A Recollection: The Sta. Cruz Mission of Fr. Rex in Lake Sebu
Posted on Tuesday, 29 July 2014
A
Recollection: The Sta. Cruz Mission
of
Fr. Rex in Lake Sebu
by Apolinario Villalobos
When I was in college, I joined a group
from our school that visited the Sta. Cruz Mission in Lake Sebu. We were just a
bunch of ordinary and curious students who gawked at the colorful costumes of
the T’bolis and excitedly bought souvenirs. Never did I know that, years later,
I would retrace my steps to the sprawling “village” composed of several
cottages, the biggest of which housed the Administration Office.
When I joined the Tours and Promotions of
PAL, the said office received an invitation to the Foundation Day Celebration
of the Sta. Cruz Mission. As I was in-charge of the department’s tourism
promotion publication, I was given the instruction to represent the office.
Excitedly, I took a flight that brought me to General Santos where I met again
the station officials who interviewed me when I applied to the company as
ticketing clerk. On hand were Mr. Francisco Abiera, the Station Supervisor and
his assistant, Mr. Manuel Vega. They had been closely coordinating my arrival
with the officials of the Sta. Cruz Mission, the couple, Emma and Boy Crespo.
When I arrived at the Mission, Mr. and Mrs.
Crespo introduced me to Fr. Rex, the Mission’s founder. I gathered that the
Mission’s seed fund was donated by his parents.
Later, his relatives and friends in the United States pooled additional
funds and sent them to him. His vision was to make the Mission
“self-liquidating” by subsisting on its own funds generated from the
handcrafted products purchased from the indigenous communities around the
Mission and sold to walk- in tourists and through an outlet in Manila. I found
out that their sales outlet along A. Mabini St., in Ermita, was supervised by
Luz Campo, a classmate in college. I was also glad to have met another college
classmate, Thelma Pama, assigned at the Administration Office.
I gave assurance to Fr. Rex, as well as,
Mr. and Mrs. Crespo, that Philippine Airlines was all out in promoting their
advocacy, especially, among the expatriate communities that were already in
close contact with our office as regards their outdoor activities, especially,
birdwatching and exploration of indigenous communities.
The following year, when another invitation
was received by our office and referred to me, I immediately got in touch with
Jill de Villa, an American expatriate who had two Philippine travel books to
her name. In no time at all, she was able to alert other members of their group
for a trip to Lake Sebu. It was during the second visit that I met my Geometry
teacher in high school, former Leonor Palabrica Arzagon (now, Mrs. Pagunsan)
but, who at the time of our meeting at Lake Sebu was the President of the Notre
Dame of Marbel University. I learned from her that their school had also been
promoting the Mission to help them raise funds.
It was Fr. Rex who brought the indigenous
communities of Lake Sebu to the attention of tourists from the state where his
family lived. Later on, by word of mouth, the information spread to their
friends in other parts of America. The sales outlet in the Ermita district, on
the other hand, was busy in sending boxes of handicrafts to as far as Japan.
The members of the expatriate communities in Manila also bought their souvenirs
from the same outlet.
Fr. Rex and the Sta. Cruz Mission,
practically sparked the fire of interest that even caught the attention of the
national government. The Department of Tourism lost no time in checking the
T’boli land for extensive information which was furnished to the then, First
Lady Imelda Marcos. Soon, glossy Philippine tour brochures were never without
at least a photo of a colorfully-attired T’boli woman or an indigenously-clad
couple. A little later, the issue on T’saday, the “cave dwellers”, a project of
Manda Elizalde, hugged the limelight. But that is another story, as it was not
spared from a controversy.
The Sta. Cruz Mission of Fr. Rex was a
lesson on how a simple seed donation could prosper into an
internationally-recognized effort because of the sincerity of those who were
involved to establish a strong spiritual foundation. The Mission hired local
graduates from parochial schools, particularly, Notre Dame, equipped only with
a basic knowledge in accountancy to keep the office ledgers in order. Other
hired young women and men who graduated with courses that varied from Bachelor
of Science in Elementary Education (BSEEd), Bachelor of Science in Education
(BSE), and Liberal Arts (LA), trekked over hills and crossed treacherous rivers
in order to be with their assigned indigenous communities. They stayed with
their communities for five to six days a week, to impart to them knowledge from
textbooks, Bible and their own experiences. Practically, these lay missionaries
became the “ parents” of the different clusters of indigenous communities.
The young lay missionaries who reached out
to the communities, jeopardized their own safety. There were stories of how
some of them survived from being drowned due to the strong currents of rivers
that they had to cross. Some encountered snakes along the trails. I observed
their strong attachment to their communities every time they went down the
mountains to gather at the Mission for the Foundation Day celebration. In order
to attend the parade on the Big Day, families went down from their mountain
abodes a day before. Those coming from the far villages would light their way
using torches as soon as darkness overtook them. With them were their “parents” – the young
lay missionaries of the Sta. Cruz Mission. Every time I attended the Foundation
Day, I saw to it that I stayed late at night until the wee hours of the morning
to watch the parade of torches coming down mountain trails and out of the
forests toward the Mission. It was a sight to behold!
As soon as every community was accounted
for, a parade was held around Lake Sebu, culminating at the Mission activity
grounds, the central area of which was canopied for the Mass. The expatriate
women led by Jill de Villa were delighted and grateful to have attended a Foundation
Day celebration as they had the chance to see a unique Mass, wherein, during
Offertory, leaders of the different indigenous communities brought to the altar
their baskets overflowing with offering that consisted of their respective
produce. They were preceded by young T’bolis in colorful attire, dancing to the
rhythm of indigenous instruments. It was a very memorable experience for the
visiting American women. One of them told me that she could not help shedding
tears while looking at the solemn faces of the natives whose eyes were all
focused to the altar where Fr. Rex was officiating the ceremony. The Mass which
was enhanced with native ritual during the Offertory took longer than the usual
one hour, but I found out that it was the reason why lowlanders flocked to the
celebration of the Mission’s Foundation Day, aside from the night-long torch
caravans down mountain trails.
The T’boli as a community of indigenous
Filipinos, became synonymous with South Cotabato, more popular than the place
where they live, Lake Sebu which is a namesake of the biggest of the three
lakes in the area. On the other hand, T’nalak, a handwoven T’boli fabric
sourced from the fibers of abaca is used today, to denote a festival in
Surallah, also a town of South Cotabato province and the gateway to T’boli
land, and which lately, has been drawing local and foreign tourists.
The gateway to the colorful T’boli and
other indigenous communities of Lake Sebu is Surallah, which can be reached
from Cotabato City, Koronadal City, General Santos City, Tacurong City, and
Isulan. Airports are located at Cotabato City and General Santos City, from
which commuters can take airconditioned buses and vans to Isulan, Tacurong City
and Koronadal City, from where jeepneys can be taken to Surallah for a
connecting ride to Lake Sebu. For convenient travel, however, airconditioned
vans and buses can be contracted at the four mentioned cities, and the town of
Isulan for direct trips to Lake Sebu.
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