Grateful Muslim, Christian alumni travel back to Datu Piang's NDDI
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 03:30 AM Sat Dec 17, 2022
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By:
Nash B. Maulana
DA Undersecretary for Regulations and Infrastructure Engr. Zamsamin Ampatuan, one of the NDD alumni.
Grateful Muslim, Christian alumni travel back to Datu Piang's NDDI
TODAY, December 17, all roads lead to Datu Piang, home to one of the oldest Catholic schools in the old Cotabato Province.
About 800 old and young alumni will literally march back to the Notre Dame of Dulawan Inc. (NDDI) in Datu Piang, now part of Maguindanao del Sur, for their Grand Alumni Homecoming.
NDD was often described in the past as the “center-of-gravity” of Christian-and-Muslim understanding in coexistence, a tradition that has bred harmony among followers of Islam and Christianity in this part.
Hanalyn S. Piang, NDDAA President, said the last time NDD alumni had their grand homecoming was nearly seven years ago in December 2015.
Piang said some 800 Muslim and Christian graduates have signed up for the homecoming with the theme, “Grateful NDDI Alumni: Onward from 65 years of Spearing the Culture of Peace in Coexistence.”
She said the homecoming theme is inspired by the Human Fraternity Document (HFD) signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Tayeeb Ahmad of the Al-Azhar University on February 4, 2019 in Abu Dhabi.
The UN General Assembly has adopted the HFD on February 4, 2022, and has declared the 4th of February of every year as Human Fraternity Day.
Among the school’s alumni now in high places are: Agriculture Career Undersecretary Datu Zamzamin L. Ampatuan CESO I; Bangsamoro Members of Parliament Haron Abas and Atty. Sittie Fahanie S. Uy-Oyod MPA; PNP Brig Gen Esmael P Ali, PRO Region I, Philippine Army Colonel Taharudin Ampatuan PAO Jolo, Sulu, PAF Gen Guiono P Guiamelon, the late Police Colonel Datumama P Mokalid, and the late flamboyant Congressman Didagen Piang Dilangalen.
Ampatuan, concurrent member of the Government Peace Implementing Panel, would most likely be the homecoming alumni guest speaker of the event.
The school closed in school year 1976-1977, after a grenade attack on its Section A sophomore class killed seven of its students on June 14, 1976, then waiting for the teachers' shifting from the first guidance period to the second period that was supposed to be algebra. The incident ended ended a 19-year tenure of the American Maryknoll Mothers as the school's administrators.
NDD which has now evolved into NDDI has since been run, developed and improved a lot by Catholic nuns of the Oblates of Notre Dame (OND), now under Sr. Marilou D. Tolentino OND, as its principal and directress.