The Rite of Ordination: "Brother, Let Me Be Your Servant..."

"Brother, let me be your servant...Let me be as Christ to you...Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too..."

(The seminarians of the Sacred Heart Seminary 

of the Diocese of Bacolod) 

These lyrics of The Servant Song as sung by the seminarians of the Sacred Heart Seminary rang throughout the walls of the San Sebastian Cathedral as the Most Reverend Patricio Buzon, Bishop of the Diocese of Bacolod, and Diocesan priests welcomed with Christ's embrace the three new Servants of God, Rev. Emiel Pasco Mijares, Rev. Rommel Falc Gomez Palivino, and Rev. Joemar Docto Solano, as they were ordained into the Sacred Order of Presbyters on January 14, 2020.

(Bishop Patricio Buzon, SDB, DD. 

leads the ordination of the three ordinands)

This was the first time I attended an ordination, although during my formative years spent at a Catholic school I was surrounded by priests whose duties, I understood then, included guiding our young lives and molding our characters with strong Christian virtues and values.

That morning, before the ordination, as I watched the three ordinands walked with their parents to the Cathedral’s altar, I realized it was a symbolic procession of a mother and father offering their child to God, much like Abraham’s offering of his son Isaac as his sacrifice.

As The Servant Song ended on the last rite, the Kiss of Peace, before Rev. Emiel, Rev. Rommel, and Rev. Joemar joined Bishop Buzon to celebrate their first Mass as Catholic priests, their dreams of becoming priests were fulfilled amidst the applause of everyone in the Cathedral that also brought a special kind of joy and happiness to their parents and families.

Witnessing a ceremony full of symbolisms and traditions as old as the Church itself, I also realized that it was a fulfillment of one man’s sacrifice to serve Jesus and His Church for the rest of his life.

And as the choir continued to sing the words of The Servant Song’s, “We are pilgrims on a journey…We are brothers on the road…We are here to help each other…Walk the mile and bear the load”, we, as parishioners, should help in their ministry as we are part of the journey of Rev. Miel, Rev. Rommel, and Rev. Joemar.  And while the rite of ordination had been completed, their work as Servants of God has just started.

And with each Holy Mass they celebrate, each holy sacrament they administer, and each blessing they give, we should pray for them till they have seen their journey through.

                                  
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Here's a short clip on the rite of the 'Kiss of Peace' that I took during the ordination.

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This piece was originally published by ADSUM, the official publication of the Diocese of Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines.

In its issue for February 16 - 22, 2020.

Philippine History: Chapter 24 - The Women of Victorias: Capitana Tutang, Paz Gonzaga, and Salud Montinola

Chapter 24 - The women of Victorias: Capitana Tutang, Paz Gonzaga, and Salud Montinola

Capitana Tutang and the women of Victorias
In the 1880s, after having been robbed and held hostage by tulisanes, Capitana Tutang, the grand old dame of Daan Banwa, outwitted her captors and even saved her maid, Micay, from drowning by dragging her to shore after they were both dumped in open waters at the mouth of the Malihao River (see Chapter 4) of the present-day Victorias City in the province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines.

Another Victoriahanon lady, Señorita Paz Gonzaga, the daughter of former mayor Sr. Ricardo Gonzaga, helped the poor town raise funds on May 22 and 23, 1907, that were needed to buy bamboos and nipa, and to pay for carpenters who would build a new município at the Embarcadero area on the land donated by Sr. Yap-Quiña (see Chapter 11).

Señorita Gonzaga, fresh from completing her education, shared her talent by agreeing to be the star of two stage plays that raised 680 pesos after deducting the expenses incurred in staging the play. She was asked to lead the play because she could speak fluent Spanish, the language of the play, and must have had the beauty and stage presence that could sell tickets. 

After writing both of these women's stories as part of our Victorias history, I realized that these two helped define the women during their time.

And after rummaging through the lives of the old Victorias, I am adding another woman's name to the list: Salud Montinola y Magalona, the second eldest child of Don Felix Montinola, town mayor from 1934 to 1940 (see Chapter 16).

(The 21-year old Salud Montinola y Magalona, 
as she was photographed in 1920)

Pharmacist by profession before the WW2
After obtaining her degree in pharmacy from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Salud came back home to Victorias and set up a small pharmacy right next to the family's stone mansion (that partly stood on the land where the present-day Petron gasoline station is located) along Calle Real (present-day Osmeña Avenue) dispensing and selling medicines to the Victoriahanons of the 1930s until the war broke out. 

At her pharmacy, her younger brother Hector Montinola, who later became the town mayor from 1946 to 1950, assisted her in mixing and compounding prescription drugs. 

Situated along the busy Calle Real (present-day Osmeña Avenue, the national highway), the dirt road passageway connecting Victorias to Manapla and Saravia before the construction of the stone municipal hall in the late 1930s, she must have made good business. 

On the northern side of Matinal Street (present-day Arnaez St.), right across her pharmacy, stood the Ascalon mansion (present-day Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), where the young Salud would greet every morning its residents, including Señora Paquita Ascalon, the sister of the last resident of the Ascalon mansion, Porfirio Ascalon. Señora Paquita, unmarried and a pious lady, stayed with the Montinolas at their Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla during the war. Señora Paquita and the young Salud were both very religious and were very close.

Señora Paquita led the praying of the Holy Rosary at Hacienda Dapdap every six in the evening during the war. She was joined by the whole Montinola family and by the hacienda workers. When the priests at parish churches ceased celebrating the holy mass at that time for fear of being killed by the Japanese soldiers, families at that time gathered daily to quietly pray for peace and the end of war.

Though the Japanese soldiers regularly visited Hacienda Dapdap to look for guerrillas, they were met and offered 'botong-botong' (long sugar candies) as a friendly gesture and to take their minds off from hunting them down (read story here).

(The 21-year old Salud Montinola y Magalona as photographed in 1920, a hundred years ago, which makes it the oldest photograph I have of a Victoriahanon.) 

Presidente de Centro de Puericultura de Victorias
In 1930, Salud Montinola became involved in civic activities. She was asked by the local town officials to lead the Victorias Puericulture Center, which was then registered at its official name, Centro de Puericultura de Victorias. She succeeded Mrs. Lourdes Tongoy. (I wonder if Mrs. Tongoy's husband was related to Sr. Eliodoro Tongoy, the town mayor from 1898 to 1902).

The puericulture center was where pregnant women received prenatal care and attention for their unborn child, and was located at the current location of the City's public health center.

According to the Philippine Public Welfare Commissioner's report of 1930, during her time as the head of the Centro de Puericultura de Victorias, the Centro's assigned head nurse was Miss Presentacion Torre and the head midwife was Miss Paula Perales. (The former became the wife of Sr. Felix Montinola, Jr. when they were married at the Montinola family's Hacienda Dapdap during the war.)

That year, there were 475 mothers and 735 children were registered at the Centro. Your great-grandmothers were probably one of them, and your lolo or lola might have been one of those 735 babies and toddlers.

Also in 1930, there were 1,731 pre-natal or postnatal consultations done at the Centro and 4,128 consultations for babies. Other consultations were 627.

That time, the nurses would make house visits, which, sadly, doesn't happen anymore. If you were pregnant and had difficulty moving around, the nurse from the Centro would visit you at home. These days, you have to visit a clinic for your pre-natal care or delivery.

(The Victorias Puericulture Center used 

to hold baby contests sponsored by Carnation.

The healthiest babies received 

Carnation milk as prizes.) 

One attending physician at the Centro during those years was Dr. Jose Valero who married Soledad Balbontin. Soledad, or Choleng to her family, was a daughter of Antonina Balboltin y Magalona, a sister of Doña Dorotea Montinola, Don Felix's wife.

"Outstanding hacienda of the year"

Being his second child and a strong woman with a profession to boot, Salud was favored by Don Felix Montinola to take charge of the family's hacienda operations.

While the men in the Montinola family were busy with politics, Salud experimented with new farm methods, introduced high yield sugarcane varieties, and gave importance to the hacienda workers' welfare.

At Hacienda Dapdap, she built houses for her workers, constructed a chapel and had a weekly mass said by a priest from Manapla for their spiritual needs, and opened a cantina at the hacienda where workers could buy rice, de latas, and other household items on credit. 

And in the late 1960s, she had a black-and-white television installed at the cantina where her workers could watch TV shows every night for their entertainment after their work at the fields. Providing this kind of nightly exposure to news and entertainment improved the overall hacienda morale, which in turn improved workers' productivity.

During the annual fiesta at Hacienda Dapdap that fell on September 9, the birthday of her mother, Doña Dorotea, a mass was held at the chapel and the workers joined in the feast of roasted cow and other delicious staples cooked during special occasions. Parlor games for the workers' children were also organized that made everyone feel the hacienda was one community that worked and played together.   

That's why under her watch, Hacienda Dapdap was a top performing hacienda in terms of production and hectarage sugar yield. 

Among the haciendas in the Victorias Milling District, Hacienda Dapdap was named "Outstanding Hacienda of the Year" and she the outstanding haciendera.

While the haciendas in the island were run by men, and her farm outperforming them all, this smart lady  from Victorias, who saw the big picture and knew how to react to challenges, beat them at their own game. 

And adapting the jargon of the 21st century, Salud Montinola - from Victorias - was the milling district's CEO of the year.😊

(Salud Montinola's Hacienda Dapdap was named Outstanding Hacienda of the Year)

Salud Montinola, her father's daughter
Salud Montinola was the second of the nine children of Doña Dorotea Montinola and Don Felix Montinola, who was the town mayor from 1934 to 1940, and who built the current stone município with the help of President Manuel Quezon and the Victoriahanons of that time.

Born on May 24, 1899, Salud Montinola and her younger sister, Luz, attended the St. Scholastica's College in Manila during the early years of the American Occupation. After high school, she continued her studies at the University of Santo Tomas where she finished a degree in pharmacy. 

Although she later became one of the few pharmacists in Victorias, as it turned out, this was not the profession that made her a distinguished businesswoman in the Negros sugar industry.

Although she was not the eldest in the family, Salud earned the trust of her father, Don Felix, to handle the family affairs, finances, and the operations of their haciendas. 

On the other hand, Doña Quintina, the eldest, had her own children to take care of and went through an unimaginable tragedy during the early days of the war (see Chapter 23) when three of her children perished at sea on December 16, 1941. Although she was not involved in hacienda operations, Doña Quintina, the mother of former mayors, Jesus Fermin (1964-1986)  and Renato Fermin (1988-1992), was also a hardworking lady who cultivated her own santol and mango orchards at her Hacienda Malogo (in E.B. Magalona), and had her own steady harvest of mongo, rice, lanzones, guavas, and other fruits, including pili nuts which she baked and turned into pili squares that could rival those made in Silay City. She even had her own rose garden, and had sheep and goats roaming around her hacienda. 

Don Felix must have seen part of himself in his daughter, Salud. She loved to work, knew how to look after people, and also loved to travel. She spoke Spanish and English, and had no children of her own as she was unmarried, which helped her focus on whatever challenge was at hand.

She was 'Inday Salud' to her fellow hacienderos and by her hacienda workers, 'Nang Salud' to her younger siblings, and 'Nay Salud' or 'Tita Lud' to nephews, nieces and their children.

Doña Salud Montinola died on September 24, 1977, (incidentally was my mother's birthday and the this chapter's number that was never planned!😱) at Hacienda Dapdap in Manapla. 

It was a sad Saturday. Tita Lud was 78.😢

Chapter 25 - Former Governor Melecio Severino's contribution to Victorias

Complete history blog: "Ang Kasaysayan sang                                                Victorias"