Antique diploma presented to Dagupan SP
FROM COLEGIO DE SAN ALBERTO MAGNO
A 1908 diploma of a graduate of the defunct Colegio de San Alberto Magno, the first sectarian school in Dagupan City run by the Dominican fathers, was presented on September 8, 2025 before the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) by Architect Alex Villaflor, one of the founding fathers of Jayceeken and one of Dagupan’s antique collectors.
The diploma belonged to one Salvador D. Alcala, one of the 1908 graduates of Colegio de San Alberto Magno, whose buildings and facilities were washed out during a big flood in Pangasinan in 1932.
The school was located near the western end of the old Franklin Bridge, which once connected Dagupan mainland to Barrio Calmay, which was also washed out by the flood.
The Dagupan SP, with Vice Mayor Bryan Kua as presiding officer, passed a resolution expressing deepest appreciation and commendation to Villaflor for his invaluable contribution to Dagupan City’s cultural heritage.
Authored by Councilor Jeslito Seen, incumbent Jayceeken President, the resolution stated that the dissemination of information on privately-held artifacts such as the one presented by Villaflor “is vital to enhancing the community’s understanding, pride, and appreciation of its cultural heritage”.
Villaflor, now in his past ‘80s, told The PUNCH, he bought the more than 100-year-old diploma at an auction in Manila some years ago for an amount he can no longer remember.
Also passed was a resolution expressing deepest appreciation and commendation to the family of Michael Wee Sim for their valuable contribution to the preservation of the city’s cultural heritage, also through the sharing of information and documentation on a Chinese/Japanese World War II jewelry box.
Sim said that the over a century-old jewelry box was passed on by their ancestors from one generation to another, and they consider it one of the prized possessions of their family. (Leonardo Micua)
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