Church people share fond memories of Pagadian Bishop Ronald Lunas

PAGADIAN CITY (MindaNews) – Eulogies and stories from priests, nuns and seminarians from the Pagadian Diocese who have fond memories of the Bishop Ronald “Bong” Lunas marked the five-day wake here for the deceased prelate who was remembered as a humble, patient and exemplary church official, prior to his burial Thursday at the Santo Niño Cathedral.

Local residents came to bid farewell to Lunas at the funeral rites attended by 18 bishops mostly coming from Mindanao.

Lunas, the fifth bishop of the Archbishop of the Diocese of Pagadian, died of complications days after his heart bypass surgery on Jan. 2 at the Southern Philippine Medical Center in Davao City. He was 57.

He was first brought to the Saint Francis Xavier Theological Seminary (also known as Remase) in Catalunan Grande in Davao City, where he was a professor and formator for two decades before being transferred to Pagadian on January 6.

Pagadian Diocese Vicar General Belstar Ediang, in his speech upon the arrival of Lunas’ remains, recalled the bishop’s simple lifestyle and dedication to serve the community.

“He would go to chapels around the city, and people will be shocked that for the first time in their lives, a bishop has come to their chapel and officiated mass,” Ediang said in the vernacular. “He wanted to show that God loves the people who are forgotten and marginalized.”

During the funeral rites, Ediang added an anecdote on why Lunas was tireless in doing mass all the time. It was his audience with the pope that made him realize the importance of this priestly function.

“He only had one question with the Pope. He asked, ‘Your Holiness, how many times does a priest hold mass?’ The Pope answered, ‘It depends if you never get tired of it. The mass is not for you, it’s for the people.’”

The vicar remembered Lunas’ simplicity, preferring to ride in his old service vehicle and refusing to get a new one offered by the diocesan priests.

“We asked him, 'Bishop, allow us just once to be generous to you'. But he said, ‘Wala ko naanad. Maulaw ko monaog kung ana ang sakyanan (I am not used to it. I’ll be embarrassed to be seen stepping down from that kind of vehicle).”

Church members and seminarians also shared memories of the bishop for being approachable.

A tricycle driver, interviewed during the broadcast of Wednesday’s funeral rites, said he was surprised that Lunas presided a group sharing of his church he attended in Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur.

“Nag-share siya sa amoa,‘ayaw mo kaulaw, kami ‘sab pobre, nagdako mi sa kalisod’ (He shared with us, ‘Don’t be embarrassed, I am also poor, I grew up from a poor family.)”

Lunas was born in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.

Months later, the driver saw the bishop outside the Bishop’s House in Barangay Ballesteros while driving his tricycle. He stopped to greet the bishop, but was surprised that the latter asked him to take him to the cathedral where he was scheduled to officiate the afternoon mass.

“I asked him, where is your service, Bishop? He said he wanted to commute because of the heavy traffic. When I brought him to the cathedral, he gave me more than the standard fare, thanked me and tapped my shoulder,” the driver recalled.

“Wala ko nagdahom, wala mi niya gi-look down, level ra iyang pagtagad

(I never expected it from him. He never looked down on us, he gave everyone equal treatment),” he said tearfully.

As a priest, he served in the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) or Gagmayng Kristohanong Katilingban (GKK) in Davao del Sur and as its formation chair.

Monsignor Manny Gabriel, CBCP-BEC executive secretary said Lunas left a legacy as “a BEC bishop.”

“Because he’s been a BEC priest, he is also a BEC bishop. His family served in the GKK. He’d gone through all those stages in the BEC. The BEC is in his genes,” Gabriel said.

He noted that the BEC formation has been chaired by four Mindanao bishops (Orlando Quevedo, George Rimando, Jose Cabantan and Lunas).

“What strikes me is that he is simple in his ways, but he had a brilliant mind,” Gabriel said of Lunas.

Aside from his role in the BEC, Lunas also took time to teach in two seminaries, the Holy Infant Seminary of Pagadian and the Saint Mary’s College Theologem of Diopim (Dipolog, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Ipil, Marawi) in Ozamis City.

“When he arrived, he saw we only had 60 local priests, 40 of whom are senior clergy. One of his priorities was to oversee the seminaries. He was hands on. And when he went around chapels and meetings, he prioritized his vocation campaign,” Ediang said.

Another trait that the priests noted in Lunas was how he never asked for donations, except during last Christmas, after he suffered a myocardial infarction in November and was set for a heart bypass surgery.

“For the first time I heard him ask fellow priests to procure rice, because many people sought him at the Bishop’s House asking for help,” Ediang said.

The bishop is known to refuse honorarium or