Malate Catholic School

esus” (presently known as the RVM Sisters) taught the children of the locality in the “Escuela Catolica de Malate”, an evidence which is shown in a picture of the Beatas’ presence in the year 1909.

1917 – The Redemptorist Fathers who were in-charge of the parish started the formal foundations of the parochial school with Fr. Terence Brown, CSsR, as the first director and Mother Alix (a Belgian sister from St. Theresa’s College) as the first principal

1941 – Japanese forces attacked the country and Malate was devastated. The school closed and the classrooms were converted into hospital wards under the American Red Cross – the Remedios Hospital.

1945 – Year of the American Liberation. The Columban Fathers were in-charge of the parish. John Lalor was killed in the hospital premises, while the others were killed in the church with the other martyrs.

1946 – The school re-opened after the repairs under the leadership of Fr. Sheehan.


1957 – The year when the management of the school was turned over to the Columban Sisters, with Sr. Mary Bernardine as the first superior.

1963-1983 – MCS experienced a lot of progress and growth in student population, and construction of a new building was needed. In 1972, a five-storey building was opened for the girls’ high school which is now the Assumption Building. It was blessed by the late Rufino J. Cardinal Santos, DD, the Archbishop of Manila on January 22, 1972.

1974 – Fr. James McCarthy directed the school with the Columban Sisters

1975 – Bishop Leonardo Lagaspi, OP, DD headed the School Board and Sr. Ma. Laetetia was appointed Assistant School Directress.

1977 – MCS became the first National Quiz Bee Champion – History Category.

1978 – MCS became a member of Center for Educational Measurement (CEM) and made use of their varied test materials.

1982 – In April of this year, the school was put under a Board of Trustees headed by Bishop Gaudencio Rosales, DD, Auxuliary Bishop of Manila. Sr. Mary Laetetia was appointed School Directress.

1983 – MCS passed the PAASCU preliminary accreditation

1985 – A three-storey building, named after San Lorenzo Ruiz was built in the Boys’ campus

1986 – The school purchased a residential house and lot adjacent to the Boys’ campus. This house was used as a typing room, medical clinic for the boys. This was later renovated to become the RVM Sisters’ convent in 1990.

1987 – MCS had the 2nd Formal Re-visit by PAASCU and was granted a five-year accreditation status.

1988 – The school first participated in the Rotary-sponsored Public Speaking contest and won on the national level. The school delegate was sent to London and won the international level competition. The school representative to the Manila City Girls and Boys’ Week was elected Youth Mayor of the city.

1990 – Management of the school by the Columban Sisters was turned over to the RVM Congregation with Sr. Rita Ferraris, RVM as the appointed school directress. On July 16, 1990 a killer quake ravaged Luzon and partly destroyed the old grade school building. This necessitated a construction of a new Our Lady of Remedies building launched through a fund-raising drive dubbed “Piso Mula sa Puso”

His Eminence Jaime Cardinal L. Sin, Archbishop of Manila assisted by Bishop Manuel Sobreviñas, his auxiliary and chairman of the MCS Board of Trustees blessed and laid the corner stone of the building on October 23, 1990.

1991 – Sr. Clarita R. Balleque, RVM came to replace Sr. Rita on Dec. 8, 1990. MCS launched its Diamond Jubilee on the same year and preparations for third PAASCU re-survey were underway.


1992 – Monsignor Gabriel Reyes, DD, then the Auxiliary Bishop of Manila launched the Madre Ignacia Movement, Malate chapter on March 1. On the same year, MCS underwent the 3rd PAASCU Re-survey using for the first time Form B of the analysis and evaluation process. The school was once again granted a five-year accreditation status.

1994 – On July 4, 1994, His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, DD blessed the new Our Lady of Remedies building which houses the library, computer & science laboratories, faculty room and classrooms for the girls grade school. Construction of a new Madre Ignacia building in the Boys campus also started. Clarita encouraged the school community to put up a credit cooperative (which at present is growing in membership and financial capacity).

1995 – Sr. Rafaela Q. Singzon, RVM replaced Sr. Clarita having been elected as Superior General of the RVM Congregation. Msgr. Manuel Sobreviñas, chair of the MCS Board of Trustees blessed the Madre Ignacia building in the Boys campus where the libraries, science & computer laboratories and faculty rooms are located. MCS became a host school of local and foreign delegates in the World Youth Day celebration when Pope John Paul II spearheaded the event.

1997 – This school year ushered a lot of physical improvement:

· Renovation of the AV-Little Theater
· Construction of the new Immaculate Conception building
· Renovation of the school gymnasium and its dedication in honor of His Eminence Jaime Cardinal L. Sin, DD
· Expansion of the canteen in both Boys and Girls’ campus
· Launching of the internet service in the Multimedia Center of the Immaculate Conception building
· Construction of the Queen of Peace Ladies Dormitory at the site of the Sisters’ convent
· Conversion of the three classrooms in the ground floor of the St. Joseph building in the Boys Campus into a Function room and a social hall.
· Computerization of the Finance Office.

1998 – PAASCU conducted its 4th Re-survey of the school. MCS again used the Form B and was granted another five-year accredited status. The Immaculate Conception building was blessed in time for the PAASCU visit. The building houses the chapel, directress office, faculty room, music and art rooms, ballet room, classrooms for the girls high school and the PE hall at the rooftop. Monsignor Gerardo O. Santos, the Superintendent of MAPSA-South Manila was the new Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The school gymnasium was renovated to have more bleachers for the audience.

2001 – Sr. Alice S. Tan, RVM took over Sr. Singzon, RVM as school Directress. This was a year of great re-structuring of the departments and the integration of the entire school program. The retirement of two principals paved the way to the integration of the Grade School Department (no longer Boys or Girls Grade School department) and the High School Department. The Board of Trustees appointed one principal for the Grade School and Sr. Alice Tan, the Directress was the concurrent and transitional principal of the High School department.

2002 – A new high school principal was appointed and the integration was more strengthened. Significant developments were undertaken:
· Intensification of the Program of Instruction with the creation of the Curriculum Committee
· Re-designing of the school curriculum to include special courses in speech, SRA and computer and in consonance of the new DepEd Basic Education Curriculum (BEC)
· Empowerment of the lay administrators with the adoption of the Minimum Level of Authority strategy in decision-making
· Venture into ISO (international standards) certification through the training of a pool of IQAs (Internal Quality Auditors) who would regularly assess or evaluate services of the school ensuring quality
· Refinement and re-writing of the school’s mission-vision
· Installation of the “cool mist system” in the gym – donated by MCS Alumni Association
· Provision of an official office for the Parent-Teachers Advisory Council (PTAC)

2003 - MCS is recognized to having quality management meeting international standards with the ISO 9001-2000 certification awarded by TUV Rheinland Philippines, an external agency. The awarding ceremony was well attended by the members of the Board of Trustees, Msgr. Manuel Sobreviñas, former BOT Chair, officers of the MCS Alumni Association, Parents Council and guests from the Department of Education and from the city government. Self-contained class for grades one and two was adopted as well as co-educational classes for the same levels. The school also launched the festivals for fathers, mothers and children in celebration of the 4th World Meeting of Families in Manila. MCS Administrators together with the Internal Quality Auditors went for a trip to Thailand on April 3-6, 2003 to benchmark with the Assumption University. The school applied for membership in International Organizations: Association of Human Resource Practitioners of the Philippines (ASHPPI), World Council for Curriculum and Instruction (WCCI). The Alumni Association of the school revived its annual alumni homecoming, intensified its scholarship program and also launched fund-raising drives for school improvement.

2004 - The 5th PAASCU re-survey was conducted in August. MCS is again granted another five-year accredited status with an interim visit in the area of instruction on the third year. The school adopted a computerized grading system. MCSAA gave tribute and awards of recognition to outstanding graduates/alumni. Alice has prepared the school community for another significant integration of the high school and grade school departments. The Administrative Council through the approval from the BOT, decided to appoint only one Principal for MCS before the school year ended. Electrical re-wiring was undertaken in the Boys campus buildings for further improvement and safety purposes. Non-Formal program and Night High school started through the initiative of the Social Action Center.

2005 – Sr. Celestine T. Viernes, RVM is the new Directress replacing Sr. Alice Tan, RVM. MCS started to have one Principal for the entire school. This was a decision to make the school community closer, strongly united in one shared mission-vision. Groups of administrators and teachers from Japan, Korea and Singapore came to visit MCS. Key administrators of Southville International School, Paranaque also visited MCS for a round-table discussion on ISO certification process. The school made use of biometric identification system for attendance of employees.

2006 - The school invested in the air-conditioning system of all classrooms with the approval from the Board of Trustees. Celestine converted the non-functional ballet room in the Immaculate Conception building into a museum where the memorabilia of the school in the past years are exhibited. Continuous service and physical improvements were undertaken:

· Establishment of a research center
· Drafting, adoption and implementation of several programs: Wellness, Research, Recruitment and Retention, Management Succession and Supervisory Programs for Principal, Vice Principal /Academic Coordinator, Subject Area Coordinator and Physical Plant Supervisor.
· Repair, re-opening and use of the elevator in the Assumption building to facilitate classroom monitoring.
· Transfer of two speech laboratories in the Boys campus to San Lorenzo building.
· Provision of billboards in both campuses by MCSAA.
· Official and formal establishment of the Night High School for out-of-school youth with recognition from the Department of Education.
· Grant of international visit or travel on easy payment scheme was offered to faculty and staff creating a venue for first-hand learning of different cultures and for broader exposure (first trip was to China, Macau and Hong Kong).
· Visit of the Directress and Principal to King’s School in Bangkok, Thailand.
· Provision of the digital time clock in the gym donated by the PTACI.
· Putting up of a Yamaha School of Music Extension Center in school for students who wanted to further their talents and skills in the field.

2007 – All sections / classes are named after saints

Night High School enrolment increased to over one hundred students. The first batch of Fourteen (14) NHS graduates had their graduation on April 11, 2008. The PTAC office was moved to a new place in the ground floor of the Immaculate Conception building

The old, flat sheet-entrance gates of the two campuses were replaced with iron gates bearing the school name and logo. The boys campus façade was also given a facelift. The high school speech laboratory was upgraded with elevated seating, new console, video gadgets. Science and Mathematics Coordinators were sent to National Institute of Education(NIE), Singapore for training and benchmarking for 7 days on April 2007. MCS Alumni Association made the repair of the gymnasium roofing as their project for the year. The school participated in Rotary-sponsored Voice of the Youth extemporaneous speaking contest. MCS delegate won on the national level and was sent to compete in London, England for the international level.

2008 - In preparation for the opening of another school year in 2008, the Boys’ library was renovated and extended up to the third floor of the Madre Ignacia Building to accommodate more students. Ten more computer units were purchased to increase working and research stations with internet connections in the library. The Library also adopted a new computerized system of cataloguing and accessing books. The buildings in the Boys’ Campus were repainted and new lighting was installed in the ground floor lobby of the St. Joseph building

School administrators, particularly the Administrative Council went for another benchmarking trip to Singapore in May. They visited the National Institute of Education, a part of Nanyang University system where they experienced the new trend of facilitating learning in the University’s “Classrooms of the Future”. They also benchmarked on computer-aided instruction at LEAD (LEarning ADvantage). In October, the Subject Area Coordinators and Student Services Unit Heads also visited NIE, Nanyang University and LEAD to have a first-hand experience of what schools abroad have which could be adopted in MCS. An encoding center is set up in the boys campus. The school received recognition from CEM for 30 years of partnership. The Board of Trustees with its Chair, Monsignor Gerardo O. Santos recommended during their July meeting the transfer of the Girls Grade School in the Boys campus to make it into the Grade School Campus, and the Boys High to the girls’ campus and change it to High School Campus. This recommendation would serve well the school financially as it could save on books and facilities (from 4 sets of books or 4 speech laboratories to just two (2)). It is in this year that the faculty and staff of Malate Catholic School have their gala uniform. The first communicants also wear their white gala dress during their first communion which will then be used starting SY 2009-2010 every first Friday of the month.