For 50 years a priest

For 50 years a priest

By Fr. EMETERIO BARCELON, SJ

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Wagner of the US Senate recounted that when as a boy he rang the church bells in his town in Germany and his grandfather assured him that he would never be able to do anything as important as calling people to worship God.

But an even greater privilege is that of a priest, however unworthy, when he calls God to take the form of bread and wine.  Out of love for us God took the form of a human being.  Out of love for us He comes to the Blessed Sacrament in the form of bread and wine at the call of a priest.

All of this is to make it easier for us to adore and love Him. As Sen. Wagner called people to church, the priest has even a greater privilege to call on God to come and stay with us.

Fifty years ago, 15 members of the Philippine Jesuit province were ordained in four different places. By the grace of God, six of the 15 are still around. Three of us are here in Cagayan de Oro (Bill Klintworth, Jim O'Donnell, and myself); two are in Manila (Simeon Reyes and Tom Steinbugler); one in New York (Joe O'Hare).

Death took two of our group just last year (Bishop Cisco Claver and T. Patrick Lynch).  A century ago there were less than a dozen Filipino Jesuit priests. Now there are now about 200.  The Lord has been good and great has been His mercy.

When my father told my grandfather that I wanted to be a priest, he told my father to tell me never to go to his house again. But when I went to see him, he was glad to see me. I brought Fr. Hamilton from PGH to visit him.

Although my grandfather hardly knew English and Fr. Hamilton spoke no Spanish they got along famously so that when he was dying at 94 he asked to see Fr. Hamilton.  God's ways are mysterious.  Thank the Lord that prejudice against the priesthood is now gone.

My grandfather, although he never went to church, prayed every day for an hour just before midnight in front of a picture of Our Lady of del Pilar. My other grandfather, who was Chinese, was also greatly devoted to Our Lady. He made a pilgrimage with his whole family every month of May to the shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, pushing up the Pasig River to Angono and from there hiking up the hills of Antipolo.

Devotion to Mary has been a Filipino tradition and she has interceded for us through many dangers and fostered the present vocations. “Pueblo amante de Maria (a nation lover of Mary)” is what my father called this nation in the hymn for the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress in 1937.

We ask you to join us in thanking God for the abundant graces He has showered on us and His mercy for our numerous transgressions and negligence of the past and to keep pouring His mercy for the rest of our lives. We beg for grace and mercy even more for the future especially in our weakened conditions but are confident of His love and providence.

We ask not only for ourselves but also for you with whom we have contact and for more vocations to the priesthood. In the end, that we may all reciprocate the love the Lord has shown us as He became man in Nazareth for our sake and for coming to stay with us in the Blessed Sacrament at the bidding of His priests even if unworthy.

<="" <="" div="" emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com="">

Fil-Am joins Miss Teen California, USA 2012

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Taylor, as she is fondly called by friends and family, was born in Glendale, California from both Filipino parents. Her father is a native of Davao, while her mother -- born from a Cebuano mother and American father -- was born in California.

FOURTEEN-year-old Filipino-American Leah Taylor Ligan will be part of next year's Miss Teen California, USA.

Taylor describes her father as "very traditional and strict" but "such a hardworking man."

"I can see the difference with my friends' fathers who are not Filipino. They're more laidback and not very strict," she says.

However, Taylor admits that despite her father's tough rules, he remains fun and adventurous.

Like her dad, Taylor is an outgoing person. She enjoys playing basketball and volleyball. And like most Filipinos, she also has the love for music; she can play the piano and violin.

Despite being raised in a Western environment, Taylor never forgets her Filipino traits.

"I am very friendly. I am concerned of other people's well-being and I am very family-oriented. Like most Filipinos, I love to laugh and be with friends and family," she quips.

Miss Teen California, USA 2012 candidate Taylor Ligan. (Contributed photo)

Taylor is representing the title of Children's Hospital Los Angeles to the pageant.

"When I was two days old, I was admitted at the Children's Hospital. I had a bowel obstruction of the small intestines that needed five surgeries. I stayed there for four mouths. My recovery is considered a miracle. My representation of Children's Hospital is my tribute to the doctors and nurses who saved my life. And for that, I will be eternally grateful," she shares.

Taylor, whose heart goes for the homeless, says, "I enjoy helping make their (homeless) lives a little bit better, even if it's just spending a few hours a day serving them a warm meal. I feel good that because of me, one less person isn't going hungry."

Taylor's mom, who saw her daughter's outgoing personality and attitude toward the unprivileged, drove Taylor to join the pageant. She sees the experience as exciting and an avenue for her to develop self-esteem, confidence, and make long-lasting friendships.

Although Taylor was honest in saying that being a Filipino is not necessarily an edge among other candidates, she is hopeful that her Filipino pride will get her through the pageant. And if she wins, she plans to continue her advocacies and share her experience with other girls who also dream of joining such competition.

The winner of Miss Teen California, USA 2012 will be representing the state of California to the Miss Teen USA 2012. The pageant is part of the Miss Universe Organization, which is owned by Donald Trump.

When asked of her message to the Filipinos, she says, "Dream big! There's a whole world out there for the taking. Anything is possible if you trust God. Don't be ashamed to be who you are."

She also says of her being Filipino, "I know no other culture other than what I am, so if given a choice to be anything other than a Filipino, I will choose to be who I am, which is a proud Filipino. I love my heritage!"

When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your retirement and real estate needs.

You may follow Taylor's activities by liking her Facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/TaylorLigan). (Jhay-ar Book/Sunnex)

Bulusan natural park: A conservation success story

By: Augusto F. Villalon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

There are many conservation success stories in the Philippines. Most of them are unknown. Bulusan Volcano Natural Park in Sorsogon is one of those unknowns.

The natural park in south central Sorsogon province is a 3,673 ha nationally protected rainforest surrounding Mt. Bulusan.

Designated a National Park in 1935 and now under the protection of the DENR Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, it is a lush forest and wildlife sanctuary reserve that features, aside from the volcano itself, Bulusan Lake, two other mountain formations known as Sharp Peak and Hormahan, and Lake Aguingay.

Bulusan Volcano, formed about 40,000 years before the present era, soars 1,565 meters high over a base diameter of 15 km. Its cracked profile, deep ravines and caves are the result of gradual buildup of outpourings from eruptions over the ages.

Mt. Bulusan has four craters and four hot springs. Crater No. 1, 20 meters in diameter and 15 meters deep, is named Blackbird Lake after the blackbirds that have made the lake their home. Crater No. 2 is oval in shape, 60 meters by 30 meters and just as deep. Crater No. 3 is the largest and deepest, about 90 m in diameter and 20 m deep. Crater No. 4, near the northeastern rim, opened during the 1981 eruption.

A substantial area of protected forest remains around the peak and slopes, including secondary grassland, freshwater lakes and pools which are is the water source for several communities and provide irrigation for surrounding agricultural land.

The forest provides natural protection from calamities such as typhoons and flash floods. It is home to fauna like the Philippine baboon, hawks, monitor lizards, various endemic frogs, snakes and other reptiles. Some say that once there were deer but none has been sighted since the 1980s.

Community involvement

Within the protected area are small settlements, rural gardens, abandoned farmland and ground disturbed by illegal farming which is banned within the declared boundaries of a National Park.

The park supports the needs of its communities through its forest products, watershed and recreational values. Residents the lower slopes as agricultural land.

Outstanding at Bulusan is the change in attitude by the local community, which now looks at its natural heritage as its source of livelihood instead of ravaging it for short-term gains as they did in the past.

A change in attitude like that certainly could not have happened overnight. The Aggrupation of Advocates for Environmental Protection Bulusan (Agap) is the determined NGO composed of local nature advocates committed to effect change through involving the resident community in conserving rather than ravaging their natural heritage.

To stop forest devastation from illegal farming, employment was generated for local residents, partly through an internationally funded forest-preservation program which hired locals for forest documentation, maintenance, and replanting of trees in degraded areas.

Others received training to provide tourist services as trekking guides, masseurs, shopkeepers. Local cuisine and crafts revival produced products to sell to tourists.

The simple strategy of Agap was to involve the resident community in nature-based activities that generated income which in turn led to the community’s renewed respect for the environment since it provided human sustenance. It is one of the success stories of how heritage, whether natural or cultural, is protected by locals because it is a nonrenewable source of their income.

Tourism is a major source of income for Bulusan. Agap offers mountain treks of varying lengths and difficulty; manages fishing and nonpolluting kayak activities on the mountain lakes; and operates a visitor center with canteen and massage facilities.

Bulusan Volcano is now on alert, causing a drastic drop in tourism arrivals. However, what is not reported in the media is that the tourist activity area within the park is well outside the 4-km danger radius, still perfectly safe for tourists.

Going to Bulusan

We went to Bulusan early on a crisp morning, barely a week after the fall of the first June rains. We drove from Legazpi toward the Sorsogon border with Mount Mayon in full view, a vista of volcanoes appearing one after another, a memorable sight.

As the landscape changed from urban to rural, summer-parched earth gave way to the intense green of the fields. Water-filled rice paddies ready for planting reflected the early morning sunlight, a mosaic extending all the way to the distant shoreline in geometric precision, exactly the kind of tropical landscape expected of the Philippines.

Practically all highways in the region skirt the grand chain of volcanoes that stretches southward from Camarines Norte to Sorsogon. They are majestic natural landmarks that dominate and give unmistakable character to the remarkable Bicol landscape.

To get to Bulusan Volcano Natural Park from Sorsogon City, one option is to take the Maharlika Highway to the town of Irosin, passing through the towns of Casiguran and Juban. Another option is the scenic route overlooking San Bernardino Strait with the Pacific Ocean beyond, passing the towns of Gubat, Barcelona and the centro of Bulusan town, which still have a handful of surviving but decaying heritage structures.

The Visitor Center at the park is everything an environmentally sensitive structure should not have. It is a concrete structure whose posts are painted to simulate logs. Solid concrete paves the parking lot.
A bigger-than-life-size statue of the Blessed Virgin, out of place in the pristine natural setting of Bulusan Lake from whose shores the green forests reach upward to the majestic volcano slopes. That, together with the stillness and one’s intimate union with nature at Bulusan, is testimony enough to the greatness of the Divine.

When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your retirement and real estate needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City for only P12,000.00/month with its own parking lot. Hurry while the supply of units last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown below.

Tel. Nos. (032)555-8464/09164422611/09173378637

E-mail the author at pride.place @gmail.com.

Chicken ‘binakol’

Like all Ilonggo cooking, this soup has the taste of Old World cooking– hearty, rich, flavorful

By: Norma O. Chikiamco
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Iloilo is one province that can rightfully be proud of its cuisine. Its rich culinary heritage includes the finest examples of regional dishes: spring rolls with fillings of julienned hearts of palm (fresh lumpiang ubod); charcoal-grilled chicken marinated in spicy vinegar (chicken inasal); chicken soup with dumplings (pancit molo); and noodle soup of pork broth topped with bits of fried garlic, chopped spring onions and crumbled chicharon (batchoy).

Until June 26, Café Jeepney in Hotel InterContinental is serving many of these Ilonggo dishes in its lunch and dinner buffet. Supervising their preparation is Chef Pauline Gorriceta-Banusing, an Iloilo native who has studied in the best cooking schools in the US.

“They’re mostly heirloom recipes that have been with Ilonggo families for years,” she says of the tempting parade of dishes on the buffet table. And, indeed, Iloilo cuisine has the taste of Old World cooking—hearty and rich, with the flavors skillfully coaxed and harmonized through long hours of marination, or slow, patient simmering, or with the diligent use of the freshest ingredients.

According to Pauline, Ilonggos tend to be clannish, not just in terms of family heritage but also when it comes to home cooking.

“Each clan thinks their dishes are the best,” she says. Moreover, she adds, Ilonggos prefer provincial home cooking over other, more sophisticated food. Their idea of a festive spread, for instance, is simple everyday fare prepared by the family cook.

“Their fiesta table would usually just have KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka) pinamalhan (salmon cooked in vinegar) and chicken binakol (chicken-coconut soup).”

Iloilo being a coastal province, it’s also known for its seafood. On the buffet during the press lunch was a special kind of clams which Ilonggos have named centennial shells because they first showed up in the seawaters during the celebration of the Philippines’ centennial year. With rough shells and a strange appearance, they looked like a cross-breed of scallops and oysters, and were just as delicious as both bivalves. To make sure they would be served fresh for lunch that day, “someone swam in the sea this morning to gather them,” says Pauline.

Because sugar is a major crop in their province, Ilonggos also love baking sweet delicacies. Truly a novelty is pulot, a thick, dark-brown liquid that’s a combination of muscovado sugar and coconut milk. It can be spooned directly from bamboo barrels and eaten as is, or one can use it to sweeten coffee. Even more enticing is yema cake, with an egg-yolk base as thick and gooey as the candy, topped with swirls of frothy white icing.

Here’s Pauline’s recipe for one of Iloilo’s famous soups, chicken binakol. While it’s traditionally cooked in bamboo segments, Pauline says it can be cooked in a casserole as well. (Iloilo cuisine is served as part of the lunch and dinner buffet at Café Jeepney until June 26. For reservations, call 7937000.)

Chicken Binakol

The base of coconut juice makes this an unusual soup, being rather sweet instead of savory. Once the soup is fully cooked, the strips of coconut flesh will resemble short noodles, adding richness and texture to the dish.

Makes 4-6 servings

For the coconut meat and juice:
4-5 whole young coconuts (see tips)

For the chicken:
1 k chicken, cut into serving pieces
1 onion, chopped
2 stems lemongrass
1 chicken broth cube
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 carrots, cubed (optional)
1 bell pepper, cut into strips (optional)

Prepare the coconuts:

Pour the juice from the coconuts into a large bowl and measure enough to make 6 cups. Scrape out the flesh from 3 of the coconut shells. Set aside.

Cook the chicken:
In a large casserole, put the chicken, onion, lemongrass and chicken broth cube. Pour in the prepared 6 cups of coconut juice and the coconut meat. Bring to a boil and simmer until chicken is tender, around 20-25 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. If using carrots and bell pepper, add them during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Transfer to a soup tureen or ladle into individual soup bowls and serve immediately.

(For more recipes, tips and stories, log on to www.normachikiamco.com. Or visit author’s fan page, www.facebook.com/
normachikiamco)

Cook’s tips:

Whole young coconuts are available in the wet markets and in Landmark, Rustan’s and SM supermarkets.

When scraping the coconut flesh from the shells, do not scrape too deeply so as not to include the brown husk.

If desired, reserve the empty coconut shells and serve the soup in the shells.

Cut the lemongrass stems into shorter pieces if they’re too long. Since these are used only to add flavor and fragrance and are not to be eaten, you can remove them from the soup before serving.

Instead of a whole chicken, you can also use your favorite chicken parts such as drumsticks and wings.