CHRISTIANIZATION ANNIVERSARY: STILL NO FUNDS DESPITE GOV’T HELP
CEBU CITY—THE Catholic Church may have to loo kf or other sources of fund sf ort he celebration of the 500th anniversary o fch ristianization of the Philippines in 2021, according to an official leading the quincentennial committee in t he V isayas.
Cebuan od esigner Kenneth Cobonpue, hea do f t he V isayas Quincentenni alc ommittee, said that while t he g overnment would take pa rt i n the celebration, its effort sw ould be f ocuse do n t he s ociocultural aspec to f the event.
“No government fund sw ill be used f ort hat (500th anniversary o f Ch ristianization of the Philippines) because there was an announcement from t hep resident ,” C obonpue tol dt he Inquirer . “We ( t he g overnment )w ill take care of t hes ociocultural aspect [of the event ].Ofc ourse, we will support them (Church) indirectly, like in the peace and order situation, but we cannot use government funds.”
Colonization
President Dutert eea rlie rr ejected support for ceremonies that would mark the 500th year o f Ch ristianity in the Philippines, saying the event would also commemorate t he a rrival of the Spaniard swh o colonized t hec ountr yf or more than three centuries.
“Why would Ig i ves omething f ort he celebration?” Mr .Du terte sa idi n a speech duri ngg roundbreaking rit es f or t he c onstruction o fh ouses for families displaced by a landslide in Naga City, Cebu province, in September.
“When [Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand] Magellan came here, he b rough tt he canno n an dt he cross,” he said. “But because the cross is there, the natives immediately embrace dt hem,” he added.
Cobonpue cite dt hree important aspects of the celebration: the Christianization of the Philippines, t hef irst circumnavigation of the world an dt he v ictory o fl ocal chieftain Lapu-lapu agains tt he Spaniards in the Battle of Mactan.
World-class
“The government wi llf ocus on the second an dt hird aspects of the celebration. As to t he first, it will be taken care o fby the Church, tha ti s why iti s importan tt hat we closely work with the Church,” he said.
The Visayas Quincentennial Committee hel dit sf irst meeting i noc tobe r to prepar ef or t he largest even ti n t he V isayas. Presen td uring the meeting were Cebu Archbisho pj ose Palma, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, Departmen to ft ourism Centr alv isayas Director Shalimar Hofer Tamano, Office of t he P residential Assistant for t hev isayas spokesperso nt itus Borrome o, businessman Edmund Li uan d Cobonpue.
“I feel ver yh onore d tobe g iven the chance to hea dt hi sve ry important celebratio n.i think, as hea do f the Regional Development Counci l( in Centr al V isayas), I can rally all agencies to support thi sen deavor ,”C obonpue said.
“My traini ngasa designer will see toitt ha tt he event will be extraordinar yan d world-class. This i save r ym onumental task ahead because this i sa truly Christian celebration. The challenge is to make it socially and culturally relevant for us,” he said.