The Solidarity Story of the Salesians of Don Bosco – North Province
By Fr. Drans Nolasco, SDB
On March 16, 2020, the Philippine government placed the entire Luzon area in the Philippines under “enhanced community quarantine“ (ECQ). It was effectively a lockdown that restricted the movement of the population as a means of “flattening the curve” of the growing pandemic, Corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Additional restrictions closed non-essential shops and businesses.
The Catholic Church responded proactively to this ECQ by suspending all public celebrations and activities to prevent the faithful from gathering in churches and chapels and thus lessen the spread of the virus.
The Church turned to the Internet and social media. The livestreaming of the Holy Eucharist and the rosary offered the people the possibility of praying together. Unable to receive the Body of Christ in the sacrament, they received him spiritually through the Spiritual Communion prayer. Even the peak moments of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum were celebrated in this manner.
The Salesians moved in solidarity with the Church and the Filipino people, and even dared to go the extra mile!
The Salesian parishes, schools, and individual Salesian priests went online and offered the faithful the daily celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Several Salesian communities offered the daily livestreaming of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Holy Week recollections and retreats were opened to all via the Internet by Salesians, among them, Fr. Armand Robleza, Fr. Francis Gustilo, Fr. Juvelan Samia. Fr. Stephen Placente continued his Bible Study, this time, online, via the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians. Fr. Ernie Cruz gathered video recordings of families reciting the rosary and posted them online, one family for every day. Don Bosco schools in Pampanga, Tarlac, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Paranaque, linked up with their educators and students for online learning.
Inspired by St. John Bosco, who showed concern for the spiritual as well as the temporal needs of people, particularly during the 1854 cholera epidemic in Italy, the Salesians went the extra mile for the sake of countless Filipinos badly affected by the pandemic.
In Legazpi, the Salesians and the young trainees staying with them in Bankerohan began their “Farm Gardening sa Community Quarantine: #Covid19 – Something to do when seemingly nothing to do.” By March 27, they were sharing the first fruits of their harvest and organizing their first outreach to families. By April 1, they were on their second outreach, tagged as #DonBoscoLegazpi #Bayanihan, with many more to come. The forecast of Fr. Ronilo Javines was right. The Bosconian Young Farmers had planted these vegetables, foreseeing the serious effects of the ECQ to needy families.
In Don Bosco Technical College, Mandaluyong, the Salesians, together with their migrant youth living in the Pinardi House, started producing face shields for the frontliners in hospitals as early as March 24. Fr. Chito Dimaranan appealed for support via Facebook. The crowdsourcing brought in acetate sheets, adhesive tape, foam, and garters, as well as cash donations from friends and past pupils here and abroad. In two days’ time, they made their first delivery of face shields to the Philippine Orthopedic Hospital, Philippine General Hospital, and Makati Medical Center. By March 28, fourteen hospitals in Metro Manila received close to 1,700 face shields, with many more requests from Tarlac, Bulacan, Navotas, Taguig, Cagayan de Oro, and even Virginia, USA. The Mandaluyong Team produced and distributed facial shields, aerosol boxes, and washable face masks. They have been reaping grateful praise in local and international mainstream media, most especially with their Philippine-made ventilator, engineered by Bosconian past pupils. Faced with more requests, they have geared themselves for an endeavor that would last a couple of months.
The Salesians and alumni of DBTI Tarlac organized “Move as Juan” and invited students and friends to be one in prayer. They also raised funds to send ready-to-eat meals to front liners and poor families through #HapunanParaSaBayaniNiJuan.
Don Bosco Makati generated Php212, 941 through its Hope Donation Drive to help the school’s thirty-four maintenance personnel, thirteen security guards, and the migrant youth staying in the campus. PROJECTJAMBOSCONIAN of the JHS Student Council donated 291 full body PPEs, 991 face masks, 500 shoe covers, and 500 head caps to the medical workers and front liners of the Philippine General Hospital. A project that started from Bosconians singing a cover of “Heal the World,” gained additional PPEs for medical workers and front liners. The young alumni instead provided 30,000 face shields through their 3D Painting for a Cause (3DP4AC).
Young Salesians in the formation houses, besides being the prayer warriors during this pandemic period, did their own bayanihan, too. In Paranaque, the Salesian brothers of the Sandor community and the students of theology of the Seminaryo ng Don Bosco took up a similar challenge, and set up their own version of the face-shield assembly line. They have been producing from five hundred to a thousand face shields every day. In Canlubang, the post-novices helped in the repacking and distribution of donated goods for poor families.
Solidarity inspired also the Salesians in the different parishes.
On March 23, St. John Bosco Parish-Makati started distributing the Lenten Penance food baskets to poor families of Barangay Pio del Pilar. On March 26, the parish, with the help of the business sector, contributed to and assisted in the Oplan Damayan of Carita Manila, helping around 1000 families with gift certificates and food packs. On March 28, they converted the funeral chapels and Roozen Hall into comfortable rooms to welcome and assure much needed rest for the front liners of the Makati Medical Center. With an ounce of creativity, Fr. Greg Bicomong prepared thirty-five beds, and provided food and toiletries, along with free coffee and bread, with the help of the parish benefactors. Similar accommodations for front liners were also offered by the Salesians in Mandaluyong.
The Oplan Damayan of the St. John Bosco Parish-Tondo facilitated the distribution of gift checks worth Php27M with the help of Caritas Manila. Private individuals who desired to remain anonymous generously shared their resources with the sole purpose of assisting those who were most vulnerable—not just the financially poor but also the front liners. They shared sacks of rice, baby diapers, milk, canned goods, frozen meat, fresh vegetables, and bottled water. All these were distributed to the seventeen barangays within the parish and the nearby barangays, particularly Barangay 105 where hundreds of houses turned into ash in the April 19 fire.
The St. Dominic Savio parish community in Mandaluyong, also with the help of Caritas Manila, distributed Php1M worth of gift certificates to 2,400 families in the parish. Together with their volunteers, the Salesians, also organized the Adopt A Tricycle Driver Program which provided basic goods for 650 families. Through its Care for the Elderly Program, the parish distributed multivitamins and food packs to 400 senior citizens. The parish 4 o’clock Habit took care of the young by providing merienda to 200 young people, barangay tanod, and security guards.
In the San Ildefonso Parish, Makati, the young people, with the support of the Salesians, spearheaded the preparation and distribution of fresh eggs and food packs to poor families to supplement what the government agencies were giving.
In Paranaque, the Salesians and parishioners of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, championed the Adopt A Family Program, providing rice to poorer families as supplement to the government’s program. The online daily Bible Quiz and Vlog Challenge were also organized via its Facebook page to keep alive the spiritual health of parishioners.
In the Mary, Help of Christians, Parish of Mayapa, the Salesians and youth volunteers produced face shields for the San Pablo Hospital. Through their very creative Kindness Station, they prepared and distributed food packs for the poorer families.
The office of Provincial Services, under the supervision of Fr. Elu, distributed to the Salesian communities and nearby barangays goods, such eggs, bread, and cheese, donated by Mc Donald’s Philippines through the Golden Arches Development Corporation and HAVI Logistics, Inc.
In the face of great need, the Salesians of Don Bosco all over Luzon, together with their lay mission partners and youth, walk in solidarity with the people. The abundance of love and solidarity enables them to walk the extra mile. Even in this Covid-19 pandemic, they are living one of the principles of St. John Bosco: “Do your ordinary duties in an extraordinary way.”
