My good friend and former schoolmate Butch Bacaoco (picture below) wrote a great article about the lessons learned from
Don Bosco Technical Institute-
Victorias and
Victorias Milling Company. I am posting it here in its entirety. Butch writes for the
Sun Star-Bacolod Opinion Section.
JANUARY 31 marks the feast day of St. John Bosco, founder of Don Bosco schools which advocate education, skills training and spiritual formation for the young all over the world. From the first school founded by Don Bosco (Don = Father) in what is now part of Turin, Italy in 1845, the Salesians of Don Bosco now operate almost 3,000 such technical schools and shelters worldwide.
On January 31, all Don Bosco-Victorias alumni and past pupils and their families will troop to their alma mater to celebrate Don Bosco's feast day. Batch '84, the silver jubilarians and host of this year's homecoming, has lined up a variety of games and activities which the young and the young at heart will definitely enjoy.
Negros counts itself blessed with a Don Bosco school in Victorias which was founded in 1951. The first Salesian priests came from Hong Kong where they sought shelter after they were expelled from their missionary work by Mao Zedong during China's Cultural Revolution. Don Miguel Ossorio Sr., founder of Victorias Milling Company, invited the Salesians to continue
their apostolic mission in Victorias. The rest is history.
Don Bosco-Victorias was initially intended to serve the dependents of Vicmico employees so that they can later on also work in the mill like their parents. As such, the school's operations were wholly subsidized by Vicmico. A six-hectare lot was given to the Salesians where they constructed the school out of materials, equipment and labor provided by Vicmico.
Vicmico provided the Salesians with vehicles, water, electricity and telephone services for free. Cooks, janitors, drivers and other support staff necessary for the school's operations were also granted, all of whom were under Vicmico's payroll. Teachers, including Salesians, received the same pay and perks as supervisory employees of Vicmico while the head of the Salesians enjoys the same salary and privileges as a department head of Vicmico.
Thus, without having to worry about their daily needs during those years, the Salesians were able to totally concentrate on educating the young under their care. Don Bosco graduates became much in demand, even if they finished just highschool, because they were proficient in welding, lathe machine operations, electricity, electronics, carpentry, and other highly employable skills.
World sugar prices collapsed in 1985. That was the year we graduated from Don Bosco. Our guest speaker was economist Bernie Villegas. We had the feeling that Villegas was invited not so much to inspire the graduates but to enlighten their parents on what was happening to the sugar industry.
I vividly recall Villegas saying: "The economic difficulties we are experiencing is because of the collapse of world sugar prices and Negros, particularly Vicmico, is right in the midst of this economic storm."
Numerous mills capsized from that economic storm. Fortunately, Vicmico
kept itself afloat because of its diversification projects, notably the prawn industry which was booming at that time.
School Year 85-86 held bleak prospects for us, Batch '85 graduates. Some of my well-to-do classmates were able to proceed to college but, instead of Manila, they had to content themselves with studying in Bacolod. Some of us who were not well-off accepted the fact that we have to find work to help sustain our families and, if circumstances allow, somehow pursue our college education.
Here is where our training from Don Bosco-Victorias served us in good stead. Though we were just highschool graduates, we were endowed with technical skills which enabled us to find jobs immediately. Some of our classmates who cannot afford to go to college went to work with Vicmico, in Cebu, in Marsteel in Manila, and in other machine shops. I myself worked in a machine shop in Victorias by day and studied at La Salle by night.
We survived the sugar industry's downturn in 1985, thanks largely to our holistic formation in Don Bosco-Victorias. Our hearts were filled with faith and hope. Our minds were honed to arrive at judicious decisions. Our limbs were trained to perform industry-specific skills. Thus, we survived and prevailed. Next year, our batch will already be the silver jubilarians in Don Bosco-Victorias.
The Salesians were able to cater to the youth of Negros and of the neighboring islands because of the benevolence of Vicmico. Thousands of Vicmicans finished their college education and impoved their lots in life because of Vicmico's support, in coordination with SIFI.
Alas! Vicmico withdrew its subsidies from Don Bosco in the late '90s when the company "over-extended" itself. But what Vicmico has done in support of its employees and their dependents in the many years prior to that is the benchmark in corporate social responsibility which all sugar industry stakeholders must measure up to.
Vicmico and Don Bosco had shown that education and training can equip the young to survive even the worst crisis that hit the sugar industry. May sugar industry leaders take heed of these lessons!
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To all Bosconians, especially to my fellow Batch '85, "We survived! We prevailed! Hail Don Bosco, our loving father!"
To Butch, thanks for granting me permission to post the entire article here. Altiora Quero.
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