Tugdaan Celebrates Commencement Exercises

Fr. Gilberto Antonio Marqueses, SVD

Recently, the Mangyan Center for Learning and Development, more popularly known in Mindoro as “Tugdaan” had their commencement exercises. It is an educational institution dedicated to serve the 8 Mangyan tribes in Oriental and Occidental Mindoro. Located in Naujan, this 9 hectare parcel of land strategically lies within the Paitan Mangyan Reservation Center.

Agpamago and Commencement Exercises

Established in 1989 by the Mangyan-alangan in partnership with concerned individuals, institutions and volunteers, Tugdaan seeks to equip our Mangyan brothers and sisters for a kind of education that would equip them to pursue their own development in the context of their culture, dreams and aspirations in life.

TUGDAAN: Mangyan Center for Learning and Development

We asked one of the Divine Word Missionaries assigned in the area, Fr. Gilberto Antonio Marqueses, SVD to give us a word or two about the presence of the SVDs in the area today. We also thanked him for providing us some photos.

Here is what he has to say:

Well in its most accurate sense, we just live with them, "dwelling among them." We don't run the school, we are not the founders of the school, nor the Holy Spirit sisters! It is a school run by the Mangyans themselves, we are neither founders because it was a dream of their founders. And it was the elders who literally built the classrooms.

While it is true that the initial money spent were from SVD (Fr Francis Gerry) and the SSpS, but we are mere facilitators and visitors. We come and we go!

So our presence is actually is just to live with them. Listen to each other's stories, exchange views and enrich one another with our experiences. And of course, the many testimonies of the encounters with the Sacred. Our presence: prophetic dialogue!