Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be among the high profile personalities to be invited to the silver anniversary celebrations of the Philippine School Doha (PSD), an official has said.
School principal Dr Alexander Acosta said PSD will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2017, and described the event as “timely” because construction of the new campus in Abu Hamour is set for completion in January next year.
“Being the new Philippine president, it would be an honour to invite him to our silver anniversary. It would be an opportune time for him to visit Qatar,” Acosta said of Duterte, who was sworn into office 11 days ago (June 30) after a landslide victory during the May 2016 national elections.
But aside from Duterte, the principal said Arroyo, including several other Philippine government officials, will be invited to grace the ceremony for their “significant role in the realisation of PSD’s dream for a new campus.”
During Arroyo’s state visit to Qatar in 2008, Acosta said the request for a new campus was included in the president’s talking points by Foreign Affairs undersecretary Rafael Seguis.
“When President Arroyo met with HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani she discussed the need for a new campus. In return, HH the Father Emir had granted the request and gave a piece of land in Abu Hamour,” he said.
Seguis and Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) executive director Jose Z Molano Jr, as well as former Philippine ambassador to Qatar Crescente Relacion were also instrumental in the getting the land granted, Acosta explained.
Relacion also played a key role for the approval of a QR108mn loan for the construction of the new PSD campus. The loan was granted before Relacion left Qatar in April last year, according to Acosta.
He added that the former ambassador to Qatar was also instrumental in increasing the land area of the Abu Hamour campus from 10,000sq m to 14,375sq m.
“Ambassador Relacion was really hands-on when visiting the concerned ministries to secure the loan. He also went to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to make sure PSD was not left hanging. He was heaven sent because he made sure everything was in place, especially the loan, before he left Qatar,” Acosta stressed.
Acosta said PSD was established in 1992 and started with only 33 students. For the school year 2016 – 2017, PSD has more than 3,000 students.
He said preparations are underway for the renaming of PSD as “Philippine Science School Doha (PSSD).”
“We already received permission from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to change our name to PSSD, but I may visit officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines next month to follow-up the progress of our request to rename the school,” Acosta said.

PSD principal Dr Alexander Acosta.           Photo by Ram Chand