Walter L. Ysaac graduated valedictorian of the famed Ateneo de Naga High School Class of 1950. His salutatorian was Joaquin Bernas, the future Jesuit constitutionalist. Luis Ruben General wrote in Bicol Mail that this remarkable high school batch also included luminaries who would excel in their fields of endeavor: First honorable mention was Rodolfo General who would graduate as class valedictorian at ADMU Law; second honorable was Maximo Panelo, valedictorian of Mapua Engineering and No. 1 in the Board Examinations for Civil Engineers (he was Dean of UNC Engineering for a long time); and third honorable was Paulo Elizan who would graduate with honors at UP Law. This class also included outstanding law practitioner Francisco “Packers” Macandog, Jr. as well as Benjamin Almoneda, the first Ateneo de Naga graduate to become a priest and bishop, his best friend.
Walter “Wally” Ysaac was born on October 3, 1932, to Luis Ysaac, a retired US Army Master Sergeant, and Matilde. He is the second eldest among twelve siblings, of which three are sisters from the Daughters of Charity, Sor Priscilla, the eldest, Sor Elizabeth (deceased), and Sor Norma. The others are Henry (deceased), Luis Jr., Helen, Erlinda (deceased), George, Franklin, Marison, and Maridel. Franklin is an active member of the TNTrio group, advocating truth and transparency in the country’s elections.
Growing up in a large family taught Wally the values of unity, responsibility and compassion from an early age. As the second eldest child (his family calls him “Kuya Watty”), he embraced his role as an older sibling, offering guidance and support to his younger brothers and sisters. His academic journey began at the Naga Central School, where he was accelerated year after year and because of his natural aptitude for learning graduated valedictorian of his class. He continued his education at Ateneo de Naga High School. Throughout his high school years, his commitment to excellence in his academic pursuits was unwavering.
In the article from the Jesuit magazine, Windhover (February 2, 2016) titled “Jesuit and Priest, Pastor and Scholar”, recalling his days at the Arvisu House, Christian Dy wrote about the origins of Fr. Wally’s spirituality, stating that his passionate work sprung from vocation which began in grade school:
“A priest was telling us that the great majority of the Filipino people very seldom see a priest. They are like the pitiful wandering herds of sheep without a shepherd that Jesus saw when crowds and crowds of people would flock to him and would not let him go. That is what I saw. That is what suddenly gave me the desire to be a priest.”
“When I was walking alone in my old, tattered clothes, barefoot, to go to the cathedral for my first Communion and imagined I saw in the distance above, the Heavenly Father take pity on me and on all the hungry children receiving for the first time Jesus into their little hearts. Someday, I said to myself, I will be a priest.”
Wally heard the call again when he was in high school in Ateneo de Naga. There was only one obstacle. He felt, “I could not leave my old father and mother and my eleven siblings on their own in order for me to become a priest.” Eventually, he received the go-signal from his family to pursue this dream of becoming a priest. He took a significant step towards fulfilling that commitment by entering San Jose Seminary.
For two years, he devoted himself to his studies and spiritual formation at the seminary. Fr. Wally recalls, “On my second year of studies at San Jose Seminary, I was told by my Jesuit spiritual father and philosophy professor that I was being called not only to be a priest but to be a Jesuit and for me to think about it. I wondered what I confided to him that made him tell me that.”
The understanding of philosophy is the cornerstone of theological inquiry and spiritual reflection. To broaden this knowledge, Fr. Wally pursued Master of Arts in Philosophy at Berchmans College, the early Jesuit scholasticate located in Lahug, Cebu City, before the establishment of the Loyola House of Studies. He took his first vows as a Jesuit on May 31, 1954. A Jesuit archives photo dated 1957 showed Fr. Wally among Jesuit scholastics: Pepe Bacatan, Joaquin Bernas, Raf Borromeo, John Chambers, Sammy Dizon, Robert Dy, Jess Fernandez, Paco Mallari, Ray Miller, Honesto Pacana, Francisco Perez, among others.
Fr. Wally was ordained to the priesthood in Innsbruck, Austria on July 26, 1965. He received his doctorate in theology from Regis College, the Jesuit school affiliated with the University of Toronto in Canada. After which, he spent years teaching theology at Ateneo Loyola School of Studies.
In 1981, he founded the Manila Lonergan Center with the goal of applying the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan to local contexts. Prior to the center’s formal establishment, he was offered a room at the Loyola School of Theology’s library where he could work on cataloguing the extensive primary and secondary Lonergan materials sent from the Lonergan Center of the University of Toronto. Bernard Lonergan was a Canadian Jesuit, a philosopher and theologian, regarded as one of the most important philosophical thinkers of the 20th century whose work focused on a “Generalized Empirical Method”.
The core mission of the Manila center has been to link Bernard Lonergan’s theoretical work (“theoria“) with practical action (“praxis“). Earlier in 1976, Fr. Wally initiated work in two barrios in San Mateo, Rizal – “flocks without a shepherd.” Eventually, a vision took root in the heart of Payatas, the Kapatidkita Mahalkita Foundation – Payatas B, Inc. (previously known as Kapatidkita Mahalkita Foundation, Inc. or KM Foundation), committed to “thinking for the poor and working for the poor.”
Formerly a part of San Mateo, Rizal, Payatas is a district in Quezon City and known historically as a garbage dumpsite and one of the largest and poorest communities in the country. Payatas B is a 13-hectare landfill located in the area. By March 1983, KM Foundation identified and supported 43 children from the most impoverished families in their educational journey from kindergarten to college. Recognizing the need for broader community engagement, it has reached out to help the poor in neighboring communities.
Through Fr. Wally’s efforts, KM Foundation has assembled a pool of generous sponsors and volunteers to support the children under its care. Puso Philippines became a vital U.S. partner in 2002. Reed Elsevier Philippines started supporting 26 children beginning in 2011 and growing to 220 sponsored students by the academic year 2023-2024. Philippines Humanitarian of Salt Lake City, Utah, founded by Diosdado and Amelia Hernandez and continued by their daughter Imelda Armstrong, has been supporting 276 students from grade 2 to college. 4T Foundation International, based in Escondido, California, is also a sponsor. The Manila Lonergan Center operates as part of a global network of Lonergan centers, which can be found in cities like Toronto, Boston, and Rome.
In 1992, the foundation was recognized by President Corazon Aquino as “Most Outstanding NGO Partner”. Over the course of four decades, KM Foundation’s profound impact on the Payatas community and beyond has been nothing short of legendary. Fueled by compassion and guided by faith, it has uplifted the lives of the most vulnerable and offered them dignity, opportunity, and hope for a better future. Fr. Wally’s achievements are a testament to the power of one individual’s determination to make a difference in the world.
Fr. Wally is the author of books on spiritual formation, including, The Wonder and Reality of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, Living in Heaven, The Natural Desire of the Child to See God, The Triune of God’s Act of Grace as well as catechism books in the vernacular. He says of these books, “What has been freely received should be freely given.”
His legacy will endure as a source of inspiration for generations to come, a reminder that each of us has the ability to create positive change and leave a lasting impact on the lives of others.
The header features an image captured from the video tribute to Fr. Walter Ysaac, SJ during his 92nd birthday on October 3, 2024, showing officers of Kapatidkita Mahalkita Foundation – Payatas B, Inc. This article was written by Jojo De Jesus for Dateline Ibalon based on the following references: Jesuit, Priest and Scholar by Christian Dy, Windhover Online, Feb. 2, 2016; Life of Fr. Walter L. Ysaac, SJ, Kapatidkita Mahalkita website; FB posts of Frank Ysaac, various dates; FB post about Berchmans College by Fr. Madz Tumbali, Nov. 25, 2019; Fr. Bernas and Atty. Packers, Bicol Mail article by Luis Ruben M. General.