St. John Institute celebrate Chinese New Year

St. John’s Institute backed by 50 years of productive existence in the educational milieu of Bacolod City continues her service in Christian apostolate and perseveres in her pursuit of academic excellence.

On May of 1953, Chinese priests came to Bacolod City upon the invitation of the Most Rev. Msgr. Manuel Yap, Bishop of Bacolod. Slowly but steadily, they brought out the Chinese people into active participation in the Christian community. Fr. John B. Liu organized them and the Chinese Catholic Association, Chinese Catholic Youth and the Legion of Mary were formed. In 1956, Don Alfredo Montelibano Sr. generously donated a 5,000 sq. m. lot on which to build the Chinese Catholic Center. This was the “home base” where the different organizations gathered for Mass and other spiritual activities. It was then, that these pioneering priests thought that a school would be the most effective means to reach out and evangelize the Filipino-Chinese Catholics.

Thus in 1959, two years after the blessing of the Center, Hua Ming Catholic School (now St. John’s Institute) came into being. The humble beginnings of St. John’s Institute was both exciting and challenging. Classes were then held at the market stalls of Capitol Shopping Center. The enrollment of 310 pupils in Kindergarten and the primary far exceeded expectations. Hence, the first Hua Ming School building was constructed and some months after the school opened, classes were moved to the new building. From then on, there was no stopping the school’s growth and progress.

The Filipino Chinese Catholic Community saw the contributions of SJI; therefore, they gave their full support to the school. In 1961, the construction of the elementary building began and saw completion the following year. Student population increased tremendously and they felt a need to establish a school ground and other facilities. However, with the spirit of self-sacrifice, the enterprising administrators and the resourceful teachers made do with what was available and learned to cope with those limitations.

With God’s providence, SJI today has progressed and expanded to a two and half hectare campus. The 60’s were years of struggle for survival and growth. Yet, with the support of magnanimous benefactors, the cornerstone of the Church was laid in 1964 and saw completion of the Queen of Peace Church in 1966. It was the visual symbol of the conviction that “God is with us.”

The 70’s saw the period of strengthening the educational policies of the school. At this point, Filipino enrollees increased, attracted to the Johnian education marked by quality and discipline. The priests considered this as the Will of God so that ecumenism be promoted and integration be facilitated. In 1976, the St. John’s Activities Center was constructed and this facility has enriched the students’ experiences. It has become the venue for sports events, cultural programs, concerts, and other national conventions and historical events.

The 80’s saw the increasing number of graduates who now have made good in their chosen field of endeavor. As a lasting monument of her Silver Jubilee in 1984, the Kindergarten Complex was constructed to provide better facilities for Kinder pupils.

In the 90’s SJI had a niche in the academic world as a school dedicated to the formation of boys and girls in academic excellence with a sense of discipline firmly rooted in the Christian faith and committed to the service of God and people.

As SJI embarks on the new millennium, she is poised like an eagle ready to soar to greater heights and equipped to fish in deeper waters. With the completion of the new High School building equipped with the latest state-of-the-art facilities, SJI will move onward with renewed vigor and determination to surpass what had already been accomplished. The year 2009 saw the completion of the SJI Ayala Campus.

Having celebrated her Golden Jubilee, St. John’s Institute looks ahead in the spirit of thanksgiving for the past blessed and productive fifty years with a focused objective of becoming a premier school.

“If God is with us who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31) Yes, all these years OUR HEAVENLY FATHER has seen SJI through and He will be with the Johnian family for always.

Hua Ming honors founding fathers

In celebrating the Chinese New Year, the students of St. John’s Institute along with their parents, faculty members, alumni and officials paid homage through a Eucharistic Mass to their founding fathers that helped build the school and the Queen of Peace Church.

The mass, in Mandarin, was concelebrated by Fr. Rhomel Mendoza, who stressed the need to continue the Chinese culture and serve as examples for future generations.

Hua Ming also took the opportunity to light incense candles in honor of their founders – Msgrs. John Liu and John Su - and donors, particularly Don Alfredo Montelibano Sr. and other members of the Chinese community that helped create the only Chinese Catholic school in Bacolod.

Odette Ong-Gomez, president of the school’s Parent’s Council, said part of the festivities was reading the names of the donors “to remind the students of the individuals who helped put up SJI, some of whom were not even Catholic but believed in the vision of our founding fathers.”

Recently, Hua Ming was in the news after it made an appeal to the Diocese of Bacolod to convert the Queen of Peace parish into a chapel and allow the school and its religious congregation partner to manage the same after a perceived conflict that parish management and activities have been hampering on school activities.

SJI Board of Trustees president, Cesar Villanueva, reiterated their call to Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon to resolve the conflict as soon as possible so as not to escalate the situation.

Villanueva pointed out that SJI has agreed to strengthen security measures in the campus which also houses the church after a series of attempted kidnappings and robbery.

Having a parish in their midst that needs to be open to the faithful at all times of the day has complicated things “but we have to protect our school, we have to protect our students, we have to tighten our security and we know that in doing so, that will also hamper the parish that’s why we are hoping the Bishop will resolve this immediately,” he said.

Villanueva added they will do everything possible to ensure that they stay true to the wishes of Msgr. John Su, who appealed to then Bishop Vicente Navarra to bring the chapel back to the school before his death.

He said they are in a “continuing dialogue” with the Bishop who told them he will arrive at a decision sometime April, thus they were caught by surprise when the parish pastoral council read in a letter alleging that Buzon already told them he will not grant SJI’s appeal.

“We respected the Bishop’s wishes to wait for a while but we are being pushed against the wall,” Villanueva said, adding they’ve already sent a letter to Buzon asking for clarification.

SJI said they are also making alternative plans and while legal remedies is “the last resort, if there is a deadlock, we may be forced to seek adjudication from the courts.”

Gomez, on the other hand, said that with all due respect to the Diocese, “when things are not working out anymore, and this has been ongoing for some time, it is best to resolve the conflict and think of the student’s and the school’s welfare.”