TONGUE IN CHEEK
By Mabel P. Villarica-Mamba
We attended the installation of Fr. Alex Caurel as Parish Priest of San Roque Parish in Tuao, Cagayan. He was installed by Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg, a staunch environmentalist.
During the reception hosted by the Parish Pastoral Council, we had the opportunity to join Archbishop Utleg for brunch.
He is well-known as pro-poor and pro-people, if there is a difference. He is in his 60s but he can out-bike many younger priests and biking enthusiasts. It was said he once visited a parish and was asked by the parish secretary who he was until someone whispered to her the man in biking shorts and rubber shoes was Archbishop Utleg.
Such is Archbishop Utleg. He does not display the usual frivolous trappings of (some of) the top honchos of the Catholic Church and I believe he tries to avoid it as much as he appropriately can. In fact, he drove his pick-up truck to Naruangan himself and only had another priest whom he picked up from the next parish to accompany him. No deacons, no sacristans, no assistants.
He shared with us that Fr. Joel Reyes, Administrator of Lyceum of Aparri which has a teaching hospital, had asked for his advice if they should accept the donation of a mobile clinic from PCSO to serve Region 2 and nearby provinces. Archbishop Utleg replied that since it is a mobile clinic and it will definitely be used for the purpose it was intended for, he could. Later, he asked me if PCSO Chairperson Margie Juico indeed referred to some of his colleagues Pajero Bishops. I told him that I only got to know Chair Margie when we started working together in the PCSO Board but I have observed her closely in both “normal” and trying times. She is sincere, straight-forward and kind-hearted. She is passionate with her work and committed to save more to help more. She is very honest in words and in deeds that she is too candid for her own good. Thus, when asked during one Senate hearing if she called the recipients of PCSO-donated vehicles Pajero Bishops, she said she might have but she is not sure. The flak she received for something she did not do could have broken down a weak person.
Days after that fateful hearing, we reviewed past news articles to determine the origin of the term. It was not her.
My second to fourth jobs were in government for a period of 8 years. The fifth was in a multinational company for 7 years. While my work experience in the latter is invaluable and very useful career-wise, I longed to be back in public service which I consider to be more personally fulfilling and spiritually rewarding. It was, thus, a privilege to be appointed by PNoy at PCSO. The opportunity to help and make a difference in the lives of others is like winning the lotto jackpot for me. If there are 90 million Filipinos and there are around 2,000 PCSO employees including 5 of us in the Board of Directors, we are but a drop in a bucketful of Filipinos and yet we are able to do so much to ease the financial burden of the sick and downtrodden that knock on PCSO’s doors.
Hence, I was frustrated and disconcerted when we started uncovering irregularities one after the other. Without pointing an accusing finger at anyone, I could not believe the extent of abuse, degree of corruption and amount of money stolen from PCSO coffers. I almost always felt nauseous during those times, I had to step out of the board room to catch my breath and regain my composure. I wanted to shout: “How could they?”
I will not claim we are better than those that came before us; neither will I assert we are faultless.
However, I believe all of us in the board and majority (if not all) of the employees have our hearts in the right place and not in the pocket. We vow to protect PCSO and abide by its mandate in order to reach more and farther. In the one and a half years we have been serving, we have been called names, backstabbed and maligned with falsehood. Unfortunately for the perpetrators, it has only confirmed we are on the right track and there is no turning back.
Archbishop Utleg did not give any indication that there exists a gap between PCSO and the Catholic Church. I could sense though the issue saddened him which prompted him to still ask me about it even several months after it hogged the headlines. It saddened us, too. And on my part, I was simply star-struck to eat at the same table as the top spiritual servant-leader of Cagayan. Humbling and inspiring.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
