a lot of renovation work still to be done. HELP!
Monday, April 18, 2005
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Wiron Demate
On April 17, 2005, I went to Barcelona to take pictures of and interview Weewee, for i know that he will not have the time nor the inclination to post his life story here. For those not in the know, Weewee is serving as the Administrative Assistant of the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Cecilio "Butchoy" Datar and concurrently acting as Parish Youth Advisor, for almost a year now. No, he is not a priest. Neither has he gone back to the seminary.
Wiron stays in a room in the attic of a function hall located beside the church. It is separated from the "convento" by the church. When I arrived around 3 pm, Weewee was lying with eyes closed on a hammock inside his room. [In my book, Weewee's room is an ideal place for sleeping,relaxing and drinking. You don't need an electric fan to cool the place. The breeze from the sea which is only about a hundred meters away is enough to do the job.]
I immediately asked him to write down a chronology of his life from the time he left the seminary. It took him a while to reconstruct the events in his life, claiming that his memory has become hazy (from an overdose of protein, perhaps. he-he-he). Even as i write this, i cannot vouch for the completeness and accuracy of significant periods and the dates he cited.
From the Coke Major Seminary, he went to UP College of Music. After 1 semester, he transferred to UST Conservatory of Music and studied there for 8 years. From UST, he moved again to another school. This time, he enrolled in the Philippine School of Interior Design in Makati and finished 4 semesters in a year there. (Heard about a school with 4 semesters in a year?) As a student in this school, he mentions as an accomplishment the showroom he designed for Collier’s Encyclopedia.
After school, he returned to Casiguran and worked in the Youth and Music Ministry of the Parish from 1997-2000. Manila beckoned again, and in 2001 he worked as Operations Manager of Kimju’s Music Lounge. His stint lasted only 3 months, saying he had differences with the floor manager and the manager of the club. He found himself in Casiguran again and resumed his work at the Parish under Fr. Datar until 2004.
When Fr. Datar got assigned to Barcelona in 2004, he brought Weewee along with him from Casiguran.
I asked Wiron to answer certain questions that many of us in the batch have been asking. Like, what has kept him connected to the church? Is he still having thoughts of becoming a priest? Why is he not driven to seek work that would give him success in the way that most of us understand the term-—money, prestige and/or fame, since many of us are convinced that his work in the church will not get him anywhere?)
His answer was short:
DI KO ARAM KUN NAKAY ADI AKO SA SIMBAHAN. BASTA AN ARAM KO MAOGMA AKO.
Posted by Junie on April 17, 2005
Wiron stays in a room in the attic of a function hall located beside the church. It is separated from the "convento" by the church. When I arrived around 3 pm, Weewee was lying with eyes closed on a hammock inside his room. [In my book, Weewee's room is an ideal place for sleeping,relaxing and drinking. You don't need an electric fan to cool the place. The breeze from the sea which is only about a hundred meters away is enough to do the job.]
I immediately asked him to write down a chronology of his life from the time he left the seminary. It took him a while to reconstruct the events in his life, claiming that his memory has become hazy (from an overdose of protein, perhaps. he-he-he). Even as i write this, i cannot vouch for the completeness and accuracy of significant periods and the dates he cited.
From the Coke Major Seminary, he went to UP College of Music. After 1 semester, he transferred to UST Conservatory of Music and studied there for 8 years. From UST, he moved again to another school. This time, he enrolled in the Philippine School of Interior Design in Makati and finished 4 semesters in a year there. (Heard about a school with 4 semesters in a year?) As a student in this school, he mentions as an accomplishment the showroom he designed for Collier’s Encyclopedia.
After school, he returned to Casiguran and worked in the Youth and Music Ministry of the Parish from 1997-2000. Manila beckoned again, and in 2001 he worked as Operations Manager of Kimju’s Music Lounge. His stint lasted only 3 months, saying he had differences with the floor manager and the manager of the club. He found himself in Casiguran again and resumed his work at the Parish under Fr. Datar until 2004.
When Fr. Datar got assigned to Barcelona in 2004, he brought Weewee along with him from Casiguran.
I asked Wiron to answer certain questions that many of us in the batch have been asking. Like, what has kept him connected to the church? Is he still having thoughts of becoming a priest? Why is he not driven to seek work that would give him success in the way that most of us understand the term-—money, prestige and/or fame, since many of us are convinced that his work in the church will not get him anywhere?)
His answer was short:
DI KO ARAM KUN NAKAY ADI AKO SA SIMBAHAN. BASTA AN ARAM KO MAOGMA AKO.
Posted by Junie on April 17, 2005
Eric and Junie Visit Butag Parish Priest
Eric’s article ‘Kudos to Peewee’ got me curious enough about the place and Peewee’s accomplishments as a parish priest that I decided I’d visit the place one day. That day came on Saturday, April 16, prompted by a text message from Eric that he was home in Bulan and by the SORECO II advisory which said that the whole province would have a power outage from 8 am to 5 pm. (What would I do the whole day without electric power?)
I arrived in Bulan around 12 noon and was treated to a lunch fit for a king by Eric’s family (Salamatonon Pards. Regards to your beautiful mother and sisters). Around 2 pm, we went to Butag on board a tricycle. (For those who haven’t gone to Butag, it’s a coastal barrio 3.5 kilometers away from the highway.)
We set foot on the Parish around 2:30 and had to wait for an hour for Fr. Peewee to arrive from Sorsogon. While waiting, we decided to take a look at the place and take some pictures. Then, we settled at the parish office where Eric got down to interviewing the parish secretary about Peewee, asking leading questions most of the time and shooting silly ones at other times. Good that the secretary knew how to answer. Not once did she reveal anything that might be damaging to her boss, choosing to answer only the questions that put his boss in a positive light.
Peewee arrived from Sorsogon around 3:30. From the time of his arrival to the time of our departure (around 5 pm), we talked mostly about his ministry and the diocese. [Eric, it turned out, was in the dark on the administrative setup of and on certain other things about the diocese--the Presbyterian council, the vicariates, the manner of choosing the vicar general, the priests’ honoraria. So, Peewee gave him a crash course on the matter.]
We saw for ourselves that the parish really needed donations for the completion of the renovation of the church and the improvements on the parish house which Peewee described as unfit for human habitation at the time of his arrival in the parish. (Peewee was still wondering how the previous occupant managed to live there.)
The renovation of the church that Peewee has initiated is commendable and deserves support. Peewee can't rely on his parishioners for financial help so he travels abroad and begs for donation. (The regular collection won't go far. Peewee pointed out to us the amount of collection for one week written on his bulletin board: only a meager P687.75.)
Batchmates, our classmate is doing fine as a parish priest, if we go by the parish secretary’s words. And Eric and I believed (and still believe) her when she said that the parishioners love their parish priest not only for his mild manners but for what he has achieved in so short a time—the renovation of the church and the parish house.
Keep building the church, Peewee. Never waver in your resolve to build your church even when the donations are hard to come by. Remember the film Field of Dreams? Take heart from the gem of an advice from that film, “If you build it, they will come.”
Junie
I arrived in Bulan around 12 noon and was treated to a lunch fit for a king by Eric’s family (Salamatonon Pards. Regards to your beautiful mother and sisters). Around 2 pm, we went to Butag on board a tricycle. (For those who haven’t gone to Butag, it’s a coastal barrio 3.5 kilometers away from the highway.)
We set foot on the Parish around 2:30 and had to wait for an hour for Fr. Peewee to arrive from Sorsogon. While waiting, we decided to take a look at the place and take some pictures. Then, we settled at the parish office where Eric got down to interviewing the parish secretary about Peewee, asking leading questions most of the time and shooting silly ones at other times. Good that the secretary knew how to answer. Not once did she reveal anything that might be damaging to her boss, choosing to answer only the questions that put his boss in a positive light.
Peewee arrived from Sorsogon around 3:30. From the time of his arrival to the time of our departure (around 5 pm), we talked mostly about his ministry and the diocese. [Eric, it turned out, was in the dark on the administrative setup of and on certain other things about the diocese--the Presbyterian council, the vicariates, the manner of choosing the vicar general, the priests’ honoraria. So, Peewee gave him a crash course on the matter.]
We saw for ourselves that the parish really needed donations for the completion of the renovation of the church and the improvements on the parish house which Peewee described as unfit for human habitation at the time of his arrival in the parish. (Peewee was still wondering how the previous occupant managed to live there.)
The renovation of the church that Peewee has initiated is commendable and deserves support. Peewee can't rely on his parishioners for financial help so he travels abroad and begs for donation. (The regular collection won't go far. Peewee pointed out to us the amount of collection for one week written on his bulletin board: only a meager P687.75.)
Batchmates, our classmate is doing fine as a parish priest, if we go by the parish secretary’s words. And Eric and I believed (and still believe) her when she said that the parishioners love their parish priest not only for his mild manners but for what he has achieved in so short a time—the renovation of the church and the parish house.
Keep building the church, Peewee. Never waver in your resolve to build your church even when the donations are hard to come by. Remember the film Field of Dreams? Take heart from the gem of an advice from that film, “If you build it, they will come.”
Junie
Friday, April 15, 2005
Blogging tips
hi eric! what's kawayan s.a.? ano na an balita saimo baya? diin ka na nagtatrabaho niyan? diin ka nakaistar.
junie, to use hello you click the picture icon (the second to the right icon in the create new post window"
you click Hello BloggerBot then you download the hello application first, then install it. after installing hello open it. then upload the pictures
i sent u an invite email
junie, to use hello you click the picture icon (the second to the right icon in the create new post window"
you click Hello BloggerBot then you download the hello application first, then install it. after installing hello open it. then upload the pictures
i sent u an invite email
hoy man!!!!
jet kumusta na? he he he next time ibubutang ko na an ngaran ko pagpost. nalimut lang talaga ako pards. mayad man ako padi. i saw your pictures, guapuhunon an batit mo, mana sa neighbor mo. ha ha ha.
mga KAKLASSSSSEEEEEEE!!!!!! kumusta kamo intero!!!! pagcontribute man kamo para maogma.
cute man guihapon,
gojie ( Kawayan S.A.)
mga KAKLASSSSSEEEEEEE!!!!!! kumusta kamo intero!!!! pagcontribute man kamo para maogma.
cute man guihapon,
gojie ( Kawayan S.A.)
hello tutorial
jet, turui man ako maggamit hello. I didn't realize until now that i am such a slow learner. lain ako nakasusog.
junie
junie
whodunnit?
nagtext si junie sabi niya si gojie daw pala an nagpost. hoy gojar! kumusta ka na! ano an balita sa imo?
-jet
-jet
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Welcome!
wow! nangarat ako nan ugmahon kay may nag-post din sa wakas!!!!!!!!! paghuna ko ako lang didi an magpost :-)
kaya lang for now "unknown" kung sino ang nagpost. nakalimutan kasi mag-identify. hehehe.
kaya lang for now "unknown" kung sino ang nagpost. nakalimutan kasi mag-identify. hehehe.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
kudos to fr. peewee!!
during the holidays, it was good friday i think, together with two of my sisters, a cousin and a friend, i drove through the tortuous rut goin to butag to visit peewee in his parish. yes classmates, si peewee cura paruko na. he was so priestly in his manners. it was a pleasant surprise to also see mam reno there. she and sir spend their weekends there she told me. si sir turog san pagkadto mi. while pwee and my cousin were discussing regarding a project, i roamed around the vicinity. behind the pastorate, where a shabby, dilapidated church used to sprawl, now proudly stood a new house of God courtesy of peewee's initiative. mam reno obviously was very proud of her son's achievement. pero daghanon pa kuno an kaipuhan. the church was not even halway done yet.
after peewee, we dropped by the house of the barangay captain. to my delight, the bouncy kapitana was all praises for our classmate,"daanison si fr. peewee kay maski bag-o pa lang may resulta tulos[referring to the new church]."
driving home masiramon an pamati ko mga padi. iwas truly proud of peewee. maorag talaga an kaklase ta.
keep up the good work fr. agta!
to our classmates, lalo na sa mga makwartahunununon, tabangan man nato si peewee para matapos an simbahan niya. maski diyo lang. mao pa kun daghan!!
after peewee, we dropped by the house of the barangay captain. to my delight, the bouncy kapitana was all praises for our classmate,"daanison si fr. peewee kay maski bag-o pa lang may resulta tulos[referring to the new church]."
driving home masiramon an pamati ko mga padi. iwas truly proud of peewee. maorag talaga an kaklase ta.
keep up the good work fr. agta!
to our classmates, lalo na sa mga makwartahunununon, tabangan man nato si peewee para matapos an simbahan niya. maski diyo lang. mao pa kun daghan!!
Monday, April 11, 2005
karaw karaw lang
do you still remember the southern sorsoganon sound? the short e is pronounced so emphatically loose yet so unintentionally.
house cleaning sa small dorm-up
Espinar: Atug Tunee! sa ako yuon baneeg!
Tony : Atug diree! sa ako inee!!
games period sa volleyball court
a volleyball match was approaching a classic level. two teams were so competitive. they wouldn't let the rally end when an eager spiker from barcelona, with eyes hungry for a kill, loudly demanded," Tuuseee!!!" the supposed tosser rolled in laughter. the ball dropped to the ground unchallenged.
pinakro
one lazy afternoon, jason and i decided to shake off the boredom by executing an escape. we were about to go when jason suggested," padi masiramon an merienda, pinakro na saging, mabalon kita."i disapproved," ayaw padi kay makararaw-ay magbalon suon." we abandoned the idea. halfway to the street where we would wait for a tricycle ride goin' downtown jason stopped," padi hulata lang ako didi kay may nalimutan ako."
"dali-dalia padi kay an oras. madakop pa kita didi."
he returned with a backpack.
we went straight to a movie house. the movie was turning out well when in one quiet scene i heard a faint clink of a glass just beside me. i suspectfully asked,"padi nano yuon?" voila!! jason was giggling, may kaput-kapot na garapon, already eating pinakro.
house cleaning sa small dorm-up
Espinar: Atug Tunee! sa ako yuon baneeg!
Tony : Atug diree! sa ako inee!!
games period sa volleyball court
a volleyball match was approaching a classic level. two teams were so competitive. they wouldn't let the rally end when an eager spiker from barcelona, with eyes hungry for a kill, loudly demanded," Tuuseee!!!" the supposed tosser rolled in laughter. the ball dropped to the ground unchallenged.
pinakro
one lazy afternoon, jason and i decided to shake off the boredom by executing an escape. we were about to go when jason suggested," padi masiramon an merienda, pinakro na saging, mabalon kita."i disapproved," ayaw padi kay makararaw-ay magbalon suon." we abandoned the idea. halfway to the street where we would wait for a tricycle ride goin' downtown jason stopped," padi hulata lang ako didi kay may nalimutan ako."
"dali-dalia padi kay an oras. madakop pa kita didi."
he returned with a backpack.
we went straight to a movie house. the movie was turning out well when in one quiet scene i heard a faint clink of a glass just beside me. i suspectfully asked,"padi nano yuon?" voila!! jason was giggling, may kaput-kapot na garapon, already eating pinakro.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
April 2 Meet-up Sa QC
i was a pleasantly surprised when rino called me up early saturday morning and was told we'd have a little get together somewhere in QC. i had a meeting buti na lang nakatakas. hehehe
when i arrived at sweet inspirations in katipunan. rino and kit were there already.
rino was his usual jovial big kuya self. very executive looking :-) also quite introspective and spiritual.
kit changed a lot. he's bigger, has short cropped hair. and he was very "zen' looking. we were a bit surprised to learn he's now a successful businessman. after all he finished philo, theo, canon law - literally, parang he was an inch away from becoming a priest ano? and i bet he would make for a good priest, same with rino :-)
jason was late coming over and wasn't able to meet kit. although a bit stressed out from his work, jason was his usual bouncy self.
we spent some time reminiscing about the seminary days and updating each other about the goings on in our lives. they also filled me up on the reunion last march. dami interesting kwento pala.
anyways magpo-post din sila so wait for their kwento. meantime we're planning to do a meet up again sometime and hopefully all batch 86 based here in manila will be able to come.
Friday, April 01, 2005
About Jet
mga padi! kumusta na. more than 12 years na yata an nakalipas san urhi nato na pagbaragat. anyways, to update you about me and the goings on in my life:
school
going out of the college seminary after a year, i found myself enrolled in a psychology course in PUP -Sta. Mesa. it was the first time in my life that the average no. of students per class was around 50. sa minor 20+ lang tayo di ba. sa college 10+. shocking. anyways lumipat ako ng sociology kasi isip ko lalo akong mabubuang sa psych. sa kabutihang palad naman nakatapos din.
work
upon graduating "officially" i worked for otradev, an NGO working with the indigenous peoples and fisherfolks in the southern tagalog region. i was assigned in oriental mindoro and worked amongst the iraya mangyan for around 3 years. after my the project ended i worked at phildhrra (a network of NGOs focusing on agrarian reform) in the upland development unit, then later on was assigned to the technical services department. then i was hired by natcco (a confederation of coops) as a communications officer and worked there for 2 years. i am currently working at asiadhrra (a regional network of asian ngos) as the MIS officer.
i am also a self-taught graphic designer and i design and produce books, websites, presentations, large format prints, magazines.
family
i'm married (officialy last jan 28) to Let and we have a precocious 4 year old son Julian. we've been together for around 10 years or so. we live in a suburb in masinag, antipolo. presently, let and julian are living in the states. kasi immigrants na sila. i'm still here in good 'ol philippines. buhay single kuno. if all goes well, magkakasama kami in 3 years.
here are some pictures when i visited seminario again after 19 years.
me, julian, msgr. pax, mama ko nan si tiya betty
kaupod si sister sa garden
me, my son julian and my wife let in front of the main entrance sa minor
julian wasn't impressed when i told him our college building was cool :-) . scary! he said.
my son julian, 4 yrs. old
school
going out of the college seminary after a year, i found myself enrolled in a psychology course in PUP -Sta. Mesa. it was the first time in my life that the average no. of students per class was around 50. sa minor 20+ lang tayo di ba. sa college 10+. shocking. anyways lumipat ako ng sociology kasi isip ko lalo akong mabubuang sa psych. sa kabutihang palad naman nakatapos din.
work
upon graduating "officially" i worked for otradev, an NGO working with the indigenous peoples and fisherfolks in the southern tagalog region. i was assigned in oriental mindoro and worked amongst the iraya mangyan for around 3 years. after my the project ended i worked at phildhrra (a network of NGOs focusing on agrarian reform) in the upland development unit, then later on was assigned to the technical services department. then i was hired by natcco (a confederation of coops) as a communications officer and worked there for 2 years. i am currently working at asiadhrra (a regional network of asian ngos) as the MIS officer.
i am also a self-taught graphic designer and i design and produce books, websites, presentations, large format prints, magazines.
family
i'm married (officialy last jan 28) to Let and we have a precocious 4 year old son Julian. we've been together for around 10 years or so. we live in a suburb in masinag, antipolo. presently, let and julian are living in the states. kasi immigrants na sila. i'm still here in good 'ol philippines. buhay single kuno. if all goes well, magkakasama kami in 3 years.
here are some pictures when i visited seminario again after 19 years.
me, julian, msgr. pax, mama ko nan si tiya betty
kaupod si sister sa garden
me, my son julian and my wife let in front of the main entrance sa minor
julian wasn't impressed when i told him our college building was cool :-) . scary! he said.
my son julian, 4 yrs. old
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Black Saturday Reunion (junie's email)
I'm sending pictures of the black saturday reunion we held in Weewee's Place in Barcelona, Sorsogon.
A little backgrounder. Jason came home on Holy Wednesday under the impression that our class was holding the reunion on Black Saturday. Upon arrival, he texted me, saying "Nano na padi. Lain kita makiritaan. Maentra man ako" or words to that effect. I immediately texted around but only Nono Dorotan replied. He would agree to whatever plans we would decide on. San wara na nagsimbag, paghona ko lain na matiripon.
Early Black Saturday Morning, nagtext naman c jason, with the same message (this time,however, sabi niya kaupod niya c dante, who's living in Casiguran with his nth wife and who missed the reunion a week earlier). So I texted around again with basically the same result: wara nagsimbag. Fortunately, Tivo was spending the Easter holidays with his family in Sorsogon and was amenable to the idea of having a gathering again. Magkadto lang daw sainda. An isip ko, Okay na ini. Pag nakuha ko c Henri sa Gubat, maski lima lang kami, puede na.
Henri and I arrived at Tivo's Place around 11. We had to wait for an hour for Dante to arrive and another hour for Jason to show up. Nagdiretso kami seminaryo para kitaon kun kumusta man an OLPS Black Saturday Reunion. nAGREGISTER C jASON AND PAID P100.00. Ika-22 na registrant siya. Yes, that's how few the attendees were.
Saka na an iba pa na detalye may tawo ako.
A little backgrounder. Jason came home on Holy Wednesday under the impression that our class was holding the reunion on Black Saturday. Upon arrival, he texted me, saying "Nano na padi. Lain kita makiritaan. Maentra man ako" or words to that effect. I immediately texted around but only Nono Dorotan replied. He would agree to whatever plans we would decide on. San wara na nagsimbag, paghona ko lain na matiripon.
Early Black Saturday Morning, nagtext naman c jason, with the same message (this time,however, sabi niya kaupod niya c dante, who's living in Casiguran with his nth wife and who missed the reunion a week earlier). So I texted around again with basically the same result: wara nagsimbag. Fortunately, Tivo was spending the Easter holidays with his family in Sorsogon and was amenable to the idea of having a gathering again. Magkadto lang daw sainda. An isip ko, Okay na ini. Pag nakuha ko c Henri sa Gubat, maski lima lang kami, puede na.
Henri and I arrived at Tivo's Place around 11. We had to wait for an hour for Dante to arrive and another hour for Jason to show up. Nagdiretso kami seminaryo para kitaon kun kumusta man an OLPS Black Saturday Reunion. nAGREGISTER C jASON AND PAID P100.00. Ika-22 na registrant siya. Yes, that's how few the attendees were.
Saka na an iba pa na detalye may tawo ako.
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