Remembering this beloved Jesuit priest and exemplary Filipino–who though physically small in stature, was a large looming presence when I was in college and after, to me and many others… Blessed 25th anniversary of your homecoming to the Lord, Derps!
Fr. Raul Jacinto Bonoan SJ: 3 July 1935 – 6 April 1999
Raul J. Bonoan was a Filipino Jesuit educator, theologian and Rizal scholar, beloved priest and spiritual director, exemplary administrator, and leader during challenging times for the universities he loved and served (as Dean of Ateneo de Manila, and President of the Ateneo de Naga) … a Filipino patriot, and a true man of God…
Student, Seminarian, Scholar
The Bonoans were originally from Ilocos, but Derps and his 4 siblings – he was the eldest of five Bonoan brothers – grew up in Tondo and Cubao. His niece Cherry writes: “He was the eldest of 5 boys and their father passed away early, so he was like the clan patriarch.”
The Bonoan brothers all were Ateneans. Rolly entered the priesthood, joining the Society of Jesus (SJ) on 20 June 1952. He pursued philosophical studies at Berchmans College, Cebu from 1956 to 1959, then received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at Woodstock College, Maryland in 1966. He was ordained a priest in 1965. He later earned a Ph.D. in Theology from the Loyola School of Theology in 1977, with a dissertation on the Jose Rizal-Pastells correspondence.
(Author’s note: His well-known study on the then-unpublished letters between the national hero and the Jesuit superior Padre Pablo Pastells SJ – supposed to be Rizal’s ‘spiritual adviser’- was published by Ateneo Press. In “The Rizal–Pastells Correspondence” [1994], Fr. Bonoan examined the internal conflict in the national hero, one marked by a struggle between the ideas of the Enlightenment–Rizal’s liberal leanings having fully matured during his stay in Europe–and his Catholic upbringing, in making sense of his own politics.)
Teacher and Theologian
Fr Rolly became a beloved professor of theology at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University for more than two decades (1965 to 1988) – during some of the most challenging periods for the University, the Catholic Church, and the Philippines. From the 1960s when the Filipinization movement and radicalism took root in the Ateneo, and through the imposition of Martial Law in the 1970s and 80s, Fr. Rolly advanced a Filipino theology not too reliant on Western paradigms. His course in theology (where I was once his student in Theology 11) was unique in its focus on history and the local context in which Christianity had developed.
Derps also encouraged students to go out of the classroom and immerse themselves in the world outside, and he supported efforts at community outreach. He helped initiate and institutionalize social awareness and community organizing programs within the University. Together with several other influential Jesuits, he had led community efforts to aid flood victims of Central Luzon in the mid-1970s, which led to many enduring social programs of the Ateneo and was then an initiation to Philippine politics to a cadre of students’ who would lead many social movements after.
ADMU: Leading In A Period Of Disquiet
He assumed more direct leadership roles during the darkest days of the dictatorship. He was Director for Admissions and Aid of the College when I entered, encouraging, and presiding over the ever-increasing influx of scholars who otherwise would not have the means to enter Ateneo–shifting the mix of studentry in the “elite” Jesuit school. He would interview them one by one and followed their progress in school via informal conversations during campus walks.
He also became prefect of Cervini Hall, the main male dorm of ADMU, where many dormers–including many of the university scholars from outside Metro Manila whom he recruited and supported–lived and were influenced. He was also the strict disciplinarian: he used to walk the hallways sternly admonishing dormers, especially first year students, reminding them to keep quiet after 10 PM with his booming voice: “Quiet! Silence!”
After my freshman year, he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (his predecessor there was Fr Ben Nebres SJ, who became SJ Provincial Superior, and would eventually become a long-serving President of ADMU). Derps helped navigate an increasingly volatile period where the anti-dictatorship stirrings were expanding within and outside Ateneo. He also continued to support strong academic programs which were more engaged with Philippine politics and society, also helping establish the College’s Office of Research and Publications.
During this time, Fr. Bonoan also served as moderator of the Ateneo Catechetical Instruction League (ACIL), one of the socially oriented school organizations that were for many then a gateway for deeper social analysis and political involvement. He also acted as spiritual adviser to many students, encouraging a prayer life anchored on Ignatian spirituality and personal discernment, but also on Catholic social teaching and the Jesuit mandate of “preferential option for the poor”. He was an inspiring retreat-master and recollection speaker, influencing many young Ateneans seeking a balance of faith and justice, interiority, and socio-political commitment.
He wrote strong homilies in memory of Ateneo alumni such as Edgar Jopson, Evelio Javier, and Ninoy Aquino who perished in the tumultuous few years that followed. During the snap elections of 1986, ADMU and the Loyola House of Studies provided sanctuary to Commission on Elections (COMELEC) technicians who refused to manipulate official election results to favor the Marcos dictatorship.
Tony La Viña, a philosophy teacher in Ateneo at the time, remembered visiting Derps at the Dean’s office and witnessing how “burdened he was by his responsibilities; but also, that he never wavered in his hope that we would overcome as a community, and as a people” the dark years of the Marcos regime. Derps actually was compared to more politically engaged fellow Jesuits, an under-appreciated social activist who stayed more in the background and “counseled patience and reason in the difficult years leading to the 1986 revolution,” according to Tony.
“Rescuing” Ateneo De Naga
After the fall of the dictatorship, Fr. Bonoan was appointed as President of the Ateneo de Naga beginning in 1988, and which became his final position–and some would say his most significant in terms of impact–up until his untimely demise 10 years later.
Fr. Rolly became the charismatic and indefatigable driving force behind reviving the Ateneo de Naga from its financial slump in the 1980’s. He was actually sent to Naga to affect the closure of the High School (or even the entire College) as recommended by a predecessor, because of dwindling enrollment and a deep financial crisis. He refused to affect any closures and instead “shamelessly begged” (i.e., fundraised; a quote from Fr. Jack Phelan SJ) from AdN alumni–and more importantly, also from all his friends who were Ateneo de Manila alumni/ae–to get Ateneo de Naga back on its feet.
The Bonoan decade in Naga saw a dramatic turning of the tide. Under his leadership, AdN successfully retained its high school while at the same time leading the college to become one of the Top 20 universities and colleges in the Philippines. Ateneo de Naga eventually became a full university on November 11, 1998.
During his tenure, Fr Bonoan engaged in strategic fundraising initiatives; but he also revised the curriculum, transforming it into one that addressed local needs, and in particular, one that promoted Bikol culture. He invested heavily in faculty development, improved facilities, and expanded AdN’s educational programs by offering new degrees in business and the sciences.
Tony La Viña writes: “As the President of Ateneo de Naga, Fr. Bonoan was proud, not of himself and of his achievements, but of his community and people, and what they were accomplishing together. It was amazing watching Fr. Rolly in those years when he was in Naga. His energy was boundless and his passion contagious. He was unstoppable.”
In Naga, Fr Rolly worked closely with local government, even serving as secretary-general of the Bikol Regional Development Summit and maintained a close and collaborative relationship with the late great Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo.
AdN HS alumnus and Nagueño Atty Jam Jacob writes: “I can attest to just how much Fr. Bonoan was well-loved by the community, especially the alumni. Perhaps a bit unfair, but he effectively set a bar against which all future Presidents of the school are now inevitably measured.”
A building in Ateneo de Naga has been named in Fr Raul Bonoan SJ’s honor. Today he is remembered as the Ateneo de Naga community’s guiding light during the school’s most difficult times. With passion, focus, and grit, he was able to bring new life to the school, paving a promising and hopeful path to progress and excellence which continues till today.
Other Memories From Family
> Atty Cherry Bonoan, Derps’ niece writes: “Tito Rolly was also a life-long Rizal scholar. He could talk about Rizal for hours. Literally.” Even when he was already in Naga, he would be invited by the ADMU history department every year to give “the Bonoan lectures” on Rizal that is required for all sections taking the required Ateneo class on Rizal and the emergence of the Filipino nation.” Si Derps, ang Rizalistang seryosong sumunod sa pambansang bayani sa pagmamahal at paglilingkod sa sariling bayan… Typically scholarly Derps!
> From Butch Bonoan, Derp’s youngest and only surviving brother: “When he was assigned to Ateneo de Naga, he would come to Manila once a month, have dinner with us, and bring back with him a dozen of my betamax tapes for the entertainment of his small Jesuit community in Naga.” Typically nurturing Derps!
“He would (also) occasionally borrow one of my cars. I knew his reputation for not being an excellent driver and therefore, lent him my oldest car which he invariably managed to return with an additional dent here and there.” Typically… courageous Derps!
“Spiritual Leadership”
On April 6th, 1999, Fr Rolly died unexpectedly of a heart attack while jogging at Mirador Jesuit Villa in Baguio City, just a few months after the jubilant AdNU status celebration. Derps was just 63.
The mood in Naga was somber, as the entire university – and its extended community all over the city – was devastated. This was poignantly captured by Niño Saavedra Manaog in a piece he wrote. Excerpts:
“The sad news was broadcast on several radio stations around the city for days, until the time the body was brought from Baguio… During the wake, the open yard was in deep mourning—a black cloth draped the four pillars, a hollow silence roamed the new pavements… and an arcane stillness sprawled in the campus… Death invited silence into the sprawling domain, and immensely evoked reflection from every person who knew him, or whom he knew…. “
In a tribute to Derps at the time of his death, another great Bicolano Jesuit who has also passed on, Fr Joaquin Bernas SJ wrote:
“Father Rolly’s life embodied what we might call a SPIRITUALITY OF LEADERSHIP. Of this, a key element is familiarity with God. Rolly had that. Busy as he was, he always had time for long hours of communing with God. He was, you might say, a part of God’s inner family.
“Another element in Father Rolly’s life was a cluster of virtues indispensable for a spiritual leader. First is love of people. He loved not just fellow Jesuits but everyone he came into contact with. His capacity for love, coupled with his humility, endowed him with a lovableness attested to by the loyalty and devotion of his innumerable friends…
“He had a magnanimous spirit which could bear the weakness of others, dare great things even in the face of opposition, and plod on perseveringly.”
Joaquin Bernas, SJ, “Death of a Spiritual Leader” in Today, 11 April 1999
Former ADMU President Fr Jett Villarin SJ–a young scholastic during the 1980s–writes poignantly about his senior brother in the Society: “Even while we were young, you taught us to pray. And I am only one among the many who saw you pray and keep vigil in the loneliness of many chapels.”
“First and Always A Priest”
Current Jesuit Provincial Superior Fr Xavier Olin SJ shared that “First and Always a Priest” was Derps own description of himself… (As niece Candy relates her father Butch’s recollection of their childhood days: “According to my dad, Tito Rolly’s idea of a favorite game was to say mass!”
First and always a priest.
Nothing sums up Fr Raul Bonoan SJ’s life more–and also teaches us more about what it is to be a true pastor of the Lord–than this line…
Dios mabalos, Fr Rolly/Derps: Gabayan niyo po kami sa gitna ng aming mga pakikibaka–panloob at panlabas, sa kalooban at sa sa lipunan… At patuloy niyo kaming turuan na manalangin–sa salita at sa gawa!
References and Sources
As formal bios of Derps are scarce, I have had to dig round the internet, and also “crowdsource” from colleagues and contemporaries, and mine the eulogies during his wake. Some sources:
adnu.edu.ph, Saysay Bicol, and Ateneo de Naga’s several FB pages; en.wikipedia.org; Aegis 1983; FB posts of Fr Xavier Olin SJ and Tony La Viña (who wrote a heartfelt tribute to Derps in “To Give and Not To Count The Cost: Ateneans Inspiring Ateneans 1859-2009”). Also, various homilies/pieces written during Fr. Rolly’s death; and recollections of some of my batchmates in the secret society FTB. (Thanks also to Atty Cherry Bonoan, and Jam Jacob).
See also:
“Raul J. Bonoan, S.J. (1935-1999): An Introduction.” In Light to the World: The Vision of Fr. Raul J. Bonoan SJ; and Bonoan, Raul (2000). Reyes, Soledad S. (ed.). Quezon City: Office of Research and Publications.
(The header collage consists of photos from Robbie Bonoan and the FB posts of Fr. Xavier Olin, SJ)
About the author
AL ALEGRE has been involved in development and human rights work for four decades—first as a labor organizer during Martial Law; and then as writer/editor, social researcher/political educator, and media/cultural activist. A long-time Executive Director of the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), he more recently worked in the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Al was a political detainee during the Marcos dictatorship, and continues to dialogue with various groups on human rights and democracy, historical revisionism and disinformation, “post-truth” politics and online digital rights.