(Editor's note: Below is the annual Philippine District report released for publication by Br. Visitor Dodo Fernandez, FSC via FSC Bulletin 2010 - 21 dated April 28, 2010.)

2009 Philippine District Report Released

2009 District Report

District of the Philippines

In 2009 there were 48 Brothers working in the District of the Philippines spread across 10 communities in the archipelago with one Brother working as a missionary in the Sub District of Myanmar. That is an average of roughly five Brothers per community with 3 being the smallest and 8 the biggest.

Most of the communities are clustered in the Luzon group of islands, five active communities and two formation houses one of which is the novitiate for the Pacific and Asia region. There are two communities in Mindanao and one in the Visayas. The table below shows the number of Brothers per community and the institutions served:

Total 48

The average age of the Brothers in 2009 was 48 with seven Brothers above 60 and three above 70. There were six Brothers in temporary vows with two novices pronouncing their first vows, which brought the number of young brothers to eight. We had one postulant enter the novitiate, which brought the number of novices to two. Three aspirants became postulants.

One Brother, Ceci Hojilla, passes away in 21 June 2009.

In SY 2008 - 2009, the 17 La Salle schools in the Philippines had a total of 91,515 students. De La Salle University accounted for the biggest portion of the population with15,078 students (16.5% of the whole student population), followed by University of St. La Salle with 12,657 students (13.9%) and then De La Salle University – Dasmariñas with 11,962 students (12.8%). Regionally, our student population was spread out as follows: Luzon with 65, 433 students (71.5% of the student population), followed by Visayas with 15,374 students (16.8%), and then Mindanao with 10,708 students (11.7%)

Spread across the 17 schools were 8 types of educational services offered to the public: Pre-school, Grade School (Primary), High School (secondary), Night High School, Adult Night HS, Tech/Voc programs, Undergraduate studies and Graduate studies. 10 offered Pre-school education, 12 offered Grade School, 12 offered High School, 5 offered Night High School, 3 offered Adult Night HS, 4 offered Technical/Vocational programs, 12 offered Undergraduate studies and 6 offered Graduate studies for a total of 64 types of educational services offered.

The District has five universities and seven colleges for a total of 12 institutions offering tertiary education with 284 undergraduate program offerings and 164 graduate programs. These include two Colleges of Medicine and one law school with two set to open next school year.

These educational services were made possible by the work of 8,141 administrators, faculty and staff plus the 43 Brothers.

Accessibility of Lasalllian Education in the Philippines. Private education in the Philippines tends to be expensive, as such the District of the Philippines has made a commitment to make Lasallian education accessible by having a 20% Full Scholar Equivalent (FSE) in every school by 2011 when the District celebrates its Centennial.

The FSE average for mainstream programs for SY 2008-09 is 11.36% of total student population. All in all, the scholarships we provided to 14,639 students in mainstream programs cost us P578.4M. For special programs (night schools, vocational/technical, etc.), FSE was at 95.18%. Of the 11 schools that offer special programs, 5 schools provide 100% subsidy while 3 give more than 100% (may include stipend, book allowance, etc.). Mainstream and special programs combined stands at 15.04% and the total cost of educational subsidy provided to the 18,628 scholars last SY was P653.8M.

Having said that, the 20% Full Scholar Equivalent as a measurement of the accessibility of Lasalian education continues to evolve as the District regularly discusses and debates its merits. Perhaps the longer-term value of the FSE is that it encourages the Lasallian Family in the Philippines to constantly dialogue about accessibility and its related merits.

Through the initiative of our District Bursar we took the opportunity to evaluate the way we managed our resources in the District. In the past we would finance our District formation programs by dipping into the capital of our endowment funds thus our funds would never reach the desired levels. With the 2008 – 2009 crisis, our funds dipped into levels that concerned us thus forcing us to find new ways to manage our funds and resources.

We have had to tighten our belts and assess our expenses. We cut unnecessary spending and kept some programs almost to a bare minimum. Our funds are now recovering and will probably be returning to 2008 levels within the next two years. Best of all we have been able to do these without cutting any formation program.

Lasallian Family Formation. With 91,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff, Lasallian Family formation continues to be a major concern for the District. Aside from the three regular programs that we hold annually, Return to Vaugirard (RTV), Lasallian Special Studies Institute (LSSI) and Lasallian Leadership Formation Program (LLFP), the District through De La Salle Philippines, embarked on a five-year formation program for school administrators entitled Lasallian Learning Leaders Congress.

The congress aims to incorporate the Lasallian Guiding Principles, a document created by the Lasallian Family in 2005, into the curriculum of all La Salle schools from primary all the way to tertiary. In the process it will evaluate all programs and curricular offerings. It is an ambitious five-year plan, which will hopefully have as output a renewed curriculum steeped in Lasallian values. The Lasallian Learning Leaders Congress is also a response to the Department of Education’s directive to adopt a new pedagogical paradigm called Understanding by Design.

The first phase took place in April 2009 in two venues, one in Manila for the Luzon schools and another in Bacolod for the schools in Mindanao and the Visayas. It brought together 160 learning leaders from the 17 schools of the District.

Restructuring in PARC: The LEAD District. The LEAD District, to be formally inaugurated in 15 months’ time, can trace its roots to the meeting of Br. Superior and his council with PARC in 2003 in Bacolod when we were asked to look at the possibility of restructuring.

In its original incarnation only five sectors were part of LEAD: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines and Singapore. Thailand joined the group in 2007 and then Japan in 2008. The Alliance Council, the council of the seven sector heads, have met five times and have made tremendous progress in bringing the restructuring to its fruition.

Some major steps towards this have been the creation of the LEAD website which was set up in the third quarter of 2009 and the formulation of the proposed LEAD statutes. The latter was formulated in October 2009 and sent to the seven sectors for comments. It was discussed in the fifth Alliance Council meeting in Colombo held early this year. The Statutes will be finalized in a Constitutive Assembly to be held in Manila in April and will then be forwarded to the Superior General for approval.

The restructuring of the District together with six other sectors in Asia is a major development for us. In 2007 and 2008 I made presentations to the communities during my canonical visits. The restructuring has generally been accepted and in fact I am surprised at the lack of very strong opposition to it.

The District Retreat of 2011 will be dedicated to the closure of the District of the Philippines so that the Brothers can be allowed to ritualize both individually and collectively this important event. As we begin to wind down our own District and anticipate a new phase of Lasallian presence in the Philippines we look to a renewed commitment and zeal in the education of the poor in the country.

District Centennial Celebration. In 16 June 2011 the District of the Philippines will open its celebration of its centennial presence. It will be a one-year celebration of various activities. The opening will be graced by Br. Vicar General and the closing, exactly a year later, will be graced by Br. Superior. Among the major activities lined up during the year would be an IALU Conference and the UMAEL World Congress.

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