The Mission of the Fedilisan-Tanulong Educational Trust (Trust) is to advance the educational level of two Igorot cultural minority groups, primarily through a scholarship program for college education. The Fedilisan and Tanulong communities are located in Northern Sagada, Mountain Province of the northern Luzon highlands, Philippines. Funds permitting, the Trust will also provide targeted assistance to the two secondary schools normally attended by Fedilisans and Tanulongs: St. Mary’s School and the Bangaan National High School. Funds permitting, it will supply funds for early childhood education in northern Sagada barangays.
The Trust was established by Paul C. Laus, (Paul Cayaya Laus ), a native son of Fedilisan, through his will. When he died in April 2006, he had not forgotten his people. He willed that one hundred percent of his estate be used to establish a trust for scholarships for the educational benefit of good and deserving students of Fedilisan and Tanulong ancestry.
Isolation of the Fedilisan and Tanulong communities over centuries contributed to their disadvantaged and impoverished state with low educational attainment. While education is highly respected and valued today by parents and children in the communities, they are still thwarted, due to their poverty, from aspiring to pursue a college education, and even to graduate from high school. Young people in these communities begin their adult lives without technical skills or the knowledge needed for the jobs necessary to navigate the modern world. It is hoped that greater participation and integration of the these communities into modern society can occur with the assistance of the Trust and advance in the educational level in the communities. The Trust is truly a shining example of sharing and giving back to one’s less fortunate people.
Paul C.Laus had a strong history of educational pursuit and service. He attended the Tanulong Mission School (later renamed St. Matthew’s School) and St. Mary’s School in the nearby central town of Sagada, founded and still maintained by the Episcopal Church. He was ambitious and determined in his youth to seek higher education and made a brave and bold decision to leave his home territory in 1931 to make his way to the United States. He succeeded in graduating from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut and to pursue post graduate work at the General Theological Seminary and Columbia University in New York City. After a varied career which spanned his service in the United States Army as a Japanese Language Officer, teacher in American Indian schools and as a social worker, he retired and lived in San Francisco, California.
The Trust was established on February 27, 2017 in San Francisco, California with Albert S. Bacdayan the court appointed trustee. The will had lain in legal limbo for almost ten years with the San Francisco Public Administrator’s office, from 2007 to 2017. Believing in the righteousness, nobleness and transformative potential of Paul C. Laus’ gift to his people, Albert S. Bacdayan worked for several years to have the will probated, averting it’s passing to the state or the Fedilisan and Tanulong peoples being deprived of this gift and rare opportunity for higher education.
The Trust and its scholarship program are administered by the Trustee Albert Bacdayan, a relative of Paul Laus, a first cousin once removed. Like Paul Laus, he was born and raised in the Fedilisan and Tanulong area with ancestry in both groups. He earned a BS in Education from the University of the Philippines, an M. A. from Trinity College, Hartford, CT and PhD. in Anthropology from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He is a retired educator, a former professor at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky where he also served over different periods of time as the Anthropology Department Head and Director of Graduate Studies. Before going into his anthropology training, he taught at the Brent School, Baguio and Kalinga Academy, Lubuagan, both in the Northern Luzon Cordillera region of the Philippines.
An advisory committee, composed of Cordillera educators, professionals and citizens knowledgeable of the culture of the area, advises the Trustee on the mission of the program and participates in the evaluation and recommendation of candidates for the scholarship grants. A field program coordinator, accessibly located in the Cordillera region, assists with the implementation of the scholarship program.
Tanulong village at south end of Fedilisan-Tanulong valley. 1974
UPDATE: The first college scholarships were awarded by the Trust in July 2018. There have been 21 scholars to date. New applications will be accepted from students already in college for the second semester only of 2020-2021. An interested student applicant should write to Dr. Albert Bacdayan, Director, bacdayan.ac@gmail.com, to introduce oneself and explain why interested.
No applications from new high school graduates were taken for the SY 2020-2021 due to the many uncertainties raised by the pandemic. All types of grant application will resume for SY 2021-2022. For more detail, refer to Section on GRANTS, ELIGIBILITY and HOW TO APPLY.