The Technical Working Group (TWG) for the Baguio Character City (BCC) program met at the Saint Louis University (SLU) Burgos Conference Room on 25 March 2026 to come up with plans for building a community based on values.
The meeting, which was co-hosted by Rev. Fr. Gilbert B. Sales, CICM, PhD, President of SLU, brought together the BCC Core Group and manual writers from various educational institutions in the city to talk about how to bring character-building programs into the city’s social and educational sectors. The session was mostly about making sure that localized institutional efforts were in line with the larger goal of creating a citizenry that values honesty and civic duty.
This project is a direct response to the Baguio 2043 vision: A Caring and Well-Disciplined Community for a Better Future. The program’s goal is to bring together the City Government of Baguio and different schools to create a long-lasting framework where discipline and empathy are not just ideas, but things that people do every day. SLU’s involvement, together with other educational institutions, show a strong commitment to social change that will give young people and the general public the moral foundation they need to help the city reach its long-term goals.
The partnership shows that the local government and the academic community are working together to deal with today’s social problems through character development through the Baguio Character City Manual. The manual writers are from SLU (Mr. Gerard Mapalo, Mr. Jim Daryl Eslabra, and Mr. Bren Justin Fajardo), Saint Louis School Inc. (Mr. Glen Taguinod), EDUCARE International School (Ms. Nathasha Marie Lumiwan), Saint Louis Pacdal (Ms. Karen Jeanne Diase), Baguio Central University (Mr. Joshua Las Marias), University of Baguio (Dr. Violeta Apiles), Mil-an National High School (Ms. Juvilyn Beray), Magsaysay National High School (Ms. Francine Rillera), and Baguio City National High School (Ms. Lindhel Paguio). Mrs. Annie Marie B. Caguioa and Joselito C. Gutierrez, PhD, serves as coordinators, while Fr. Sales as consultant for this program.
This partnership is aligned with SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals and CICM Advocacies on Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation, and Indigenous Peoples Advocacies. (Article by J. Gutierrez | Photos by UIO)
