Escuela Catolica de San Pedro

Regarded as the oldest Filipino religious order, Beaterio de la Compania de Jesus (Religious of the Virgin Mary), was found in 1684 in Manila by Venerable Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo with the purpose ‘To seek the greater service and honor of God.’ It is a centralized religious institute of consecrated life imbued with pontifical status in 1931.

The society’s involvement in Mindanao commenced in 1874 when the sisters reached Tamontaca, a village of Cotabato City. Their arrival meant the participation in pastoral work and immersion in non-parish engagements. The Muslims, however, expressed revulsion to their presence by torching the orphanage they established and killed a member of the congregation.

Unfazed, the sisters coordinated with the Jesuits and later opened new missions in Dapitan, Dipolog, Zamboanga, Surigao, and Butuan before the Spaniards were expelled in 1898.

During American rule, with the approval of Msgr. Martin Garcia Alocer as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Manila, the RVM Sisters assigned in various mission stations convened in a general chapter on June 21, 1902, installing Sr. Maria Efigenia Alvarez of Ermita, Manila, as the firstever mother general. As head, she encouraged members to pursue higher education at the University of Santo Tomas in preparation for the teaching mission and in the supervision of academic institutions the order was planning to open.

That year, she ordered the opening of a mission in Davao with Mother Severina Santos as superior, along with Mother Clara Ramirez, and Mother Engracia Herrera as assistants. Upon arrival, they were greeted by Teodoro Lanaban Palma Gil, a Baganga, Davao Oriental, educator and who was Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s classmate at Ateneo Municipal (Ateneo de Manila). At the time, he was Davao’s deputy to the office of American governorgeneral William Howard Taft.

In the next two years, the sisters instructed children and prepared the groundwork for the launch of a full-fledged learning institute. While conducting religious and other pastoral obligations, Palma Gil provided them lodging at his residence. Later, Sinforosa Bangoy vda. de Joven, daughter of a landed gentry, donated a house, which the sisters converted into a dorm and classroom. This development became the stimulus for families to inspire their kids to attend classes. The lack of schools added incentive to parents to expose their kids to religious instruction.

In 1906, as the number of enrollees grew and the need for more classrooms was felt, the sisters leased the building owned by Cenon Rasay, an abaca planter to accommodate more classes.

Meanwhile, the construction of the structure that would house the sisters did not start until 1907. The convent was built inside the San Pedro Parish premises, where the nuns also took up residence. When the sisters decided to launch the school, it chose the name Escuela Catolica de San Pedro, in tribute to the town’s patron saint and the street where the convent was located. The institute was exclusive for girls and offered only primary and intermediary courses.

The sectarian institute got government recognition in 1933, coinciding with the renaming of the school as Immaculate Conception Academy. In 1938, the academy produced its first high school graduates, and for the second time, changed its name to Immaculate Conception Institute.

During the Commonwealth, ICI closed its doors when war broke out. The institute was only a hundred meters away from the Army barracks. Being a girls’ school, the sisters wanted to spare the students from abuses. Notably, the teachers and students had already fled with their families.

After the liberation of the city, ICI picked up the broken pieces. It was an excruciating struggle towards recovery but in 1947, through perseverance, it finally got recognition for its high-school level. The following year, with more students enrolling at the San Pedro campus, the school took on a new title as Immaculate Conception College, coinciding with the offering of two undergraduate courses. (21)