About Us

COLEGIO DE LA MILAGROSA (CM), now ST. LOUISE DE MARILLAC COLLEGE of SORSOGON (SLMCS) had its humble beginning in 1937. Most Rev. Francisco Reyes, former Bishop of Nueva Caceres, parish priest for many years in the town of Sorsogon , took cognizance of the total absence of Catholic schools in the province. His burning zeal for service led him to discover and to realize the felt need to provide Catholic education to the youth in this town. With strong determination, he invited and sought the assistance of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who at that time, were actively managing Colegio de Sta. Isabel, now Universidad de Sta. Isabel, Naga City . Sr. Carmen Reta, Vice-Visitatrix of the Daughters of Charity in the Philippines , accepted the invitation and the challenge to start the mission of service for the growth and formation in faith of the youth in Sorsogon. On June 30, 1937, the pioneering efforts of four Sisters from Colegio de Sta. Isabel: Sr. Aurea Munoz, Sr. Concepcion Calinog, Sr. Silvina Lopez, and Sr. Estanislaa Daradal, sowing the seeds of Catholic education in Sorsogon materialized with the preparation of school facilities. 1939 witnessed to the opening of primary course to twenty-two pupils. Housed in a seven-room building, the site was a piece of land located at the heart of Sorsogon bounded by Calle Reyes and Livingstone, now named Burgos Street . Two years after, despite the seeming indifference of a town to private education, the school with the support of the Congregation's Provincial Superiors, secured a firm foothold in the community, thus becoming independent of Colegio de Sta. Isabel. The educational efforts continued even during the war years. English subjects were left out in favor of Niponggo. Nevertheless, the school remained steadfast with strong emphasis in Religion as the core subject, thus allaying the tension of a community in the throes of peril. School Year 1945-1946 marked the opening of complete elementary program and in 1947 the general secondary course. As the school progressed in its educational mission, the persistent demand for higher education came in as a new challenge. School Year 1949-1950, stamped with government recognition, started with the offering of first two-year Junior Normal Collegiate course (ETC). The succeeding years flourished with the offering of the following programs: Bachelor of Arts (BA) and the Bachelor of Science in Education (BSE) in 1955; First Year of the Four-Year Collegiate Normal Course (1960); Associate in Commercial Science (ACS) in 1961; and Bachelor of Science in Education in Elementary Education (BSEED) in 1963. In November 1962 the school celebrated its Silver Jubilee priding with achievements for the past twenty years of generous and dedicated service to the youth of Sorsogon. School Year 1964-1965 stepped into higher gear with a remarkable increase in enrolment. With the initiative of Sr. Tarcila Palermo, DC the construction of a three storey modern structure for both the Elementary and Secondary Departments was conceived. Sor Ines Peña, DC undertook the colossal task of bringing the project to completion. The decades of the seventy's and eighty's were characterized by more innovations and changes. Pre-school was opened in 1973. The High School Department expanded its service by breaking its tradition of accepting only girls in the Department. The year 1974 marked the Department's opening its door to and accepting young male students thus becoming co-education. Kindergarten was introduced in 1982. In the same year, the Elementary and High School Departments were integrated and called Basic Formation Department, later on changed to Basic Education Department. Likewise, the College Department then a Service Formation Department was changed to Higher Education Department. The decade of the eighty's demonstrated the faculty and the student's involvement in and intensification of the school's Community Extension Services with the end purpose of building Christian communities. Curricular expansion led to the offering of Bachelor of Science in Commerce in school year 1980-1981. In 1987 Colegio de la Milagrosa celebrated its 50 th Foundation Anniversary witnessing to a faithful service of Catholic education and social transformation. In the same year, the College underwent Congregational Evaluation Visit (CEV) which led to the school's further quest for and commitment to quality and excellence. In June 1988, the administration ventured to open the Graduate School (GS) in answer to the need of the personnel, alumni, and other professionals of the larger community who were desirous to upgrade themselves through higher studies. The following school year, the Graduate School was granted full government recognition. The onset of the ninety's marked the development in the fields of Science, Technology, Communication and Economics. Responsive to this development, the College in 1991 started to offer Bachelor of Science in Accountancy. Similarly, with the flourishing enrolment in the Graduate School , the Department started to offer several additional graduate majors like Values Education, Educational Management, among others. In 1993, Master in Business Administration (MBA) was offered. In recognition of quality education which the school continued to pursue, the Basic Education Department ventured to submit voluntarily to accreditation by inviting the prestigious Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU). After going through the process of self-survey and first formal visit from PAASCU (1993), the Department was granted a Level II accreditation in 1997. Colegio de la Milagrosa became the first PAASCU accredited school in Sorsogon leveling it with other prestigious accredited schools all over the country. Steady growth in school population became visible in the academe. Along with this progress is the recognition of St. Louise de Marillac de Marillac as a service provider of the Department of Education project Alternative Learning System that caters to out-of-school youths and adults who because of poverty were unable to finish their schooling. In January 1998, in the re-configuration scheme of the DC Education Ministry, the birth of the DC St. Louise de Marillac Educational System (DC SLMES) came into existence. Colegio de la Milagrosa, among other DC schools, was re-named St. Louise de Marillac College of Sorsogon. Other significant changes took place to keep abreast of contemporary trends. Driven by the challenge of quality, excellence and relevance, the Higher Education Department underwent the Preliminary PAASCU visit in 1999 for the following: Liberal Arts, Teacher Education and Bachelor of Commerce programs. It was followed by PAASCU Formal Survey in 2003, and was granted a five year Level II accreditation of the programs applied for. Similar accreditation status was given to the Basic Education Department. At the start of the new millennium, SLMCS entered into an array of significant events. In June, 2000 DC-SLMES piloted an alternative shared leadership style in the management and supervision of schools with the idea of clustering the DC schools in the Albay-Sorsogon areas. Thus, the birth of the A-S Cluster. With SLMCS as the lead school, the Cluster includes: St. Anthony Academy of Gubat; St. Louise de Marillac School of Bulan; St. Louise de Marillac School of Tabaco; and St. Louise de Marillac Alternative Learning Center, Libon, Albay. The cluster is led by a Servant Leadership Team (SLT) composed of the Cluster President, the Vice President for Student Services, the Vice President for Academic, Religious and Community Extension Services, Vice President for Administrative Services & Finance and the Site Sister Servants. From school years 2003-2004 and the two school years that ensued, investments in physical infrastructure development were done and additional equipment was acquired to accommodate modern teaching needs and requirements. Projects begun and included the expansion of the College's classrooms, construction of a new and bigger institutional food center and the renovation of several administrative offices and facilities. Space for an institutional school supply and in partnership with the Parents-Teachers-Administration Council of both the Basic and the Higher Education Department the following physical improvements were added: construction of covered walk, the Louisean's Multi-Purpose Hall, and the floor matting of both the two Departments Audio Visual Rooms. Together with the physical improvements, faculty development was accorded with priority attention in order to upgrade the quality of instruction delivery. In 2006, two significant events took place. First, the conceptualization of the offering of Technical Skills Development Authority (TESDA) courses to meet the emerging and changing needs of industry and society while at the same time looking at the conceptualization plan as a viable intervention to the Higher Education Department's decline in enrolment. With the approval of the Board of Trustees, application and approbation of the following courses were made: Information Technology, Certificate in Entrepreneurship and in Speech Power. In a parallel move, amendment in the Articles of Incorporation was done with a special provision that all courses being offered in SLMCS can also be offered in the Site Schools. This extension program led to the conception of St. Anthony Academy as a campus of SLMCS with the initial sharing of human and material resources. A cursory review of the history of the establishment of St. Anthony Academy reveals that the school served as a campus of, then Colegio de la Milagrosa with Sr. Tanes Daradal, DC, the Sister Servant.Second, in the same year in the months of September and November, two super typhoons visited the country. The province of Sorsogon was not spared and so with the College. The St. Vincent de Paul building, which houses the Basic Education Department, was totally unroofed and greatly damaged. The Miraculous Medal building, the Laboure Hall and other school facilities were in complete disarray. In all these events, the College served as one of the city's evacuating centers for the hundreds of dislocated families from the nearby Barangays. Classes were suspended for a month and major repairs had to be done. The situation prompted the administration to request a reset of the PAASCU re-survey visit to the Higher Education Programs, with accreditation status, from November 2006 to school year 2007-2008. The spirit of Internationality became very palpable with the support coming from both the DC General and the Provincial Councils as well as from several communities of the Daughters of Charity in the Province. Having withstood the onslaught of the destructive typhoons, the Daughters of Charity, in teamwork with their lay mission partners re-opened in January 2007 and continued to serve the educational needs of the students. . After 70 th years and beyond SLMCS still remains the provider of quality professionals in the province despite the proliferation of colleges province-wide. This is evident with the great number of alumni working in the different public and private agencies such as the Provincial /Regional/ City Division Office, Department of Education, public elementary and high schools, BIR and SSS. The quest for quality, excellence and relevance, while remaining rooted in the spirit of the Vincentian charism values, remains a continuing process of human resources and institutional development. Looking forward and outward, the College anticipates the PAASCU Re-survey accreditation visit and the DC Management Review and Mission Audit in 2008. To date, the Vincentian, Marian, and Christ-centered spirit sowed by the Daughters of Charity in the pioneering years of the College lives on as SLMCS continues its pursuit of Christian formation and transformative education turning out graduates who are committed to the service of persons who are poor and to the building of life-giving communities.

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