How We Began

Beloved allies of the entire academic community, a joyful afternoon to all of you. I greeted all of you at the gym last Monday for the 89th year of the foundation of Opus Dei. I exclaimed that Woodrose would not have been born, so to speak, if it were not for the first Yes of our beloved St. Josemaria to God’s Will in founding Opus Dei on October 2, 1928. From this first Yes, an abundance of Yeses followed from the countries of Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North & South America, New Zealand.As we zoom in on Asia, these yeses have spread to Hongkong, Japan, Macao, Indonesia, India, Khazakstan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam. Thousands of men and women were touched by God’s grace to be more committed in carrying out their Christian duties, sanctifying their ordinary work, converting their hours of work into hours of prayer…transforming the ordinary circumstances of their professional, family, and social settings into a Work of God (Opus Dei). This is the bigger picture that is worth unfolding as we celebrate our Teacher’s Day within our 40th anniversary.

How was our school born? How did it all begin? … It is worth citing a document from the book that was prepared by the PAREF Central Office for the 35th year of PAREF….

In the mid-1970s, a group of parents gathered together to discuss plans for establishing schools that would provide a well-rounded education to children- one that prioritized academic excellence as well as character formation. It was the 1970s and multiple factors that influenced the direction where society was going. The parents believed that their children need a stronger foundation for the challenges ahead. The sexual revolution which started in the West caused social norms and posed challenges to families. It was also around this time that the confusion which followed the Second Vatican Council became apparent. Dr. Placido Mapa, one of the founders of PAREF, recalled the early gatherings of parents who aspired for something better for their children’s education than what was available during those years: “After the Second Vatican Council, there were so many interpretations on the teachings of the Church. There was confusion about what should be taught to the faithful regarding the position of the Catholic Church on different matters. And so, the doctrinal formation of people then suffered. Many other parents at that time had wanted their children to benefit from the established Catholic teaching.

There were some 20 couples in that group all looking to address the challenges the times presented to families. Prior to these gatherings, during the earlier part of the decade, St. Josemaria requested Dr. Mapa, my brother, Kuya Bernie, and Dr. Estanislao to help a group of Filipino parents in putting up schools which would address the need for character formation and sound Christian instruction. Dr. Mapa and his fellow parents would later research on the Fomento school systems in Spain after which the Parents for Education Foundation Inc., or PAREF would be patterned. PAREF was the fruit of those meetings that included, among others, Dr. Mapa and his wife, Chona, Vic and Nanette Puyat, Ernest and Rory Lagdameo, Mike and Maja Guerrero,
Ronnie and Linda Tablante, and my sister and brother-in-law, Ate Tessie and Francis. Its vision, mission, and objectives were officially put in black and white in 1976.

In June 1975, however, before PAREF was established, they received news of the death of St. Josemaria. Considering that St. Josemaria had prompted the whole endeavour, and his teachings on family life, marriage, and Christian formation were the foundation of the philosophy that would guide the schools years later, would not his death have dampened the resolve of the people behind PAREF? Dr. Mapa recalled: “On the contrary, we would ask for his intercession to accomplish what we set out to do, explaining that they were all the more motivated to carry out all that St. Josemaria had requested.

The first office was the attaché case of Mr. Conrad Ricafort. According to Dr. Paul Dumol, in the beginning, “the organization was really non-existent for the most part. There was eventually an office but there were no persons there except for one who interviewed and coordinated with parents who wanted to join the system.”

The organization obviously made enough progress to set up a more decent office than merely living out of an attaché case. PAREF was able to transfer to a unit at Manila Bank Building before finally moving to its present location at Cedar Mansion II in Ortigas Center. The Manila Bank days saw “marketing get-togethers” taking place. The concept of home-school collaboration appealed to the parents immensely. As cited by Dr. Dumol: “One could say that it was revolutionary when it was introduced in the 1970s because up until then, the prevalent practice was for parents to ‘deposit’ their children in school and let the school take care of the little ones’ education. There was hardly any genuine partnership between the school and the home at that time as far as the child’s formation was concerned.”

As the years passed, the schools under the PAREF umbrella grew in number and size. With the first Yes of Woodrose, there are now a total number of 14 PAREF schools. It is the fidelity to the vision of PAREF’s original founders—and most especially, to the admonition of St. Josemaria- which has sustained PAREF in the pursuit of establishing more schools that espouse the same philosophy.

We are the continuity of the first yes of St. Josemaria. Since my first school year here in Woodrose in 2013, I would catch myself awed whenever I consider that we belong to this divine chain of our Founder’s first yes. All of us here are privileged to experience the significance of the 40th anniversary of Woodrose. Other PAREF schools and their publics (parents, teachers, and students) are looking at us and if given the opportunity, they will thank us for our silent yeses in converting the prose of our teaching moments into poetry, in helping our parents and students own the process of moulding their character within the ambit of education in freedom and responsibility.

Let us give a special melodious note to our school’s 40th anniversary. Each one of us knows what note we can add to our academic community: a note that underscores unity, harmony. Let us help one another to always look at the bigger picture of our educational institution. This will help us transcend the challenges given to us by the scarcity of means, time, and human resources. As we struggle to transcend, our constant smile will be one of our good balsams.

I would like to end this conversation with you citing St. Josemaria and let us imagine him whispering these words to us on this day: “…all of us will dry many tears and raise the level of many people’s lives. We will spread a lot of peace, and prevent many quarrels and conflicts. And we will bring people to look at each other with Christian nobility, without hatred…”

Happy Teacher’s Day!