through co-curricular activities in close partnership with schools, both public and private, nationwide. These were cultural as well as educational activities. VMI produced original plays, like Habi Tabi at Ang Banal na Aklat, The Bell of Silence, and Ang Kwento ni Mang Abe, which were watched by thousands of students, parents, and educators in Folk Arts Theater, Smart Araneta Coliseum, CCP, and other venues. Books that taught values were also published for the students. VMI also produced the nationwide values education campaigns, Ang Mga Munting Bayani ng Bayan and Sino Ang Mga Bayani Ngayon, in collaboration with DepEd under the leadership of Secretary Ricardo Gloria and Secretary Brother Andrew Gonzalez, respectively. Both campaigns were values education projects on caring focused on “simple selfless acts of heroism” of students from the public and private sectors. Using an inclusionary approach for this discipline, Mr. Atayde developed a values education workshop for the educators, especially those who have been 4 to 5 years into their professional careers. This workshop called Laughter From the Heart, basically gave the educators a moral compass they could adhere to, especially when they went through ethical conundrums or started showing indications of job fatigue, dissatisfaction, and frustration. It discussed the laws of happiness which include gratitude, acceptance, forgiveness, interconnectedness, least resistance, giving, openness, living in the present, and caring. The Asian financial crisis that started in 1997 along with the debacle of the Estrada administration in the following years affected severely the schools financially nationwide. This resulted to the abrogation of the contracts VMI had with the schools. These circumstances necessitated a market shift that prompted Mr. in 2011 which effectively provided human resource development through soft skills training programs and consultation with corporate entities and government institutions. Mr. Atayde’s firm conviction that entrepreneurial concepts and undertakings must go hand in hand with a sense of responsibility to society inspired him to reconnect with the significant parties in the education of the country’s youth – the students, educators, and parents. He did this by championing values education once more. Atayde set up an advocacy group and named it El Refugio, a Spanish phrase that means A Place of Refuge. Atayde has envisioned several outreach projects like a “mass values education” of the parents of students belonging to public schools nationwide. But to be able to undertake such massive projects would need funding. For this reason, Mr. Atayde visualized El Refugio to generate the needed funds by being the “run to” center for workshops and activities that would recharge and align parents and educators with the ultimate goal of developing their children holistically to be the best human beings they can be; would help educators humanize the subjects and atmosphere of the educational institutions to develop students to care more about their future and the well-being of every person on our planet; would show students the essentiality of practicing values in their day-to-day lives to be happier, more responsible, caring, and successful individuals; would help parents understand why their having a moral compass directly impacts the quality of life that their children would have in the future. This has resulted in El Refugio’s undertaking various workshops and activities with numerous groups and individuals. Some of these are:
• Eight 4-hour workshops called QUALITY LIFE COACHING FOR VOLUNTEERS in which participants were given in-depth information and techniques that honed their skills as mentors of quality life.
• Interactive workshops called LIFE COACHING STUDENTS AND PARENTS for educators which were conducted for 1 ½ day. This workshop was developed to improve the quality of life of educators and to train the educators to be effective life coaches to the students and their parents. Contributing to the success of this workshop is the 30 years-experience of servicing educators in numerous nationwide values formation projects through SOFYA, INC.
• Week-long training programs called HOSTING & MODERATING THE GOLDEN MINDSET FOR PARENTS WORKSHOP for individuals who wanted to be moderators and trainers of a parenting workshop called The Golden Mindset for Parents. Other than undergoing the actual parenting workshop, the participants were given an immersion in pooled information on skills and techniques in hosting and El Refugio’s precepts and guidelines.
• THE GOLDEN MINDSET FOR PARENTS which is a 1 ½ day virtual interactive parenting workshop. This was developed after more than a year of studying and testing. Please see the video showing the comments of the parents of La Salle Zobel, one of the participating schools.
• Short learning videos called THOUGHTS IN HUMANIZING EDUCATION for educators and snippets of THE GOLDEN MINDSET FOR PARENTS intended for parents and guardians. El Refugio posted these videos for general viewing on El Refugio's page and YouTube channel.
• A 1 ½ day workshop for educators called THE GOLDEN MINDSET FOR EDUCATORS. This workshop is now being offered to all school organizations nationwide to support their training program for their educators and enhance their coaching capabilities. School organizations can choose to conduct this workshop via a face-to-face or virtual setting. Now, El Refugio has established the Values Hub Training Center Corp. totally dedicated to values education.
