POSTCARD from the FUTURE of the LAVEZARES Dream Church

As a fitting testament to the deep devotion to God and veneration to Mama Mary, the people of Lavezares are set to embark on yet another spiritual journey as a pilgrim church – that of improving while preserving their focal point of liturgical celebrations from the legacies built by its forebears.

Guided by the genius masterful hand of its native son Architect Jun Adriatico, the soon-to-rise redesigned church building is set to change the religious experience of the faithful in the next succeeding years and even in the centuries to come thru the use of enduring classical artistic forms and styles that evoke the divine made tangible.

The journey of building the Lavezares church dates back to as early as the late 19^th century. In his memoir, the first priest of Lavezares, Fr. Severino Paramo described the old church as built with “magnificent and exquisite beauty.” However, this church did not last long as it was burned down to ashes during the Filipino-American War. What remains of it are the old brick stones of what used to be the altar wall which are now slowly breaking apart as roots of trees continue to creep inside its piles of moss-covered smooth coral stones.

From the ashes of the burned church, Lavezaresnons led by the succeeding priests have attempted to rebuild it. Finally in 1957, the new church as we see it today had started to take shape. With the deep spirituality and generosity of the people, Fr. Paramo's descriptions of a "magnificent and exquisite" church came to life again in another form and design made by Architect Juan Urbano.

Sixty-one years later, with a population which has already increased by three folds, Lavezaresnons have to face the challenge of improving the church which would entail expansion, preservation, and restoration. Thank heavens, there is Architect Jun Adriatico who, touched by the Holy Spirit, was able to redesign the church carefully and meticulously so that it will achieve the objectives of improving the church without destroying the old design and its antiquity.

Prominent in the new design is the twin towers on both sides of the church's facade in which religious icons will be placed. At the altar, a dome will be constructed just like the old cathedrals. The remnants of the old wall will be restored to serve as the new altar wall. 

Based on estimates, this project will cost more or less thirty million pesos. It really is a huge amount yet it is but nothing to the graces that fill the hearts of every Lavezaresnon.

(The Pastoral Council Meeting attended by Fr. Otillo P. Lobrino, Jr., Arch Jun Adriatico, Mayor Quintin B. Saludaga and the PPC Officers led by Vice-Chairperson Norma D. Chan.)

ACCEPTED at the Brown University's Fellowship Program in Community Resilience for Natural Disaster

Feel so elated by this great news. 

Here is the two-part essay that helped me clinched a slot.

Part I

I live in Lavezares, Northern Samar, Philippines, a coastal municipality of 26 barangays with 28,770 people in which 48 percent lives in poverty. For the last 15 years, I have been working in the municipal government, the last six years of which as planning officer. Last year, I became a licensed environmental planner. 

Land use planning and socio-economic planning are keys to building climate and disaster risk-resilient communities. In fact, the root cause of our environmental and human settlement problems are actually land use in nature. It is because people have been using the land to the extent that they misused and abused it.

As in most towns, informal settlers in my own town are slowly occupying our forestlands, foreshores, and hazard zones. This is happening due to poverty as poor people tend to settle in these areas even if it means destroying the environment and exposing their lives to imminent danger. These continue to happen because of lack of good plans and policies and the lack of political will to enforce the law and carry out the plan.

Addressing this issue is central to my job and my advocacy. To do this, I feel more the need to equip myself with more technical expertise so that I will be able to facilitate and direct development plans that will guide people and the community in building their resilience in the midst of changing climate and intensifying disasters. Such technical expertise that will help our municipality and our barangays come up with plans in which there is a balance between the needs of the people and the need to protect and preserve the environment. Such balance in planning that ensures their sustainability, safety, inclusivity, equity, and resilience.

When I took my oath as environmental planner, I promise that I will continue to study in order to heighten the level of service that I give to my community and fulfill my mission of developing plans that promotes quality of life that our people deserve.

Moved by this ever present motivation in my heart, I wish to be part of this fellowship program. 

Part II

One important way of building resilience is ensuring that our people live in safe, hazard-free, ecologically-balanced and sustainable settlements. This can be done through proper and judicious allocation of land into different uses and prohibiting them in living along or within hazard zone or environmentally critical areas as well as preserving and protecting the forests and forestlands that sustains life. 

Mainstreaming these concerns in our land use plan is a big challenge for me given the fact that hundreds of households and thousands of population in my municipality are living in hazard zones and in mangrove areas. Through series of workshops, public consultations and perhaps because of the onslaught of strong typhoons in our area, people were able to realize the need to prohibit further encroachment into our mangrove areas and in constructing houses in hazard-prone areas. By 2013, with the support of the community and the local officials, our land use plan and zoning ordinance were finally passed.

In the ensuing years, I was given the opportunity to serve as the focal person in mangrove rehabilitation project of our municipality. For the last five years, we were able to plant more than 800,000 mangrove propagules in 12 barangays. Today, these are steadily growing tall and provide a natural breaker for storm surges and tsunamis. It also ensures ecological balance and food security.

As zoning administrator. I have strictly implemented our zoning ordinance. I do not approve any application for locational clearances for those about to build houses on hazard zones, mangroves and forestlands. This has got me the ire of applicants but I have stood on my ground. 

Today, we are on the process of enhancing our land use plan. The challenge is on how to make it more participatory. What I am doing is now is that I go around the municipality and conduct barangay land use consultation. And from these, we will come up with a land use plan that is truly participatory, relevant and responsive providing the building block of a disaster-resilient community.