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KATBALOGANONS CELEBRATE 35TH SAINT BARTHOLOMEW FIESTA IN
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
BY CESAR
TORRES September 2, 2004
San Francisco,
California - The Katbaloganons of Northern California celebrated the
35th Feast of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle, on August 28,
2004 at the Church and Social Hall of St. Anne of the Sunset in San
Francisco, California.
The family of
Mrs. Preciosa Congé-Agaton, specifically her grandson, Che Agaton
Reid, son of Marilyn and Clifford Reid, and husband and wife Larry
and Marilou Farrell, were the sponsors, the hermanos and hermana of
this fiesta celebration.
The fiesta
kaadlawan was preceded by a nine-day novena which was held at the
Holy Angel Parish in Daly City where the Rev. Father Vic Balagapo is
Assistant Pastor. Each novena was sponsored by a group of
Katbalogans who are members of the community in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
The
sponsorship of this 35th fiesta celebration by the family
of Mrs. Agaton is traced back to the first fiesta celebration in
1969 when she and her husband, Henry, were the first hermano and
hermana of the feast of St. Bartholomew in San Francisco. Since
then, the fiesta celebration has been unbroken. Every year the
feast day is observed in San Francisco.
The
Katbaloganon Male Choir, organized in 1992, and one of the enduring
legacies of the late Mrs. Naty Villarin Silva Padul aside from the
“Rigodon de Honor”, performed during the mass. The repertoire was a
combination of songs and hymns in Samarnon Binisaya, Pilipino, and
English. Easily, the favorite of the churchgoers and the choir is “Ikaw”.
Many Samarnon oldtimers had tears in their eyes while listening to
the song. The conductress was Concessa Picson. The pianist was
Lily Anne Perez who was accompanied by a violinist from Catbalogan,
Mr. Cinco. This choir was the pride of Catbalogan.. It has sung
during the visits of Church dignitaries such as the Bishop of
Calbayog. It has sung during the fiestas of the Taclobanons and the
Calbiganons.
Until five or
six years ago, the Katbaloganons in Northern California was easily
one of the best Samarnon hometown associations in Northern
California. They had an organization that managed the non-religious
activities of the community. The first President of the
Katbaloganons of Northern California was Mr. Nario del Rosario. It
hibernated during the kaleidoscopic presidency of Mr. Anselmo Revelo
and Mrs. Coring Ygat-Segado. It is still hibernating up to this
time.
During the
presidency of Mr. Chito Moreno, the Association was even registered
with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) charitable and
religious organization. This was a difficult task. Not many
Filipino organizations in America are accorded a non-profit
charitable or religious status.
From 1969 up
to is demise, the Katbaloganon Association of Northern California,
aside from observing the annual fiesta celebration, undertook some
civic activities for Catbalogan and to observe some holidays in
America: picnics and Easter Egg hunts, caroling during Christmas to
raise funds for its projects in Catbalogan, group discussions on the
situation in Catbalogan and Samar, a scholarship program for two in
SSPC which ended miserably, medical equipment to the provincial
hospital in Catbalogan, a fire-fighting equipment to the Catbalogan
Municipal Government, assistance to homeless children, funds for the
home for the aged, donations of prizes to cultural and other
activities in Catbalogan and Samar, publication of “The Foghorn of
Maqueda Bay”, and pure and simple drinking parties among the
Katbaloganon Guzzlers Club, mahjong sessions and even card games
among the elite of the community.
The mass was
concelebrated by the Rev. Fathers Vic Balagapo, Ed Dura, Willie
Manrique, and Tony Petilla. Fr. Petilla delivered the homily where
he compared Catbalogan and Samar to some Biblical places in Ancient
times.
In an article
by Samarnon historian and environmentalist Charo Nabong Cabardo
entitled “Catbalogan Through the Years” published in “Halad” on
August 20, 1994 in San Francisco, St. Bartholomew was installed as
the Patron Saint of the Katbaloganons in 1795 by Fr. Felix Carreon
because Catbalogan is a fishing community. Since then, the
Katbaloganon fiesta has been celebrated all over the world, and not
only in San Francisco. Being deeply religious, and unquestioned
believers in St. Bartholomew, the Patron Saint of the poor,
malnourished, and ignorant, and hopeless fishermen in Catbalogan,
the fiesta is also celebrated in Los Angeles, in Chicago, in Canada,
in New York where the fiesta is sometimes celebrated in 5-star
hotels, in Indiana, and of course, in Metro Manila and in Catbalogan
itself.
The
Katbaloganons in Los Angeles have been giving some Christmas gifts
to poor inhabitants of several barangays in Catbalogan.
The
Katbaloganons are a very religious people. They are firm adherents
of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical, “Populorum Progressio”. Along this
line, Mrs. Preciosa Agaton confided to this writer that she and her
family will share a little of their good fortune in America with
their fellow believers in Catbalogan in honor of St. Bartholomew who
was tied to a cross and turned upside down, skinned alive, and then
beheaded. She did not elaborate.
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