Rehab underway to improve Kapitangan tourism

Alexie Dionisio during the annual crucifixion rites held three years ago.

Current stages that will renovated, walls will be removed.

A boy shows nails used in crucifixion rites.

PAOMBONG, Bulacan—This town is best known for its vinegar products made from nipa palms; and for the annual crucifixion rites at Barangay Kapitangan.

This year, the Bulacan Tourism Convention Visitors Board (BTCVB) has joined hands with the Samahang Katandaan ng Kapitangan to conduct improvement on facilities.

Jo Clemente, chair of the BTCVB said rehabilitation is underway on the stage where the annual crucifixion rite is held.  This is in coordination with Councilor Myrna Valencia an Roman Gregorio, of the Samahang Katandaan.

“We have less than three weeks to make improvements and organize everything from traffic flow to participants information,’ he said.

Among the improvements that the BTCVB initiated is the rehabilitation of the stage where devotees reenact Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

Roman Gregorio by the newly constructed public rest room.

They will also cover the irrigation canal behin the stage with concrete slabs to give more space to tourists and pilgrims. However, Clemente said that rehabilitation of the irrigation canal will be completed by next year.

He described Kapitangan as the only tourist destination in the province that need no promotion.

But he said that it requires organization and planning.

This developed, Gregorio and his team has implemented the construction of a public comfort room just beside the stage.

He said that for years, lack of comfort room is one of the biggest concerns raised by both pilgrims and tourists.

Tire processing plant totally shutdown

GUIGUINTO, Bulacan—Enterprises not friendly to the environment is not welcome in Bulacan as government officials shutdown with finality a used tire processing plant here late Friday afternoon.

They said that the total shutdown of Bio-Eco Solutions Inc., at Brgy. Tabang here should serve as warning to businessmen who will violate environmental laws and undermine sustainable development.

The shutdown came 10 days after the office Environment Management Bureau (EMB) in Central Luzon along with the provincial government served a cease and desist order (CDO) against Bio-Eco Solutions Inc., which has been the subject of complaints of local residents.

“Anything that is destructive is not welcome in Bulacan,” said Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado.

He explained that operations of establishments that violates environmental laws undermine development of the province as it destroys the local ecology and threaten health and well-being of Bulakenyos.

The governor said that Bulacan is welcome for any investor, but they have to follow the law.

Love from Taiwan

Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado accepts a sack of rice from Ambassador to the Philippines Raymond L.S. Wang of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) during the rice donation ceremony  on Thursday night, March 15 dubbed as “Love from Taiwan” for the 2,000 families who were hit by the typhoons Pedring and Quiel in Hagonoy and Calumpit. 

Rappel rescue

RAPPEL RESCUE – Different rescue teams in Bulacan safely swoop down the unconscious and injured victim from the roof top of the capitol building as part of the fire and earthquake drill held yesterday in the observance of the Fire Prevention Month headed by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

College Days

GROUP HUG. Members of the Bulacan State University BA Journalism Class 2012 seems not ready to part ways as they hug each other during a pre-graduation party held at Baliuag, Bulacan on March 15.

SM City Marilao prioritizes safety and emergency preparedness

MARILAO, Bulacan –As part of precautionary and emergency measure to ensure safety of clients,mall tenants and employees, SM City Marilao recently conducted itsmall based earthquake and fire drill.

The emergency preparedness exercise provided opportunity for the participants to put into practice the things they have learned and work together in case of fire and earthquake.

Simulations of earthquake and fire incidents were executed to illustrate the proper response before, during and after these hazards happen. 

This action sought to enhance skills in mobilization, communication and response, as well as the ability to account for all the people within the affected premises.

Likewise, the drill served as a refresher course for the emergency response team (ERT). Topics like prevention, nature of earthquake and fire disasters, emergency and first aid treatment were also discussed in an earlier seminar.

The earthquake and fire drill was a part of the simultaneous program observed by different government agencies in Bulacan.

 It is also a national activity in which all provinces, cities and towns are encouraged to participate to convey the importance of being alert in case tragedy happens.

Diocese of Malolos marks 50 years

MALOLOS CITY—Pope Benedict XVI along with Filipino church leaders hailed the success of the Diocese of Malolos as it celebrated its 50^th Jubilee on Saturday.

All of them underscored the grace of God and the faith of the parishioners, which Bishop Jose Oliveros, the current bishop of the diocese, constituted it in the past 50 years and hoped to have the same in the future.

Reading the message of the Pope, Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, the apostolic nuncio to the Philippines said the Pontiff congratulates the diocese for its faitfulness.

He added that the Pope Benedict XVI wished the celebrations be use in the further renewal of faith and commitment, while invoking the intervention of St. Mary.

Pinto also led the canonical coronation of the image of the Virgen Inmaculada Concepcion de Malolos, the patron saint of the diocese.

Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, the former archbishop of Manila affirmed the same and added that faithfulness will be rewarded.

He said that members of the diocese must prepare to receive more blessings.

Noting the diocese’s faithfulness, Rosales said in Filipino, “God will drown you with joy.”

The same was echoed by retired Cardinal Ricardo Vidal who served as co-adjutor bishop of the diocese for two years before his appointment in Cebu as archbishop.

Vidal said “Bulakaneyos faith runs deep. May your faith flows with the same faith I encountered when I was a part of your Christian community.”

“May your faith be constant and pure, active and generous, so that it may lead souls, and will bear more fruit in renewal of lives,” he added.

Earlier, Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of the Metro Manila challenged  parishioners in his homily where he stressed that the biblical passage which states that faith without works is dead.

“Let us care for the people whom God care and love most,” Tagle said and mentioned the widows, orphans, the olds, and the street children.

For his part, Bishop Oliveros said that the diocese has been living with the transforming grace of God and unwavering faith, which also served as the theme for the 50^th Jubilee celebrations.

Oliveros noted that the diocese has been operating homes for battered women, street children, orphans, mentally challenged, drug dependents, and for the aged.

The bishop also said that in the last 50 years, the diocese has witnessed the grace of God and the faithfulness of the parishioners.

He said that when the diocese started in 1962, it only 50 priests serving in 50 parishes with a little over 500,000 parishioners.

Today, Oliveros said that the Diocese of Malolos is one of the biggest in the country with ove 100 parishes, 216 active priests, and at least 3.2-Million in parishioners in the province of Bulacan and the City of Valenzuela in Metro Manila.

Valenzuela City used to be part of Bulacan, until it was included included to Metro Manila in the 70’s.  (Bernardino Balabo)