I received more than a hundred text messages on Christmas eve and on Christmas Day. I am posting here a few of them. Some messages were outright funny; others were serious and still others were inspiring. Instead of texting them all to you. let me just share them in this corner.
This Christmas season, may you be showered with girls, or showered by girls, or with girls in a shower …
It’s Christmas! Rejoice, for God is with us Praise and thank God for the everlasting gift of Christmas! Indeed, ‘Man will live forevermore because of Christmas Day!’ A blessed Christmas to you and your family! God Bless!
Maalab na Pasko at Mapagpalayang Bagong Taon po sa inyo at sa inyong mga kasambahay at katoto!
I want too keep three things: the sun, the moon and my friends. The sun for daytime, the moon for nighttime and my friends, for lifetime. Happy holidays, my friend! God bless.
Our merriest Christmas wishes for you and your loved ones. May we all have peace in our hearts as we reflect on the true meaning of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
May you and your family enjoy a meaningful, joyous celebration of the child Jesus! A safe and peaceful night ahead! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! May the Lord reward each thoughtful deed you do and hear each prayer you say. May He bless you and your family with His graces all through your life.
Fulfillment doesn’t merely mean achieving your highest dreams in life, but also living a life that has made the lives of others worth living. Merry Christmas!
DAGUPAN CITY — Every first day of January, it has been the tradition of residents of barangay Pogo Grande, this city, to meet the new year with a bang — and a big bang it is!
Dubbed as “Balon Kaaguan” (New Noon), residents donate and gather up unsold firecrackers and hang then up along the main barangay road. This snaking away of firecrackers is lit at the strike of 12 noon of January 1 with all the excitement of a fiesta.
More than a hundred meters of small and large firecrackers put together to build the longest Judas’ belt estimated to cost more than P100,000 never fails to draw people from all over the city to witness the event.
Read full story in the Philippine Information Agency website
DAGUPAN City – “We did it!”
This was the assessment of Dr. Jess Canto, director of Region 1 Medical Center, saying their “Oplan Paputok” campaign was successful with the help of the print and broadcast media.
Dr. Canto yesterday told People’s Journal that firecracker victims during the New Year revelry in the city was significantly lower. Only 34 persons were admitted to the R1MC compared to 51 last year.
Rolando Fernandez, R1MC chief nurse of the Surgical Department and Emergency Management staff, said aside from the 34 firecrackers blast victims, three others were wounded by improvised pillboxes and baby dynamites. Del Balano, 14, and Cristian Silot, 10, both of Mabila-o, San Fabian, Pangasinan, were hit by a pillbox explosion; and Adel Orjado, 29, of Madriaga St., Manaoag who was injured by a baby dynamite blast.
Read full story in Journal Online
FIRES hit the Cabanatuan City and Tayug, Pangasinan public markets and a residential house in Dagupan City.
No one was reported injured in the fires.
Probers said the two-hour fire that hit about one-fourth of the Cabanatuan City public market and a commercial building last Saturday was triggered by a wayward “kwitis.” Damage to property was placed at P8 million.
The blaze also burned four tricycles and an owner-type jeep parked near the area.
The blaze was put out by 17 fire trucks at 11 p.m.
Read full story in Journal Online
By Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
Archbishop, Lingayen-Dagupan Archdiocese
Good spirit, best wishes and high hopes cannot but accompany the greetings of “Happy New Year!” Said and heard the world over. However, during thses particular times in the life of our country, the truth has to be said that the greetings carry a good amount of reservation.
In other words, with the doubts and ears that accompany the day to day living of millions of Filipinos, it is rather easy to say “Happy New Year!” But truly hard to expect that the year 2007 would be really happy, this is not pessimism but reality, not surrender but the truth–considering that the national present is difficult and the country’s future is rather bleak.
It is said that all economic indicators are up, investments are pouring in, the peso is never that strong. Yet millions do not have enough to eat. People die for lack of medicine. The peso has never been buying so much less. Some 2800 Filipinos leave the country to find work abroad. They not only finance their families but also fund the government.
So many extrajudicial and political killings still go on, with most of the killers remaining free to kill again–and again. No less than two billion pesos were allegedly set aside not really to stop but simply to lessen graft and corruption in government. But the Philippines continues to top the horror roll in cheating and stealing of public funds.
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San Jacinto, Pangasinan — A giant Christmas tree inspired by the town’s main agricultural product — corn — stands imposingly at the heart of the plaza here contributing to the season’s festive atmosphere.
Called Christ-mais (corn) tree, the symbol pays tribute to the bayanihan spirit of the townsfolk who painstakingly put up the tree as part of the Lady’s Choice Christmasterpiece ng Bayan, officials said.
More than a thousand lady’s choice bottles, corn husks, sasao-silag and other indigenous materials made up the tree which took 55 days to make.
Read full story in the Philippine Information Agency website
Barangay captains and officials in the city were feted to an evening of fun and entertainment during the well-attended Barangay Night held on December 27 at the City Plaza as part of the celebration of the 2006 Dagupan City Fiesta.
Taguig-Pateros congressman Alan Peter Cayetano, Mayor Benjamin Lim and fiesta hermana mayor councilor Maria Librada Reyna spearheaded the activity with the presence of some local executives, city councilors, department heads, special guests and the local media.
Among them were vice mayor Alvin Fernandez, councilors Teofilo Guadiz III, Joey Tamayo, Alex de Venecia, Vlad Mata, Michael Fernandez, Nick Aquino and Farah Decano.
In his speech, Cayetano expressed gratitude to Mayor Lim and Reyna for inviting him as the affair’s guest speaker.
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By Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz
Lingayen-Dagupan Archdiocese
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.” (John 1:5)
This is a signal truth forwarded by the gospel reading during this Christmas day. It is an inspiring reminder for us during these dark and still darkening times in our dear country. It is a strong message of hope in these days of much despair, poverty and misery among us as a people.
Christmas means many different things to many different persons. But one distinct significance of Christmas is always the same and true: the birth anniversary of Christ as the incarnate light that guides us in our continuing search for truth, insistent pursuit of justice and constant longing for peace.
Christmas wherefore calls for our sincere gratitude to God the Father for sending his own Son to be our everlasting light and guide in our day-to-day living. Now when our own country is in one big socio-moral darkness basically due to odious and ominous politics, the more we need Christ to light our path to hope, unity and solidarity.
Sad but true, we have to admit that in our country during these trying times, there is too much lying, stealing and cheating, too much graft and corruption, too much greed for power and wealth, too much abuse of human rights and killing of human lives. In short, there is too much darkness in our midst—even during this Christmas season.
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