The good and the bad news of Sinulog

Yesterday afternoon, we had another two-hour session listening to our good friends, Steve and Janet Ray at the Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN). Steve and Janet Ray were former Protestants (Janet's family come from a long line of Protestants who were the Pilgrims who rode the Mayflower to America.

She's now the only Catholic in her long line of Christians) On Jan. 1st 1994 they made a big move in their lives by converting to the Catholic Church. I was blessed to meet Steve and Janet on December 8,2002. He was Mama Mary's birthday gift to us who had the courage to study Apologetics, the art of defending the Catholic Church.

Back then, we had a group called Mary's Catholic Apologists (MCA) who met once a week to discuss issues that caused the split between the Catholic Church and the other Christian churches.

Back then, we also had a tv program called "Our Journey of Faith" which was co-hosted by Gerard Java with Fr. Lucas Inoc acting as our Spiritual Director. But since he was transferred to the Tuburan Parish, the group lost its spiritual glue. We also didn't continue with our tv program because I refuse to do a show on Apologetics without having a Spiritual Director around to keep us on track.

Hearing Steve Ray speaking ever so plainly about what the Bible teaches us reminds me of how the Holy Spirit works in simple people. Just like St. Peter and all the early Christians, they learned their faith and preached it to everyone who cared to listen. Yesterday's talk with Steve Ray was televised live in CCTN over channel 56. Brother Dodong Limchua would have replays of his talk in the days to come. We will also be having another tv interview with Steve Ray on our talkshow, Straight from the Sky, which we will announce later.

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With the Sinulog Festival all but over, we're getting a lot of good news and bad news that happened during the Cebu fiesta. Perhaps one of the best news is the one where two little boys, seven-year-old Leo Johnson Lambo and his cousin 11-year-old Pejay Lambo, both pupils of Zapatera Elementary school, returned the cellphone of Tangub City Mayor Jennifer Tan who lost it during the Sinulog Parade. I'm sure the urge or the temptation to keep the cellphone raged within their minds. Thankfully, their Guardian Angels allowed them to make the right decision, that honesty is always the best policy. So they returned it to Mayor Tan who gave them a P5,000 reward.

Well, as the old saying goes, "All's well that ends well" and we can only thank the children for their honesty, despite their poverty. That my friend is the true Cebuano Christian spirit. That is why we've been so blessed by the Señor Sto. Niño de Cebu. As what Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña point out, "Incidents like this make Cebu City shine!" I fully agree!

But this is not to say that there weren't also many ugly incidents, like snatchings of cellphones that happened during the Sinulog festivities. It is sad that we still hear of this petty crime happening in our beloved city. We can only pray that someday, all this will stop.

The only incident that really marred the Sinulog was the sinking of that wooden-hulled vessel in San Ricardo, Panaon, Southern Leyte. While it was not part of the Cebu Festivities, it was still an event in honor of the Sto. Niño. It was really an unfortunate incident that the wooden hulled vessel was full of devotees of the Señor Sto. Niño capsized and resulted in the deaths of 16 people, mostly children. I was watching the tv footages of this tragedy and no words can comfort the parents of the departed children as a result of this fluvial tragedy. All we can say is, "the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away."

This disaster brings to mind an issue that the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) should have already stopped from operating, that wooden-hulled vessels should no longer be allowed to ply their routes.

Decades ago, my wife's family who used to own the San Vicente Shipping Lines plying the San Remigio to Sta. Fe, Bantayan sold their vessels because they thought that the Marina was serious in banning wooden-hulled vessels. This is a reality that Filipinos continue to live with today.

As for the disaster in San Ricardo, this happened in clear weather; therefore the people there suspect that the vessel was overloaded. A similar disaster also happened in a Fluvial Parade along a river in Luzon, which was also overloaded and capsized in clear weather resulting in so many deaths. The problem really is that, Filipino life is so damn cheap; we do not care to learn from our past mistakes so we end up repeating them. Perhaps someday, the government will give more importance to human life and then they won't allow wooden-hulled passengers vessels anymore.

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