‘Where divinity descends for humanity to ascend’ (Part 1)
Everyone longs for wonders and miracles. When Ferdinand E. Marcos became president of our country in 1966 the economy began to lose ground. Bolstered by the surge of communist uprising unemployment went on the rise. With the press exposing presidential anomalies there was an outbreak and riots of student mutiny in Mendiola. President Marcos suddenly declared Martial Law on Sept. 21, 1972. The Marcos regime lasted 20 years until the EDSA Revolution of 1986.
The shrine of Operation Brotherhood Montessori Center (OBMC) at the corner of Annapolis and Eisenhower streets of Greenhills was mystically put together to commemorate this national disaster. Within 10 years a total of 23 holy monuments filled up this spiritual site as the shrine dedicated to “where divinity descends for humanity to ascend.” It is the second of the Trinity of Shrines, which marked three national disasters in the Philippines. The first shrine of Our Lord, the Blessed Mother, and St. Francis near St. Germaine Castle was spiritually requested for Hacienda Faraon and Hacienda Tamsi in 1984, when sugar dropped in the world market impoverishing Negros. The rebels continued burning sugar plantations worsening the situation.
Even before 1986, the Holy Ones requested us, through Punay Kabayao Fernandez, to have the Grotto of Our Lord of Sacrifice and Our World Mother be put up in the OBMC quadrangle in celebration of the EDSA Revolution. The main sculptor and painter was psychic Pempe Floriano, who set up the smiling and lifelike sculpture of Ninoy Aquino in a dark suit right beside the grotto. Pempe Floriano has become the artist-inresidence of the O. B. Montessori Center since then.
1986 - San Francesco and Niño Bonito as a preschooler
In 1986, during the silver anniversary of OBMC, Vice President Salvador Laurel also Minister of Foreign Affairs, appointed me to represent the Philippines to UNESCO in Paris where I was elected as a member of its most prestigious Executive Board 1986-1987. At the same time, several precious monuments were mystically sculpted in the headquarters. Seated on a gold-brass chair was Niño Bonito, the lifelike four-yearold Jesus wearing an OBMC preschool uniform, done in wood. The statue of gentle St. Francis, with messenger pigeons on his shoulders, was erected along Annapolis Street in Greenhills to bless passing pedestrians. The mystical fresco of St. Francis and St. Claire blessing 200 animals was painted on the main wall of our Italian restaurant, La Dolce Fontana. It’s now used for our 50th anniversary social events place.
1990 to 1992 - the Prayer Room, the Mt. Pinatubo Hidden Temple Shrine
Meantime, 1990 marked the Gulf War. The Holy Ones requested that our Lord of Wisdom and Compassion, and Our Lady of Liberty and Hope, the latter wearing the Star of David, be sculpted – this time in wood, for the prayer room in the second floor, where a continuous flow of miracles occur to this day.
Between 1991 and 1992, when the Mt. Pinatubo volcano erupted, the gigantic and heavy statues of Our Lady of Love and Redemption accompanied by the praying Blessed Mother were requested for the Mt. Pinatubo Hidden Temple Shrine. This faces the volcano 20 km away at Sitio Palan, San Marcelino. Pempe Floriano miraculously finished both statues within three months — between Christmas time and Easter Sunday. The late Punay, who always supervised the sculpting of the mystical art works, revealed that it was the spirit of a great Italian Renaissance sculptor and painter who overshadowed them. As a parting gift of the Americans, the last Subic Bay Admiral Tom Mercer helped install them using a giant 35-ton crane, pay loader and welder with the PWC crew of workers led by Capt. John Lehman and Engr. Hal Driver. Meantime, I always accompanied Punay together with our clairvoyant school teacher and artist Annie Mcdowall. We would stay at the Philseco Shipyard dormitory in Subic courtesy of its chairman, Capt. Fil Salonga, Lea’s father. Fil attributed the recovery of the shipyard from bankruptcy to the shrine. He remained president of the Mt. Pinatubo Hidden Temple Shrine Foundation Board until his death on Jan. 29, 2016.
About the same time from 1990 to 1995, major events in education were taking place. I became part of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) delegation to present our children’s laws in Geneva and was appointed its Popularization Chairman by its head PRC Director Corazon Alma de Leon. Traveling to major cities of the country we made sure that DILG, DOJ, DOD, DOH, then DECS and DSWD would team up to protect the welfare of children from infancy to adolescence. The Senate-Congress EDCOM (1990-1995) combined to survey al schools in all levels. I was appointed to look after the technical committee for Early Childhood Education (ECE) preschools. Japan funded the Taskforce to resolve the major flaws of education: no provision for preschooling, 40% drop-outs of public school first graders in the middle of the school year, irrelevance of the Basic Education curriculum, the absence of effective Principalship due to omission of school administrators and maintenance budget and deficient monitoring and evaluation.
1993 - The Lord of 16 Summers on a stallion
The Lord Prince on a stallion was the Christmas gift to the nation in 1993. The tenth mystical work, 18-ft tall Lord of Sixteen Summers (or the Lord of Love) rides high on a huge white stallion, Tempo, was erected in front of the OBMC headquarters. They stand on a large pedestal box, which is as colorful as a treasure box. Justice, knowledge, and spiritual life are symbolized by various colorful figures all around the pedestal. The front side shows a “golden bell” symbolizing Our Lord’s divine call to all of us. Three mystical roses – white for purification, pink for universal love and light blue for healing – are next to the bell. Below the bell is inscribed “Wheel of Justice,” whose principal message is: “What you, sow you will reap.”
1994 - The Holy Family Monument completed for the Pope’s visit
Christmas of 1994 found the completion of the monumental complex of the Holy Family. Joseph and Mary in the temple of Jerusalem proudly watched the 12-yearold blonde, and blue-eyed Jesus preaching to the Pharisees, some of whom were enlightened in their humility, while the others looked down on Jesus with arrogance, disdain and intense jealousy. There are a total of 13 gigantic, handsome figures covered by a magnificent Doric temple roof, which people as far as Unimart could see.
The most touching figure of all, and which Italians call
aggiornato or current fashion, is that of a handsome mother with a healthy baby feeding close to her breast kneeling before Our Lord. The other striking personality is the tall and majestic Pharisee, who looks exactly like Moses by Michelangelo. Was Michelangelo the spirit-guide of the sculptor Floriano for the 13-figure monument? According to Punay, the Italian maestro would not reveal his name. The following year, 1995, Pope John Paul II visited our country. (Part II – “Let Us Pledge Ourselves to the Highest”)