Maco Parish Revisited

We arrived in Maco on the afternoon of June 28, 2013, amidst heavy downpour. Sr. Cecilia Baron, OP from the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena welcomed us at their family residence. Fr. Bien Trinilla, OP one of our brothers, have arrived a day ahead of us and is staying at Sr. Cecilia’s house. Sr. Cecilia’s mother, “Mommy Baron” as she is fondly called, has been a benefactor of the parish even at the time that Fr. Bien was parish priest in Maco. She is now the president of the Mother Butlers’ Guild.

While waiting for our other brother priests from Luzon to arrive, we paid a visit to the parish church. At the parish rectory, we were welcomed by Fr. Monmon Monares, the new parochial vicar and Fr.Levi Manteca, the outgoing parish priest. The last time I visited this parish was 23 years ago, in 1990, when I was still a seminarian. It was still under the administration of our Dominican brother priests at that time.

The new parish edifice is under construction, with only the steel frames erected and some portions of the roof installed. The parish, under the patronage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is celebrating its Golden Jubilee on the following day, June 29, 2013. A good number of our Filipino Dominican missionaries, about ten of them, worked either as parish priests or parochial vicars in this parish from the early 1970’s up to the time it was turned over to the diocese of Tagum in the early 1990’s. The late Fr. Jose Salazar, OP, was one of the parish priests of Maco, before he became bishop of the Prelature of Batanes many years later.

The rectory is still the same as it was more than two decades ago. I can still remember the time when I first visited the parish church. We were coming from Davao City, and as we approached the parish church, along the way there were a couple of military tanks going to the opposite direction. Our companions told us that there must have been another encounter between the military and the New People’s Army. Later that evening, we heared gunshots being fired from a distance. By the sounds of gunshots being fired, one can tell that fighting is going on up in the mountains at the back of the parish church.

By dinnertime of June 28, 2013, three of our brothers from Luzon have arrived. They are Fr. Jerry Manlangit, OP, Fr. Eugene Cabillon, OP and Fr. Rafael Lusuegro, OP. They have come to Maco to grace the occasion of the golden jubilee of the parish. It was an opportune time to revisit the parish they once served, and if I may add, in the words of Fr. Bien, “during the best years of our life”. The parish priest has prepared a dinner for us religious, and priests who have come to celebrate with them. After dinner, a group of students from Maco Heights Elementary School rendered several delightful and impressive numbers on their stringed instruments. Last year, their rondalla group won in the National Music Competition for Young Artists, or more popularly known as NAMCYA.

The following day, as everybody has been praying for, it was a bright sunny day. Bishop Wilfredo Manlapaz, DD presided over the Golden Jubilee mass at 8:00 in the morning with about twenty priests concelebrating. Most of them are either former parish priests or native residents of Maco.