MESSAGE
This year’s alumni homecoming is a year of “firsts.”. It is the first time we hold the grand
reunion in the football field that was hallowed by everyone’s nimble feet once upon a time.
This is where we held most of our memorable football matches and field day demonstra-
tions and a host of other youthful activities. It is where the likes of Fr. Candusso, Bro. De
Reggi, Fr. Solaroli, Bishop Capelli and Bishop Panfilo and many of the Filipino Salesians
saw action in a game that all Bosconians loved - and excelled in.
This is also the first year ever that we held two momentous homecomings for ITC gradu-
ates and College graduates. I congratulate the DBMAA under the able leadership of
Fletcher Von Aquino for making this dream possible.
That “first” matched the other “first” executed by Batch 1990, who brought back all our three Salesian
Bishops who were all former Rectors of this beloved institution. I still look back with awe and gratitude
to that batch for making that homecoming truly memorable.
But by far the biggest “first” that I would like everyone to acknowledge is that which Batch 1994 has
done. With little or no prodding on my part, they volunteered to do a small but by no means insignifi-
cant project - the Millenium Gate Guard House and pedestrian entrance that set them back by no less
than half a million pesos.
I congratulate them and thank them from the bottom of my heart. Their taking action, more than mak-
ing pledges, has impressed upon us all the nobility and importance of giving back to our Alma Mater.
It was an idea that we SDBs and the current leadership of the DBMAA have been trying to impress
upon all these past few years.
I also would like to acknowledge the big help of Batch 1987 who gave a sizeable amount to rehabili-
tate the sound system of the Gesu’ Adolescente gymnasium (what used to be called simply College
Gym). Even as I write, I gratefully acknowledge the ongoing work of Batch 1968 who, as Golden Ju-
bilarians last year, announced the re-installation of the landmark lighted signage on top of the College
Building. I also thank the growing number of individual alumni who have come to my help for various
projects minus the fanfare, the photo-ops, and the public acknowledgments. Quietly and humbly, they
have set out to help a struggling institution in many ways since I took office in 2014.
I cannot thank them enough. And even as I thank them, I would like to ask all batches to think about
something similar. I really do not care if it is smaller or grander. Big or small, when given with love,
any project is something beautiful for God and something worth being thankful for.
Allow me to start with two dreams … One is the full rehabilitation of the Savio Auditorium. The other is
a grand facade at the Millenium Gate to give the institution the proper frontage that it deserves after
more than 65 years in existence.
Will any of our graduates step up to the plate?
Please do. Not for us SDBs but for the glory of our beloved school.
I wish you all the best in your endeavors. May St. John Bosco be your guide as you weather through
all challenges that life brings wherever you are. May Mary Help of Christians ever intercede for us.
Sincerely yours in Don Bosco our Father,
Fr. Vitaliano “Chito” Dimaranan, SDB
Rector/President
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