Young priest creates Tagalog version of WYD song

MANILA, Philippines - Fr. Jay Sesno Aguilar, a 34-year-old priest from Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Pasay City, remembers crying in 1995 when he was not able to join the World Youth Day (WYD) in Manila during Pope John Paul II’s visit. He was then a fourth-year high school student in Iriga City, Camarines Sur.

“Because we were poor, I did not have the fare to go to Manila. It hurt me as I saw my friends in a bus leaving,” he says.

His mother, a public school teacher, has been the sole provider of the family since his father died when he was only seven years old.

He admits having a grudge towards God for what had happened. However, he never thought he would be ordained as a priest six years ago from the Archdiocese of Caceres in Bicolandia and would be involved in ministering to the youth. He was able to join the WYD in Sydney, Australia in 2008 and the WYD in Madrid, Spain in 2011.

These two events have inspired him to produce the Tagalog version of the original WYD song Esperancha Amanhecer in Portuguese by Padre Jose Candido.

“The Pag-asa ng Bukang-Liwayway (Hope of Dawn) MTV is a story of the youth (the hope of the Church) and faith. I was frustrated then but God raised me up and He has sustained me. Jesus needs us in these modern times, in the midst of secularism and modernism. We need to strengthen our faith,” says Fr. Jay.

The said music video has three themes, explains Fr. Jay: That the Church is vibrant and young, that the Church is in pilgrimage, and that the Church is catholic or universal.

The video, which runs for only four minutes and 45 seconds, has now thousands of views on YouTube and was recently aired on Radio Veritas, Radio Maria and DZRH.

“I want to clarify that this music video project is not the official Tagalog version. But it was received by the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Youth. It’s purely an initiative to help the youth spiritually (in celebration of the recently-concluded 2013 WYD in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil among Filipino Catholics),” says Fr. Jay, who is taking up his masters in media literacy education at Paulines Institute of Communication in Asia in Pasay City.

Other countries in Asia, like Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam and Japan already have their own WYD version of the song.

“We were able to produce it in only one month. It usually requires three months to do it. This was attributed to the support of our talents, who are all volunteers, and kind donors from the priests, churchgoers and friends from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office at the PICC where I’m usually invited to hold Mass,” he says.

He requested the assistance of the comic duo Moymoy Palaboy, composed of the Obeso brothers James Ronald (or Moymoy) and Rodfil, who are GMA artists.

“Moymoy and Rodfil are our former parishioners at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Pasay City. Moymoy was a priest’s scholar,” he shares.

He also asked help from his classmates at Paulines. Among them was director Mash Mojica. Other talents who volunteered are Mia Fernandez, Miles Blue Sy (a Pilipinas Got Talent finalist), and two youth groups, the Project Goodvibes Teen and the Second Chronicle Choir. The lyrics were done by Fr. Jay with the aid of Fr. Rollin Jean Marie “Tuzzi” Flores who edited it.

Fr. Jay says, “The youth can certainly do lots of things, according to the ways of their faith. They are the hope of the Church.”