Where education meets identity

MANSALAY, ORIENTAL MINDORO—For generations of Mangyan children from remote mountain communities in southern Oriental Mindoro, going to high school was once a difficult journey—literally.

Some had to walk for hours from their homes to reach a classroom.

At the Mangyan Education Center Inc. (MEC) in Barangay Bait-Panaytayan, Mansalay, that long journey has, for nearly four decades, been met by teachers who see education as more than lessons, examinations, and diplomas.

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They see it as a way for Mangyan children to understand who they are, to value their heritage and gain the confidence to serve their own communities.

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Born from a need

As the country marks World Teachers’ Day, MEC principal Nemia Gareza said the school continues to carry the mission on which it was founded in 1987: to make education accessible and meaningful to indigenous children.

Today, all of its students are indigenous people, with 13 licensed indigenous teachers in the faculty.

The MEC was established in 1987 by Fr. Ewald Dinter, SVD, in Bait-Panaytayan at a time when secondary education remained largely inaccessible to many Mangyan youth from Mansalay and Bulalacao.

For children living in farflung upland communities, the problem was not simply whether they wanted to study. Reaching a secondary school could itself be a formidable obstacle; for some, a five-hour walk just to make it to class.

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In MEC’s early years, tuition was free. Families and communities also contributed what they could—rice, chicken, fruits, vegetables—to help sustain the school and its students.

The arrangement reflected a shared view of education as something not separate from everyday life but a collective investment in the future.

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Over the years, the school produced hundreds of Mangyan graduates, many of whom went on to become professionals and community workers.

Education became a preparation not just for employment but also for leadership—to help the local population understand and defend their rights and protect their culture.

Some of those who once sat in MEC classrooms returned to pay it forward. Among them is Fr. Gabayno Calinog Oybad, a Hanunoo Mangyan and the school’s first indigenous priest who now serves as its school director.

Under Oybad’s leadership, MEC remained true to its founding goal: to help Mangyan youths become professionals without having to shed their cultural identity.

The 13 licensed indigenous teachers currently at MEC attend to children who share their heritage and understand the realities faced by families in remote communities.

Loving, tireless work

Shirley Alda, a 35-year Mangyan mission worker, said: “We especially remember and thank Fr. Dinter for all his loving and tireless work for MEC. This will be the first time we celebrate his birthday on Oct. 16 since he passed away last November. He also taught at MEC and was awarded the Many Faces of the Teacher Award in 2008 by the Bato Balani Foundation and Diwa Learning.”

According to Alda, Fr. Oybad, on the other hand, chose to serve his fellow Mangyans in the mountains rather than in a lowland parish. Oybad also taught at MEC when he was still a seminarian.

“Almost all Mangyan licensed teachers at MEC are committed to the implementation of IP-ED (Indigenous Peoples Education) under Department Order No. 62, series of 2011,” Gareza said.

The school’s location in Panaytayan is significant. The community has long been associated with Hanunuo Mangyan life and culture, including the preservation and study of ambahan and the traditional Mangyan writing system.

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This cultural setting gives the school a particular responsibility: to ensure that education does not require children to choose between learning and being Mangyan. Instead, the two can reinforce each other. INQ