Fr. Orville, Fr. Dexter, Fr. Frolan and Fr. Dave

Family, friends and followers of the late Fr. Carlos Abesamis, SJ once again  gathered on January 25  to commemorate his birthday (January 11) and death anniversary (January 31) at the Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches where his remains are kept. A simple celebration of mass and agape and an outpouring of good messages about Fr. Abe and how they continued his inspiration filled the event.

Present to enliven the gathering were his siblings Marilen and Willie, niece Pia and other relatives, Frs. Dexter Prudenciano and Orville Cajigan, RCJ of SHEC, Frs. Nonong Pili, Froilan Rivera and Dave Capucao of the St. Joseph Formation House, Rainier Torres of the TLJ Movement and the Socio-Pastoral Institute.

Fr. Abe as we fondly call him was one of the founders of SPI. He also authored the Third Look at Jesus and A Backpack of a Jesus Seeker and other publications.

The participative review was led by Jing Apuhin, Karen Sarmiento and Joseph Garcia. This undertaking was also made possible by the assistance of some members of the Barangay San Bartolome staff who secured and prepared the venue.

The key issue that needed to be addressed in the Flood Contingency Plan was the need to draw up alternative action pathways in case the main ones fail for whatever reason.

When they reviewed their recent humanitarian response to the crisis brought by typhoon Falcon, they also noted elements of the flood contingency plan that needed to be improved such as the stock of community-owned rescue equipment, procedures for accessing and validating crucial information and protocols for better coordination between our community based response teams and the Barangay.

Community leaders and residents of Dona Tomasa and California Riverside Extension gathered on Jan 15, 2012 to watch a video of the recently conducted Relocation Summit at Quezon City Hall. The video featured official testimonies of people who were relocated outside Quezon City to Montalban, Bulacan and Bagong Silang.

In the video, the relocatees complained about the inaccessible locations of the resettlements, inferior housing structures and lack of basic services like water and electricity. They also noted that there were no provisions for their children’s education and their livelihood. Some of the people complained that they have been residents of the relocation sites for as much as 9 years and they still have none or little of the basic services.

These difficulties led some families to sell the houses and lots awarded them so they can move back to the city where they can make some money. Some bread-winners adapted by leaving their families behind and living in the city near their employments. Due to the prohibitive cost of transportation, they only see their families in the relocation sites once a month or so.

What was also apparent in the video was that the communities had to rely on their people’s organizations or neighborhood associations to demand from government agencies and the local government units basic amenities and services that should have been provided them by law.

This net result of this is that it led to a community resolution to strengthen the Neighborhood Associations in San Bartolome so that they can effectively compel the authorities to provide what is rightfully due them.

Fr. Puroy at left and Fr. Nonong at center

Fr. Nonong and Fr. Puroy had an impromptu celebration of  their birthdays at the St. Joseph Formation House last January 09. The night started with a Mass and was followed by dinner complete with an entertaining program led by the St. Joseph seminarians. It was an intimate gathering of friends and well-wishers who brought food, gifts and lots of cheers.

Maligayang pagbati!

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Disaster Risk Reduction

In this visit, Ka Noli and some of the officers of Buklod Tao first gave an historical account of the development of their people’s organization narrating how through basic organizing they were able to stand up against a giant construction firm whose operation threatened to destroy their environment.

Right after the short presentation, they took the DRR practitioners to see their various projects that spanned the range from early warning systems to fiberglass boat building to tetra pot and bag making to the manufacture of organic soil and  container gardening.

The DRR participants from Montalban and Novaliches and the hosts from Buklod Tao both declared that community to community learning exchanges is long over-due in teaching and inspiring others to build  disaster resilient communities.

Good luck and all the best to you Jing!

One of the outcomes of the stewardship workshop SPI conducted last September 12-14  involving the community leaders of the DRR Project from Montalban, Rizal and Brgy San Bartolome, Bagbag, Novaliches, Quezon City was to hold a trainors’ training so that they would be able to echo stewardship to their families, friends and neighborhood organizations.

On Nov 10-12, SPI conducted this trainors’ training at the St. Peter’s Parish in Diliman, Quezon City. The workshop was led by Fr. Nonong Pili, Jose Clemente, Sr, Frances Mangabat, Arthur Neame  and Mayee Marzan. In those 3 days, the participants went through and revised the basic stewardship module to account for their DRR as well as personal and communal experiences.

The bulk of the discussion centered in making clear the stewardship core values especially regarding identity or “malalim na pagkilala na tayo ay Kawangis ng Diyos.”  Special emphasis also went to encourage  the use of creative methods of learning-teaching like dramatization, role play, drawing, focus group discussions and so on.

In the training, it became apparent that DRR is key in building a resilient community but to achieve their common vision of a united community where people help each other and care for each other,  it will take a dramatic change in the way they live their lives and this is where the spirituality of stewardship comes in.

Fr. Noel Conopio at St. Thomas More, Denver

SPI’s Executive Director Jose Clemente and Fr. Noel Conopio of San Isidro Labrador Parish have just returned from the Archdiocese of Denver’s Mission Appeal Campaign for 2011. SPI was hosted by 6 parishes from the Archdiocese of Denver where the two speakers talked about SPI’s  mission to help in the renewal of both Church and society by promoting the spirituality of stewardship and the program to build resilient urban poor communities.

The experience was also a wonderful learning opportunity for both Filipino missionaries as they were exposed to the programs, struggles and aspirations of the various parishes in the Archdiocese whose pastoral situations varied immensely from each other. What was most apparent to the two Filipinos, however,  is the changing forces of demographics where Hispanics and Asians are poised to become the majority ethnic groups in the Catholic Church in the next decade.

Fr. Conopio also attended the annual stewardship conference by the International Catholic Stewardship Conference or ICSC.  This year’s conference was held in Orlando, Florida from October 23 to 26. Fr. Conopio welcomed the opportunity to learn from other stewardship practitioners from the USA and other parts of the world and avers that he will apply what he learned from the Conference to his parish.