in memoriam Epefania Perez

Mrs. Epefania Latorre - Perez returned to her creator today. She was 95.

Gomer and Vanessa

Gomer Bonguet Azcuna will get married to Vanessa Bartolome today. Msgr. Leonardo Guadalquiver will preside over the wedding mass at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Reception will be held at the Cardinal Rosales Hall of the Centennial Pastoral Center.

more images from the GILAS Program

Let me give you some more images taken from the GILAS Program which was held at the DepEd Conference Hall last Friday, January 23, 2009. (For some details on the program, you may check this link)

Mayor Mel Sarmiento with (r-l) Mario Deriquito, Director of Ayala Foundation Center for Social Development, City Schools Division Superintendent Edita Paculan and TTMIST President Socorro Bohol.

Dir. Deriquito with Gilas Visayas Manager Dino Rey Abellano and DILG City Director Valente Bajet.

Mayor Sarmiento with Mrs. Paculan, Dir. Deriquito and other guests during the Tele-Conference.

Mayor Sarmiento with some officials of Brgy. Mag-ubay.

For other details, you may check this link.

The CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra (3) Queen selections

Somebody to Love


We are the Champions


Bohemian Rhapsody

Patrun sa Rizal

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Rizal.

Patrun sa Mag-ubay

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Mag-ubay!

Patrun sa Matobato ngan Gadgaran

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Matobato ngan Barangay Gadgaran!

Patrun sa Tigbe

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Tigbe. Their celebration is in honor of Señor Santo Niño.

Happy Birthday tita Cory!

President Cory Aquino turned 76 years old today. I thought I'd like to share with you the editorial of today's issue of The Manila Bulletin. You may check this link, or read the article below. (Pasensya na, you may hate her or love her, but I am a Cory fan)

Happy 76th Birthday, President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino

BORN in Manila on January 25, 1933, former President Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino was the sixth of eight children of Jose Cojuangco, a former Congressman, and Demetria Sumulong Cojuangco, a pharmacist. Both her grandfathers were also legislators.

For the most part, however, Cory’s life revolved around school, church, and vocations in Antipolo in Rizal province, the Sumulong bailiwick, and in Tarlac, where the Cojuangcos owned huge tracts of land.

Among her forebears, it was Grandfather Sumulong – Cory called him Lolo Juan – who encouraged the little girl to read. "His eyesight was getting bad," she recalls. "I was seven or eight and I would read the newspapers to him." A nationalist who believed that the elite should not dominate Philippine politics, Lolo Juan died when Cory was about to turn nine. But his influence lived on. In President Cory’s own words, my grandfather insisted that all of us learn Tagalog (the dialect on which the national language is based) first before we learned English, I continued this practice, so all my children were taught or spoken to in Tagalog. I’m proud of the fact that all of us are fluent in Tagalog." She also learned to interact with ordinary folk from the down-to-earth maternal side of the family. "We got a taste of what it was like doing what other people did," she recounts, from eating halo-halo, the iced dessert of Antipolo’s masses.

President Cory got a similar patriotic orientation from her father’s side. The Cojuangco patriarch, Jose, who came to the Philippines from China in the early 19th century, was so eager to be assimilated into Philippine society that he did not teach any of his children Chinese. A self-made man who subsequently amassed a fortune, Jose and his children remained hardworking, a value that was passed on to the succeeding generation.

President Cory manifested hard work even in her studies. She finished grade school as class valedictorian at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila in 1943. After the war, she studied at the Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia, the Notre Dame Convent School and the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, major in French language and minor in mathematics in 1953. She returned to the Philippines to study law at the Far Eastern University, but she gave up her law studies when she married Benigno Servillano "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. in 1954.

President Cory was always at the side of her husband throughout his political career. After her husband’s assassination in 1983, she quickly took the initial steps to reconcile a fractured opposition. Subsequently, with all humility and with the firm commitment to continue her husband’s crusade, she accepted the nomination to be the opposition’s presidential candidate in the 1987 snap elections.

The events that happened after she declared her candidacy are now part of Philippine history. Her administration from 1986 to 1992 was tested several times and all through those years, she remained resilient, never wavering in the pursuit of furthering democracy.

One of the most manifest attributes of President Cory is her unwavering faith in God. From personal debacles to incidences of political crisis, President Cory would turn to prayer, knowing that God would never send problems that a person of faith could not handle. "God calls each of us to do what God expects of us," she said. "I try my best to adjust to whatever circumstances are and I will not shrink from whatever is before me."

Happy 76th Birthday, President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. May you have many more years of fruitful life.

Happy Birthday Fr. Toto and Sir Vir

Rev. Fr. Rolando Vivas and Mr. Virgilio Tomnob will both turn a year older today. Happy Birthday!

The CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra (2): Music Video

Here's the music video the Studio 8 made of the CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra Concert

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The CKC - Jose Gomez Orchestra Videos (1): Members

Let me share the first of a set of videos taken during the last concert of the CKC-Jose Gomez Orchestra.

Patrun sa Saputan

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Saputan! Their celebration is in honor of Señor San Roque.

in memoriam Bartolome Durmiendo

Mano Momi returned to his creator today He was 76.

in memoriam Patricia Septo - Bayog

Mana Patring returned to her creator today. She was 83.

Patrun sa Calilihan ngan Mabini 2

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Calilihan ngan Barangay Mabini!

Out of Calbayog: MLK Day

Barack Obama and Martin Luther King. Their names are all over the place. Let me give you something personal (read: from the history buff in me). With MLK Day being celebrated just in time for the Obama Inauguration, I thinks it's nice to look back on the life and times of Martin Luther King, or at least through his "I Have A Dream Speech". Let me give you something I got from youtube.

Here's the full version of the speech:

Feast of the Santo Niño

It's the third Sunday of January and the Church in the Philippines is once again celebrating the Feast of the Santo Niño. As our local priests have mentioned in their sermons, it's only in the Philippines that this feast is being celebrated and one that is approved by the Vatican. A manifestation of the popularity of the devotion to the Child Jesus among Filipinos.

I would like to share with you the introduction that was read before the 8:00 am mass:

"Every third Sunday of January, we celebrate the feast of the Santo Niño as a sign of our special devotion to the Child Jesus. The feast brings to our attention the mysrtery of childhood. In today's Gospel, Jesus commands the disciples to let the children come to Him. Like Jesus, we should have a special love for the "little ones": the humble, the poor, the deffenseless, those who rely only on god for their support. Even more important, Jesus invites us to become like little children. Let us accept the Kingdom and the Lord's gifts without reservation. Let us forsake cunning, deceit and cold calculation. It is only by responding to His invitation that we can go beyond mere sentimental devotion to the Child Jesus."

And during the General Intercessions, the following intentions were said:

- For our Holy Father, bishops and church leaders: May they continue to proclaim, by word and example, that God's kingdom belongs to children, to the poor and the humble.

- For children who beg, scavenge for food, or are froced into labor: May our civil leaders work to give them hope for a better tomorrow.

- For children of broken homes and those who suffer because of neglectful and uncaring parents: May adults take their responsibility toward them seriously, love and care for them, and show them the beauty of life.

- For adults: May they never lose the spirit of a child and so live with one another in friendship, freedom and openness.

- For all our families: May we take the challenge to face the problems connected with the promtion of the family and marriage so that our children may grow up in a healthy, happy, and religious environment.

Today's mass was capped by the blessing of children. Here are some pictures of the children with Fr. Tony Rosales, ofm, today's mass presider.

Happy Birthday Fr. Bernie

Rev. Fr. Bernard Comilan will turn a year older today. Happy Birthday!

Patrun sa Tapa-e

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Tapa-e. Their fiesta is in honor of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.

Chiz in Calbayog

Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero was in Calbayog for a short visit yesterday. He was in town upon the invitation of Congressman Reynaldo Uy. A motorcade brought Senator Escudero to the city proper. He dropped by the City Hall where he made a courtesy call on Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento. He then proceeded to the TTMIST Socio-Cultural Center for a brief interaction with TTMIST students. He left for Borongan after a (fiesta) lunch at the Uy residence in Oquendo.

Senator Chiz with Congressman Reynaldo Uy.

Senator Escudero as he made a courtesy call on Mayor Mel Sarmiento.With them is Congressman Reynado Uy.

Lunch during the Oquendo fiesta. Senator Escudero with Congressman Reynaldo Uy, Congressman Bem Noel and Mayor Mel Sarmiento.

the celebrity hound with Chiz

Senator Chiz Escudero is the first VIP to visit Calbayog this year. He was in the city earlier today as a guest of Congressman Reynaldo Uy. As expected, the celebrity hound in me went to work, and here it is, a picture with the young Senator.

Patrun sa Oquendo

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Oquendo!

Patrun sa Begajo

Maupay nga Patrun sa mga taga Barangay Begajo!

something from the Heritage Conservation Society

I was surfing the net today and I was pleasantly surprised to come across the Heritage Conservation Society website/blog.

They had an entry on the Calbayog Chinese Cemetery. It contained images of tombstones that date back to as early as 1910 (something I didn't know existed in the area) Please check this link.

They also have entries on the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, the City Hall and the Gabaldon Schoolbuilding.

Cebu Pacific flies to Calbayog

Cebu Pacific will start serving Calbayog City on February 18, 2009. You may check these links:

link 1

link 2

Happy Birthday Msgr. Chiqui

Monsignor Bienvenido Chiquillo, the Vicar-General of the Diocese of Calbayog and former Parish Priest of Our Lady's Nativity Parish (Calbayog City) will turn a year older today. Happy Birthday!

Richard and Mylenn

Richard Mejido (of Tacloban) will get married to Mylenn Calong (of Sta. Margarita) today. Their wedding mass will be held at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Reception will be at the Centennial Pastoral Center.

more images from SOCA 2009

As reported, Mayor Mel Sarmiento delivered his 2009 State of the City Address yesterday (you may check this link). He delivered his speech at the Session Hall of the Sangguniang Panlungsod. Let me give you some more pictures from the event.

Vice Mayor Ronald Aquino as he watched the AVP which was part of SOCA 2009.

(r-l) Councilors Noel Sermense, Danilo Bernate, Regina Rabuya, Julius Mancol, Ver Porlares and Rey James Uy. Behind them are Bong Galang of BPLO, City Administrator Arnol Trani, Dr. Teody Fortalez of the CDAPRO, City Engineer Oscar Hugo and Ruben Adona of POPCOM.

A smiling Mayor Sarmiento as he did some final check on some SOCA 2009 details with Karis Rosales.

Some Department Managers as they took time to pose for the cameras after their meeting called for by the City Mayor before proceeding to the Session Hall. (l-r) Cecinio Oquendo of the Urban Housing Division, Tess Mumar of the CSWDO, Civil Registrar Fe Queroljico, CENRO's Jose Ras, City Agriculturist Adela Ocenar, CDAPRO's Dr. Teody Fortaleza, CEEDMO's Nida Beso, CTIO Linda Calesa and Geronides Mancol of the Budget Office.

(l-r) City Administrator Arnol Trani, City Accountant Rodel Lim, City Veterinarian Dr. Dick Balmes, City Engineer Oscar Hugo and City Health Officer Dr. Cesar Sabenicio.

Happy Birthday Tita Freda

Ms. Freda Ladrero will turn a year older today. Happy Birthday!

in memoriam Angelina Dacurro - Cortado

Mana Angelina returned to her creator today.

Images from the New Year's Vigil Mass

Year 2009 is the Diocesan Marian Year for the Diocese of Calbayog. Bishop Isabelo Abarquez made the official declaration during the New Year’s Vigil Mass at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral.

The thrust for this celebration is “Towards 2010 and beyond: Mary and the Eucharist in the renewal of Family and Society”.

The Vigil Mass was preceded by a Holy Hour at 8:30 pm. The activity which was led by the Bishop himself was followed by the procession and coronation of the International Pilgrim Image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Fatima. Some members of the the pontifically-approved Heralds of the Gospel were on hand for the celebration.

Here are some pictures I took during the celebration. (Please bear with the image quality, yup it's my old mobile phone again)

The Bishop leading the Holy Hour.

Bishop Abarquez as he consecrated the Diocese of Calbayog to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

some of the faithful as they took time to venerate the Pilgim image.

Happy New Year!

Malipayun ug Mainuswagon nga tu-ig 2009 sa atun ngatanan!