SBS-Buhi Mission celebrates 50 years of service

By Sr. Mary Anne Terrenal RGS     
      
(Buhi, Camarines Sur). Genesis recounts that the Almighty Lord created heaven and earth in six days   and everything he created gave him joy. He created the lakes and rivers and filled them with various kinds of sea creatures, and saw that it was good. His  artistry made him create  the smallest edible  fish in the world, measuring  less than a centimeter long and 1 millimeter wide. These he scattered in a picturesque lake in the Philippines which is called Lake Buhi.

Even then God had a special love for Buhi.  Billions of years later the second person of the Blessed Trinity chose to establish his residence in Buhi. He inspired the parish priest  Monsignor Vicente Vargas  that what Buhi needed was an exclusive school for girls. He asked the Good Shepherd Sisters to run the school.

Photo: From left, Srs. Aimee Olaguer, Maryanne Terrenal, Fe (Ancilla) Mendoza. (Photos by Gina Kuizon)The local ordinary of the archdiocese whose secretary Monsignor Vargas had been, wrote the general superior of the Good Shepherd Congregation. Four Sisters were named by the Provincial Leader of the Philippine Province   to pioneer the foundation.   With a zeal imitating   that of St. John Eudes and St. Mary Euphrasia, he left nothing to chance. He wanted the RGS to accept the challenge of a mission 24 hours by express railroad  from the capital of the Philippines; and he wanted his Buhi parishioners to accept his plans.On May 19, 1963,  50 years after the arrival of the first RGS missionaries in the country, the inauguration of this mission  was done with fanfare unequalled in the history  of  Good Shepherd foundations, but possible “only in the Philippines”. Organized by this energetic priest, it included a 2-hour motorcade, a solemn high Mass, boating around the lake,   fireworks and balloons. St. Bridget School developed  from an “exclusive” girls high school to a  a co-educational  institution, pronounced by the Dept of Education as the second best private high school in the Bicol region, topped only by a Catholic seminary of less than a hundred students. In 50 years it has graduated 6,934 students many of whom have become practicing professionals in their chosen fields of specialization.            

The Golden Jubilee 3-day celebration was organized by the current student  administration and student body.  On May 17, at 4:30 AM, the town was awakened by the DIANA.   The SBS drum and lyre band   marched around the town playing the SBS Hymn. Bridgetine and non-Bridgetine alike woke up to welcome the start of the Golden Jubilee Celebration. Upon their arrival, a group led by  Batch 74 rode to Cabatuan Village, to plant 2000 seedlings of different varieties, to uphold their thrust for the integrity of creation. The venue was a piece of land donated 30 years ago to a Good Shepherd Sister but which was left untilled except those parts cultivated by informal dwellers.          

At 7:30 AM the Sisters and members of the SBS family gathered at the parish square to start a 3-phase para-liturgy. Phase 1 was  the rendering of homage to the father-founder of the school, who remains are buried in the elevated stage at the foot of the statue of St. Francis of Assisi, the town patron saint.  After a moment of silence to commune with the priest-founder, some of the very first girls  whom Monsignor had personally recruited for his school offered floral bouquets . Then the assembly processed in silence to the quadrangle for the unveiling of the golden jubilee marker. After the Provincial leader and the principal unveiled it, the parish priest blessed it and sprinkled it with holy water.           

Photo: St. Mary Anne Yago and Sr. Maryanne Terrenal during the liturgy at the tomb of Msgr. Vargas.  

Phase 3 of the paraliturgy was the opening and blessing of the photo gallery, refurbished from an old classroom in the first building built after the ruins were demolished, with funds contributed by the First Fruits of the Harvest, the first graduating class. The 25 photoframes displayed the primitive beginnings, the first initiatives, the cultural and socio-economic growth and development, until the present co-curricular and extracurricular activities   of the students.  The youngest of the 12 priests produced by SBS blessed the gallery with great  gratitude.

At 9:00 AM, the medical-dental-surgical mission, which lasted all day, began. Sponsored by batch 1982, the  medical professionals,  all alumni of St. Bridget School, perfomed medical examinations, tooth-pulling, circumcision,  of around 400 patients , invited from the poorest of the poor families.Photo: Tingraw group during the Invocation. 

At  8 PM, a musical program started at the outdoor stage. Bandtology was a series of musical presentations  of the different alumni batches, a fund-raising campaign  to finance  the K-to-12 curriculum that is a must  now for all schools in the Philippines. We Sisters had the “balcony seats” to ourselves, but most found the music too loud and gaudy so we went to bed and slept through the “noise”.  

Day 2 of the 3-day celebration started at 4 AM, with a 3-kilometer and 5-kilometer Fun Run, another fund-raising campaign for the K-12 curriculum. About 300 people participated, and there were 20 prizes awarded to the first finishers. Some of the Sisters participated, even our contemplative Sister  imported  from Malaysia.

AT 9 AM batch 1988 invited all to the  Mass presided by Fr Edmundo Siguenza, Batch 1988, which started their Family Day celebration. The Jollibee mascot led the games and distributed the food to the 200 children chosen to take part in the event.

At. 1:00 PM  Batch 1983 had school supplies and varied prizes for poor children , a token of gratitude, they explained, for the values they had imbibed in St. Bridget School. 

We had a big surprise at 4 PM. All of a sudden Batch 1979 arrived with a flute and drum band, who  accompanied the Majorettes in their performance. Our  maintenance man Joubert belongs to this batch, and one of the majorettes just graduated from SBS in 2012.

The Tingraw Dance Company entertained us for 2 hours ar 8 to 10 PM. Their dances were choreographed by Sir Arnold Zaballa, once a high school dancer, and now a full-fledged teacher of the school. Several alumni groups also performed, as a sign of their loyalty to the school and their favorite dance company.

In the meantime the minute-to-minute  countdown  to midnight  was a busy evening in the parish square, where batches prepared their floats and awaited the moment of hailing May 19, 2013. Fireworks, toasts, shouts of victory signaled that St. Bridget has turned 50. 

May 19, 2013. Climax of 50 years.   At 8 AM,  Thanksgiving Mass concelebrated by Bridgetine alumni priests and loyal friends , headed by His Excellency Archbishop Rolando Octavius Tria Tirona, of the Archdiocese of Caceres. 
At 10,  a motorcade to reminisce the 1963 motorcade. A float parade  of 45 floats, each graduate batch showing off their particular pride. At 11,  a dance demonstration by the current student body and parents’ council.
At 12:30, the Thanksgiving luncheon, to recognize all the founders, friends, faculty, alumni, and RGS who have staked their lives to build St. Bridget School into what it is today.
From 6 PM to way after midnight,  Alumni Night. Thank you, God, for all that you have been and have given to St. Bridget School of Buhi. May we all continue to let your light shine.

Good Shepherd Sisters and Buhi's St. Francis of Asissi parish priest, Fr. Tony de los Santos during the first day of the celebration. (Photo by Teena Endozo)