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Dear Fr. David and Parishioners,

How are you? We highly appreciate your interest to support us in our mission. Our main focus is formation of the whole person, journeying with each person and helping in their development leading them to build their own future. It is directed towards the family in particular to the youth and children and parents without jobs.

Our parish is situated in the Province of Bataan (some two hour drive from Manila) in the rural area of Pagalanggang in the town of Dinalupihan. Our parish is dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish. Many of the parents work in rice fields owned by landlords coming from Pampanga (the neighbouring province) and other towns of Bataan. The families are big and work is not constant due to the rainy season. Several of the parents are working abroad looking for a better future and on the other hand this is creating some social problems like the reality of street kids with their consequences and other family problems. Being a rural area there is no place of recreation or where to spend some time with the family, like parks.

Many youth and children attend our programs since the beginning of the parish, 2005. This has inspired us to organize some programs for their education and formation. We now have a sponsorship education scheme that consists in running with the fees of universities for the youth, helping with school supplies to children coming from poor families, transportation expenses to some children or youth, technical courses for parents or out of school youth without a stable job, music program with an orchestra attached to it and others.

Education and Sponsorship Scheme

Many are the youth wishing to study and graduate in different subjects of their preference. For this we have set up a scholarship scheme paying the university fees of youth and this is done directly to the university. This scheme consists of a written agreement between the parish and the student together with the parents. The obligation of the student is to attend formation programs and help in the parish apart for the studies and good results are expected for the guarantee of the fund. We already have experienced completion of courses and graduations of several youth and are already working in the Philippines or abroad.

Music program

As mentioned our focus in formation is the holistic development of each person especially with the young. Since the very beginning of the parish several children attended our parish programs and activities. We were also noticing that many children even at the age of 6 are running on the roads due to many situations, some of these are the small houses they have and there is no place to go to relax or be with friends. The roads or the squares because their common place where one can meet, play basketball or running on the roads.

One of our brothers who was doing his pastoral training in our parish, taught the children guitar to play during the mass. Several foreign musicians visited us and the children were attracted by these young musicians to the playing of a musical instrument. It was on the initiative and desire of the children that a stable music program was started and a small folkloric orchestra was formed called Rondalla (a local music string orchestra playing different local instruments).

The number of children and youth is gradually increasing to more than 100 children and youth. The ages are between 76 to 23 years. We have two groups the orchestral players and the beginners. We are hiring two music teachers, one is the conductor and the other is the one teaching the brass section. We are in need to get other music instructors for the various instruments once we have some funds that can support this. There are some foreign musicians teaching the children through Skype and this is helping also although we don’t have teachers to coach for all the instruments. We also have sponsors who are donating used instruments and others are bought. There still needs to get more instruments because of the number of participants. We have also lay people musicians visiting us for one month or more and they help us with the training of the children in music.

Feeding program

We have organized several programs in nutrition. The first one was a meal for mothers and their babies up 5 years of age. Another program was for school children, a lunch was distributed for a very low price, but we had some difficulties because the teachers were the first people who reacted by asking us to stop because their canteen did not have any more children consuming their food. The best feeding program we have so far is the lunch on Saturday, Sunday and during the long school holidays. We have more than 85 children attending our program and this is given for free.

Computer Centre

Our real concern is the future of the young, watching them running on the roads. Others have little means to make their homework and need to go to a computer lab to complete this assignment. With the help of some benefactors we have set up a computer lab free of charge by those who commit themselves to attend our programs and so they become members our Centre called Jose Depiro Parish and Formation Centre.

We also make use of this computer lab to get some music lessons on Skype. The music program and the parish make use of this computer lab and sometimes there are people who communicate with their relatives online.

Technical Programs

Living in a province means lack of opportunities because everything is centralized in Manila and consequently many people are working overseas or others try to settle in Manila at the expense of living under bridges, near the train rails and others. The central problem is the lack of development in the provinces, rich in many resources that is causing the increasing of poverty.

We as a Church are sent to preach a gospel that can respond to the several struggles many families pass through. Lack of learning and education are the main causes in the slow process of development and change of mentality. Many people because of low income have stopped in going to school and thus they have unstable jobs with low salaries.

We, together with the local government, the ministry of education and our congregation have reached an agreement to help in the technical education of the people in need. Our goal is to instruct the out of school youth and the parents without a job. Technical programs are held for a period of two to three months in the skills of dress making, electronics, electrical installation and welding. Our contribution as a congregation is to provide some rooms (presently we are building some more rooms), the material for the program and an accommodation for the instructor when needed. As a result the candidates on the completion of the program and having passed their final exam will acquire a certificate of completion by the Ministry of Education and a Government license to be able to get a job. The Mayor will pay the instructor and organize a job opportunity event. We already had a group of 42 candidates were trained in electrical installation and 80% of the successful students got good jobs. On Monday, March 13 we’ll launch the first course in dress making and we have a list of 25 mothers.

Our needs

We highly appreciate your generous support towards our mission and we are deeply thankful for any help given in any of the following:

1) Formation programs (retreats and recollections and conferences)

2) Sponsorship in Education, especially those studying in Manila. (study fees and accommodations are our priorities)

3) Music (payment of teachers, purchase of used instruments, donation of instruments, books and accessories, music teachers online, volunteers and others)

4) Sponsoring a breakfast, meal [lunch and dinner] for one weekend or one month for 100 children. (We get some children from the mountains to stay and study here on the weekends).

5) We also help in purchasing medicines or partial payment for the hospitalization of poor persons.

6) Giving help to persons in cottage industries to support their families.

7) Computers and material for computer lab to help the children with their homework and researches.

8) The buying of material or equipment for the technical courses of dress making, electronics, electrical installation and welding.

Our programs are directed to those persons who wish to develop their talents and skills. As a Church we wish to be a helping hand for the people to build their own future and to help them achieve their goals. We wish to help them fish and thus generate a mentality of working together and social change. Dependency and maintenance are not in our agenda because each person is intelligent enough to dream of a future. We are there to help such persons and we are grateful to you for supporting this cause.

Fr. David, once again we are deeply grateful for your interest in supporting us and please extend our thanks to all your parishioners. We extend our invitation to visit us and our Centre and wish best regards and extend. God bless.

Joe Cremona

Detailed information of the music and technical programs

ABRSM

Our 15 students Great who took the last ABRSM exam have achieved good results. One got full marks and many others with a Distinction or Merit in grades 2, 3 and 5. Three got a pass mark. For the year 2017 we have to prepare the group - one is taking grade 7, another grade 6, and seven others grade 5, apart from those who will be taking grade 3. It is quite a hectic task for next year. We hope we can acquire good marks too, God willing.

LCM

Last November 25, we had a visit from Mr. David Saraza, representative of the London College of Music and we discussed about the possibilities of preparing some children to sit for the exam both theory and practice. He suggested to us to take the ensemble exam and the examiner would come to our place and if the group will pass they will get individual certificates. We are also thinking of applying for the chamber exams and we are still waiting for his reply about this. He forwarded some material and brochures about the LCM and literature about the exams taken with LCM. At the end of the meeting he informed us that he will send us a letter endorsing our Centre as their branch in the north of Manila.

Mr. Wayne Ruston

Last November Wayne Ruston, a British musician paid us a visit and he also conducted the woodwinds and brass band section. He mentioned that he teaches music in England and conducts a school band. Within some weeks or months, he will be living in the Philippines very near to our place. We already asked him to help us and prepare the group for the exams for the LCM and maybe also ABRSM. He willingly accepted and is looking forward to help. You can find his page under his name on Facebook.

Music in Manila

We already one student, Royette who is studying music in Manila and the Dean informed us that he is doing well. At the moment he will be doing his exams for the mid-term of the second year. This reality of having one of the orchestra youth studying music in Manila has inspired others to start dreaming about having the same experience and the possibility to continue further studies of music in Manila. For this year 2017 two other youth members of our music program and of the orchestra have already taken their admission exam and by the 18^th of this month will have their interviews too. If they will be admitted they will study at the College of Music of St. Scholastic University. The challenge, then, will be to find an adequate accommodation and to take care of the running costs. We already have made some enquiries with regards to places and expenses for their accommodation, but still the prices are a bit high. We have to proceed gradually and then take our decisions according to our possible funds. There are others in the group who are dreaming to follow this path.

Felicito and other teachers

The presence of Felicito Sacdalan, the orchestra conductor brought new musical experiences and a big boost for the musical level in the group. His presence has also brought more input through the training of other new teachers, experts in the different families of the orchestral instruments. Another positive aspect of having him conducting is the one hour discussion and evaluation of the group and our project in general after each session every Sunday evening. His plan and wish is to put more teachers and have tutorials individually. We talked this over and we mentioned to him that there are overseas teachers who consistently are helping the young ones through Skype. We also discussed the need to direct the group to study the basics of each instrument and to exercise etudes individually together with scales and arpeggios.

Travelling to Malta and others

We can conclude that the intensive music course in Malta (April – May 2016) was a big success and our special thanks go to all the organizers side because one can notice a different attitude in those who participated in the program in Malta, which also is effecting others. We noticed two positive things in the youth and the influence this brought on the rest of the group. Before they left the Philippines, they were not aware of the importance of music they were studying and gave little importance to what they were doing, but on coming back their attitudes have changed. They have a deeper appreciation of their music talent and aspirations to continue their higher studies in music are part of their daily dreams. This positive attitude was one of the factors giving satisfactory results in the ABRSM exams and consequently their personal esteem is elevated. Thanks to all of you who made this program possible and we hope that the future group will benefit from it as well and bring new feelings and positive input on the rest of the group as well.

We are also planning to get some four members of the brass section to attend ten-day training in a program organized for youth who form part of orchestras or bands. This will be in May 2017 in the South of Manila. This intense residential program in music is organized by Senator Marcos (son of former President). We hope that this would contribute positively to the entire group and gradually increase in them a deeper idea of how committed one must before better achievement.

The music program and the Group

The present number of children and youth of the orchestra is about 50 and the attendance varies due sometimes to the lack of commitment, relaxed mentality, or the school or university timetables. The relaxed mentality is not only a reality felt in our music program and arts, but it is felt even in schools and the source of this problem is the lack of interest in most parents. It is not the first time to hear a parent commenting about the absence of her son or daughter from school or from our program, stating that it is up to their children to decide whether to go or not, showing that there exists some lack of guidance and direction from some of them. While keeping this in mind we will continue to push through without getting influenced by such attitudes. But we cannot ignore the fact that such mentality produces negative results in our program too.

Looking at our existing reality we inform you that our music program is made up of three groups. First, there is the original group playing in the orchestra, made up of 50 participants. Then, some two years ago, we have started teaching music to another group on the lower part of a mountain called Batiawan, with some 21 participants, boys and girls. The place is geographically difficult to reach due to the muddy roads caused by the heavy and continuous rains during the rainy season (July to October). They stay here overnight between Friday and Saturday. With them, there is another group of 20 who attend daily our Centre for their study and practice, five of this group are already beginning to play. Another program is the teaching of music theory at the San Simon Elementary School (some 3 kilometers from our Centre). Rome Jake (first young musician and now coordinator of programs) has started this program last August and more than 100 children of grades 4, 5 and 6 attend these sessions. Only fourteen have passed the first exam and they are brought to the Centre for deeper and continuous study. There will be another exam and those who get a pass mark will join the first group. A group of ten teachers from the same school have been also formed, who are attending our classes with the aim of helping the children in the ABRSM exams. This will also help them lift their ranking as teachers, getting a better payment or promotion. Royette and some others have already started teaching these groups and we hope that we can hire a teacher to take care and teach this group together with the orchestra members assigned to teach.

The total number attending our program at our Centre is about 85 and this number might increase with the entrance of those coming from the San Simon Elementary School. We are already in discussion with another two schools in the area to set the music program for them too.

Fund raising and possible local support

We are doing all our best to get some sponsors from the Philippines, especially to help us with the students studying in Manila. We asked the help of two big foundations, but no positive result yet. Presently we are asking another institution to help us with the payment of some additional teachers. Here in Dinalupihan we count on the continual help of the Mayor who supports us in all the travelling expenses outside of our town, donations for performances and food allowances. We are very grateful to the Mayor Miss Maria Angela Garcia. She is also giving remuneration to the students who pass the ABRSM and a certification of acknowledgement from the Municipality.

NGO

The process of putting up an NGO is in the last stage. All the papers have been presented and the documents are all at the office of the Attorney, who is to register the NGO under the name of “Jose Depiro Center for Arts”. This registration at the Non-Government Organizations Department should be done online by the attorney and we are still waiting for the completion of this registration. The attorney informed us that there is an allowance of 120 to present a statute and other bi-laws after the completion of the registration.

We suggested to the Department that a sister NGO overseas would help the NGO in the Philippines in getting a better acknowledgement. There was once the idea to get “Connections” registered as NGO. Is this still the plan? This also might help get some European funds under the section of culture. These are ideas we can think about and plan.

Other skills and training

Our Centre is known for the different programs we have done for the better future of persons and families. We have organized courses in agriculture such as organic farming, managing small businesses and small cottage industries, electrical installation, leadership seminars and others. Certificates were issued and even licenses to be able to get a job on the completion of the course and passing the final exam. We are in discussion with the Mayor for the continuation of these programs benefitting the out-of-school youth and young parents without jobs.

One of the technical programs asked by the Mayor of our district is ‘Industrial Tailoring.’ This is because some textile factories on the south of Bataan are looking for new employers and the Municipality has asked us to help to put a Training Centre to prepare new workers in industrial tailoring and to work in the factories. Due to the distance of the factories (two hours drive) the local government is discussing this issue with the Department of Education (the entity assigning instructors) to have a better solution to this problem.

A result from a survey made by the Education Department on some top priorities of preferences for those interested to learn a skill in search for a stable job concludes that technician courses, electrical installation, welding and contact centers are with high voting. The Mayor also commented that when talking to people she feels the apathy in the adults to study skills to be able to get a job. She said that many are looking for the massage therapist course, but that those do not provide a stable job.

Finally, we have concluded a two-year discussion and we are now waiting for the reopening of the technical programs provided by the government. Our support will be in purchasing the materials and tools needed, as well as providing a space for this purpose. The two technical programs which we will provide are electronics and electrical installation to the out-of-school youth and young parents without a job.

Conclusion

We would like to thank you for your continual support and for journeying with us in all our endeavors. We are sure of your interest in getting news from our side and to see future achievements.

We wish you all blessings and best wishes.

God bless you,

Joseph Cremona