Rosco, Clemencio Sumabal (1918–2002)
By Benedicto R. Borja, and Ma. Venus F. Borja
Benedicto R. Borja, Ph.D. in educational administration (Central Mindanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon, Philippines), is a licensed professional teacher (LPT) and a professor in the School of Theology of Mountain View College, Mt. Nebo, Valencia City, Bukidnon. Philippines Borja is an ordained minister born in Pastrana, Leyte. He worked as a district pastor in the Negros Oriental-Siquijor Mission prior to his current teaching assignment in the School of Theology at Mountain View College (MVC). He is married to Maria Venus F. Borja and they have three children.
Ma. Venus F. Borja (nee Fernandez), Ph.D. in nursing (Silliman University located in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines), is a registered nurse and an assistant professor in the College of Nursing of Ha’il University, Ha’il Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Borja has a B.S. in nursing from Mountain View College (MVC), Mt. Nebo, Valencia City, Philippines, and an M.S. in medical/surgical nursing from Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines. She had served as nursing theories teacher for 16 years and as a research coordinator in the School of Nursing at Mountain View College, Mt. Nebo, Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines. She is married to Benedicto R. Borja and they have three children.
First Published: January 29, 2020
Clemencio Sumabal Rosco was born in Inabanga, Bohol, Philippines on November 23, 1918.1
Early Life, Education, and Marriage
His Roman Catholic merchant parents both came from Bohol, one of the solid Roman Catholic provinces of the Philippines. His father, Sulpicio L. Rosco, comes from Tubigon while his mother, Remegia Sumabal, hails from Inabanga.2, 3 Clemencio read Adventist books and attended tent meetings which God used for his conversion.4 Pastor R. Llaguno baptized him and his wife on June 25, 1949 in Tubigon, Bohol.5
After finishing high school, Clemencio attended Southwestern Colleges (now Southwestern University)6 and graduated from Bachelor of Science in Education major in History and minor in English in March 1950.7 He had postgraduate education taken from Philippine Union College (now Adventist University of the Philippines).8 He married Marcelina Serohijos of Tubigon, Bohol on June 6, 1943.9 Their marriage was blessed with 7 children namely: (1) Flordeliza, December 15, 1944; (2) Teresita, February 16, 1946; (3) Clemencio Jr., August 10, 1948; (4) Nepthali, August 1, 1950; (5) Himaya-Marcelina, January 1, 1953; (6) Myrna, March 20, 1955; and (7) Hope-Laarni, who was born on September 21, 1959.10, 11
Ministry
Prior to his marriage and conversion, Clemencio, worked as a teacher at the Bureau of Public Schools beginning in 1938 to 1942. When WW11 broke out he joined the Armed Forces of the Philippines as a soldier from 1943 to 1945. After the war, he returned to his teaching job at the Bureau of Public Schools from 1944 to 1947. His employment in the Bureau of Public Schools ended when his Alma Mater, Southwestern Colleges in Cebu City (now Southwestern University), hired him as a Principal and a Critic Teacher from 1948 to 1950. Leaving Southwestern Colleges, he accepted to become Principal of the Southern Masbate Institute (SMI), Placer, Masbate for the school year of 1950-1951. He did not finish his term as Principal in SMI when he decided to return to Cebu and connect with Cebu Roosevelt Memorial College in Bogo, Cebu as a classroom teacher from June to December 31, 1952.12
On November 1, 1952 he began his denominational work as a Literature Evangelist until June 15, 1954 at East Visayan Mission (now Central Visayan Conference). He remained in the same Mission for the next nine years working as an Assistant Publishing Director, Sabbath School Director, Lay Activities Director and as a District Leader.13
On January 1, 1964,14 two years before his ordination on January 22, 1966,15 he accepted a call to connect with Western Mindanao Mission (now Western Mindanao Conference), a subsidiary of South Philippine Union Mission (now South Philippine Union Conference) in Mindanao, as Sabbath School Director, Lay Activities Director and as a District Leader. The next six years of his ministry in Mindanao beginning on January 1, 1966, he was tasked as the Evangelist,16 Ministerial Secretary and in-charge of the Radio-TV Ministry of the South Philippine Union Mission of the Seventh-day Adventists.17As the need arises, he left the South Philippine Union Mission to return to Western Mindanao Mission as President for two years before briefly joining Southern Mindanao Mission for seven months as Sabbath School and Lay Activities Director, respectively, due to a call passed by the Central Philippine Union Mission to South Philippine Union Mission for him to return to Central Philippines to work as Ministerial,18, 19 Temperance, Associate Communication and Executive Secretary of the Union beginning August 1, 1974 until the end of 1979. His last denominational employ before his retirement took effect on December 1, 1983 was being the Ministerial and Radio Speaker of the Union. His untimely retirement on May 1, 198020 was largely due to his waning health and rapid physical decline.21
Later Life
Pastor Clemencio S. Rosco served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for a total of 2722 years as literature evangelist, district leader, director of various denominational departments of both the mission and the union of Central and South Philippines, Radio-TV Speaker and as president of Western Mindanao Mission. He died in November 200223 in Florida, U.S.A24.
Contribution
Aside from serving the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 27 years in different capacities, Pastor Rosco translated into Cebuan25 the book entitled Patriarchs and Kings26 originally written in English by Ellen G. White.
Notes
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Far Eastern Division of Seventh-day Adventists (renamed Asia-Pacific Division in 1995 now Southern Asia Pacific Division located in Aguinaldo Highway, San Miguel II, Bypass; Silang, Cavite 4118; Philippines). “Retirement Confirmation of the Far Eastern Division Committee on Administration of Clemencio S. Rosco,” (800 Thomson Road, Singapore 11, Republic of Singapore: Far Eastern Division, 14 November 1983).↩
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Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Worker’s Record of Clemencio S. Rosco, November 1952 (Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines: Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists), 2.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid. 1.↩
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Ibid., 1-2.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid., 3.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid., 2.↩
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Ibid., 1.↩
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Ibid., 2, 4.↩
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Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Far Eastern Division Retirement Fund Application of Clemencio S. Rosco, December 17, 1982 (Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines: Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists). 1.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Worker’s Record of Clemencio S. Rosco, November 1, 1952, (Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines: Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists), 2, 3.↩
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Clemencio S. Rosco. “Evangelism at General Santos, Philippines,” Far Eastern Division Outlook M.C. (P) 2541, August 1967.↩
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Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Far Eastern Division Retirement Fund Application of Clemencio S. Rosco, December 1, 1982 (Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines: Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists). 1.↩
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Central Philippines. “Hundreds Attend Evangelistic Series,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, October 1975.↩
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Review. “News Notes.” November 20, 1975, 26.↩
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Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Far Eastern Division Retirement Fund Application of Clemencio S. Rosco, December 17, 1982 (Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines: Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists). 1.↩
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Ibid.↩
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Ibid.↩
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http://www.locatefamily.com/R/ROS/ROSCO-1.html Accessed on October 13, 2017↩
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Pastor Joel C. Wales, retired President of Central Visayan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Cebu City, telephone “interview by the authors”, Mountain View College, Mt. Nebo, Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines, October 13, 2017.↩
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Cebuan is one of the 170 languages of the Philippines which is primarily the living language in both the islands of the Visayan regions and Mindanao (Paul M. Lewis and Gary F. Simons, eds. Ethnologue: Languages of the World [18th ed.] [Dallas, Texas: SIL International, 2015]).↩
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National Library of the Philippines. “Ang Sugilanon sa mga Manalagna ug mga Hari: Sono sa Gihulagway sa Pagkabihag ng Pagpahiuli sa Israel,” National Library of the Philippines Information Technology Division, 2017. http://koha.nlp.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?bib=96738 accessed on October 12, 2017.
Sources
Central Philippines. “Hundreds Attend Evangelistic Series,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, October 1975.
Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Far Eastern Division Retirement Fund Application of Clemencio S. Rosco, December 17, 1982.
Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, CPUC Secretariat, Worker’s Record of Clemencio S. Rosco, November 1, 1952. Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, Philippines: Central Philippine Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Clemencio S. Rosco. “Evangelism at General Santos, Philippines,” Far Eastern Division Outlook M.C. (P) 2541, August 1967.
Far Eastern Division of Seventh-day Adventists (renamed Asia-Pacific Division in 1995 now Southern Asia Pacific Division located in Aguinaldo Highway, San Miguel II, Bypass; Silang, Cavite 4118; Philippines). “Retirement Confirmation of the Far Eastern Division Committee on Administration of Clemencio S. Rosco.” 800 Thomson Road, Singapore 11, Republic of Singapore: Far Eastern Division, November 14, 1983.
National Library of the Philippines. “Ang Sugilanon sa mga Manalagna ug mga Hari: Sono sa Gihulagway sa Pagkabihag ng Pagpahiuli sa Israel,” National Library of the Philippines Information Technology Division, 2017. http://koha.nlp.gov.ph/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?bib=96738 accessed on October 12, 2017.
Paul M. Lewis and Gary F. Simons, eds. Ethnologue: Languages of the World (18 ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International, 2015.
Pastor Joel C. Wales, retired President of Central Visayan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Cebu City, telephone interview by Benedicto R. Borja, Mountain View College, Mt. Nebo, Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines, October 13, 2017.
Review. “News Notes.” November 20, 1975.↩