate in children more awareness of conservation issues.

When he became vice mayor in 2004, he worked with the mayor in the electrification of the rural communities and in building classrooms for the young. He was head of the SIMAG foundation which provided livelihood projects, educational assistance and health services in depressed areas. All these activities reflect his commitment to safeguard Mother Nature: “Caring for the Earth gives me the passion and drive to do my work. One must understand and see the beauty of one’s surroundings in order to care for them,” he says.

“At St. John’s,” he says, “I learned the value of friendship and developed a sense of independence. I was on my own once I entered the school premises.” He admits to having poor study habits, but he was trained to do his homework, “a discipline I appreciated later on during college.”

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Patrick Angel G. Araneta Medicine

D

IABETOLOGIST Angel Patrick Araneta (Class 1976) is one doctor who goes far beyond his clinic—to serve people in marginalized communities. His volunteer work in the community finds him helping the government and diocese of Bacolod in promoting public awareness of diabetes and pulmonary disease prevention. He was prime mover of the Negros Summit that formulated collective action by private and public organizations against diabetes.

He was always in the front line of the August

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Lung Month activities of the Pulmonologists of Bacolod, which features a community walk to rally people’s awareness to the fact that exercise is the best way to preserve lung health.

For Dr. Araneta, his St. John’s education taught him the values of “dedication, service and leadership,” which are useful not only in the practice of his profession but also in his civic volunteer work. He developed his communication skills, which are important in his work, he says, through the “many declamation and oratorical contests I joined during my school days in SJI.”

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Jose C. Tan Jr. Civic Work

B

USINESSMAN Jose Tan Jr. (Class 1989) can still vividly recall how his grandmother died from severe burns after a fire that razed to the ground their home and family store. This led him to follow in his father’s footsteps as a fire brigade volunteer. As a member of the Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade since his Business Management student days at the University of St. La Salle, Tan (in photo, seated, right) has seen “calamities beyond my imagination” in various towns and cities in the province.

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His volunteer work also includes assisting in medical, dental and eye checkup services and other outreach activities. His motto is “Care and Share,” which is also his guidepost not only in his fire brigade services but also in his dealings with clients and employees in his Good Hope Enterprises. Jose puts a high premium on punctuality.

Being punctual starts everything right, he says.

He muses, “When I think about it, I remember Fr. John Su—he was very instrumental in making me appreciate this virtue.”

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Charlie Co Visual Arts

W

HEN CHARLIE CO (Class 1979) was in grade school, he joined an art competition and lost. The following year, his classmates again voted him as their representative to another school art contest. His teacher dissuaded him, he recalls, “because she said I was going to lose anyway as I failed to win the previous year.”

Believing that failure must inspire, not deter, people, Charlie Co pursued his interest in visual arts by enrolling in the Fine Arts program of La Consolacion College.

Today, Charlie ranks among the well-respected names in the Philippine visual arts scene, having earned numerous awards and participated in international gatherings, including the Asia-Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia, the Sao Paolo Biennial in Brazil, and a modern-art conference sponsored by the Japan Foundation ASEAN Cultural Center in Tokyo.

In addition, he has participated in art exhibitions in Taegu, Korea, in Gifu and Naguri Lake in Japan and in Singapore, as well as in the Osage Gallery in Beijing, China and the University of Newcastle in Central Coast, Australia; he was artist in residence in Beijing and the Central Coast and was a grand prize recipient .

Charlie was named one of the Thirteen chapter viii

Artists of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1990, the country’s representative in the 23rd Sao Paolo Biennial in Brazil and the 2nd Asia Pacific Contemporary Art Trienniale in Australia, both in 1996. He won in the biggest art competition in the country, the Philip Morris ASEAN Art Award in 1998, and was awarded the Bro. Alexis Award from the University of St. La Salle.

The multi-awarded artist has been helping other artists in the flowering and fruition of

their craft. He co-founded the Visayan Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference, a biennial gathering of visual artists in central Philippines. He continues to open the doors for young artists by giving them space to showcase their works at the Gallery Orange, which he owns. He hopes that the gallery will “help keep the art community alive. It’s an ongoing process.”

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Junie T. Go Education

I

N MATHEMATICS and Education, Dr. Junie Tiokhian Go (Class 1985) is among the trailblazers. She holds a doctorate in Philosophy in Mathematics, with high distinction, from De La Salle University, a master’s degree in Mathematics, also at DLSU, and a bachelor’s degree in Education, major in Mathematics, magna cum laude, at the University of St. La Salle. She became dean of the college, a position which she describes as “unexpected but challenging.”

While working on her dissertation for her doctoral degree, Dr. Junie had the opportunity to work with Prof. Paul Terwilliger, a mathematician in the field of algebra and distance-regular graphs and a professor at the University of Wisconsin. She describes that experience as “awesome and enriching.” It opened doors for her: her dissertations were presented in international forums and published in international journals. “I also got to meet experts [in mathematics] whom I just read about in books.”

Awards came one after the other, from the universities she had attended, from NOPSSCEA, and from her alma mater (kinder to high school ) who presented her with the Outstanding Johnian in Education Award in 2005. Dr. Junie chapter viii

confides that she is touched by students who, after turning professionals themselves, would tell her how much they had learned from her.

“This would spur me in my mission to teach the minds, touch the hearts and transform the young lives of those entrusted in my care,” she says. Her interest in mathematics, she says, was sparked by “my excellent math teachers in Hua Ming—Guelda Barroa, Lourdes Dimacutac, Agnes Zaragoza, Sheila Menchavez (Igoy) and Noemi Elijan. They made mathematics easy for me to understand.”

She has expanded her math teaching to include public school teachers in Negros and throughout the country. Dr. Junie was part of the Mentoring the Mentors Program of the Foundation for Worldwide People Power, Inc. and was involved in the evaluation of math textbooks and supplementary materials for use in public elementary schools. “I always give my best and believe that there is always room for improvement and growth,” she says. “Most of all, I acknowledge that all learning, skills, talents and opportunities given to me come from one person, the Lord, and thus I am always thankful for all His blessings.”

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Cesar Geronimo H. Villanueva Peace & Development Education

C

ESAR VILLANUEVA (Class 1976) believes that Hua Ming planted in him the seeds of a solid Catholic education and gave him the “grace to see God in all things and the audacity to be different, creative, unconventional and radical.” This conviction, especially the passion for peace-building work, which he calls “God’s gift to my personality,” was nurtured when he served as acolyte at the Queen of Peace Church. From Hua Ming, he proceeded to Ateneo de Manila where he studied Economics and later to the University of St. La Salle where he took up masters in Conflict and Reconciliation Studies. At St. La Salle, he was community development and outreach director after serving a similar position at Ateneo de Naga.

Cesar’s peace and development efforts have taken various forms. As an educator, he introduced the Future Studies concept in academe. He has served as secretary general of the World Future Studies Federation, which has 30 member-nations. As director for community development and volunteer formation, he has championed the concepts of sustainable development, environmental respect and equity and chapter viii

peace building in grassroots communities. In environment preservation, he has advocated coastal resource management, mangrove reforestation and forest protection which paved the way for his election as member of the general assembly of a university-based NGO in Belgium.

As a peace builder, he has helped convene a local peace group in the province and coordinate a Catholic peace movement in the country, introduced the Children as Bridges of Peace through UNICEF, and set up the Niall O’Brien Center for Active Non-Violence, Reconciliation and Community Futures.

He also initiated the “Negros Week of Peace” celebration. Cesar attributes his commitment to social development to, among others, his Ateneo education.

He recalls a poster in school carrying this message: “Why sell soap when you can build people?” “That inspired me to become what I am today – an advocate of justice, peace and integration of creation.”

He adds: “Hard work, discipline – which means delayed gratification and small acts of courage – will power and foresight, the passion for what is good, just and beautiful and the zeal for peace are the values Hua Ming has instilled in me.”

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Ma. Vicenta Po-Rio Micro & Small Enterprise, Events Management

‘M

ARIVIC” RIO (Class 1978) succeeded in transforming her micro-enterprise, Obra Negrense, Inc., into a self-reliant company exporting ceramic products to Europe and the Middle East. She became a member of the

Association of Negros Producers (ANP), where her entrepreneurial experience significantly contributed to the setting up of the ANP framework and organization structure.

Marivic (above, extreme right) had served ANP in various capacities – as president of the board, chief executive office, treasurer, vicechapter viii

president for internal affairs and public relations officer. The last enabled her to make great use of her degree in Mass Communications and her experiences in PR work, events management, marketing, and international trade management.

Former player of the PRISAA volleyball champion team of SJI and a two-time national oratorical champion, she had served as a key member of the ANP speakers’ bureau and a volunteer-trainor of the ANP in its membership development program and in assisting the 20 poorest provinces of the country to set up their own livelihood and entrepreneurial projects. She was also among those who were tapped by the United Nations Development Program for its Enterprise Development Program for OFWs in Hongkong.

During her term as ANP vice president, she was appointed regional training coordinator for the USAID Private Sector Development Program to provide technical assistance to food processing, hotel and restaurant, furniture and furnishing industry sectors—functions that provided her an opportunity to work closely with the Department of Trade and Industry and other organizations in the region.

The export entrepreneur and events

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management specialist was one of the three prime movers of ANP who initiated an Integrated Marketing Program for Negros in Milan, Dubai and Germany that resulted in reduced costs of market promotion and export processing and in establishing Negros as a potential center for gifts and houseware in the Philippines. “The initiative has proven that, through cooperative efforts, small entrepreneurs can have access to international markets and make high-quality products,” she stresses.

Like other SJI alumni, she looks at the discipline, hard work, commitment and adherence to basic Christian principles as the significant values she learned from Hua Ming . “Breaking the rules was unforgivable,” she remembers, as the school does not tolerate even the slightest violations, like throwing pieces of paper, slight disrespect for elders and authority, tardiness and absences. “Not even Typhoon Signal No. 2 could make us absent for fear that we would miss an important lesson or activity. The school was always ready to announce with firmness that classes would go on.”

She shares that “Johnians have proven themselves as leaders apart from others as following norms and standards is spontaneous for them. It is easy for us to earn the trust and respect of people since we were trained to be good followers ourselves.”

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Caroline B. Ong Advertising Media

S

HE MAY BE WORKING in Shanghai, China, but Caroline Ong (Class 1993) finds time to do something in her little way for her home city. She’s the brains behind the naming and key visuals of “BacoLaodiat,” the Chinese New Year festival in Bacolod City, when it was launched in 2006.

She co-wrote and produced the theme song of the Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade, the service arm of the Bacolod Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., and designed the posters for the “Duc in Altum” show, which commemorated the golden anniversary of the Philippine mission of Msgr. John Liu and Msgr. John Su, and for the Queen of Peace Church.

Caroline, for four straight years on the list of Campaign Brief Asia as one of Asia’s Hottest Creatives, has received

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citations in books and in prestigious international advertising shows, like the Cannes Advertising Festival, One Show, Adfest, Luerzer’s Archive and The Work. Her ad campaigns have consistently given her awards in the Philippines and China. She considers Jollibee her first break when, as a junior writer, her output was named Radio Ad of the Year and swept all awards in its category.

“From the time I started in my career,” she says, “I can think of so many moments I am happy about, from helping the Dominicans recruit new priests to helping define new advertising standards in China.” Realizing how tough it must be for young people to get a break in the advertising industry, she founded BBDO’s Ugly Writers Course which has produced some of the most promising young creatives in the country.

She graduated with honors from St. John’s and earned her Fine Arts degree, cum laude, at the University of Santo Tomas. At St. John’s, she recalls, she was school representative in local and international poster-making contests, an experience which “helped me gain confidence in my talents but, at the same time, kept me grounded because no matter how good you are, there’s always a lot more who are better than you.” As early as the fifth grade, she had wanted to be in advertising. “All I knew was that it has something to do with arts and that I won’t starve to death.”

She also says: “I must have done something really good in my past life to deserve all these. Or possibly, and this I believe is closer to the truth: We all lead good lives, I’m just more optimistic than others.”

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Gil Marie Maravilla Alba Law

A

LBA, Batch ’78, was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998, a year after graduating from the Central Philippine University, Iloilo City, and earlier, from the Ateneo de Manila with an Economics degree. He co-authored the book Landowners’ Rights Under the Agrarian Reform Program, whose subject forms the centerpiece of his career. As representative of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations, Inc. (Confed), he prepared a position paper entitled “What’s Wrong With the CARP?” that was submitted to the House and Senate committees on agrarian reform.

Senators Enrile, Biazon, Arroyo, Zubiri and Honasan subsequently called for a more serious review and reform of the CARP, instead of just extending it.

To drum up increased awareness of government and private sectors regarding rights of landowners under CARP, Gil Alba, together with then Cebu Governor Pablo Garcia, acted as resource speaker in two forums conducted by the Coalition of Landowners of the Philippines held at Sugarland Hotel. His advocacy made Negros landowners and government officials aware that the Constitution and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (RA 6657) recognized and intended labor administration (i.e., the employment of workers who are paid salaries and wages, in place of tenants who pay lease or rent) to be an alternative way of conducting agrarian reform. The paper pointed out that this alternative to land redistribution was the way the Constitution and the law

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intended certain industries, like sugar, to remain globally competitive.

“During my stay in Hua Ming,” he says, “I learned hard work, self-discipline, determination—never give up despite the odds—and pursuit of excellence in your work.

Love what you do, so you’ll stick with it no matter what.” He allows that “the school’s administration and teachers were very strict.

But they always listened to reason! We were taught to think on our feet. Quick, logical thinking would get us out of trouble, so I guess we ‘evolved’. The ability to reason well gave one certain privileges, like being allowed to smile even while Ms. Cu was angry at the class,” he says laughing.

He adds: “I was often tasked with defending my own or the class’s position before our teachers or our principal [Fr. Su]—why we were late, why we were noisy, why we should not be punished, why we should be forgiven, why we should have no class. I remember arguing the class’s position in Chinese with Fr. Ko, our Chinese Math teacher in first year high school. As I was not good in Chinese, I had to ask classmates like Alex Uy, Susan Ong, Susan Dy to whisper to me the Chinese translation of words I wanted to say. What a way to argue your case! But that was good training for oral arguments in court.”

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Peter L. Uy Fish Culture

T

HE POSSIBILITY that fish supply is dwindling not only in the Philippines but also in Southeast Asia compelled Peter Uy (Class 1966) to embark on a fish-culture venture that earned him a National Gawad Saka Award for Fish Culture in 2007. The annual Department of Agriculture awards recognize the achievements of small farmers and fishermen who increase their yields and incomes using modern technologies.

The aquaculture and commercial fishing entrepreneur ventured into bangus cage farming after the familyowned prawn farms declined in productivity. Initially facing numerous problems – ranging from community resistance to operational concerns – he finally found a site for his venture at Manjuyod Bay in Barangay Campuyo, Negros Oriental where he

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explained to the locals that his business would bring more good than harm to the community.

The technology of raising bangus in modular fish cages was eventually allowed by the local government of Manjuyod through legislation.

Concerned that his business does not pose any danger to marine life, the aquaculturist has located his fish cages in a protected area.

Five years later and with more than 200 cages in place, Peter’s business is doing quite well indeed and providing employment for more than 100 persons. His SJI training, he insists, has contributed to his growth: “SJI valued hard work and the need to be humble,” he says.

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Reun Chapter 9

& Mem

nions nion Bitte B itter-

&morie mories sswee weet

St. John’s Institute

By Nelia Dingcong-Bernabe

L

OOKING out to the soothing waters of the San Francisco Bay, I watched a flock of seagulls prancing around as they pecked at morsels of food. The sky was clear that winter morning and though a bit chilly the California sun gently warmed my face. A perfect day, I thought. In the distance, I saw the formidable structure that is Alcatraz. To my left, I caught glimpses of the sunlight bouncing back and forth as it struck the gleaming and magnificent Golden Bridge. chapter ix

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It was my first visit to San Francisco and it was spectacular beyond words. But there was a bigger reason why I was there that day. I frantically looked at my watch, counting the seconds, wondering what’s taking them so long. My husband and daughter, watching in unabashed mirth from a few yards away, told me I looked like a little girl waiting for a big surprise.

I had told her what I would be wearing and that we were going to meet at the Fisherman’s Wharf.

I craned my neck to scan the vicinity hoping to see a familiar face amongst the throng of humanity who were out that morning. I wondered, does she still look the same, would she think the same of me? Or would our faces tell our stories?

“Ting Hong ah,” I heard her call my name in that familiar Chinese drawl; it’s a name that I will always answer to, however rarely I’d hear anyone calling me that. She was walking toward me, her hand clutching a little boy’s hand. All of a sudden the place became quiet although it was packed with people. “Susan,” I said her name, almost whispering. The smile on my face stretched from ear to ear, while I tried my darndest best to remember her Chinese name. I couldn’t.

We gave each other a hug, closing in the 27 years since we had seen each other last. We gave each other a quick look-over and tears welled in my eyes. I am emotional and I cry easily and this occasion meant so much to me that tears came naturally. I turned my attention to the little boy who clung to his mother all throughout our emotional exchange. “And who is this little one?” I asked. “What’s your name?” He replied shyly, “George,” and then hid behind his mother.

“Hmmm, I didn’t know you had a little one,” I ribbed Susan. To which she quickly replied, “I’m going for the record in our class for the most number of kids.”

I winked at her and said, “Or the ‘youngest’, for that matter, to have kids.”

We introduced our families to one another and then repaired to a restaurant at the wharf where we breezed through lunch while our husbands and kids got more acquainted with each other. We gave each other the Reader’s Digest version of where our lives had taken

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us after our high school graduation. Number of kids: 6 for her, not counting her husband’s 5 from his first marriage, and 3 for me. Hands down, Susan gets the title of the class member with the most kids. Our kids’ ages, our second marriages, the demise of our first marriages, the triumphs, the struggles. In a few hours, we were able to sort through almost three decades of time.

Class of 1977

I

T took the move of my then 21-year-old daughter to Los Angeles from our home in the suburbs of Chicago in January of 2005 to rekindle my ties with my old friends, Susan among them. These were the kids I grew up with, 59 of them, with whom I shared a big chunk of my life, 12 years to be exact. We belonged to St. John’s Institute’s Class of 1977. We were one section by the time we got done with high school; formidable as a group, solid in our resolve to remain close the day we said our goodbyes in that poignant ceremony where we all cried.

In the frantic bustle to get our daughter settled in Los Angeles – apartment hunting, buying stuff for her apartment, giving her pointers on how to acclimatize herself to her new environment – I also made sure that I reconnected with six of my classmates who were now California residents.

Susan (Lem now McClean) and I started our reconnection months before I met up with her in San Francisco. A string of phone calls and countless emails later resulted in our meeting at the Fisherman’s Wharf and a meeting with another classmate, Larry Reyes, later that day. Giggling like high school girls, we were both excited to see Larry again. “I bet you he’s a lawyer now,” I told Susan. “Remember, in school he wanted to be a lawyer like his dad?” “I’m not sure

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if Chi An became a lawyer,” Susan said. “I know he’s married with one kid.” Susan could remember Larry’s Chinese name; I was drawing a blank.

All these Chinese names and Chinese stuff belonged to my past and I realized that part of these reunions meant that I had to be quick in throwing out Chinese words just like Susan. That was a tough call considering that I had so much difficulty with the language while at Hua Ming. Somebody told me that it’s just like riding a bike: once you know how, you’ll never forget it. We’ll see about that. We’re talking about me, the girl who flunked all her Chinese tests back in the day.

Susan, who lives in Sacramento, holds the job as the unofficial registrar of everyone’s whereabouts in America.

Anytime I wanted to find out about somebody, I would call her, and 99 percent of the time she had the answer.

Also, the six degrees of separation holds true in Susan’s case. She and the other members of our class have mutual friends from Hua Ming in their social circle. They’re bound to bump into each other or know somebody else who knows the person. “’San, you think we’re going to recognize Larry?” I asked her on the way to our meeting with him in a restaurant south of San Francisco. Susan smiled and said, “If we don’t, we’ll just yell out his name, Chi An ah, Chi An ah. He’ll answer.” No need for that. We easily recognized Larry inside the restaurant: 27 years had done this guy no harm. He stood out among the crowd—tall, svelte and still looking as youthful as when we last saw him; he was a hottie, just ask the girls! Barely seated, we opened up with a Reader’s Digest abridgement of our past lives.

Larry said, “I’m a nurse. I work in San Francisco, same hospital as my wife.” “You became a nurse?”

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I said, incredulous. “All along we thought you’d become a lawyer, just like your father.” Life indeed has surprises, even for oneself.

Over dinner our conversation was sprinkled with “remember that time…” At one point, reining in the present, Larry asked, “So what do you guys do on long weekends?” I stalled. “Let’s see, we go camping,” I said. “What about you, Susan?” “Uh… we take our camper and we go camping too,” she blurted out. “I’d rather camp at the Holiday Inn,” Larry casually said as he took a sip of his beer. Well, well…some things just don’t change after all. Just wait till Fr. Su gets wind of your beer drinking, I thought to myself while trying my best not to burst out laughing.

Right there and then at the restaurant, with two of the 59 kids I grew up with, I realized a few things. Yes, we’re 27 years older, our physical appearance hasn’t changed that much—or so we fancy— and we have carried our ways from when we were children and have fine-tuned them into adult qualities that still carry nuances of the childhood we shared for 12 years at Hua Ming. All these years later, we pretty much have Hua Ming stamped on our foreheads.

At the restaurant Larry also said, “People are really surprised to hear me speak. They always ask me why I speak such good English.” I could not agree more; after all, we had four years of speech classes from the best speech teacher in town, Miss Virginia Cu, and Hua Ming had excelled in the yearly speech competitions in English against other schools in the city and at the regional and national levels.

Later that night, Larry and his wife joined us in our hotel for more storytelling and, boy, did we up the ante even more when the three of us dug out more dirt from our years at Hua Ming. Larry dusted off Amevic Ko Jesena, Glenda Lacson Jin and Nelia Dingcong Bernabe in Los Angeles

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his Chinese and started conversing in it, accent and all, astounding his wife, my husband and daughter.

We picked out names of the other kids from our class and started sharing what we remembered most about that person. We wrote down the names of every kid in our class, itself a feat.

“Susan, do you remember the time when you brought big brown bags of hot pandesal to sell for 25 cents each?” I asked. Susan quickly replied, “How could I forget? I made so much money that time. Don’t you think I was showing early entrepreneurial skills?” I said, “Yeah, right, we were not even allowed to eat inside the classroom.” More laughter.

“Oh, what about the time Lynnie brought green mangoes and bagoong to school?” I blurted out. “She did?” Larry and Susan both exclaimed. They could not believe that the quiet Miss Tankit (now Mrs. Atonson) would do such a thing.

That was a surprise?

Here, before them, was the queen troublemaker herself and do I have stories to share. That’ll come later.

I told Susan and Larry about my reunion with Amevic (Ko, now Mrs. Jesena) and Glenda (Lacson, now Mrs. Jin), now a lawyer, in Los Angeles, a few days before ours happened. It was the dependable Susan who had arranged the meeting with Amevic and Glenda at Amevic’s home in Pasadena, a few minutes north of Los Angeles. Amevic is the scion of a big public transportation company in Bacolod. When we were kids, huddled around her desk, she would tell us stories of her trips to Europe—about Italy where “pizzas are served by the yard,” the magical gondola rides along the stinking canals of Venice. Through her, we were transported to different places, lived vicariously through her experience and learned a lot about the world.

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It came as no surprise to me when on this visit Amevic confided, “Nelia, I have to go back to the Philippines. Life here is so hard without a maid. My maid just left.” I laughed so hard. “Amevic,” I told her, “you are one of the very few people I know who has a maid here in America.” But she was serious. And I knew why. In their house in Bacolod, we used to do a lot of sleepovers and we had a great time. Even when she was already a teenager, she had a yaya (nanny) whom she called “Miss” who baked the most scrumptious Food for the Gods anytime Amevic had the craving. Now do you understand why she wants to go back to Bacolod?

A few minutes later, Glenda walked in. She gave me a hug.

Glenda, who looked not a day older from the last time I saw her, was one of the prettiest mestizas in our class. On the night of our graduation, Glenda offered her grandmother’s house for all 60 of us graduates to come together once more, for one last time. We had a sleepover so unforgettable that to this day we still talk about it. It was during our last sleepover that one of our male classmates (I’m not mentioning names) made his feelings known to me. “Man, my life would have been different if he had only made his feelings known a day earlier instead of our last night together,” I would tell those who would care to listen.

Some days later, Amevic, Glenda, my husband, my daughter and I headed for lunch to a Filipino restaurant in Glendale not too far away from Amevic’s home. In the restaurant Glenda pulled out pictures from a manila envelope of our high school graduation, of dances and other events. There we were in our blue and white St. John’s uniform, with the blue tie inscripted with the letters S.J.I. The pictures spoke volumes of our past lives. I choked with emotion.

Larry Reyes, Nelia, Susan McClean in San Francisco

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Glenda put her arms around me and said, “It’s okay, Ting,” she said. “Let it out.” My tears answered my daughter’s question earlier when I was planning this reunion. “Who are these people, mom?” she had asked me. She finally understood.

My reunion with Amevic and Glenda sparked the beginning of a series of reunions with friends from our class. It also included seeing our beloved speech teacher, Miss Virginia Cu, and four more classmates in the summer of 2005 in New York City.

From December of 2004 through late autumn of 2007, from Los Angeles to San Francisco to San Jose, New York City, and in my own neck of the woods, Chicago, and all the way across the ocean to Bacolod, I met up with old friends and rekindled the bond that started when we were in kindergarten back in 1965.

Bodyslamming on 6 Corners

B

UT LET ME BACK UP for a moment and tell you about the time when I bumped into Lynnie, the girl who brought green mangoes and bagoong to school. How our paths crossed is the story of all stories. After finishing graduate school here in the States in the spring of 1990, I took a short break and found a job in one of the Filipino-owned travel agencies in the heart of Chicago.

Our office back then was located in an area known as

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6 Corners, a small business area comprised of retail stores, drug stores, mom-and-pop-type shops and a workout place back in the day. 6 Corners is always a hustling and bustling part of Chicago. So nothing was different that one hot and humid summer afternoon back in 1990.

I was on one side of the street, along with hundreds of other pedestrians, and I was getting ready to cross to the other side to get to my office. Then the unexpected happened. I body-slammed another person. I stole a look at her, ready to apologize.

She was also looking at me intently. Our eyes locked and then a small voice said, “Ting Hong?”

I felt like this huge dam bursting wide open and its waters sweeping me away to my distant past.

“Ching, ikaw na (Is that you)?”

That I even remembered her Chinese name was beyond me. It had been 13 years since I saw her last. We hugged and chattered frantically, gesturing frantically, so that we must have looked from afar like two women high on caffeine. Her tongue just magically went back and forth from Chinese to Ilonggo and back to Chinese. “Wait a minute,” I said to myself, “I am not Chinese and right now, I could hardly remember any Chinese.” It also occurred to me: “Hello, this is me, Ting Hong, remember, the girl who failed most of her Chinese tests?” I frantically dug up my pitiful Chinese vocabulary from ages ago.

Lynnie or Ching Ling and I have since maintained a closer relationship. We’re practically neighbors: our homes are located within a 15-minute drive from each other. Between Lynnie and Susan, my

With the Golden Gate Bridge as backdrop: Tiffany (Nelia’s daughter), James (Nelia’s husband), Nelia, Susan, George (Susan’s son) and Frank (Susan’s husband)

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Chinese has improved a bit, not as good as Larry’s though, but as good, I think, as the Chinese of some of my Chinese-descent classmates. After all, I am the girl with the two-syllable Chinese name, not three which is the norm. I was told that I was given my name, Ting Hong, by one of the Chinese priests (Fr. Andrew Ko, I think) after one of the famous actresses in Taiwan in the ‘60s. Well, there, that should account for something!

The years 2004 through 2007 became a reunion-frenzy for me and my family. Year after year, we went from one place to another and met up with people from Hua Ming whom I had not seen for the longest time. In 2005 we went off to the Big Apple on a spur-of-a-moment trip.

From Chicago, it’s about a 14-hour drive to New York City. My mother, Aida E. Dingcong, a retired teacher from Hua Ming, endured that long road trip, as she was herself excited about going to see Miss Virgie, our former speech teacher, and Miss Wi Suan Tiu, a former Hua Ming teacher. I found out that Susan would be at her sister Tessie’s house on Long Island that summer weekend for Tessie’s young son’s birthday.

I was also excited that I was going to see four more classmates from our class – Sutina Chong, Preciosa (Chua now Mrs. Basiao), Theresa Kho and Meredith Lim. Teresa and Meredith did not finish their high school at Hua Ming, but they grew up with us and became part of Hua Ming and our class. Ties just don’t get severed because you did not finish high school in Hua Ming. If you started kindergarten at Hua Ming and only made it through sixth grade, the unwritten rule was you were still considered a part of Hua Ming.

Stepping inside Tessie’s house felt like walk-

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ing into the old classrooms at Hua Ming. Miss Cu and Miss Tiu greeted my mother with hugs and kisses; I noticed my four friends right away – Preciosa, Meredith, Sutina and of course Susan; more hugs and kisses filled the room.

The next day, we all decided to do the tourist thing: take the infamous New York City subway and gawk at the sights of New York City – Times Square, Madison Square Garden, the Broadway theater district. We took a peek at the Statue of Liberty, paid our respects at Ground Zero and went fake-purse shopping around the city which was littered with all kinds of trinkets and knock-offs.

In Times Square, we met up with our long-lost friend, Theresa Kho, who was on vacation from Australia where she is now based, and her younger sister, Araceli, who lives in upstate New York, also an alumna of Hua Ming. Every now and then, we would pull out our cameras and have Meredith’s brother, Joan Lim, also a Hua Ming alumnus, take our pictures. We didn’t care if we looked like dorks to people looking our way. But “the trouble with hello is goodbye.” Heading out of McDonald’s, we stopped at the next corner and gave each other goodbye hugs, yelled out “keep in touch” and blew kisses.

For the next two years, I was able to reconnect with three more groups of classmates: four in San Jose, California, in the summer of 2006, a whole group in Bacolod City when I went home for my mother’s 75th birthday, in May of 2007, and two in Chicago, in September of 2007.

Reunion in Long Island, NY: (Seated) Joan Lim, Meredith Lim, Virgie Cu, Aida Dingcong, Wi Suan Tiu, Tessie Lem, (standing) Sutina Chong, Preciosa Chua Basiao, Nelia, Susan.

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Four Women & A Bottle of Wine

I

N San Jose, I met up with three of our classmates – Evelyn (Cordova now Mrs. Desales), Suzette (Chong now Mrs. Reboton) and of course, my dear friend Susan. We decided to meet at Suzette’s home which is not too far away from Evelyn’s and about an hour’s drive from Susan’s. In Suzette’s home, we really let our hair down. It was like an episode from Sex and the City—four women, a bottle of wine (or maybe two, or was it three?), men (our husbands, well, not quite like the TV show), loads of fun, laughter and hours of traipsing down memory lane. Suzette, Evelyn and Susan looked good for our age. Do the math – Class of 1977 to 2006? That makes us…never mind. We had a good laugh when we confided to each other that we still added, subtracted, multiplied and divided in Chinese. We still talk and think like graduates of St. John’s Institute.

In casual reunions or reunions that warranted formal attires, we incessantly talked about Hua Ming like we had never left it. We talked about our former teachers, the German nuns in kindergarten and the early grades, the Chinese priests, the likes of Fr. Su, Fr. Liu, Fathers Wang (Peter and Joseph) and Fr. Ko, the smart kids, the crazy kids, kids who always got themselves in trouble (this is where I raise my hand).

Reunions also raise a lot of what-ifs. These were delicate times of self-awareness in young men and women, the puppy loves and crushes. Hua Ming during our high school days banned any boy-girl relationships. In retrospect, I thought, how was that even possible? Only in Hua Ming.

Home in Bacolod in the summer of 2007, a bunch of people from my class came in full force for

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dinner—my best friend Gina (Lo now Mrs. Jison), Nena (Dy now Mrs. Arenas), Mercedes (Araneta now Mrs. Ramos), Victoria (Villanueva now Mrs. Guatelara), Elenita (Uy now Mrs. Keng), Elizabeth Chua, Joan Gochuico, Bernadita Mahilum, Theresa Padilla and Francis Hinayan (better known as Doctor Hinayan, mind you). We talked about things that we could not have talked about as kids in the hallways of Hua Ming. We talked about the punishments we received for misbehaviors. If there was one thing Hua Ming was good at, it was imposing rules—a lot of dos and don’ts. Nobody dared question the disciplinary measures. Not the parents, particularly not my mother.

Mother never said a word when she saw me standing outside our classroom, with my hands stretched out before me for hours, because I was caught talking when not spoken to by the teacher or did something stupid in the classroom. She hardly raised an eyebrow when told that I had been to Fr. Su’s office that day to receive the corporal punishment for my transgressions. Serves you right, was what she probably said to herself.

Unbeknownst to the big guy, however, I went to his office prepared. With the help of my classmates, we made this contraption, a piece of cardboard that I shoved under my skirt. Still the thought of going to his office was more nerve-wracking than actually getting the short end of that long stick, so to speak.

Theresa (Kho) recalled how we would freeze up upon seeing Fr. Su coming down the hallway, or even when somebody whispered “Fr. Su is coming.” It was as if somebody touched the pause button and everyone just stopped in their tracks. Fr. Su , who made sure that we did not break any of the rules, was bigger than life for all of us kids.

Theresa could not forget the punishment for anyone caught speaking Ilonggo inside the campus.

That one received a slap on his or her behind with a 3-inch long piece of wood. Violators caught at the end of the day, when the church bells tolled the Angelus, were made to stand at the school quadrangle the next morning after the flag ceremony.

In all of my Chinese classes, all bets were

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high that I would end up standing at that quadrangle every other day, if not everyday. But kids will be kids.

I would go down in the history of Hua Ming for the most infamous violation ever.

The Night of the Spirit of the Glass

W

HEN Dr. John Barcelona came to Chicago in the fall of 2007 to attend a doctors’ convention, Lynnie and I had dinner with him downtown. Lynnie had not seen John since our high school graduation. For me, it was the second time in four months. I had been to his clinic at Riverside Hospital when I was home in the summer of 2007. The liveliest moment at that dinner was reliving the night of the spirit of the glass.

It was our third year in high school. The day: Wednesday.

The crime scene: our classroom on the 3rd floor of the old high school building. The crime: skipping choir for the novena Mass, conducted by Miss Cu, to play spirit of the glass, also known as the ouija board, in a vacated upstairs room. No one was allowed to stay in the school premises after 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon when classes were over. But there we were: John, Lynnie, Amevic, Nena, Noli Cabanas, me and two other boys from our class, huddled around the board, entranced by the game.

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We did not notice that it was going past 9 pm. Our questions were being answered and the glass was moving like crazy. We heard honking from below. “That’s probably my driver,” Amevic exclaimed, roused from the hypnotic spell. She jumped out of the window onto the concrete landing below it from where you could look out to the parking lot three floors below. She quietly screamed (if there was such a thing) to her driver, “Shhh, just wait. I’m coming down soon.”

We were not aware that one of our teachers, Mr. Jimmy Rivera, who taught Pilipino, walked by our classroom and saw the flickering of light seeping under the door. (Nena recalled that Mr. Rivera would later say that he thought there was a ghost in that room.) At this point, our covert operation was blown. We heard footsteps getting closer, we instinctively snuffed the light from the candle, I ran to look through the peephole and saw two priests marching toward us in their flowing white robes. One was Fr. Su and the other was Robert, his all-around guy.

I yelled to my classmates, “They’re coming!” They scampered in all directions to hide, but I couldn’t move. “I’m dead,” I thought, “so dead.” The double doors flung open and there stood Hua Ming’s two most feared symbols of discipline towering over me. And then there was me, kneeling down right in front of them.

The execution song (whatever that sounded like) began to play louder and louder in my head.

“Go down to my office!” Fr. Su ordered in his deep, stern voice.

It was only when we got to his office that we realized what it must have looked like to them – 4 girls and 4 boys. Hmmm, what are the odds of Chicago reunion with Lynnie Tankit Atonson, Dr. John Barcelona, Nelia

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that! “Look at the eight of you,” Fr. Su said, barely able to hold back his anger, as all eight of us pressed our backs to the wall and as far away from him as possible. “You look like you are possessed by the devil.” With bowed heads, we stood still, not a word from any of us.

“Starting tomorrow,” Fr. Su proclaimed, “you eight will be observed in case you need to be exorcised.” I was thinking, Okay, Linda Blair’s The Exorcist movie has just come out but that’s really not necessary.

The next morning Fr. Joseph Wang, our Chinese adviser at that time, came to our classroom and as soon as he got to his desk he slammed his things on the table, scanned the entire room with a scowl that made everyone cringe. Then in the thickest of Chinese accents, he screamed: “Who were those eight caught playing spirit of the glass last night? Stand!”

The eight of us stood. “What were you doing…four girls and four boys, c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g on the floor with only one candle?” he yelled. Not a word from any of us but I was thinking, “Nice way to describe it.” “You eight,” now he was even angrier, “You go down to Fr. Su.” I could not shut my trap up. I yelled back, “Fr. Su again? Fr. Su, Fr. Su, always Fr. Su.”

I spewed it out like a memorized Chinese song.

If smoke came out of an angry person’s ears, Fr. Wang would have been bellowing with smoke like an overused chimney. “What, Ting Hong,” he screamed at me. “You only, you go down to Fr. Su, NO-W!” Now, you get the idea why I was considered as the chief trouble-maker.

My two younger brothers, Paul and George, and I were lucky because our mother was a teacher in Hua Ming; she was actually one of the school’s first teachers, back in the very early 1960s. (This fact kind of softened the punishments.) My mother, a dedicated teacher, taught Social Studies and was our teacher in Religion and History in sixth grade, an experience that was pretty interesting.

My family was not Chinese; learning the language, for my brothers and I, was truly difficult, but we were grateful that our parents sent us to Hua Ming. Knowing Chinese came in handy on many occasions, like when my brothers and I switched to Chinese to confuse our parents or anybody else for that matter. Over 30 years later, it still works great especially when my family goes to Chinese restaurants around Chicago.

High school in Hua Ming meant learning and

Msgr. Liu, mama and teachers at mama’s 75th birthday celebration, May 2007, Msgr 2007, in Bacolod

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studying for tests in four different languages in one day – Pilipino, English, Chinese and Spanish. It meant participating in sports and cultural events whether in Chinese, English or Filipino. It meant honing your talent in dancing, singing, oration, and declamation. It meant vying in spelling, current events, history, beauty contests, even contests to choose the most popular Filipino actress.

We had memorable teachers who became indelible influences in our lives. I could name the former Miss S. Pollentes who made me join my first speech contest when I was in the third grade, a declamation contest where I transformed into this crazy woman and won over the higher-grade kids; and Miss Virginia Cu whom I consider my biggest influence in school. Trained by Miss Cu, I won for my school a first-place trophy from an oratorical contest held among schools in Bacolod.

That one contest changed my life forever.

Mercedes remembers well Mr. Jimmy Rivera, who was our first year high school adviser, as the first teacher who bonded with us. He gathered us and played his guitar and we would all sing.

We had spiritual retreats every year; the most memorable one was the retreat given to all senior high school students at Lacson Ranch, high up in the mountains, before the last year was over. It was a retreat that encouraged gratitude, appreciation of friendships built through the long years at Hua Ming, camaraderie, selfdiscovery, and the preparation for life after Hua Ming.

Every kid who went to the Lacson Ranch retreat knew that the end of the road was near.

Graduation Day

I

T IS SATURDAY morning and the day is clear. Although the air is still, one would have to slice through the thick clouds of emotions hovering inside Queen of Peace Church. Sixty kids in their formal beige

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graduation garb march to their designated places along the rows of pews. Solemn and quiet, they get ready to celebrate the culmination of 12 years at Hua Ming and of being together. Family and friends hold hands and look at one another with tears in their eyes; a few are just quiet.

Then Miss Cu gives the signal for us to sing the graduation song: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us all rejoice and all be glad therein.” We get to the middle of the song and reach the chorus when the emotional floodgates break loose; tears fall profusely, voices crack. The time to say goodbye has finally arrived.

Every graduate of St. John’s Institute will go back to our first day and our last day at Hua Ming; whatever happens in between is what keeps the Johnian spirit alive. We will always have the memories of our times at Hua Ming to keep us connected. We may have lost touch with one other, or lost a few of our classmates, as when we mourned the passing of Diego Gochuico in 2007. But when the opportunity arises, we do not think twice about coming back.

When I visited Bacolod City in the summer of 2007, accompanied by my three children, my now-retired mother, Mrs. Aida Dingcong, my youngest brother George and his family, it was with great pride and immense nostalgic emotions that I retraced the million steps I took along the long corridors and hallways of Hua Ming. I stood outside the Queen of Peace Church and thought about our graduation day.

The engulfing flood of memories gave me the indescribable feeling that I was home.

Before we left, I turned around and gave my old school one final look. With utmost reverence, I scanned its bright premises shining under a clear blue sky. I savored that moment along with the feeling of extreme gratefulness. This was where it all started, I thought. Right there and then, I knew that I would be coming back. Hua Ming will always be home.

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Chapter 10

St. John’s

T oda Toomo mo

&

ay orrow orro

St. John’s Institute

By Fr. Noly Que, Lrms SJI School Administrator

E

DUCATION is always a quest for excellence.

Excellence was the goal set by the Founders of the school and they have been successful to a great extent.

That is the goal that I am pursuing now. And so it will be for those who will come after me. chapter x

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The two Founders are a hard act to follow.

Their shoes are hard to fill. They have made such an impact in the lives not only of the Chinese of Bacolod City and the nearby towns and cities but also the non-Chinese whose lives have crossed theirs. Msgr. Liu has absolutely charmed the Negrenses while Msgr. Su traversed the Philippines recruiting young people to serve in the vineyard of the Lord through the Lorenzo Mission Institute. Many of his recruits have finished their schooling and formation for priesthood and have begun serving in different parishes from Luzon to Mindanao; some have ventured abroad as missionaries. Through his young disciples, Msgr.

Su has indeed touched many lives.

I was one of his recruits. It was a rigid training and formation in LMI, not for the faint of heart and will. In every step along the way, however, Msgr. Su was with us—guiding, disciplining, explaining, correcting, advising and, always, expecting us to do our best.

Once in a while, he’d give us a treat: a visit to his “school,” St. John’s Institute, and a stay in Bacolod City, home to him in his mind and in his heart.

It was thus a distinct honor for me when, right after my ordination, I was assigned to Bacolod, in 1998, as assistant parish priest for the Queen of Peace. The school was even then known far and wide for the quality of its college-preparatory education and its well-disciplined students. It would seem that nothing more could be done to improve on this reputation. But when I was assigned as principal and then administrator of the school, I rejected the idea of just sitting down and administering, content with the work of my predecessors.

I was trained to give my best, and in giving my best I give glory to my God. So I decided that to improve the school, I must go back to school. Despite my very busy schedule—I was also then assisting in the parish—I enrolled in the graduate program chapter x

of University of St. La Salle and finished my doctorate degree in October of 2003.

Hua Ming Today

F

ROM a 5,000-sq. m. lot, Hua Ming gradually expanded its campus; today it sits on two and a half hectares of land with the three levels—kindergarten, elementary and high school—occupying their own separate campuses.

The kindergarten boasts of facilities which are conducive to learning. Each class has a ratio of 15 students to two teachers and one teacher aide. The elementary department occupies another sub-campus. It has two faculty rooms; one for the primary level, another for the intermediate level. Both faculty rooms are adequately equipped for the convenience and ease of teachers, including computers and printers for their research work, grade solving and even for recreation.

The high school building is the newest addition to the establishment of St. John’s.

It takes pride in its state-of-the art library, its science laboratories which are furnished with up-to-date laboratory equipment. It has an air-conditioned computer room with fifty computers having Internet connection for the use of its students.

These facilities would be taken for granted by everyone in St. John’s. What the school is really proud of are not the buildings and the machines they house. What the whole community is proud of are the students themselves who bring honor and glory to their

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Alma Mater with their achievements. These are students formed by St. John’s who have made their way in the world, doing the good work as befitting their training and excellent education.

Hua Ming Tomorrow

O

N THE BLUEPRINT for Hua Ming is its Ayala campus, located within the posh Ayala North Point Subdivision in Talisay City. The campus will start with a toddler school. I am a big advocate of the thinking that a toddler should be going to school rather than stay at home in the care of a yaya. I believe that it is quite possible that with both spouses working, the toddler‘s early formation of values may be neglected.

The toddler’s capacity for absorbing knowledge is enormous. However, I am more concerned about his values formation and moral foundation. With well-trained and knowledgeable personnel, the toddler can be molded in the desirable values and basic education. He can be taught to develop requisite habits that will serve him well in his growing years and adult life.

Since the campus in Bacolod City allows no more room for expansion, the scheme for Ayala-North Point also includes a Sports Complex. The complex comprises an Olympic-size swimming pool and a covered court with provisions for basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton games. A track oval will also be constructed. Many people will recall chapter x

that in its earlier years, St. John’s produced unbeatable track and field athletes. It is my plan to recapture and bring back those years of sports supremacy.

On the Ayala campus will also rise a Theater Arts Building where students may put into practice the artistic skills they have learned in school and show off their talents in acting, elocution, dancing, etc. On the same campus will be a Computer/Information Technology Center where the students will be kept updated on advances in computer and information technology.

There are three schools in Bacolod City that incorporate Chinese language instruction in their curriculum. All three are facing a critical problem: the lack of qualified Chinese teachers.

The establishment of a Chinese Language Center is a plan that is an obsession to me. A Chinese Language Center will greatly ease the lack of Chinese teachers.

I have several options in mind. One would be to send teachers to China or Taiwan on a scholarship with the proviso that they would train other teachers upon their return.

Another would be to invite teachers from China or Taiwan to come to the Philippines on an exchange program. The incentive would be that while they are here, they would be given an opportunity to learn English at no cost to them.

The third, but this is somewhat a slow process, would be for Chinese seminarians studying at Lorenzo Mission Institute to take supplemental education subjects during summer as part of their seminary formation. I believe that any of these three will result in having enough qualified and proficient Chinese teachers.

We are also working toward PAASCU accreditation in the near future. Although we have gained the reputation as a top-notch school, it will be a great thing to have official recognition of our status. This is where the topic of my doctoral dissertation comes in. To ensure

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that teachers will deliver optimum performance, I have created positions for subject coordinators who will carry out supervisory functions over the teachers. The subject coordinator will help the teachers refine their syllabus, introduce them to various effective teaching methodologies, help them in classroom management and orient new teachers to the culture of St. John’s.

I realize that those appointed as subject coordinators would have to undergo further training. My dissertation showed that that there was a low correlation between the administrative performance levels of subject coordinators and the academic performance of students. Thus I devised a management-skills training program for the subject coordinators.

Much is required of teachers. To improve the quality of our teachers, we have to set aside

funds for their continuing education. At the same time we are working toward strengthening the spiritual formation of our teachers.

Of course we can’t expect our teachers to work without just remunerations. Salaries of our teachers will be continuously upgraded, with increments provided for tenure, achievements and excellent performance.

These are the plans I have for St. John’s Institute in the future that I aim, hopefully, to accomplish, so that long after I’m gone people may remember what I have done for St. John’s.

They may think kindly that I had made my own mark in the history of S. John’s, not as great maybe as the imprints of Fr. John Liu and Fr. John Su, but still forceful enough to lead the school to the heights. Duc in altum!

The five-ha lot in Ayala North Point in Silay City, site of the new school expansion

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High school students assemble at the Quadrangle before going up, in orderly ďŹ le (preceding page), to their classrooms.

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SJI Student Council School Year 2008-2009, with Student Services Head, Carmela Bacolod

Filipino-Chinese Catholic Youth ofďŹ cers with Fr. Junerl Salugsugan, LRMS, head of Campus Ministry

Faculty Room; Fr. Garry Fuentebella, LRMS, Principal, shows the new Chinese Consul around the campus and classrooms. Foreign and national dignitaries often visit SJI as part of their itinerary

Checkup at the Juanita Young Clinic; students poring over their books at the Library.

The elementary school building; a girls volleyball game; the bright and airy halls; rehearsing the dragon dance. In St. John’s sports and cultural activities play an important role in the young students’ upbringing. Overleaf: Students attend a lecture at the Little Theater.

Administrative Staff Msgr. John B. Liu Msgr. John Su Fr. Noly A. Que , LRMS, Ph.D Fr. Garry Neil Fuentebella, LRMS Fr. Junerl A. Salugsugan, LRMS Dr. Elmer B. Cagalitan Sister Rita Wang Sister Hedwig Huang Sister Mirriam Lee Sister Luisa Cheng Marilou T. Geraldoy

Rector Director Administrator Principal Campus Ministry Vice-Principal Dept. Head, Pre-Elem.

Dept. Head, Level 1 Dept. Head, Level 2 Dept. Head, High School Pre-Nursery Consultant

Academic Teaching Personnel Carmela F. Bacolod Geraldine D. Descartin Nelsie A. Bravo Lani O. Llena Cherryl Mae Patalagsa-Pascua Rodelia Pollentes JoseďŹ na G. Tiu Galo Gessner L.Rosales Analyn S. Siva

Student Services Head/ Guidance Counselor-HS Guidance Counselor-Elem.

Subject Coordinator- Math Subject CoordinatorSocial Studies/Filipino Subject Coordinator- Science Subject Coordinator- TLE/MAPEH Subject Coordinator- English Discipline Coordinator Library-in-Charge-HS/Elem.

Academic Nonteaching Personnel Sister Lorenzo Virgo Evangeline P. Alson Azel E. Lescano Gillian Amalia Mijares-Pao Ma. Theresa C. Senina Dra. Leny de Luzuriaga Rhoda P. Embang ArďŹ ly R. Vailoces

Cashier Bookkeeper Clerk Personnel Coordinator Nurse Dentist Secretary Registrar

HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY Amber Marie T. Aguilar, Mila T. Albino, Mark Alibuga, Roxanne O. Anoche, Anna J. Bacolod, Apple S. Ceria-Treyes, Marieta Q. Co, Kathrina Jimenez, Divina D. Mayor, Jane C. Po, Rebecca Sales, Christian Tejido, David F. Tiansay, Ma. Lourdes B. Valencia, Agnes Zaragoza, Rodelia Pollentes, Cherryl Patalagsa-Pascua, JoseďŹ na G. Tiu

DR. ELMER B. CAGALITAN, Vice Principal

ELEMENTARY LEVEL 2 FACULTY Roslyn Mae S. Ang, Alicia B. Bosime, Precilla Y. Cruz, Lourdes D. Dimacutac, Julius P. Esparas, Erlinda L. Estrella, Christina R. Ignacio, Bro. John Geng, Lucy T. Go, Juna Mae Libo-on, Bro. James Min, Moonyeen J. Mondragon, Ruth S. Patalagsa, Ma. Teresa C. Po, Mary Ann M. Ronquillo, Vermie S. Tang, Ma. Venus Lorny M. Villarosa.

ELEMENTARY LEVEL 1 FACULTY Evelyn C. Alejado, Mary Joy L. Arangote, Leila R. Cawacas, Rowena S. de Jesus, Mary Ann D. de la Cruz, Mary Hope A. Dusaran, Michelle, Espera, Dorotea G. Gegantoni, Angela Marie Golez, Sara Amor A. Gustilo, Eden G. Lim, Lynny T. Lim, Marivic G. Nivera, Rex N. Po, Martin B. Sadongdong, Ruby N. Saril, Ma. Louisa E. Uy, Vanessa S. Windam

PRE-ELEMENTARY FACULTY April Joy B. Abetong, Christine Mae L. Balogo, Cara Pia C. Capiral, Amy G. Divinagracia, Gemma N. Gomez, Teresita Jardenil, Paula Jane E. Kho, Nida Lim, Karen Y. Lobaton, Corazon C. Matinong, Ma. Kristina V. Qui, Ma. Leoann Dominique Qui-Sia, Marites G. Rebote, Aileen May T. Suarez, Alzarina T. Tan, Mary Grace Villasor, Gertie G. Visitacion.

Sister Luisa Cheng, Sister Rita Wang, Sister Hedwig Huang, Sister Mirriam Lee; (inset) Sister Lorenzo Virgo

Wide spaces to grow in: The pre-elementary building and playground.

The Triumvirate: Fr. Garry Neil Fuentebella, LRMS, Principal; Fr. Noly Que, LRMS, School Administrator and Parish Priest; Fr. Junerl Salugsugan, LRMS, head of Campus Ministry

Going Beyond Gold

Q&A What Lies Ahead

T

HE TRIUMVIRATE—Fr. Noly Que, the administrator of the school and parish priest, Fr. Garry Fuentebella, principal, Fr. Junerl Salugsugan, head of Campus Ministry—talks about the new era of St. John’s. They fill the shoes of the two old Founders but their youthful heads also bristle with bright new ideas to propel St. John’s into the future, with its new challenges, new ways of thinking, new expectations.

Tell us about yourselves.

Fr. Noly: Well, I was born on March 19, 1971 , in Legaspi City, Albay, the eldest of four. After me came Nolan who by the way is also a priest, then Nanette, the lawyer in the family, and then the bunso, Nataly, who is still studying. My parents, Nonito and Yulina Que, run their own business.

I spent my elementary and secondary schooling at St. Agnes Academy, Legaspi City . While I was pondering on what to take up in college, Msgr. Su came to our school and talked about religious vocation and the need for Chinese priests to take on the evangelization of the Chinese. I decided to give it a try, not fully knowing that it would get an iron hold of me. I studied Philosophy at the San Carlos Seminary in Manila, proceeded to Theology, graduating with an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry.

I was ordained on Aug. 16, 1998 and became a full-fledged member of Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society (LRMS).

I was first assigned as parochial vicar chapter x

of Queen of Peace Church in Bacolod City.

I became the administrator in 2000 and the principal of St. John’s in 2004. On Feb. 18, 2005 , the Bishop of Bacolod, His Excellency, Vicente Navarra, D.D., appointed me parish priest of Queen of Peace. Today I am the administrator both of the school and the parish.

Fr. Garry: I was born in Naga City, Camarines Sur on February 1, 1972 . My late father, Mariano Fuentebella Sr., was a retired judge while my mother keeps house for the family.

I am the youngest of three sisters and three brothers.

I was a student of St. Joseph School in Naga City from kindergarten to high school. It is a Chinese school run by the Chinese fathers, of the batch that escaped from China along with Msgr. Liu and Msgr. Su. I was a recruit of Msgr. Su, a very convincing recruiter. Immediately after my graduation from high school, I found myself a boarder of Lorenzo Mission Institute, where seminarians are trained to serve as missionaries in Chinese-speaking countries, like China and Taiwan. I finished A.B in Philosophy and Theology at the San Carlos Seminary.

Afterwards, I pursued graduate studies at the San Carlos Seminary Graduate School of Theology.

Soon after my ordination on Sept. 29, 2001, I was assigned as assistant parish priest at the Queen of Peace Church, at the same time that I was head of the Campus Ministry of St. John’s. Since May of 2004 I have been principal of St. John’s Institute.

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Fr. Junerl: I was born on December 24, 1975 , in Nasipit, Agusan del Sur, the eldest of three sisters and two brothers. My parents, Agapito Salugsugan Jr. and Erlie Abadies Salugsugan, are educators. Ours is a big family, because aside from their natural children, my parents would bring home children and made them part of our family. One of my foster brothers is also a priest.

I started schooling at Consuelo Elementary School and then moved from one school to another, as my parents were peripatetic educators. So I would study in whatever school my mother or my father was assigned to teach. I was a Del Monte Philippines scholar when I was in high school. I enrolled at Christ the King College in Gingoog City. After graduation from high school, my high CSAT and NCEE ratings would have qualified me to study in any state college or university as a government scholar, but I opted instead to enter San Jose de Mindanao Seminary in Cagayan de Oro. I enrolled at Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan on a scholarship. I took a double major: Philosophy and Sociology/Anthropology.

While in the seminary, one of the Chinese priests assigned there inquired whether I would like to transfer to Lorenzo Mission Institute.

I found the idea of a Chinese mission deeply fascinating.

I moved to LMI in 1997; I studied Theology at the San Carlos Seminary Graduate School of Theology. Then I had my regency, teaching for two years at St. Anthony School in Manila , and one year at the Pei Ching School, a non-sectarian school in Tabaco City, Albay.

My sacerdotal ordination took place on March 19, 2005. Soon afterwards, I landed in St. John’s Institute as head of Campus Ministry.

Fr. Noly: My main thrust will be to carry out what I had set out to do– to improve the administrative skills of the school’s subject coordinators.

The leadership skills of these teachers had not been fully developed because in the previous administration, the authority rested on only one person, all decision-making emanated from only one person. The teachers therefore have gotten used to having things thought out for them, they have not utilized their inherent potentials as leaders.

So for three years now, teachers chosen as subject coordinators have been honing their leadership and managerial skills, and polishing their expertise in planning strategies and decisionmaking. I know that improvement will come because my teachers are committed and enthusiastic in carrying out what is best for St. John’s Institute.

Under your watch, what will be the thrust of SJI – in administration, in youth and teacher education, in campus ministry?

Fr. Garry: My focus will be on the improvement of teachers’ skills in teaching-learning methodologies. This can be done by encouraging the teachers to avail themselves

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of continuing education options and to expose themselves to various seminars for their improvement as persons and teachers. I also encourage my teachers to return to the basic, to set their priorities and to strengthen their faith.

Excellence in youth education will be manifest when teachers become maka-Diyos and maka-tao.

I will also expect that through their teachers’ example and way of life, our students will be imbued with a firm Christian faith that they will use in the service of God and their chapter x

fellowmen.

Leaders of the future: Youngsters assemble for morning ceremonies, with a lot of dancing When it and singing, in the spacious and covered comes to student Eduardo Hall. St. John’s new extension in education, my Ayala North Point in Talisay City will start with a kindergarten school. focus will be on providing the children with a holistic education with greater exposure to a mix of Filipino and Chinese cultures. Young people are very adaptable.

They can take these two cultures and combine them into a unique blend that enables them

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to slip into either of the cultural world with relative ease.

Of course we will remain ever vigilant that they maintain their capacity for superior learning. This will not be neglected in favor of co-curricular activities. Turning out intellectually superior students will remain our forte.

Fr. Junerl: Msgr. Su envisioned the evangelization of the Chinese community in Bacolod City through St. John’s Institute. So religion is a major subject in the curriculum and the teaching of religion stays at an intellectual level.

Students need to be in touch with reality; to be always aware that outside their protected, safe world, there’s a whole other world peopled by the less-fortunate. This school year Campus Ministry will reach out to these people. Our senior students will teach religion/ catechism in public schools nearby. This way the evangelized SJI students will be doing their own evangelizing. We have already made arrangements with the DepEd for this project.

To further broaden our scope, Campus Ministry has linked with the Filipino-Chinese Catholic Youth (FCCY), a closely knit organization made up of Filipino- Chinese young people coming from various schools in the parish.

The two Founders set SJI on a path toward a mission of evangelization, assimilation and the preservation of the Chinese language and culture. How are you interpreting or reworking this mission for the new times?

Fr. Noly: I believe that the Chinese, despite their long stay in the Philippines, have not yet fully integrated themselves in the mainstream of the Filipino way of life. We still have a long way to go when it comes to our mission of evangelizing the Chinese. Many of our parishioners practice syncretism. When you visit many Chinese homes you will see an altar chapter x

with the statue of Blessed Mother side by side with Buddha or with other Chinese symbols of prosperity or wealth. What we are trying to do is to assimilate that rich Chinese culture with the Catholic faith, such as using incense sticks during certain rites and rituals of the Catholic Church, but to do away with the worship of other gods.

Fr. Garry: Our work, to assimilate the Chinese and to preserve the language and culture, is what makes us unique and distinct from other schools.

Just because we are not in China doesn’t mean that we will totally erase from our collective memory who we are and where we came from.

We continue to teach Chinese language. We enrich the curriculum by exposing our students, even those without a drop of Chinese blood, to Chinese culture and heritage for them to gain an understanding of the Chinese psyche.

Assimilation and integration is a two-way street.

Fr. Junerl: It does not matter to God what race or culture one belongs to. Once you are evangelized, whether you are Filipino or Chinese, you belong to His family. And in the eyes of God we are all equal.

The rise of China as a global economic power, as well as the great influence of FilipinoChinese in the power centers of the country, creates big potentials for employment, business partnership, etc. for Chinese-speaking Filipinos. Do you foresee a need for a new and strengthened curriculum for Chinese language and culture and the training of more Chinese teachers?

Fr. Noly: The teaching of the Chinese language follows that of our English language subjects.

We favor the integration of the language subjects with other subjects such as science, social studies, religious education etc. So, a Chinese teacher instructs students in music, art

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or social studies in the Chinese language.

We are somewhat hindered by the lack of qualified teachers to teach the Chinese language. As far as I know, although Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University and University of St. La Salle offer courses in Chinese language as part of their offerings toward the course, Chinese Studies, they do not have a program that will teach would-beteachers to learn Chinese and be able to teach it. There are a lot of good Chinese speakers around who could teach the language well, but we could not hire them unless they have PRC license to teach. So I guess I will have to wait until the time is ripe for the establishment of the Chinese Language Center.

Vital to the vision-mission of the school is for our students to have an appreciation of the Chinese language and culture. This is the reason why they learn Chinese. Otherwise, how can they appreciate their culture and heritage without knowing the language? In terms of economics, learning the language is advantageous because China is opening its economy to the world and the businessman who knows Chinese has an advantage over one who does not. I know of several businessmen here in Bacolod who have formed partnerships with Chinese nationals to put up a business in China. We even have some alumni who found occupation in China because of their facility in speaking the language.

You mention the rise of Filipino-Chinese in power-centers in the country. Chinese schools have truly benefited from them, through their generosities and good works driven by their social conscience. Many of our teachers have had their summer schooling in Manila subsidized by these tycoons. We can’t afford to send our teachers for training in Manila all in one batch. Thanks to these philanthropists, we are able to do so.

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Fr. Gary: We have indeed strengthened our Chinese curriculum by introducing more activities for our students. We have singing contests in Chinese, solo, duet and group singing, and contests in Chinese dances.

Students compete in Chinese oration and story-telling contests, and in Chinese spelling and sentence- and paragraph-making contests.

There are also Chinese cooking demonstrations.

So you see, we really immerse our students in Chinese culture.

Fr.Junerl: Not only that, our students also get the chance to compare how they live with their counterparts in Taiwan and China.

Every summer, students of St. John’s get the opportunity to go to China or Taiwan on a summer study/ tour program for six weeks.

They study, mingle with students from other Chinese schools, visit historical places, present cultural programs, and learn Chinese as spoken in certain places in Taiwan and China. This way, they broaden their cultural horizon and their understanding of Chinese culture.

How are you approaching the mission of evangelization in these new times?

Fr. Noly: Although it is not required by DepEd, Religion is a major component in our curriculum. Students are instructed in the faith and we instill in them a lively practice of their faith by having each class sponsor one Sunday Mass in a cycle. Among the lower grades, a class pairs off with another class in the higher level. They play an active role during the Mass as readers, commentators, servers, offerers, collectors or choir members.

The alumni, to honor the two founders of this school, have linked up with Bahay Kalinga to develop a school property into a village with houses for deserving poor. The village will be called “Msgr. Liu and Msgr. Su

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Village.” Every Saturday, a different class of high school students will help in whatever way they can with the construction. They can carry plywood, mix cement, and whatever else they can be of help.

Fr. Junerl: The Church is the Church of the poor. We develop in our students a social conscience. As members of Campus Ministry, they have a community outreach activity every week. They teach catechism to children in outlying communities. We hold prayer meetings, praise and worship on the first week of the month, bible sharing on the second week, fellowship on the third week, and applying what we have learned on the fourth week.

At the heart of practicing our faith is the “Pondo ng Pinoy.” The children put aside or collect 25 centavos and keep the money inside bottles or softdrink cans. After every grading period, the money is collected and turned over to the bishop for the diocese’s social action program. The money may be used to provide medicine to an indigent sick man; or to help victims of calamities; or to provide food for a poor family. St. John’s students have never stinted in their help. In the two years of its existence, Pondo ng Pinoy collection from St. John’s Institute has reached more than 200,000 pesos.

Are there plans for SJI to branch out to other places outside of Bacolod? Is there a need for such a branch at the moment?

and badminton. There will also be a Computer Information Center which we will share with the community for people to learn skills for livelihood. Children will also enjoy playing and practicing in the tracks oval. In the pipeline is the Chinese Language Center, my dream.

Do you foresee a time when SJI will submerge its “Chineseness” to become rather like a Catholic educational center with no racial character?

Fr. Noly: I don’t think St. John’s Institute will ever lose its distinct Chinese character. It’s the one main reason why we exist. The racial character doesn’t matter to our students. You have to remember that there was a time when the Chinese didn’t enjoy the respect being shown to them now. They were subjected to slurs and insults, they were blamed for disasters and misfortunes in other people’s lives.

I say, let the Chinese character stick.

Even our non-Chinese students enjoy the colorful spectacles in the celebration of the Chinese New Year and other Chinese festivities and events.

Fr. Garry: Remove the “Chineseness” and it’s just like depriving a person of his past. A person always likes to think that he has a future because he has a past, whether good or bad. It’s just like denying one’s heritage. Without a heritage, one is a nobody – an alien perhaps?

Fr. Noly: There are no such plans just as yet.

Rather, it’s more like we’re expanding. Ayala Corp. has donated a five hectare lot in its elite subdivision, Ayala North Point in Talisay City, where we are building a toddlers’ school and other structures that will house a cultural center, a sports complex with swimming pool, a covered court for basketball, volleyball, tennis chapter x

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THE SJI BOARD OF TRUSTEES Nelson W. Se単oron, Fr. Noly A. Que, LRMS, Eduardo S. Go, Arabelle G. Lopue, Rosita C. Uy Bico, Lucy C. Ponce, Dennis S. Coo, Arneil T. Chua, Benjamin D. Lopue Jr., Teody R. Lopingco

St. John’s Institute

St. John’s Institute

Ayala North Point, Talisay City

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An open letter

from Fr. Noly Que, LRMS, Ph.D. and Mr. Benjamin Lopue Jr.:

G THE nursery building and sports complex will be adaptable to vertical or horizontal expansion.

Phase 1 of the nursery school (cluster 1) consists of classrooms, activity area, faculty room, library, common toilet and playground. The sports complex (cluster 2) consists of a covered basketball court, covered swimming pool, covered volleyball and badminton courts and tennis court.

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REETINGS of peace and harmony in the name of the Lord!

We are celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the Chinese-Filipino Apostolate in Bacolod City. In response to the call for evangelization and to continue providing quality Catholic education for the youth, we find the necessity to expand our campus to accommodate the growing needs of our community. Thanks to the Ayala Land Corporation for the five-hectare property at Ayala North Point in Talisay City. On this location, we plan to build sports facilities and classrooms for the nursery and preparatory students.

Be one of the prime movers of the project, as you have always been part of the St. John’s Institute’s big family.

We appeal to your generosity. We will count every little assistance from you as our debt forever.

Kindly dial our telephone number (034) 4321164/433-3773 for an Assistance Form. After you have filled it, we can send somebody to pick it up from your place.

We may also be contacted at St. John’s Institute, Capitol Shopping Center, Bacolod City 6100, Negros Occ. Fax (034) 433-1577, E-mail sji@pldt.info.com.ph Thank you very much. May God bless you and your family your whole life through.

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Meet the Staff Abe Florendo, author/ editor of a number of coffee table books, among them The Devotion to the Sto.Niño in the Philippines and Sagala: The Queen of Philippine Festivals, is a retired newspaper and magazine editor (pictured here with his granddaughter Naomi).

He lives in Las Piñas.

Philip Loyola is one of the more in-demand wedding photographers in Bacolod. He has photographed for food and travel publications in Manila.

He lives in Bacolod with his wife Janet and children Belle, Kay, Khaya May and Gavin.

Ramon Jeffrey Florendo, 21, is a freelance photographer. He is the chief photographer of Indayog, the dance magazine of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). With Jovilene Aiza Reyes.

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Eduardo Davad, art director of BusinessMirror, has designed a number of books, including Kaloob: Philippine Music and Dance Ministry, published by the Day by Day Christian Ministry, of which Ed is a devout member. He lives in Quezon City with his wife Maricel and daughter Zoe.

Catherine Barcelona-Carlos, a piano major from St. Scholastica’s, has made her home, her husband and her children, Pancho, 10, and Gaby, 6, her priority.

Cathy claims that aside from Derek, she has another sibling—Hua Ming. Her mother was the longestserving principal of this institution, which demanded most of her time. “Hua Ming is probably the reason why I learned to be independent at an early age,” Cathy says.

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Josefina G. Tiu declares that “words paint better pictures, make lovelier music, tug at one’s heartstrings strongly and soothe a restless spirit like a winged caress.” A Science major turned English teacher, she wrote almost all of the oratorical pieces that won major awards for the SJI contestants, trained by Ms. Virgie Cu, in regional and national jousts.

Nelia Dingcong-Bernabe is a graduate of Mass Communications from the University of Negros OccidentalRecoletos and Journalism from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. Nelia wants to eventually go into publishing; in the meantime, she’s a manager at Allied Vaughn, a multi-media service company. Direct from Chicago, Illinois, she writes a column, “Flipside,” for Visayan Daily Star. (Pictured with husband James and children Greg, Tiffany, Cathy.)

Ma. Vicenta P. Rio, who graduated from St. John’s in 1978, pursued a course in Mass Communications from La Salle College, Bacolod. Currently, she’s managing director of Obra Negrense, an export company; chief finance officer of Negrense Island; event manager of Bacolaodiat, the Chinese New Year festival in Bacolod. She helps in the provincial government’s promotion of organic farming.

(Pictured here with husband Nonoy Rio and children Juan Medes, Ed Vincent and Pia Angela.)

Jennifer Gochangco Ong Jennifer Gochangco Ong claims she is a frustrated writer. She maintains a blog and often joins writing contests which she never wins. In her despair she has turned to business. She’s now president of two retail companies and sits on the board of two credit corporations. She and her husband, John Owen, are true-blue Johnians. Their three rambunctious boys are following in their footsteps.

Marilou T. Geraldoy, “Miss G” to most everyone, taught English, Mathematics and Physics.

She was elementary and later high school department head. As St. John’s expanded, so did her duties, until she was duly appointed as assistant principal in 2002. At this time she held a Master of Science in Educational Management from La Salle College Bacolod.

She has a flair for dealing with problems of students and a delicate diplomacy with people.

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Heartfelt Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors

Mr. & Mrs. Yu An-log Mr. & Mrs. Alfredo Barcelona Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Coo Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Lopue Jr. Mr. & Mrs. William Ong Mr. Joemarie Sy Mr. & Mrs. Edgar Sy Dr. & Mrs. Arneil Chua Mrs. Lourdes Chua Mr. & Mrs. Eduardo Go Mr. & Mrs. Teody Lopingco Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Lo Mr. & Mrs. Leonito Lopue Mr. & Mrs. Nelson Señoron Mr. & Mrs. Johnny Uy Mr. & Mrs. Eusebio Uy Bico Ms. Elena Chua Mr. & Mrs. Johnny Ku Mr. & Mrs. Ricky Ong Mr. & Mrs. Teofilo Ponce Sr. Atty. Jayme Sy Jr. Mr. Amado Uy Ms. Soha Uy

PHOTO CREDITS ■ Ramon Jeffrey Florendo: Pages 10, 12, 42, 43, 44,45, 74, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 150, 153, 154, 156, 158, 159; photos on pages 160-161; photo of girls’ volleyball game; 164, 166, 167, 168, 176, 178, 184, 191, 198.

■ Philip Loyola: Pages 2, 6, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 78, 83; 162, 163, 169, 170, 172, 174, 180, 182, 187, 192