First Mangyan priest ordained

IN a beautiful and solemn liturgical celebration, Fr. Gabayno Oybad made his sacerdotal commitment before Most Rev. Warlito Cajandig, DD on April 17, 2007 at the Sto. Niño Cathedral in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.

The 35-year old Oybad, who belonged to the Hanunuo tribe, was the first Mangyan to be ordained to the priesthood.

Replete with symbolisms, the ordination of Oybad was highlighted by a meaningful gesture of his parents handing him over to the bishop. The gesture implied that Oybad was being given way to the service of the Church. The bishop as Shepherd accepted the gesture in the name of the Church. The act of offering was sealed with the sounding of gongs and thunderous applause from the congregation.

Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) executive secretary Oscar Alunday, SVD, who was present in the celebration, expressed elation in the ordination of Oybad.

“It was a happy occasion and a very memorable one. [Through this ordination], we have added more colors and more music to the liturgy of the Church,” says Alunday.

Alunday, a Tingguian from Abra, said the Church even up to now considers the indigenous people (IP) as objects of evangelization. He believed that both IP’s and non-IP’s should be co-agents in evangelization stressing that it is a “challenge also for the Filipino to know and discover our roots together.”

“Because we were all indigenous at one time but somehow you have forgotten much of your own roots. So we try to discover together to enrich the Philippines and the Church in a new way,” said Alunday.

The momentous event gathered together various representatives from the different Mangyan tribes as well as Clergy and Religious working in both parts of Mindoro.

Oybad, a product of an indigenous system of education, took his seminary training at Saint Augustine Seminary in Calapan and Christ the King Mission Seminary in Quezon City where he finished AB Philosophy. He entered Divine Word School of Theology in Tagaytay for his theological studies. Twice, he went out of seminary formation. He became a teacher in Mangyan Education Center. In 1997, he enrolled in Asian Social Institute for a masteral degree in Pastoral Sociology after which he became a volunteer of Samahan ng Pitong Tribu (Kapulungan para sa Lupaing Ninuno). Briefly, he taught at Mt. Tabor Mangyan Education Center before going back definitively to the seminary to finish his theology.

Although the first to become priest, Oybad was not the first Mangyan to commit a life of service to God. About two years ago, a young woman from the same tribe professed her religious vows and became a member of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit.