Sisters in Service

Everyone loves to call them ate Andring and ate Billy. They are the secret weapons of the parish’s convent. These two sisters have been serving the parish taking care of our priests since the diocese took over the parish which was once run by the PME priests until 1983. Yes folks, they have been in the parish for 32 long years now. They came here in July 1, 1983 from Malalag.

Fr. Ricardo Justol, D.C.D. was the first diocesan priest assigned in Sta. Cruz, with him was Fr. Nestie Alerta, D.C.D. as the assistant parish priest. Ate Andring and ate Billy were working in the convent of Malalag under Fr. Rick Justol and when he transferred to Sta Cruz, he asked them to come with him to help him in the transition for a couple of months. Those two months became 3, 4, a year and now 32 yrs.

Ate Andring (Andrea) is the 5th of 10 siblings while ate Billy (Virginia) is the 6th child. The two sisters always work together since they were kids. That made the tandem work for them even when they grew up and worked alongside each other. Ate Andring attends to the laundry, cleaning and organizing the household activities of the convent, while ate Billy cooks and attends to the household budget and finance. They have been trusted to manage the house from one generation of priest to the next generation. They even remembered a time when Bishop Gene Camina asked them to work in the diocese but they both declined because they have started to love where they are now. When ate Billy turned 60 last year, and she thought of retiring, Fr. Bong Lunas asked her/both of them to stay at least while he’s the parish priest. The diocese have taken good care of them, they have all the benefits to enjoy when they retire. When they were asked to describe the people of Sta. Cruz, they both agreed, the people are warm, loving, friendly and very supportive to the needs of the parish, including theirs. They have gained a lot of friends who invite them to some family dinners, parties and fiestas. Even when they go to public places, they are always given due respect. Their message to the parishioners is, if it is about time for them to leave and the persons to take over their place is from the town themselves, the key to a successful caring and nurturing of the priests is to work with a genuine support of their vocation, to do nothing but pure service and everything good will follow.

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Thank you Blaze Cantaros and Mark Lonzaga of St. Joseph Parish, Sta. Cruz.