(This column appears in today's edition of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express)
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There will be a special event at Christ the King College today. It’s the Bahandi Samarnon Award. Conceptualized by the Franciscan community, the award is an undertaking guided by this vision:
“Guided by the Gospel values, the Bahandi Samarnon Award engenders a Christian community that celebrates humanity towards a better Samar.” The award has as its mission the commitment to honor Samarnons with noble contributions, inspiring and empowering the people of Samar especially the youth to selfless endeavors and developing sense of patriotism, thus recognizing component and ethical individuals who integrate faith, life and culture for the advancement of Samar. The first awardee to be honored (posthumously) is Jose Cinco Gomez. Here’s some info on the awardee as contained in the program flyers:
“On his centenary, Jose Cinco Gomez deserves a grateful celebration from his fellow Samarnons. The eldest among seven children, he was born on February 27, 1911. His parents were Mr. Licarion Gomez and Ms. Benigna Cinco.”
During World War II, he was one of those who fought for our freedom. As a result, his three sister were tortured and killed in Catarman, Northern Samar on March 7 – 9, 1944. He expressed his loss in a heart- breaking composition ‘In The Wink Of an Eye’. He also wrote 'An Kamote’ as that rootcrop saved many families from starvation during the war years.”
“Considered as one of the greatest composers of Samar folk music, he has written approximately 5,000 songs which he compiled in his ‘Shower of Musical Thoughts’.”
“Famous among his compositions is ‘Calbayog’, a song dedicated to his birthplace. It was written on August 5, 1955. Today, every Calbayognon proudly sing this composition after it was adopted as the local anthem of Calbayog City.”
Today’s awarding ceremony which will be held at 4:00 pm today at the Frs. David and Leopold Memorial Auditorium is a three-part affair. It begins with opening of the Exhibit on the Jose c. Gomez Memorabilia. The awarding proper will include performances by the Christ the King College Youth Symphony Orchestra. Speeches will be delivered by Dr. Francisca Santos (the Chair of the Bahandi Samarnon Award Committee), Mayor Ronaldo Aquino and CKC President Fr. Marcelo Tubac, ofm. A representative of the Gomez family will deliver an acceptance message. The event will be capped by a cocktail reception.
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Still with Christ the King College. Good news to my fellow Christi Regians. The venerable institution experienced higher enrolment rate this semester. I’ll give you details in my next column.
I recently received a copy of the Institutional Memorandum which Fr. Mar Tubac issued for the Christ the King College community. It’s the 10-point Road map towards formulating CKC Educational Life Project for School Year 2011-2013. There are many points worth noting in that road map. And I will be featuring these in my forthcoming columns. For a “teaser” let me give you points number one and number two:
- “That the first challenge for the Franciscan education today is how to offer the youth with clarity, creativity and audacity a new framework of relations with God, humanity and ourselves.”
- That Franciscan education is called to integrate in creation the following perspectives of the physical world: scientific, symbolic and religious. It offers a vision which makes it possible to understand the world not only as the natural place of human existence, but also as an expression of love, wisdom, power, greatness and beauty of God, a world in which it is possible to encounter god as the foundation, and our brothers and sisters, helping them feel welcomed and loved.”
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This is it for now. Let me leave you with something to think about this weekend. From Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
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Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!
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