The Salesian Society of St. John Bosco is a congregation of priests and brothers in the church dedicated to the education and human development of the marginalized youth. The Salesians have been in the Philippines since 1951. Over the span of 41 years, Salesian activity has so expanded nationwide that, as a positive consequence of this expansion, the original Philippine Province was divided into two: the Philippine North Province and the Philippine South Province. The Philippine North Province covers Metro Manila and Luzon while the Philippine South Province covers Visayas and Mindanao.

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Officially established in May 1992, the Philippine South Province has grown from 12 centers to 16.  Don Bosco-Mati belongs to the Philippine South Province. It was established in the early 1990’s located in Dahican, Mati, Davao Oriental. Don Bosco-Mati is both a Training Center and a Parish. The Training Center was founded by an Italian Salesian priest in the name of Fr. Franco Uras, SDB and was operationalized in 1993 offering training courses in Mechanical and Automotive Technologies. The center is effective in its program because it is able to qualify the graduates to address the skills requirements of the small industries in Mati and the big ones in Davao City.

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However, the distance of Mati from Davao City is a critical factor in the job placement of the students. With this, Don Bosco addressed the situation by providing training programs that are not only relevant to the local needs but can likewise generate gainful employment for the students such as: Agri-Mechanical; Integrated Farming; Food and Meat Processing and Preservation, and the like.

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In 2002, the training center started to accept female students who will qualify for the skills training. There were (3) female Machinists and one (1) female Agri-Mechanical trainee who met the requirements of the center and completed the training course. For a span of 12 years, a total of 315 students graduated in Automotive, Mechanical, Agri-Mechanical, Integrated Farming and Welding Technologies.

 

Today, the center is persistently intensifying its training program in Mindanao for the Out-of-School Youth.

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