Showing posts with label All Saints Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Saints Day. Show all posts

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Faith isn’t cancelled--- Ondoy Kalag

Aurelio "Ondoy Kalag"Gahit says a cemetery is a reminder for closure and healing. Photo: Leo Udtohan

All Saints Day and All Souls Day this weekend won’t be the same. 

The pandemic has forced authorities to close cemeteries to prevent the traditional Nov. 1-2 observances when entire families clean and visit tombs, light candles and chat with their deceased relatives, perhaps a luncheon and over a glass of their favorite beverage.

Personal faith celebrations like All Saints Day and All Souls Day, however, are being given their time to shine.

“Faith isn’t cancelled,” said Aurelio "Ondoy Kalag" Gahit. 

Ondoy has long been retired as caretaker of the Victoria Memorial Park (ViMPark). 

"Ondoy Kalag", who is synonymous to ViMPark, clarified that there are still ways to honor sacred holidays like All Saints Day and All Souls Day. 

"Pray for your loved ones. Pray the Holy Rosary. You know what praying the Holy Rosary is a unique way to add meaning to these days of solemn celebration," he said. 

Ondoy has spent most of his life at ViMPark that he, well, perfectly memorize all the names and locations of your loved ones.

He is also famous for his “graveside etiquette” to behave during a graveside service with the same attitude of respect and courtesy.

Ondoy said cemeteries reveal a lot about a place and its people.

He added that people might think a cemetery would make us feel sadder because it is a very stark reminder of the reality of our loss. But for him, although sadness is pronounced, a cemetery is a reminder for closure and healing.

Memories give comfort as people also visited the tombs of their loved ones.

Cemeteries save us from the fading of memory and history. Photo: Leo Udtohan

To all those who’ve gone ahead, our prayers and flowers.

From the press: Dean of Boholano journalists Zoilo Dejaresco, Palanca winner and Bohol Sunday Post columnist Cloviz Nazareno, radio reporter Fil “Hitman” Layao, Bohol Balita Daily News publisher Tony Silagon, Bohol Sunday Post columnist-lawyer Isabelo Sales, dyTR’s Showbiz Chikka anchor Anzing Poquita, radio reporter Ben Pingkian, Bohol Sunday Post publisher Boy Guingguing,  Bohol Standard publisher and Tagbilaran councilor- lawyer Aleckoy Lim, broadcaster Nestor Daarol,  Reynaldo Daro, Sr. , Engr./Chairman Maurito Lim, Loy Palapos, Joseph Ligan, Alejandro Amoguis, people’s lawyer Tim Cabatos, Jessie Bantugan and Nilo Sapong. 

To end this column, I am again putting out the lyrics of one of my favorite songs "Dust In The Wind" by Kansas (at the risk of sounding like a broken record)  that has a humbling effect on me. 

Listen closely and be humbled by the song’s message:

Dust in the Wind
by Kansas

I close my eyes, only for a moment
And the moment’s gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water
In an endless sea
All we do crumbles to the ground
Though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Now, don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever

But the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money

Won’t another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind    

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Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments welcome at leoudtohan@yahoo.com, follow leoudtohanINQ at Twitter /Facebook/Instagram.


Sunday, November 4, 2018

Bohol celebrates CPG’s greatness


Ang lalawigang Bol-anon
May anak nga bantugan
Matarung ug maligdong
Sulundon ug buotan.

Ang iyang mga mithi
Gugma ug kaangayan
Pag- alagad nga hingpit
Sa yuta tang natawhan.

Ug halad ka sa langit
Alang Bol-anon katawhan
Ang mga buhat mong matarung
Kanunay namong gikamingawan
Ang dila mong balaknon
Garbo ning yutang tabunon
Carlos P. Garcia buhi ka sa tanang panahon.

Ikaw mao ang kadasig,
Ikaw mao ang kalagsik,
Ikaw mao ang kahayag,
Sa dalan namong mangitngit.

Among paninguhaun ang pagsunod sa imong mga lakang
Ug ang imong pagtulun-an
Dili namo hikalimtan.

 -- Carlos P. Garcia: Bantugang Bol-anon

While singing and humming that song (composed and written by Onecimo “Onie” Oclarit from his Ubilandia album), you and I can further reflect on the greatness of the late Carlos P. Garcia as Bohol celebrates his 122nd birth anniversary, Nov. 4.

Pres. Carlos P. Garcia’s commemorative postage stamp in 1973.
Contributed 
 caption
As we remember CPG, may we be inspired by his example of prioritizing the interests of the Filipino people.

Born in November 4, 1896, CPG was a teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist and guerilla leader. His administration was anchored on three basic policies: Austerity, Filipino First Policy and Cultural Revival.

Here are excerpts from the post of Prof. Marianito Jose Luspo on CPG:

Recently, I have been asked why is it that CPG never became popular among our people( no Garcia portrait in Philippine currencies, no major Manila thoroughfare named in his honor, etc.), both before and even now among millennials, especially the Boholano kind. Perhaps one reason is that Nationalism during the time of Garcia had never been popular at that time.

We have to admit that from the 1950's to well into our time, Filipinos have been notorious for the so -called "Stateside" mentality.

How do you think Garcia's nationalistic policies be received by the PX generation?

On the other hand, how would our present- day generation living under this prevailing climate called Globalization appreciate the rhetoric of Filipino First? In other words, the CPG legacy is saddled by the misfortune of having occurred at the wrong historical place and time, a beautiful song sung amidst the noise of adverse realities.

Still today, we continue to remember his birthday not just because he happened to be one of ours, but also because this " one of ours", the Lone Blue Star in the Bohol flag, once gave our people a dream and a greater vision of ourselves as Boholanos, as Filipinos.

***
Loved ones should not be forgotten

At least 15,000 people visited the Victoria Memorial Park on Thursday night, All Saints’ Day.

Most of them spent the night at the park, according to Aurelio “Ondoy Kalag” Gahit, the park’s caretaker.

After they offered flowers, candles, and flowers, some family members had dinner.

Some teenagers wore Halloween costumes such as “Valac,” a horror character. They roamed around the cemetery for fun.

Instead of being scared, some people came to have pictures taken with the horror character.

But the crowd was not bigger compared to last year.

“Some came early to visit their loved ones,” said Gahit.

Some residents have spent the night at the Victoria
Memorial Park in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Thursday, Nov. 1.
Photo by Helen Castaño
The Victoria Memorial Park, which opened in 1975, has around 3,000 graves. Notable interred here include Doña Basing, JJ’s Obdulio Caturza Sr. and his wife Juana, businessman Antonio Ong Guat, Dr. Prisco and Socorro Tallo, Gov.  Erico Aumentado, Peanut Kisses matriarch Carolina Alvarez, Grace Christian Church founder Dr. Nelson Rio Sr., educator- lawyer Victoriano Will Tirol Jr. and his wife Cristeta, et al.

Gahit said police visibility helped deter the occurrence of crimes in the area.

Memories give comfort as people also visited the tombs of their loved ones.   At the Taloto Catholic Cemetery, it houses the remains of Gregorio Penaflor.

The Dampas Catholic Cemetery in Tagbilaran City features the final resting places of many professionals and leaders. Dean of Boholano journalists lawyer Zoilo “Jun” Dejaresco and his wife Rosario, Miguel Parras, Bernardino Inting, UB treasurer Asuncion Mira, composer and soldier Alberto Cainglet, former city councilor Dr. Margarito Lim and Alona’s entertainer Uly Dolojol are among the most recognizable of the interred.

Only a few meters away from Dampas Catholic Cemetery is the resting place for United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) members. Interred here are Dr. James Alexander Graham and his wife Merne. Graham was a native of Scotland, the first medical missionary in Bohol. The Graham Avenue is named after him.

The Masonic Cemetery of the Dagohoy Lodge No. 84 also hosts some of the most prominent deceased. First University of Bohol president Victoriano D. Tirol Sr. and his wife Illuminada, educator Pio Castro, Catalino Castillo and Angelita Tormis are among the diverse famous buried here.

My Visita Cementerio last week brought me to Anda Cemetery and the ancient graveyard in Barangay Basdio, Guindulman.

Believers of Potenciana Saranza, also known as “Inday Potenciana”, never forget.

 Instead of being scared, Babie Baricuatro and some
 people came to have pictures taken with the
 horror character “Valac” roaming around the cemetery. 
Photo by Helen Castaño  
Every year, on All Saints’ Day, they gather before the tomb of local saint at her shrine inside the Anda Cemetery.

Cresencia Gultiano, 63, a resident of Anda, never missed a year visiting Inday’s grave. It’s been like a tradition for her, right after offering candles for her dead parents, whose crypts are also at the Anda Cemetery.

But only a few boat coffins are now left inside the caves. Boat coffins can also be found in the towns of  Duero, Candijay, Mabini and Anda.

Prof. Jose Marianito Luspo said that boat coffins were utilized by our ancestors to understand the belief system particularly in relation to beliefs about the soul and the afterlife.  The boats were thought as a vessel for “sailing” to the heavens and the stars.

“The secondary practice here in Bohol stems from the belief that the passage of life to the next life always takes on the passage way of water. This is actually part of universal belief system of the importance of water in transmission of life,” he said.

Luspo said he would ask the National Museum to save the remaining boat coffins.

“We really would like our people to be aware of the importance of secondary burial coffin because this will help understand that our culture is that age old and it has been here for the past thousands of years and this will help chart our course towards the future,” he said.

To all those who’ve gone ahead, our prayers and flowers.

From the press: Dean of Boholano journalists Zoilo Dejaresco, Palanca winner and Bohol Sunday Post columnist Cloviz Nazareno, radio reporter Fil “Hitman” Layao, Bohol Balita Daily News publisher Tony Silagon, Bohol Sunday Post columnist-lawyer Isabelo Sales, dyTR’s Showbiz Chikka anchor Anzing Poquita, radio reporter Ben Pingkian, Bohol Sunday Post publisher Boy Guingguing,  Bohol Standard publisher and Tagbilaran councilor- lawyer Aleckoy Lim, broadcaster Nestor Daarol,  Reynaldo Daro, Sr. , Engr./Chairman Maurito Lim, Loy Palapos, Joseph Ligan, and people’s lawyer Tim Cabatos.


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Sunday, November 1, 2015

Meet Aurelio Gahit aka ‘Ondoy Gamay Kalag’

Aurelio Romero Gahit, popular known as “Ondoy Gamay Kalag (The boy with little soul)”, 64, spends most of his life at Victoria Memorial Park (ViMPark) in Tagbilaran City.

He is famous for his “graveside etiquette”-being a gentleman of tact, respect, and sensitivity at the occasion of someone’s burial. He shows us how to behave during a graveside service with the same attitude of respect and courtesy.

FAMOUS FOR HIS “GRAVESIDE ETIQUETTE” Aurelio “Ondoy Kalag” Gahit
 is being a gentleman of tact, respect, and sensitivity at the occasion of someone’s burial.
Photo by Leo Udtohan/Bohol Chronicle
“Ako si Ondoy Gamay Kalag muhangyo sa iyong malumoy nga kasing-kasing nga maghiluman kitang tanan para respetuhon nato atong igsuon nga mingpanaw,” he said.

(I am Ondoy Gamay Kalag, I am asking your kind hearts to please keep silent to respect our departed brother/sister.)

Onday Kalag said he started working for the late Doña Basilisa “Basing” Casas- Lim when he was a teen.

THE BEAUTIFUL and iconic mausoleums or tombs at Victoria Memorial Park.
Photos by Leo Udtohan/Bohol Chronicle
“Doña Basing owned the Sweet Lines,” he said.

When ViMPark was opened to the public on Sept. 15, 1972, he was appointed park coordinator.

However, it was only in 1975 when someone was laid to rest at ViMPark.

Today, VimPark houses the 5,000 remains- from ordinary to famous personalities- including the late Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado, lawyer and educator Will Tirol, Lim Poh, Doña Basilisa “Basing” Casas- Lim, provincial board member Socorro Buslon-Tallo, businessman Antonio Ong Guat, Grace Christian Church pastor-teacher Nelson Rio, JJ’s Obdulio Caturza, Sr and wife Juana, Peanut Kisses matriarch Carolina Alvarez, et al.

Boy Kalag, who has a mind as sharp as a steel trap, admitted he could not recall the 5,000.

“Not at all,” he said. “However, I can assure you that they rest here forever.” Although he worried that some letters that were originally chiselled on some gravestones have since faded.

“I offer prayers for them,” he said, “And I pray that their loved ones can visit them.”

The ViMPark is divided into four phases- the gardens of Hope, Grace, Promise and Faith –named after the ships owned by Doña Basing.

Ondoy Kalag also said that at ViMPark, love is forever. He said he could not forget a man who spent over 10 years holding vigil by his wife’s grave every day, arriving when the cemetery opened and heading home when it closed,  before he fell ill.

“When his wife died, part of him died, too,” he said, “That was real love. Tinuod nga naay forever.”

He said he feels more comfortable living with the dead. Except for one horrific incident in 1993  when a mantiyanak (a woman who died in labor) appeared and stirred the neighborhood. Many people heard her singing lullabies to her baby, causing hair-raising chills and making them trembled in fear.

Onday Kalag lost his nerve at the sight of the mantiyanak.

“She appeared to me,” he said. He went to see a Catholic priest and he was told to pray at the grave of the person. After praying, the spirit was gone.

Boy Kalag has retired two years ago, but he keeps going to VimPark to assist his son, Victor, 34, who took over his job. His wife, Teofista “Itang”, 58, son Roland, 32; daughters-Abeta, 30; and Bella, 26, are there to support him.

Living all his life at the ViMPark, Ondoy Kalag said wo/man has a soul.

“Naa jud kalag ang tawo. The body, being finite, does die. Yet the soul, the essence of our loved one, is eternal,” he said.

He said visiting the cemetery on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day is remembering our loved ones.

“That they’re gone but not forgotten. Our connection lives on and will never die,” he said.

For the celebration of  Kalag-Kalag, he urged the visitors to show respect to their departed love ones by keeping the cemetery’s premises clean all the time.

He said the VimPark administration has been preparing for this annual observance since last week, in close coordination with the City police station.

He also said he had deployed numerous signages located at the cemetery’s strategic locations to keep people abreast of VimPark’s dos and don’ts.

“Definitely, loud music is not allowed in the cemetery during Kalag-kalag because we visit the cemetery to pray for our departed loved ones and not to disco,” he said.

Through history, societies have commemorated their dead in various ways.

Ondoy Kalag named the beautiful and iconic mausoleums or tombs (elsewhere in this page), that reflect people's need to immortalize the important figures of their time, or their own selves.

***
Provincial director Superintendent Dennis Agustin said that deployment of police officers at police assistance desks (PADs) on cemeteries was strictly implemented to ensure the safety of Boholanos during the celebration of Kalag-Kalag.

“We’re full alert on Oct. 30,” said Agustin.

He also urged the public to refrain from bringing firearms, deadly weapons and liquor while visiting their departed loved ones.

According to Agustin, they would not only secure cemeteries, but also places frequented by the public like the Dao Bus Terminal, airport, seaports, churches and other areas.

He also said patrol cars and ambulances from the Department of Health (DOH) or local government units (LGUs) would complement the PADs for quick response during emergencies.

Meanwhile, the prices of flowers tripled in Tagbilaran’s flower markets on Friday two days before All Saints' Day weekend.

Vendors sell flowers along C. Marapao Street corner H. Grupo Street, which underwent an extensive repair. They said they were not allowed to sell at the Tagbilaran City Square to avoid heavy traffic.

The prices of Malaysian mums went up from P180 to P350 per dozen, P35 per piece; Chrysanthemum from P70 to P120 per dozen, P20 per piece; Baby’s breath from P60 to P150 per dozen; roses- P300 to P350 per dozen, P30 to P35 per piece; and orchids from P300 to P500 per dozen, P40 to P50 per piece.

Small potted flowers, which normally cost just P50, is now at P100 to P300 each. Flower baskets now cost P150 to P300 from the usual P100 to P250. Elaborate flower arrangements are pegged at P800 to P2,000 or almost tripled the price off-season. Bouquet ranges from P300 to P1,500; while flowers arranged in stands are sold at P600 to P10,000 already.

Vendor Olive Betonio said there are enough flowers for the said tradition. She, however, said that prices of flowers are a bit more expensive this year.

Florist Eddie Dahunog said that there is enough supply of flowers but the price tripled this year because supplies of flowers are from Cebu, Baguio and Cagayan de Oro City.

“First, our flower supply was damaged by typhoon Lando. Second, the cost of transportation is higher. We buy flowers at high price,” said Dahunog.

He, however, said that he would not increase the price because the flowers are already expensive.

“They can ask for discount,” he said.

Residents who bought flowers significantly increase as the stalls opened on Friday. Most of them said that they bought earlier to avoid discomfort of overcrowding.

Flower vendors said the stalls are open 24 hours on Friday until the night of Nov. 2.

However, the prices for candles are still low and fair.

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