This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen
at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was
awarded an Honorary PhD.
______________________________________________________________

"I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know.

Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. You will walk out
of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There
will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will
be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you
will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your
particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk or
your life on a bus or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life
of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts
but also your soul.

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much
easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold
comfort on a winter's night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely,
or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.

Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried
never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no
longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I
listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried
to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my
friends and them to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to
you today, because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on
the phone and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, at best
mediocre, at my job if those other things were not true.

You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you
are. So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real
life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay
cheque, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about
those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon or found a lump in
your breast?

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself
on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a
red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with
concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and
first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who
love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up
the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are
generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you
have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its
goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have
spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big
brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do
good too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our
minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids'
eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears
and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.

I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not
the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that
today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good
in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it,
completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling
others what I had learned. By telling them this: Consider the lilies
of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard
with the sun on your face.

Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness, because if
you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be
lived".

Scrap Laiban Dam project: Dioceses, NGOs appeal

STRONG opposition against the controversial Laiban dam project continues to snowball with yet another strong appeal from the local Churches to scrap the contentious water venture.

Saying that the construction of the dam is inimical to both people and environment, the Ecology network of the arch/dioceses of Manila, Cubao, Pasig, Kalookan, Novaliches, and Antipolo, CBCP-NASSA sent an urgent appeal to Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) asking it to oppose the construction of Laiban Dam.

In its letter to Attorney Diosdado Jose Allado, MWSS administrator, the group urged Allado to junk the project and think of alternatives to solve the impending water crisis.

“Laiban dam is the most expensive project to be undertaken by MWSS, in terms of economic cost, size and expanse of the infrastructure, numbers of stakeholders to be affected, environmental effects, human rights, and the challenges to the existing environmental and indigenous laws, such as Protected Area, Presidential Decree No. 1151 [Philippine Environmental Policy], Environmental Impact Satement System, Presidential Decree no. 1586; Wildlife Protection Act, IPRA, and NIPAs,” the appeal stated.

The Laiban dam venture in Tanay, Rizal, touted to solve the impending water crisis has been a pet project of the Arroyo administration since 2003, according to an earlier statement released to the media by independent think-tank IBON Foundation Inc.

The project will affect around 27,800 hectares of ancestral and agricultural lands, IBON said.

Church and environmental groups have been opposing the project because of its environmental risks and human rights violations against indigenous people living in the area.

If revived, the dam will displace the Dumagats and Remontados who have been living in the watershed area since the time of their ancestors, according to the group.

“The Kaliwa Watershed has been their (IPs) home since time immemorial, even before the existence of the Philippine Government. Indigenous people have a conjugal bond with their land. Uprooting them will render them orphaned from the land that gave birth to their culture, heritage, and the oneness they share with other beings in the area causing further alienation.”

The group reminded MWSS that IPs cannot be displaced from their areas without their free and prior informed consent which the IPRA law only provides in “exceptional circumstances.”

“We do not think that the construction of a dam is an exceptional circumstance, considering that there are other alternative projects that the MWSS may undertake to alleviate the water needs of Metro Manila,” the letter further said.

Aside from the IPs, indigenous species of varied flora and fauna are also imperiled by the project.

The Kaliwa watershed which is home to some endangered species has been classified as a forest reserve, a part of which has been proclaimed as national park under Proclamation No. 1636, thus exempting it from exploitation.

Some of the Globally Endangered species found in the Laiban Dam project area are the Luzon Bearded Wild Pigs (Sus Philippensis), the Philippine Brown Deer (Cervus Marianus), and the Tarictic Hornbill.

“We reiterate that we are stewards of God’s creation on earth. We must care for these beings whose importance we may never learn until they are permanently extinct,” said the group.

Quoting section 25 of the Wildlife Protection Act, the group said that critical habitats shall be protected “from any form of exploitation or destruction which may be detrimental to the survival of the threatened species dependent therein,” adding:

“There is nothing in other provisions of the law that would also allow exploitation. We challenge the MWSS to point to us any provision of this law that would allow their putting up of a dam in the affected areas.

The group likewise raised the issue of the area’s proximity to major earthquake faults which could prove hazardous to people’s lives.

“Are we willing to sacrifice human lives in favor of a project whose main purpose is to alleviate the condition of human lives in the metropolis?” they asked. “The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, reiterates that the RIGHT TO SAFE ENVIRONMENT is one of the basic human rights that the State must protect,” they added.

Citing studies done on the project, its costly effects on lives, economy and environment, the group said an alternative should be considered for the project.

“There are studies that indicate that this project would produce water that would be very costly for Metro Manila residents. The take-or-pay provision also needs to be further studied as it appears that the same will be highly prejudicial to the government.”

“Alternatives to the project must be considered, including the alternative of no action. We call on the EMB to carefully consider alternatives to the project before it even grants an ECC. We call on the MWSS to study and consider rehabilitating Wawa Dam and its watershed as one of the less expensive option. The EIS System provides for a cost-benefits analysis that must consider all alternatives so that the least destructive alternative may be given importance or even chosen in the end,” the letter pointed out.

The Laiban dam project has been opposed mostly by the Dinagat and Remontado tribes since its inception in the 1960s up to the mid-1980s by the late dictator, Ferdinand E. Marcos. The project was shelved because of the strong opposition of the people in Southern Tagalog, only to be revived in 2003 by the current administration.
A copy of the appeal letter was also sent to DENR secretary Lito Atienza, EMB office, President Gloria Arroyo, Senate, Congress and OGCC.

Among those who signed the appeal were Fr. Benito Tuazon, Ecology Minister of Manila archdiocese, Fr. Bienvenido Miguel, Director of Social Action of Antipolo diocese, Fr. Joven Antique, Ecology Minister of Pasig diocese, Fr. Octavio Bartiana, Ecology Minister of Kalookan diocese, Fr. Antonio Labiao of Novaliches diocese, Fr. Arnel Recinto of Cubao diocese, Engr. Joyce Palacol, CBCP-NASSA Ecology Desk coordinator; Atty. Galahad Pe Benito, environmental lawyer and legal consultant; Alfredo Albor, CARE Foundation Executive director; and Sr. Maria Aida Velasquez, OSB, Lingkod Tao Kalikasan Foundation, Inc. Coordinator.

Society needs ‘God-experienced’ persons: Indian archbishop

SPEAKING before delegates of the 9th plenary assembly of Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, SDB of Guwahati, India said today’s society need “God-experienced” persons, whose lives are deeply immersed in the Word and the Eucharist.

“They hold out hope. The future of human history depends on them,” the archbishop said.

The Indian prelate delivered his talk titled “A Presence that Challenges and Strengthens” on August 14, before more than a hundred assembly participants representing bishops conferences of Asia, Oceania, America, Canada and Europe.

Menamparampil said a person’s deep spirituality is the fruit of the individual’s own experience of God.

“[It] is characterized by authenticity, sincerity, deeds matching words, capacity to endure for common causes, gentle joy and religious seriousness” he said.

The archbishop took note of the typical Asian characteristic of holding spiritual people in high esteem.

“Amazingly Asians seem to esteem persons of depth. By ‘persons of depth’ we do not mean merely persons of intellectual acumen, but those who are deep in their spiritual perceptions, human relations, and commitment to values and to the common good,” he said.

Menamparampil also noted that the effects of globalization that lead people to nurture superficial relationships and treat others as mere objects have led people to look for real spiritual leaders they can rely on.

“In this globalized world where ‘utilitarian values’ seem to count most, where people are caught into a network of superficial relationships, where achievement is measured in terms of possessions and success in mutual manipulation, where increasing number of people are only claiming their rights and are indifferent to their responsibilities, we eagerly look for ‘deeper persons’, persons society can count on,” he said.

The prelate also noted the secularistic tendencies that have affected even deeply spiritual people.

He said radical commitment to social justice and development without concern to people’s spiritual needs “contribute to building up a godless space in human society.”

“It is in such cases that the exploited easily become exploiters, and the underdeveloped become reckless consumers, totally indifferent to the needs of the less privileged,” he said.

The failure to answer their spiritual needs have led even some individuals to join “sects”, the archbishop added.

It is in that perspective that society extremely needs spiritually-profound persons, who have intimately lived the ‘word’ and the Eucharist, he said.

Ongoing renewal should permeate Asian Church: FABC secretary-general

SAYING that the process of renewal is a continuous movement that should permeate the life of the Church, especially that of Asia, Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences’ secretary-general and Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo proposed some fundamental ways for the ongoing renewal of the Asian Church.

“Renewal is a continuum of movements that have different beginnings but has no end…There are periods of dormancy and periods of awakening, periods of decline, as well as periods of intense sustained renewal,” said Quevedo.

The FABC secretary-general spoke before delegates and guests at the start of the Asian Bishops’ 9th plenary assembly at Pius XII Center in Manila, August 11.

Vital ideas for renewal

In a report he presented to the assembly, Quevedo portrayed an Asian church in an ongoing process of renewal and proposed some vital ideas for the continuous revitalization of the Asian Church.

“Use the FABC vision of a renewed Church-in-mission and its primary pastoral focus of building the Local Church as an inspiration and guide for renewal,” the prelate said.

He noted that the vision of a renewed church-in-mission in Asia discussed during the first plenary assembly in Taipei 35 years ago still rings true even today.

“It was a vision of renewed Church in a mission of integral evangelization,” said Quevedo.

He also stressed the importance of an in-depth renewal on the part of clergy and religious as servant leaders and authentic witnesses.

“They [clergy and religious] are the main collaborators of Bishops and, given the cultural context of Asia, no significant renewal of the Church can take place without their leadership and witnessing,” he said.

Quevedo also emphasized the need for formation and participation among the laity as essential for Church renewal.

“Only with a committed and participatory laity can church renewal be enduring and lasting,” he said.

The archbishop underlined the importance of building the basic ecclesial communities centered on the word of God and the Eucharist and committed to dialogue with cultures, religious traditions and with the poor.

“The new way of being Church in Asia is best expressed at the grassroots level through the building of Basic Ecclesial Communities or Small Christian Communities,” he said, adding, “they are to be built as believing and praying communities of the Lord.”

Church in mission

The essential aspects of a church in mission have repeatedly been discussed in past FABC assemblies.

Quevedo said that as a Church-in-mission, the Asian Church is “a communion of communities and the humble herald and servant of the Gospel, accompanying the peoples of Asia towards full life in the Reign of God.”

The prelate noted that materialism and relativism have led people away from living faithfully their Christian faith.

“In this age of materialist secularism and relativism many people are losing sight of the fundamental relationship between universal truths and their particular expressions or have somehow drifted away from communion and solidarity,” the archbishop said.

A statement during the FABC first plenary assembly in 1974, the bishops stressed that “to preach the Gospel in Asia today we must make the message and life of Christ truly incarnate in the minds and lives of our people. The primary focus of our task of evangelization then, at this time of our history, is the building of a truly local Church.”

The statement further stressed that “the local church is a church incarnate in a people, a church indigenous and inculturated. And this means concretely a church in continuous, humble and loving dialogue with the living traditions, the cultures, the religions – in brief, with all the life-realities of the people in whose midst it has sunk its roots deeply and whose history and life it gladly makes its own...”

Quevedo said the vision of a local Church as imagined in the statement have become an inspiration for the Asian bishops in their work for renewal.

“The building of a local church is truly an enormous and daunting task of renewal, a thoroughgoing renewal that encompasses the renewal of mission, of faith and prayer life, of community, clergy, laity and religious, of church structures and ministries, of leadership styles, etc.,” Quevedo said.

The prelate believed that the work for renewal has been directed by the principles of co-responsibility, participation, committed engagement in mission with its constitutive dimension of social transformation, contextualization, authenticity and credibility.

The guiding principles, he said, have been repeatedly cited in past FABC assemblies as well as named by scholars who have written various dissertations on pastoral themes developed by FABC.

Movements of Church renewal in Asia

The 7th plenary assembly nine years ago identified movements of renewal happening in Asian Church: 1) A movement towards a Church of the Poor and a Church of the Young; 2) A movement toward a “truly local Church;” 3) A movement toward deep interiority; 4) A movement toward an authentic community of faith, a communion of communities of authentic participation and co-responsibility; 5) A movement toward active integral evangelization and a new sense of mission; 6) A movement toward “empowerment” of the laity in the mission of the Church, requiring a spirituality of discipleship; 7) A movement toward active involvement in generating and serving life in the light of death-dealing forces in Asia; and 8) A movement toward the triple dialogue - with other faiths, with the poor and with cultures.

Quevedo said that it is within the framework of a movement toward a renewed Church-in-mission or toward the building of the Local Church, that the meaning of the Plenary Assemblies in Daejeon and Manila should be considered.

The Daejeon assembly held in 2004 described a movement of forming the family as the focal point of evangelization toward a culture of integral life in Asia.

“Our Manila Plenary Assembly would present, I believe, a movement towards rooting Christian life in Asia firmly and dynamically in the Word of God and in the Bread of Life, the Eucharist,” said Quevedo.

The prelate stressed the importance of seeing the Daejeon Assembly and the Manila assembly within the perspective of a continuum of renewal.

He cited the various assemblies, institutes, meetings, conferences, and symposia which the FABC offices had organized towards achieving a renewed Church in mission since the 2004 assembly.

Looking beyond

Quevedo said a renewed and sustained local Church in mission has been the dream and the prayer of everyone.

“To live the Eucharist as our present Assembly enjoins is a peak moment in the continuum of renewal for the Church in Asia. It is a moment that we all strive to reach and, when reached, it is a moment to be perseveringly sustained,” he said.

But maintaining that graced moment towards a renewed Church-in-mission can only be possible through God’s grace, Quevedo said.

“The continuum of renewal enables a local church to begin anew when renewal has become moribund, to retrace its steps when a foundation block of renewal has been weakened or has become dormant, or to move forward in the process of renewal as inspired and led by the Spirit of God,” he said.

Forum to tackle role of media in good governance

A day-long forum on good governance organized by the Communications Foundation for Asia (CFA) in collaboration with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) is set to tackle the role of Philippine media in society in view of the forthcoming 2010 elections.

Themed “Media, Society and Good Governance”, the seminar is slated on August 27 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at CFA Lagerwey Hall.

PPCRV and NAMFREL chairperson, Ambassador Henrietta de Villa will lead a roster of speakers that include Mike Enriquez of GMA, Rey Hulog of KBP, Fr. Francis Lucas of CMN (Catholic Media Network) and Professor Elizabeth Diaz, a former professor from University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication.

The forum will also launch the GVO Annual Lecture Series in honor of the late Genaro V. Ong, the first managing director and co-founder of CFA.

Ms. Eugenia Apostol, founder of a leading daily newspaper will serve as the inaugural lecturer of the GVO Lecture Series with a talk on Media and Good Governance.

Teachers and students from various communication schools in Metro Manila are among those expected to attend the forum.

Participants will be charged with a registration fee of 100 pesos. For reservations and other inquiries, the CFA Training department can be contacted at 713-2732 or 713-2972.

Tribal leader leads opening prayer at UN session

A PRIVILEGE usually reserved for leaders of the world has been bestowed on a Filipino tribal leader at the opening rites of the Second Session of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) in Geneva, Switzerland on August 10.

Timuay José “Boy” Anoy, a Subanon Tribal Leader said a Subanon prayer at the opening of the second session asking for wisdom and clarity for all participants as they deliberate on issues.

The tribal elder also prayed for all indigenous peoples from all over the world, for respect and recognition of their rights, as well as reparation for abuses done on them.

Timuay Anoy sprinkled water on the session hall to symbolize clarity of thought and coolness of minds.

The IP elder, together with another Subanon Leader Timuay Noval Lambo and Ifugao representative Peter Duyapat are participating in the five-day session to share their experience on human rights’ violations of large-scale mining companies that operate in their areas.

They are set to propose some recommendations on how to address the violations of large-scale mining companies of their rights to land and self determination, as well as the government’s lack of support to compensate for damages.

The IP leaders are likewise attending the 75th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (UNCERD) to present a report on the plight of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines to the committee.

They will also participate in a hearing on the complaint filed against the Philippine government by the Subanon community.

The EMRIP was created by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to provide the Council with thematic expertise, studies and research-based advice.

The UN body is composed of five independent, indigenous experts.

One of the current experts is a Filipino Igorot, Mr. José Mencio Molintas.

More than 400 indigenous delegates and their supporters all over the world are participating in the UN session together with the official representatives of governments.

Tribal leaders join UN hearing vs mining on ancestral lands

THE Indigenous People’s (IP) fight to keep their ancestral lands from being desecrated and devastated by mining companies have led three Filipino Tribal leaders right at the doorstep of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland as the world celebrates World IP Day on August 9.

Three IP leaders Timuay Jose Boy Anoy, rightful owner of ancestral land in Mt. Canatuan, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte; Timuay Noval Lambo, Chief elder of the Subanon Council of Seven Rivers in Zamboanga Peninsula; and Peter Dupayat, President of the Didipio Earth Savers Movement Association (DESAMA), and member of the Ifugao community of Didipio, Nueva Viscaya will participate in a United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) hearing on a complaint filed against the Philippine government by the Subanon community.

The elders charged that their rights to the ancestral domains have been breached by the continuous mining activity, accusing the Philippine government especially the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for being hostile to their cause.

Timuay Jose Boy Anoy had been personally given a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. But the IP leader was ejected from his land by TVI Pacific, Inc., a Canadian Mining company that has been operating in Mt. Canatuan.

Timuay Anoy claimed that NCIP connived with TVI in forming a phony tribal council that gave approval for the company to mine in their ancestral land.

“There was no genuine free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) given to the mining operations. Our customs, traditions, and beliefs have been disrespected by no less than the government,” the elder declared.

For his part, Timuay Lambo said the government should be held accountable for its bigotry towards indigenous people.

“The government must tell the truth. We have been waiting for so long. The government’s report which states that there is no discrimination is purely a lie. [It is] fabricated by the NCIP, through its incompetent local officials,” he said.

Dupayat, whose community in Didipio, Nueva Viscaya was displaced by OceanaGold, an Australian mining company that has mining stakes in the area, said the government should honestly implement the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).

“We strongly demand that the real spirit of IPRA should be implemented and a FPIC be sought”, exclaimed Duyapat.

OceanaGold has been abusing the rights of the indigenous community through militarization, displacements and loss of livelihood. He will raise complaints about their community’s situation, Dupayat said.

Environmental group supports IP leaders

Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), a people’s movement, whose advocacy includes fighting for rights of Filipinos against the persisting injustices related to mining, said it will support the project of the IP leaders to explore and maximize international venues where they can assert their rights to pursue the protection and enrichment of their indigenous cultures.

Noting that World IP Day is celebrated globally on August 9, ATM Coordinator Jaybee Garganera said the participation of the three elders at the hearing will bring to light the struggles against discrimination, injustices and militarization they have to endure to keep their lands.

“There are 12 million indigenous peoples in the Philippines and the three IP leaders who will be going to Geneva will speak up, tell their stories and demand that the government should heed their call for their right to self-determination and the United Nations urge and pressure the Republic of the Philippines to address justly, without discrimination, the issues of land rights, militarization, access to justice and protection of indigenous beliefs and practices,” he said.

UNCERD

The CERD is a body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) by its State parties, which the Philippines had signed on March 7, 1966 and ratified on September 15, 1967.

Having ratified ICERD the government is obliged to regularly report to the Committee on how it is being implemented. However, it has failed in the required regular reporting, and its current report covers only the period of 1998 to 2008.

Nuncio leads jubilee celebration of San Jose diocese

THE diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija marked its 25th year of canonical erection with a solemn mass on July 14, led by the Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams.

Themed Ika-25 taong anibersaryo: hamon sa patuloy na pagpapalaganap ng Damayang Kristiyano, the opening of the year-long jubilee festivities was held at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker, San Jose City.

Twenty-nine other prelates including San Jose, Nueva Ecija Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, Bishop Florentino Cinense, first bishop of San Jose and current bishop of Tarlac, Bishop Leo M. Drona, SDB, the 2nd Bishop of San Jose and current Bishop of San Pablo, and Bishop Oscar Solis, a native of San Jose and currently Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, USA concelebrated in the Eucharist.

The clergy from the Dioceses of San Jose, Cabanatuan, Tarlac and Cubao also joined the celebration.

A jubilee message from the Pope was read by Bishop Sofronio Bancud of Cabanatuan during the Mass.

Bishop Vergara read the declaration officially opening the Jubilee Year of the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija from July 14, 2009 to July 14, 2010.

Three churches were designated as official pilgrimage churches during the year-long jubilee celebration. They are the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker in San Jose City, St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in Carranglan, St. Jerome Church in Sto. Domingo, and St. Roch Church in Cuyapo.

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who visit any of the jubilee Churches provided they observe the necessary requirements needed to receive the indulgence.

The diocese also distributed plaques of appreciation towards the end of the mass. Among those cited were the papal nuncio, the former bishops and two lay persons, Mr. Jayson Alejo who won the logo making contest and Mr. Francisco Beni, who topped the song writing contest.

Among the faithful who graced the occasion were representatives of different sectors and parishes of the diocese. Government officials headed by the Governor of Nueva Ecija, Aurelio Umali, Representatives Cherry Umali and Joseph Gilbert Violago also attended the celebration.

Jubilee preparations

Preparations for the jubilee have been going on since 2007. Vergara formed an AdHoc committee headed by the Vicar General Msgr. Rolando Mabutol to oversee the groundwork for the jubilee celebrations.

The committee heads and members are composed of priests, religious nuns and lay leaders. The AdHoc Committee meets once a month to plan for the occasion.

Upcoming celebrations

The year-long jubilee festivities also provided a means for the diocese to thank the different sectors which journeyed with the bishopric through the years.

A monthly celebration will highlight the different sectors and their contribution to the growth of the diocese: August, Religious; September, Catechists; October, Indigenous People/Community Based Health Program Workers; November, Schools; December, Damayang Kristiyano; January 2009, Parish Workers and Lay leaders; February, Clergy and Seminarians; March, Mandated Organizations; April, Youth; May, Farmers; June, Parish wide celebrations.

A synthesis of the year-long celebrations will be the culminating activity of the jubilee on July 2010.