Viernes Santo

Good Friday, or Viernes Santo, is one of the days which my wife dreads whenever we stay in Pangil, Laguna during Holy Week, which she labels as the "Penitencia" Capital of Laguna owing to the number of men (and sometimes women) performing the rites.

"Penitencia" or penitence is the act of hitting oneself with a "panghampas" consisting of wooden pegs attached to a rope and hitting the bloodied back from side to side.

People try to avoid the penitents walking along the roads not out of fear but to avoid the penitents' blood from staining their clothes and since the odor of the drying blood is not really good.

The ritual is performed apparently as a "panata" or promise for an answered prayer or to atone for one's sins. The Catholic church frowns upon the said ritual. Bishop Iniguez, of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said that devotees should go beyond such practices and adds that what is important is to carry one’s daily cross and face challenges of life in faith and guided by God’s grace. (http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2008-03-23&sec=4&aid=53459)

Pabasa 2008

You know it is the Holy Week when you hear somewhere in your neighborhood some people singing/chanting verses from the Holy Bible.

Its called the "Pabasa" or "Pasyon", the reading of verses from the Bible which recounts the Passion of Christ and is held during Holy Week. The Pabasa starts in the Book of Genesis and goes through the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is usually done as a "panata" or promise by the faithful for an answered prayer from God.

Angel's Graduation and our Tagaytay Trip

Angel finally graduated from the Little Ranch Learning Center finishing her Prep and moving on to Grade 1 next school year. She will be studying at the St. Scholastica's College in Manila.

There were only 4 in Angel's class: Paolo, John, Karen and Angel. Everyone was given an award and Angel got the Most Talented award. Probably because she had already started taking violin lessons.

After the graduation ceremonies we talked about going to Tagaytay and decided to go there the following day. We attended the anticipated mass at the church near the Mall of Asia and had dinner at Aristocrat's Restaurant to celebrate her graduation. More photos maybe found here.

DBM RO IV-B Satellite Office in Calapan City

Our office had established a satellite office in Calapan City as mandated under Executive Order No. 682, designating the city as the Regional Government Center of MIMAROPA by July 2009.
Each of the three technical divisions in our office will be send a technical staff in our satellite office on a two-week rotation. This week was my turn and I got to meet the first three staff to man said office.
I left Manila yesterday at around 4:45 AM and after 2 jeepney, 1 bus, 1 boat and 2 tricycle rides, I finally got to our satellite office. It took me more than four hours just to get here.
I am still not sure what I will be doing here for the next week as I have already finished the pending work which I brought from Manila although someone followed up a release earlier this afternoon, the status of which I still have to ask with our Central Office.
I hope the following days will be more exciting as far as work is concerned.