The Healing Journey in Dumaguete

I was recently invited to be part of a grief management conference titled Understanding Grief 2: The Healing Journey held at Silliman Hall in Dumaguete City. The conference was part of a series of events called Dgte-Bound: Journey to Wholeness organized by EPCALM (Erwin Piedad Cabanag Adult Leukemia Ministries), a God-centered, non-stock and non-profit organization that aims to support leukemia patients and their families. EPCALM was established in memory of lawyer Erwin Cabanag who was the city fiscal of Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental when he passed away due to leukemia on May 12, 2005 at the age of 45.

His sister, Dr. Erlyn Demerre, is the founder and chairman of the board of EPCALM. Dr. Erlyn is my cardiologist as well as Nanay’s. She takes good care of us beyond health concerns. She cares as if it’s all that matters. She’s one of the reasons why we have hope that this world would be a better place. She loves people. I am just so blessed to have had the chance to share this journey to wholeness with her.

The main speaker of the seminar was Mary Ellen Erickson, co-founder and program director of US-based GriefWorks. There was a wide-range discussion about grief. EPCALM saw the need to raise the participants’ understanding and management of grief — from leukemia patients and their families to the victims of the recent tragedies that besieged the Visayas region.

I did an interview with Martin Nievera before the attendees of the seminar. Martin and I talked about grief — from the point of view of a celebrity. It was enlightening because Martin allowed the audience to understand what a public figure like him can go through to the point of even losing himself in a world where everything is expected to be dizzyingly magical. Attendees of the seminar realized that celebrities also go through pain and grief and loss.

In the evening, Martin performed with the Ating Pamana choral group and the J2MAD praise and worship band. It was a beautiful evening of music and prayer. It was a healing ministry and Pastor Carlton Palm was simply divine.

Martin is still the best. “Cliché-ish” it maybe but he has become better with age just like wine. He is the Madman. He is the Big Mouth but Martin knows when to sing and when to talk. And he knows what to say.

In the beginning of the concert, he was singing one song after another with very short spiels. And when everyone was putty in his palm, he started talking and cracking jokes. He has mastered this “art” through the years. He knows when to do long spiels and short spiels and when to sing.

He performed with a minus one accompaniment but it was one of his best performances. It was raw. It was all heart. It was Martin talking to his audience through his songs. I will always be a Martin Nievera disciple.

Another event that EPCALM organized was The Gentle Mile: A 50K Ultramarathon & Fun Run to promote a healthy lifestyle and to help leukemia patients and their families. The two running events included the fun run categories of 3K, 5K and 10K and the ultramarathon, which took the runners 50 kilometers south through the highway to Dumaguete City.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed my brief stay in Dumaguete City. I stayed at Florentina Homes, a homey boutique hotel. I loved the ceiling fan in my room which was hand-painted. I took some photos. I wanted to steal one of them.

I asked our driver to bring me to a place where I can get something that I wouldn’t be able to taste in Manila. He brought me to Sans Rival, a restaurant that has the best silvana in the whole world. Silvana is a delicious blend of meringue, nuts and other ingredients wrapped in a rich butter cream.

I was driven around Dumaguete City and I say that it’s now one of my favorite cities in the world. Locals would tell me that Dumaguete was built around Silliman University. Founded in 1901, Silliman is the first private American Protestant University in Asia. It is one of the four major universities in Dumaguete.

I also went to a grotto where I prayed.

There are many interesting restaurants in and out of the city. People are genuinely nice. You’d see a sprinkling of foreigners here and there. The boulevard is safe and clean.

Dumaguete is a vibrant yet simple town. I hope it does not lose its rustic beauty to the onslaught of the technological revolution. I hope it retains its bucolic magic. I enjoyed Dumaguete. I will be back very soon!