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It was in August 5, 1981, when Mrs. Nena Gonzales-Fabic sponsored a mass
in honor of St. James the Greater at the Holy Trinity Church in Balic-Balic,
Sampaloc, Manila. The mass, which
was attended by but a few Buluseños, was celebrated by Rev. Fr. Tony Pura, then
parish priest of Bulusan.
It was during their meeting after the mass at the residence of Mrs. Fabic
that the case of a young Buluseña who was then detained at the Manila City Jail
was discussed. Upon the advice of
Fr. Pura, the group paid her a visit which led to the holding of a mass for
three months at the jail’s chapel.
When she was sentenced to life imprisonment and had to be transferred to
the Correctional Institute for Women, the group moved to the Manila Cathedral on
the second Sunday of November of the same year and stayed there until December
1996.
At the cathedral, its staff could hardly believe that the place would be
filled with Buluseños every second Sunday at 2:00 P.M. knowing it is a time for
siesta.
In the early part of the monthly gathering, it was conceived as an
extended parish of St. James the Greater in Bulusan to make it a part of
whatever project was to be undertaken there.
But realizing that there were more pressing problems in the community
that had to be addressed, the group decided to form an association.
So, in the early part of 1982, Damayan-Buluseño, Inc. was born, a
SEC-registered town organization.
After fifteen years at the Manila Cathedral , the group moved again, this
time to the nearby Knights of Columbus Clubhouse where it is now since January
1997.
As to how long the monthly mass and Damayan-Buluseño, Inc. will exist,
only God knows. But its organizers
are confident that with the blessings of the Almighty, it will go on and on to
the next generations for the sake of the various civic activities and
humanitarian projects it has initiated and established and which are now parts
of the legacy of the association to the town of Bulusan and the Buluseños.
Vol. XVI No.3 (May - July 2004)
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