San Isidro Catholic School - SICS

HISTORY OF SAN ISIDRO CATHOLIC SCHOOL



San Isidro Catholic School began like a proverbial mustard seed. Mr. Manuel D. Benipayo, who headed the Christian Family Movement (CFM) in the Parish, was appointed Chairman of the Parish Council Youth Affairs Committee. He thought of setting up free education for young children of underprivileged families. The Parish Priest then, Msgr. Emmanuel Magtanong Cruz, has enkindled and awakened a rare degree of burning for God and apostolic spirit in the parishioners.

On January of 1967, this idea came into reality as the first group of about 20 boys and girls, aged 4–8, attended their first class at the Social Hall building. Mrs. Ma. Luisa C. Sevilla assumed the role of principal. Their first and only teacher then was Miss Edelisa L. Daco. Tuition was free. Slowly but surely, the school began to grow.

The following year, the CFM decided to charge a token of P2.00 a month. Mr. Benipayo and the other members shouldered the salaries. Another teacher was hired – Miss Erlinda Musngi. It was also the year when the school felt it needed to expand to provide not only Pre-school but also Primary and High School. Later, an active member of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine – Miss Leticia Olayao, became the third teacher.

In 1969, the school was offering Nursery, Kindergarten, Preparatory and Grade One. The President of the Parish Council at that time, Mr. Ricardo Ledesma, planned for the expansion of the school. Bro. Eugenio Palileo, who headed the Holy Name Society, conducted a fund drive for the construction of a new building. With the help of the parishioners, the school building was erected. Thus on June 27, 1970 the main building was inaugurated and blessed.

Ms. Ma. Luisa C. Sevilla continued her selfless and humble service with the help of CFM until 1972. When she left the school, Msgr. Emmanuel Cruz, the first School Director, appointed a new Principal in the person of Mrs. Nieves AS Benipayo, the wife of the founder, and Mrs. Leticia Delarmente as the Assistant Principal. After a year, Mrs. Delarmente succeeded Mrs. Benipayo as the third Principal. During her term, there was an increase in enrolment up to Grade Six.

On February 16, 1976 Msgr. Clemente L. Lopez took over the parish of San Isidro and assumed the Office of the School Director. His assistant, Rev. Fr. Rex Magallanes served as the Religion Coordinator in 1978. Msgr. Lopez immersed himself in instilling discipline, cleanliness, orderliness, and solemnity that had been remarkable in the parish.

By then, the school was offering education in all levels of the Elementary Department. The School Year 1982-1983 saw a new set of administrators and supervisors under the directorship of Msgr. Clemente L. Lopez; Rev. Fr. Rex Magallanes as Principal; Mr. Carlito B. Cayabyab as Assistant Principal; Miss Edelisa L. Daco as Head Teacher of the Pre-Grades School; Mrs. Adoracion G. Cayabyab as Head Teacher of Grades I-III; Miss Sozima A. Pimentel as Head Teacher of Grades IV-VI. The CFM II acted as the School Board.

On May 1984, Miss Patricia A. Manzano took over Fr. Magallanes as Principal of the school.

An annex building was constructed on March 1988 to accommodate the increasing number of students. It was inaugurated and blessed by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal L. Sin on July 17, 1989. Four years later the school opened its high school department.

Msgr. Lopez was motivated to put up a High School level due to the insistent demand of parents for quality education. With the support of parents and benefactors, construction of the High School building began in 1993. September of the following year, the building was completed and blessed by Msgr. Lopez himself.

On April 1, 1995, Rev. Francisco M. Ungria, Jr. was installed as the new parish priest of San Isidro Parish by Bishop Rolando Tirona. He succeeded Msgr. Lopez who retired after 20 years of dedicated service to the parish and as Director of the school.

The following year, Rev. Fr. Adolfo T. Paroni, Jr., the Associate Priest of San Isidro Parish, was appointed as the new Principal. He took the challenge of dealing with the demands of the changing times.

Fr. Ungria pushed for the building of a new edifice on a newly acquired lot beside the church. The Bahay San Isidro Formation Center began its construction early 1997 and by the 21st of September of the same year it was completed and blessed by Bishop Jess Mercado. The ground floor served as a multi-purpose hall for the parish activities and the next three storeys housed the intermediate classes. At the same time, the former Social Hall building was gradually being reconstructed into a school gymnasium. Improvement of other facilities followed.

The School Year 1997-1998 was full of challenges for Miss Sozima A. Pimentel who succeeded Rev. Fr. Adolfo Paroni, Jr. as Principal of SICS. Fr. Paroni was assigned to supervise Catholic schools in the Diocese of Urdaneta, Pangasinan. Fortunately, SICS gained government recognition for the complete Secondary course through the joint efforts of Fr. Ungria and Miss Pimentel.

Fr. Ungria saw the need of setting the direction of the growing school. He then initiated an organization development planning with the assistance of Dr. Jaime Cempron of De La Salle University, Manila. It was in his leadership that San Isidro Parish and San Isidro Catholic School spelled-out their vision-mission statements and thrust for the coming years. Part of the plan of Fr. Ungria was the professional enhancement of the employees, particularly the faculty through enrolment in MA or MS programs, and the standardization of salaries. He also saw through the spiritual needs of the community through the Parish Renewal Experience (PREX) of which he facilitated.

On November 1, 2000, Rev. Fr. Lazaro B. Abaco took over as the new Director. His aim was to prepare the Isidorians to be globally competent. He took the challenge of uplifting the human resources and improving the school facilities. Development programs were made available for both faculty and non-teaching staff for professional and personal growth.

True to its role of being the educational arm of San Isidro Parish, SICS intensified further its parish involvement. A number of activities were lined-up to support both the noble works of the parish and the school.

One of the programs is the Paskong Dalangin which became a home visitation program of the school to visit the parents and families of its students. This also became an avenue for strengthening the partnership of parents and the school community.

To meet the demands of the growing community, Fr. Abaco resolved to improve the supervision of instruction by appointing a separate principal in each department. Ms. Edelisa L. Daco was put in charge of the Pre-Grades Department, Ms. Sozima A. Pimentel for the Elementary Department, and Ms. Anita M. Guerrero as the High School Principal. He also created an Administrative Council to aid in making major decisions affecting the school.

During his administration, Fr. Abaco also pushed for the reformation of the school’s vision-mission statement. It was for this reason that on October 2003, the first Catholic Achievers convention was held at Century Park Hotel, Malate, Manila. The event inaugurated the vision-mission of the school, together with the launching of the new school logo and the new school hymn. The school hymn, The Harvest is Great, was composed by Rev. Fr. Carlo Magno S. Marcelo, an established composer of religious and liturgical music who also produced the songs Jubilee Song (in celebration of the Great Jubilee Year) and Only Selfless Love (in celebration of World Meeting of Families). The hymn speaks about a mission to be sent and reap a bountiful harvest (which pertains to young hearts and minds to be transformed through education). From the earlier vision of “a transformed, hardworking, Christian Achiever,” the statement evolved to realizing “a globally-competent, hardworking, Catholic Achiever.”

The following year, the school underwent a strategic planning with Dr. Jesus Palma of Ateneo de Manila University. Spearheaded by Fr. Abaco, SICS went through community consultations in the process of streamlining its thrust for the next three years. As a result, the then reformed vision-mission statement was given its necessary modifications. Consequently, from being “a globally-competent, hardworking, Catholic achiever,” the vision geared towards producing “a well-rounded and hardworking Catholic Filipino achiever.”

Before Fr. Abaco’s transfer of assignment, he initiated an idea for pursuing a way of retelling the life of St. Isidore through creative means. The concept of putting a musical show based on St. Isidore’s life was pushed through.

It was a sad moment too that after 38 years of committed service to SICS, Ms. Edelisa L. Daco, the first teacher of SICS, retired as the Principal of the Pre-School Department on March 31, 2005.

On April 26, 2005, Rev. Msgr. Severino O. Lorica succeeded Fr. Abaco as the school director.

Msgr. Lorica was instrumental in bringing the then proposed musical play into fruition. He paved the way of making the life of St. Isidore alive on stage.

Msgr. Lorica also proved to be supportive in implementing the first year of the three-year strategic plan of SICS. He also prompted a number of physical improvements in the community, most especially in the parish.

Msgr. Lorica focused on the spiritual and catechetical formation of the whole San Isidro community. He emphasized on going back to the basics of our Catholic faith.

Msgr. Lorica envisioned increasing the number of parish organizations, groups, movements and ministries to attend to the needs of the parishioners. He also dreamt of making the school a “training ground” for students from other parishes. He desired to make SICS a seedbed of future parish church lay leaders. Under his pastoral leadership, he has networked with a number of parish priests and shared his aspiration of preparing the youth to be Catholic achievers. He has also labored on promoting religious vocations among the young and has untiringly pressed on to educate the people on the foundational teachings of the Church.

The San Isidro Parish community was the place where Msgr. Lorica began his priestly vocation. It was also the place where he decided to retire from his priestly ministry.

On May 31, 2010, Rev. Msgr. Gerardo O. Santos was officially appointed as Director of San Isidro Catholic School by His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales. Along with Msgr. Santos, Rev. Msgr. Cesar B. Pagulayan was also installed as the new Parish Priest of San Isidro Parish. It is the first time in the history of the community that the head of the parish is different from the head of the school. With the increasing demands and challenges for both parish and school, such arrangement brings renewed strength to the community.

As a respected educational leader of the MAPSA system schools, Msgr. Santos stirs a vibrant spirit in the school community.

Besides his distinguished accomplishments as a steward of a parish, schools and ministries, he is also known for his “hands-on” shepherding of the flock entrusted to him. His collaborative thrust and passionate vision have paved for Catholic and parochial institutions to network with each other and steer through a common direction to proclaim the Good News and to translate this proclamation into action.

As a visionary leader, he believes that Catholic education is an expression of the mission entrusted by Christ to the Church. Msgr. Santos seeks to make Christ alive in the school. He quests that the life in the Spirit be animated by all educators and school personnel that they may be “evangelized first, and then be evangelizers themselves” to the young people entrusted to their care.

Msgr. Santos is cultivating the seedbed of SICS as it prepares itself for PAASCU accreditation. He is plowing its fields that “Christ be formed” in all the learners.

Today, San Isidro Catholic School has around 42 faculty members and more than a thousand students from pre-school to the secondary level. With its academic programs, co-curricular activities and its enhanced vision and mission, the institution through the patronage of San Isidro takes up the challenges of providing quality Catholic Education in the next millennium.