FATHER EDMOND BAHL“I was a very young priest working in Tanay, my first mission assignment in the Philippines , a town about 30 miles from Manila, The war has ended six months before, but U.S. troops were arriving to replace the combat troops returning home.
I had just arrived from the states and cherished every sightseeing G.I. who came to or passed trough Tanay, hoping some of them would drop to renew my ties with back home. Sometimes they did, when they heard there was an American priest in the town.
In Tanay we had a big old Spanish stone church whose records went back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I, the church was about 165 feet long and formed one side of quadrangular two stories structure. I occupied about 1.6th of the remaining three sides.
When I first arrived in Tanay, I immediately noticed very few youngsters were around. Since I have been always very interested in young people, I asked “where are they?” and I told (was) they left Tanay on Monday morning to attend high school in the neighboring towns and returned late Friday afternoon. I began to look at my big challenge. At the light of my Coleman lamp, I studied statistics, costs, and school regulations. I kept looking at my measly bank account hoping that it would sometime double itself in value.
And then came Tommy Choma, an ensign Junior attached to the Navy Sea Frontier in Manila. He was aide to the commander of the Base and dedicated to the service. When Tommy, a New Yorker, heard that there was a priest from New York as pastor of the Church of Tanay, he had to meet him. When he heard that I was from Buffalo he laughed. We couldn’t have been farther apart but we were still from New York, the state, that is.
I enjoyed Tommy, he talked real big. “Hey Father, you’ve got it made here, what a plant. ! Why, this is perfect for high school ! What a sweet set-up ! What this town need is a school. A school, Padre a School ! “yeah, Tommy, yeah !” I said indifferently. :It sure would be nice !”
All I needed was someone like Tommy to talk me into this. He would give me his moral support and nothing more. And in a few months, he would ship out an I would be left holding the bag. “Listen Father, you got to get on the ball. One thing I learned in the navy, you got no place dragging your feet. Now listen, if you want a school here, you do don’t you, then just come in to see me at the base. I’m a friend of the commander and we’ll get you help. But get with it Padre, get with it. “That’s the way Tommy talked”.
During the next week, I kept thinking about the school and about Tommy. If I could get some help, maybe I could swing it. I needed so many things. I had a building and that was it. The roof leaked, but otherwise the building was solid. But nothing else. No partitions for classrooms, no books, no desks, no toilets. Just a lot of nothing.
The next week, I was in Manila at our headquarters. With some time on my hands I said to myself “ Now I’ll just go doen to the base and see if this guy is all he pretends”.
“I went down and asked Tommy. I got the red carpet treatment, and before I left, he took me to the PX and I came out with a pair of Navy shoes. And then I broached the subject of the school in Tanay . “ Well, that’s what I had been telling you. Just try me, Father, just try me. Father, just try me. I’ve been waiting to ear from you. Listen. I’ll talk to the commander , He’s a real fair guy. The base is phasing out. Thy’re getting rid of a lot of stuff and I know he’ll be happy to see it goes to a worthy cause. And yours is going to be the biggest worthy cause in my book.”
Two weeks later, I was back in Manila. There had been phone calls for me, I went down to the base. “Father, I’ve got some thins for you. You got a truck?” “Tommy, where will I get a truck?” “Never mind, I’ll commandeer one .”
So with a Navy man driving I headed out to Tanay with a load of wallboard perfect for classroom partitions. A week later “Father get over here quick, they’re cleaning out ffice equipment. “Can you use tarpaulins?” “Tommy, I can use anything. And tarpaulins will take care of the leaks in the roof till I get some money to repair it.”
And out to Tanay, I went, with a load of tarpaulins, wiring and outlets. Each Load would be weighed down with scrap lumber, and sheet of used plywood. Things were looking up. The office desks and file cabinets gave an air of authenticity to classrooms, library, teachers room and office. The wallboard made beautiful partition to section off classroom space. The tarpaulins kept out the tropical rains. Now all that was lacking were school desks and library books.
Tommy talked to the commander. We hired the civilian carpenters at the base to work for us on Saturdays, their day off. With power tools at the base workshop, they had enough parts from the scrap lumber to build 200 desks. We loaded the pieces on a Saturday afternoon and took them to Tanay to be put together by me and my boys at thei leisure time. And finally, a G.I. Library of over 1,500 books arrived through the kindbess of a Navy Chaplain. But the work began to show on me, I arrived on Tanay a robust 180 lbs. Tommy has whittled me down to a happy 149.
Tommy did not stay long enough in the Philippines to see the opening of the school in
Tanay. It opened with a flourish. We had 107 students in the first three years of high school, I often wondered if it all would have happened without Tommy. Two years later Father Price took over and continued with the same energy that Tommy displayed. Today, in Tanay, there is kindergarten, elementary grade school, a four year high school, and a four year accredited college.
Tanay rang the bell on Columban schools in the Philippines. San Ildefonso College led to many others in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Today, Columban Fathers are responsible for 126 schools in the Philippines.
Donated by Speech Class 2002-2003
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