Dr. Carmelita I. Quebengco
Conferred AY 1991-1992
Professional Profile:
Dr. Carmelita I. Quebengco has had a challenging and colorful professional journey from being a classroom teacher at La Salle Green Hills High School to becoming a faculty member of the Graduate School of Education at De La Salle University, Director of its University Research Office, Chair of the Educational Management Department, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Founding Dean of the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Academic Vice-President, then as the first woman Executive Vice- President/Chancellor of the University, where she also became its first lay and woman President in 2003.
In her work in academe, she initiated, and with the assistance of others, developed educational innovations, among which are the Educational Development Special Program, the Arts Management Program, and the program for the deaf at the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde; the STAR Scholars program, The Museum, the Lasallian Transformative Learning and Quality Assurance at De La Salle University; the development program for Philippine Lasallian Education and Learning Leaders at De La Salle Philippines, etc. It was during her watch when De La Salle University was granted the highest accreditation level which can be conferred on a Philippine private university.
Pundasyon Hanunuo Mangyan School
As an educator, she consistently lived her commitment to the Lasallian mission of service to the marginalized. Her research on Philippine indigenous education gave rise to the establishment in September 1984 of the Pundasyon Hanunuo Mangyan School in the uplands of Southern Mindoro. Her research was funded by Ford Foundation and done upon the request of Hanunuo Mangyan elders.
She helped supervise and develop this school until her retirement in 2008. The school’s mission-vision is to develop literate, culture appreciative, caring and effective leaders for the communities served, in the interest of cultural preservation, environmental protection and poverty alleviation. The school is located in the uplands of Umabang, Barangay Binli, Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro, with a branch in Bailan, which can be reached only through a two-hour hike. Three indigenous Mangyan communities are served by the school: Umabang, Bailan and Amindang. The Mangyan families in these communities belong to the poorest of the poor in the country.
An example of the culturally specific basic education program she developed for the poorest Hanunuo Mangyan children is the school’s calendar, which starts in September, heeding the Mangyan agricultural cycle where July and August are the fallow months. Another example is the use of the Mangyan indigenous language and syllabary used in the teaching of the first three grades in basic education. For Civics and Culture subjects, the pupils study their own culture and other indigenous cultures of the country. Moreover, since agriculture is their main livelihood, it is also offered as a regular subject.
The PHM Inc. (Pundasyon Hanunuo Mangyan, Inc.) which monitors the daily operations of the two schools is composed of the three Mangyan communities and they choose their own elder-leaders. In 1988 the school was officially turned over to the PHM Inc., with the Office of the Governor taking care of the infrastructure, and De La Salle University taking charge of curriculum development, teacher training, salaries of teachers, updating of instructional materials and supervision of the schools.
The Pundasyon Hanunuo Mangyan School is De La Salle University’s longest existing project for the poorest of the poor. In 2014, in her desire to ensure that the school will continue to operate way beyond her years to serve Mangyan children, she worked tirelessly for the school to become what it is now — a collaborative endeavor among the Department of Education, the De La Salle Brothers and De La Salle University.
Lasallian Education Mission
After her retirement from the University in 2008, she served De La Salle Philippines as its EVP-COO, and was appointed by the Superior General of the Christian Brothers as Co-Secretary of the Lasallian Education Mission Office of the Institute of the Christian Brothers in Rome, Italy. Likewise, she was bestowed the highest honor that a lay person can receive from the Christian Brothers’ Institute as an Affiliate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. She is a Trustee of some 20 schools and universities, national professional organizations, NGOs, and educational accrediting bodies.
Fellowships, Visitorships and Other Honors
She obtained a Monbusho Scholarship at Kobe University in Japan, a Ford Foundation grant on Indigenous Education in the United States, and a Freeman Fellowship in Salzburg, Austria in 1998 and 1999. She was also a Visiting Professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, and Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand. In March 2010, an Honorary Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Management was awarded to her by St Mary’s University, Minnesota, USA. St Mary’s College California likewise conferred on her an Honorary Doctorate in Educational Leadership in 2018, and the Universidad La Salle Mexico honored her with an Honorary Doctorate in Educational Leadership in 2022.
Rommel Quebengco Memorial Fund
During her early years as a classroom teacher, she had to refuse administrative positions in order to attend to her only child, Rommel, who was then in elementary school, as she was widowed at an early age. When her son grew up and began to assert his independence, she began to accept leadership roles in the University.
In 2007, she established the Rommel Quebengco Memorial Fund, which now supports the education of seven children of poor solo parents, as her loving tribute to her only son, who went to God in March 2007