Historic Tawi-Tawi Catholic school razed by fire

COTABATO CITY — A fire on Wednesday night, October 21, destroyed several buildings on the campus of a historic Catholic school in the predominantly-Muslim town of Mapun, Tawi-Tawi. The school is known for prompting interfaith dialogue and cultural solidarity among its students and surrounding communities.

Local officials and representatives of Notre Dame of Cagayan in Mapun told reporters early Thursday that the fire destroyed several classrooms and the school library. The institution was established in 1968 by foreign and Filipino missionaries from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation.

The Notre Dame of Cagayan campus is located in Barangay Lupa Pula in Mapun, an island municipality in Tawi-Tawi, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Regional lawmaker John Anthony Lim, who represents Tawi-Tawi in BARMM’s 80-member parliament, said on Thursday that the fire saddened residents of the island province, where Catholic schools are credited for fostering peace among culturally diverse communities through peace education and community-building activities.

Lim called on the Mapun Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the Tawi-Tawi office of the Bureau of Fire Protection to work together to investigate the caused of the fire that destroyed several school buildings and the library.

School officials and Mapun Vice Mayor Rambie Sadjiril separately said Thursday that efforts to determine the cause of the fire that damaged key facilities at Notre Dame of Cagayan were still underway.

Notre Dame of Cagayan is among the schools under the Notre Dame Educational Association (NDEA), an influential network of more than 80 Catholic elementary, secondary, and tertiary institutions across the BARMM and Region 12.

The association’s member-schools are located in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Cotabato and Sarangani. It also has member-schools in Cotabato City, BARMM’s regional capital, as well as in the Region 12 cities of Kidapawan, Koronadal and General Santos.