La Union to host migrants’ national celebration

The Church pays tribute to millions of overseas Filipinos and their families at home in a nationwide celebration of Migrants Sunday on March 1 at Christ the King College High School, San Fernando La Union.

Spearheaded by the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and itinerant People (ECMI), the occasion has the theme “The Sacrifices of the Filipino Migrants mirror the journey of St. Paul”.

ECMI executive secretary Fr. Edwin Corros, CS said there is little understanding among people why migrant Sunday is being celebrated, hence the need to go to different dioceses to make people aware on the importance of the event.

“We want to create a greater awareness for the celebration of migrant Sunday because many people do not understand the reason behind the celebration,” said Corros.

“Sometimes also our priests are not familiar what it is all about. So we try to go out of Manila. We do a lot of catechesis, information dissemination,” he added.
The out-of-town celebration has been going on since five years ago. The first diocese to sponsor the national migrant celebration was the Archdiocese of Lipa, followed by the archdiocese of Pampanga.

Corros said they pick out dioceses that have the greatest concentration of migrants among its faithful.

“We are also trying to follow the trend where the bulk of migrant workers are coming from. La Union may not be the largest but we look at [the place] as center for Northern Luzon,” he said.

The La Union celebration will feature talks on migration and cultural presentations from the children of OFWs.

Corros will give a situationer on overseas migration while local government officials invited to grace the event will give their solidarity messages.

Corros said they expect around 1,500 families of OFWs to participate in the affair.

The occasion will be capped with a Eucharistic celebration to be led by ECMI Chairman Bishop Precioso Cantillas, SDB, and La Union Bishop Artemio Rillera, SVD.

DIOCESAN CELEBRATION

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Bayombong will also hold a diocesan activity at St. Mark Parish, Cabarroguis, in Quirino province to mark the event. The occasion will be highlighted by a gathering of 500 participants from migrant families and government agencies and celebration of Holy Eucharist.

Other dioceses who will lead NMS celebration on Sunday include Luzon dioceses of Alaminos, Ilagan, Bangued, Antipolo, Imus, Kalookan, Novaliches, and Archdioceses of San Fernando, Pampanga, Lipa and Manila.

In the Visayas, the Dioceses of Maasin, Tagbilaran, Bacolod, San Carlos, Kalibo, Kabankalan, Dumaguete, and Archdioceses of Palo, Cebu, Jaro and Capiz will organize activities to highlight the event. In Mindanao region, all Dioceses in the provinces of Davao will also celebrate the occasion.

STATISTICS

Statistics of 2007 showed there are about 8.72 million Filipinos overseas, 4.13 of whom are OFWs. A 2007 study also revealed an average of 2, 950 OFWs departing daily for overseas job, 50% of them women.

In 2007, OFWs have remitted 13.44 billion US dollars that helped prime up the country’s ailing economy.