WEEK 1 & 2 – HISTORY OF MATER DEI COLLEGE: EARLY

BEGINNINGS, FOUNDERS, AND FIRST BATCH OF STUDENTS AND

Welcome to this lesson on the history of Mater Dei College. In these weeks, you are
to accomplish the learning outcomes below:

1. Trace the history MDC

A. Introduction
Welcome to this course on Vision, Mission & Goal Orientation. Here, we will journey
together in immersing ourselves on the history of Mater Dei College, its early beginning,
founders and members, pioneering students and first curricular offerings.
B. LESSON CONTENT
MDC, Tree of Knowledge
Almost everyday birds of all sorts of and ages fly in and out of the “tree of knowledge” in
Cabulijan, to partake of its fruits. The name of the tree is Mater Dei College. Many have asked
who planted this tree and how it sprouted. There is only one answer: God, in His infinite wisdom
and through the intercession of the Mother of God, must have planted the seed of an idea of
founding a college in Tubigon in the minds of some men and women.
The year was around 1980 and the town was administered by a new appointee of then
president Marcos, Mayor Eufrasio Mascarinas. His secretary and concurrent secretary of the
Sangguniang Bayan of Tubigon , Cesar Mascarinas, suggested to the mayor that he would make
deeper impact in the lives of the people by leading the project of founding a college in Tubigon,
in addition to his many accomplishments in terms of constructing elementary schools, roads and
other infrastructures. At his bidding, he prepared a resolution requesting the President to open a
UP campus in Tubigon. Hon. Jose Ceballos, the Chairman of the SB Committee on Education
sponsored Resolution No., 8 series of 1973 which was unanimously approved by the body and
forwarded to the office of the President. To make the story short the request was not granted
despite numerous follow-up letters, resolutions and other documents. The papers must have
capsized in the shallow waters of the Office of the President or DECS. The Lord picked up and
dropped the seed on another ground and another time –Holy Cross Academy, in summer of 1983.
USJR’s dean of Graduate School, Dr. Torrefranca, launched the Institute of Continuing
Education and Community Outreach Program in Tubigon to bring the university to the countryside.
She led a team of topnotch lecturers from different universities in Cebu City to lecture at HCA,
giving teachers and those aiming for managerial and executive positions a chance to earn post-
graduate degrees.
 Most enrollees were public and private school teachers from Tubigon and the neighboring
towns. The SB secretary’s wife was one of the public school teachers.
Like the good wife that she was, always concerned over her husband’s welfare, she
“persuaded” him to enroll in the program. By unanimous viva voce vote the class elected him
class president. But he had an agendum quite “foreign” to the ICECOP.
After a lecture, he begged Madam Ludy to request USJR Father President to open a
branch in Tubigon, a request she transmitted to the head of the university and one that he flatly
rejected on the ground that USJR had just opened a campus in Pardo, Cebu City.
Surprisingly, Madam Ludy, as she was fondly called by students, brought back the
disappointing news with a smile. The good Father President capped the denial with a challenge
to Madam Ludy to lead the foundation of the college herself. She called a meeting between the
late Msgr. Camilo Auza, priest of St. Isidore parish, the ICECOP class president, Mr. Mascarinas,
and herself, during which she asked Mr. Mascarinas to convince the Tubigon SB to write a
resolution asking Fr. Luengo in the USA to come home and lead the foundation of a college in his
own hometown. Madam Ludy insisted that he had all the right reasons to lead the enterprise as
a genuine Tubigon (from the island barangay of Batasan), a doctoral degree holder from a
university in Spain, and a priest among others.
SELECT

From New York, Fr. Luengo instructed Madam Ludy to select prospective members of the
board of incorporators of the future college for which he and Madam Ludy had already chosen
the name, Mater Dei College, for a meeting in June 1983. Nine educators convened for that
historic event: Dr. Rose Alfafara, Msgr. Auza, JCL, Fr. Florante Camacho,SVD, Dr. Mariano Lerin,
Fr. Josemaria Luengo, Mr. Cesar Macarinas, Dr. Benjamin Mejorada, Atty. Mario Ortiz, and
Madam Ludy . Elected officers of the newly founded corporation were Fr. Luengo as chairman,
Madam Ludy as vice chair, Dr. Alfafara as treasurer, Dr. Lerin as auditor, Atty. Ortiz as legal officer
and Mr. Mascariñas as secretary. In another meeting, his excellency, Msgr. Felix Zafra and Dr.
Isidora S. Pastor were added as incorporators.
THE INCORPORATORS OF MATER DEI COLLEGE
1. Cesar C. Mascariñas, M.A.
2. Lourdes H. Torrefranca, Ph.D.
3. Msgr. Camilo V. Auza, H.P.
4. Rev. Fr. Josemaria S. Luengo, Ph.D.
5. Rose P. Alfafara, O.P.
6. Mariano M. Lerin, Ph.D., CPA
7. Rev. Fr. Florante S. Camacho, SVD
8. Atty. Mario Ortiz
9. Most. Rev. Felix S. Zafra
10. Engr. Saturnino B. Salera
11. Benjamin L. Mejorada, Ph.D.
12. Isidora S. Pastor, Ed.D.

The body agreed on the following matters: each member should contribute P50,000 to the
construction of the future college; look for an ideal piece of land for the college; that Msgr. Zafra
should select the site for the building, and Fr. Luengo should apply at the Department of Education
in Manila for the approval of the college.

One historic event followed after another. Mr. Mascariñas conducted ocular investigations
of prospective sites in Tubigon: a three-hectare rice field in Cogon, Pooc Oriental, one in
Guiwanon (now the present site of the “buwangan”), four lots in Tinangnan, and an area in
Cabulijan that he considered would make the most ideal site.

NEGOTIATE
One day he toured Bishop Felix Zafra to al the sites and the latter decided to negotiate
with the owner of the site in Cabulijan, the mayor of the town of Clarin, Engr. Saturnino Salera.
The mayor and his wife (first cousin of the bishop named Teodora Salera) agreed to make three
hectares of their coconut land in Cabulijan as their investment to the enterprise instead o
contributing p50,000. During the second meeting of the board, it decided to authorize the lady
members of the board to choose the most favorable time to start constructing the physical plant
of the college.
The first biggest problem encountered by the Founders was the difficulty of securing a
government permit to operate. The Secretary of Education and the Director of the private schools
at the time disapproved of the application for permit because of the moratorium prohibiting the
opening of a college. Fortunately, a certain unknown boatman from Tubigon, Mr. Felomino
Gulayan, was discovered to be an effective bridge to facilitate fast approval by seeing President
Ferdinand Marcos, whom he helped escape from the Japanese through his boat. The very brief
scribbling of Pres. Marcos to release the permit hand carried by Mr. Gulayan cut short all red tape
for approval.
The laying of the cornerstone of the college was done in February 1984 and serious
construction work began immediately. The President- elect Rev. Fr. Jose Ma. Luengo
accomplished the almost herculean task of getting approval of opening the college by the
Department of Education, Culture and Sports with the blessing of Malacañang.
In June of 1984, with hardly the first and main building of the college finished in the form
of the letter “M”, classes for some 90 pioneering students started with Rev. Fr. Luengo at its helm.
The first Batch of Educands and Curricular Offerings
The pioneering students and staff attended the first flag raising ceremony on June 18,
1984. On the first year of operation, MDC had 90 enrolees. The first curricular offerings were:
Bachelor of Arts (AB) and Bachelor of Science in Commerce {BSC).
Three more courses were added in June 1985; Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED),
Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSED), and a two-year Junior Secretarial Course (JSC). The
College held her first commencement exercises with 10 pioneering graduates in AB and BSC in
March 1988. Dr. Eladio Dioko, Asst. Regional Director at the time, was the first commencement
speaker. From then on, Mater Dei College has continued to turn over to the world graduates
equipped with sturdy wings to fly all over the world wherever fate would take them.
 With God’s blessing and through the constant intercession of the Mother of God, the “tree
of knowledge” has sprouted and grown into quite a giant tree, with numerous birds singing on its
branches.
It promises to grow into a giant tree of knowledge, always under the shadow of God’s
wings, the perpetual intercession of the Mother of God (Mater Dei), and the prayers of the women
and men who have dedicated their lives to the Christian education of the youth of Bohol and the
country, and who now stand before the throne of the Lamb.

Source: THE EXEMPAR. MDC’s School Paper.

C. Teaching-Learning Activities
Answer the question below.

1. What is the importance of knowing the history of MDC?

Submit your answer thru Moodle.