Balikbayan urges repair of historic Girls Dorm

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA ,MOUNTAIN PROVINCE - An ignored  site within the Mission Compound located within the  environs of the Church of St Mary the Virgin is  the dilapidated Girl’s Dormitory  then used  to house  young girls from Sagada who worked on embroidery and lace making under the supervision of American nuns and women teachers during the Anglican missionary work in Sagada in the early 1900s.

                The rundown state of the structure urged visiting  US balikbayan Philip Lacbawan, an alumnus of St Mary  School who emotionally called for the restoration of the Girls Dormitory during a meeting of  SMS alumni for the upcoming alumni homecoming March 31-April2.

                Pinewood shingles of the Girls Dorm while these are wearing off  still show sturdy construction and some restoration to keep the materials in their former state. GI roofing stands supremely strong though windows are  falling off and  decrepit doors have practically given up with cows able to get inside and warm themselves.

                The first floor of the two- storey structure is in a dilapidated stage needing  major repairs including fixing up the  drainage with waste water coming from the  commercial  building located just above the old structure.

                In the previous years, the dilapidated structure used to house boarders from the community. By 2009

some St Mary School students and the school head occupied the building till 2012 when they were told to leave upon word that the  structure shall be repaired by St Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC)  as doctors quarters.

                The plan however was  set aside with the  multi million building of  St Luke’s Global City at  Paranaque, Manila  affecting  what was supposed to be finances for the restoration of  the Girls Dorm, St Mary School Alumni Association (SMSAA) chairman  Thomas Killip said as relayed to him by SLMC chairman of the Board  Robert Kuan.

                The Girls Dorm then  built in 1912  by the American Missionaries of the Episcopal Church in the USA under the supervision of the Rev  John Staunton  then served as St Mary's School building. The Girls Dormitory  is  now under the stewardship of the incorporated St Mary's School of Sagada (SMSSI).

                With the burning of the SMS  school in 1975, the Girls Dormitory was used as administration building and classrooms.  It continued to be referred to as SMS  till a new structure with support and donation from philanthropist and businessman Alfonso Yuchengco Sr from Manila  gave to the construction of the new SMS building in  1979 of  what it is now located in the then site of the burned school building.  

                The centennial-old Girls Dorm  now stands forlorn and slowly getting  destroyed  till willing hands,  hearts and feet reach out and fix  the structure to use.

                Lacbawan  said  some parts of the building  are ‘easy fixtures’ as changing the  windows and the doors and bigger repairs on the drainage  and the first floor and it can be ready for use.

                Individuals, families, and  SMS classmates per year batch of SMS can sponsor the repair of a window, or a door, Lacbawan said while awaiting bigger amounts for full repair and restoration.    

                The Girls Dormitory is one of  four structures within the Mission Compound identified as  potential  heritage houses under a standing petition as heritage sites to the National Historical  Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the National Commission on Culture and Arts NCCA).