Farewell, Nyor

CEBU. "Gabii sa Kabilin 2009 opening salvo at Museo Sugbo." Pono is with partners of the Gabii sa Kabilin. Gee that pic was taken almost 10 years ago but it shows one of the big cultural events he helped get off the ground. From left: Museum worker and child, Joy Gerra of RAFI, Msgr. Pono, Louella Alix, Jobers Bersales, Trizer Mansueto, James (no surname), and Rudy Alix. (Contributed photo)
CEBU. "Gabii sa Kabilin 2009 opening salvo at Museo Sugbo." Pono is with partners of the Gabii sa Kabilin. Gee that pic was taken almost 10 years ago but it shows one of the big cultural events he helped get off the ground. From left: Museum worker and child, Joy Gerra of RAFI, Msgr. Pono, Louella Alix, Jobers Bersales, Trizer Mansueto, James (no surname), and Rudy Alix. (Contributed photo)

A PORTLY, amiable pastor who made people feel at ease, Msgr. Carlito Pono was honored in death by heritage workers, clergy, parishioners and the Cebu City Government.

His flag-draped casket was brought to the Metropolitan Cathedral on Thursday morning for a Mass where he was recognized for "distinguished service" to Cebu City and the nation.

"We lost a good Cebuano," said Mayor Tomas Osmeña during the memorial service for the 69-year-old parish priest who passed away on April 7 from complications of pneumonia that led to sepsis and heart failure.

Pono was the point man tasked in 2000 to set up the first museum of the Archdiocese of Cebu to house religious artifacts and sacred art. He became the first chairman of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.

The museum on the corner of A. Mabini and P. Gomez Streets is housed in a Spanish-era rectory across the cathedral. It opened in November 2006 after painstaking restoration of its stone and wood structure, work funded by church donations.

Inside the bahay na bato, now called the Archdiocesan Museum of Cebu, can be found religious objects no longer in use such as an altar of silver and silver-plated bronze from Carmen town, icons, sacred vessels, a display of a priest's bedroom, and a narrative for over 400 years of growth of the local church.

Pono was parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker in Mabolo when he was assigned by the late Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal to head the project.

"I worked with 'Nyor' as early as 2000 when Cardinal Vidal entertained the idea of restoring the old combento and making it an ecclesiastical museum," said Louella Alix, member of the heritage commission.

"Projects were easily undertaken under Nyor because he knew how to delegate. He trusted members to do the right thing."

The once-dilapidated rectory was reopened as the Cathedral Museum with six galleries on the upper floor curated by Dr. Jobers Bersales, an archaeologist of the University of San Carlos.

Pono's approachable nature was key in drawing volunteers, whose technical expertise he tapped as conservationists, architects, curators, writers and photographers. Students and seminarians also pitched in to sort out archives and dusty displays.

"I remember his sense of humor. If you were stressed from work, he would crack jokes to remind you not to be so serious," said Fr. Eric Orio, who was in the seminary when he first met the elder Pono.

Most of the museum's collections were gathered years earlier from parishes across Cebu by the late Msgr. Virgilio Yap who wanted to safe keep objects intended for worship that were in danger of being lost to thieves or neglect. He also recovered furnishings of old churches that were discarded in ill-advised remodeling projects by parishes eager to look more modern. For a time, the artifacts were displayed in one room of the rectory as a 1995 Centennial Exhibit for the local church but it later fell idle.

The black market trade of stolen "santos" or antique icons and church artifacts prized by private collectors poses a familiar struggle for heritage workers in Cebu and across the country.

Pono was non-confrontational in dealing with complaints about laymen and clergy violating guidelines to preserve the cultural patrimony of the church. Not the type to scold, he focused on seeking cooperation and staying humble.

Under his leadership from 2002 to 2014, the Commission gave conservation seminars and brought technical knowhow to the parishes, especially those with heritage churches.

Pono acted more like a doting uncle than a boss, relying on lay experts to guide the work.

"As a superior, Msgr. Pono really listened. He heard, pondered and only then did he act judiciously. He was always kind," recalled Melva Java, a conservation architect in the museum project and a frequent lecturer of the commission in outreach visits.

"He freely accepted what came his way amidst both the accolades and the controversies -- and there are many controversies in heritage work. In both, he remained steadfast," she said.

"Perhaps he saw in the beauty of our churches that architecture is part of God's own design."

Java spoke in a small gathering of Pono's family members and co-workers at the museum chapel where the smoke of incense filled the room in blessing rites of Pono's remains. A police official presented his sister, physician Blesilda Pono, with a Philippine flag to spread over the casket. Fr. Brian Brigoli, current museum director, led prayers in a moving farewell before pallbearers from the police force carried out the casket in a foot procession to the cathedral.

Pono was "a repository of facts and figures about history," said Vice Mayor Edgar Labella in remarks at the Mass held before the cortege left the city. The vice mayor recalled Pono's lively discussions in the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission of Cebu City (CHAC) where the priest served.

The City Council passed a posthumous resolution recognizing Pono for "his advocacy in preserving local heritage" as a member of CHAC, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. On this basis, the priest was accorded the honor of having the Philippine flag cover his casket. This privilege in the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 8491) is reserved for the military, war veterans, national artists and "civilians who have rendered distinguished service to the nation as determined by the local government."

Under Pono's watch, the coffee table book "Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu" was published in 2010 as a diamond jubilee gift to the faithful. The rich catalog of photos and the history of colonial churches in Cebuwas put together by the heritage commission and the USC Press.

Pono called the book "our offering of love... a legacy from us to future generations of God's shepherds."

In the museum, as his last project, a vacant lot in the back was landscaped as a garden. Today the courtyard with its arched entrance and coral walls is a sought-after venue for wedding receptions and cultural events.

To learn more about his field, Pono enrolled in USC for a certificate course in Cebuano Heritage Studies from 2006 to 2007. The faculty included renowned scholars Dr. Resil Mojares and Erlinda Alburo of the Cebuano Studies Center.

"'Nyor' was fun to be with," recalls classmate Boboi Costas, an eco-tourism advocate who isnowthe Cebu Provincial Tourism Officer.

"He did not impose his being a religious on the class. One time he sneaked in a bottle of wine on Valentine's Day during our class on Cebuano music with Fr. Rudy Villanueva. We sipped wine while listening to Fr. Rudy's compositions."

Pono also played a key role in the birth of Gabii sa Kabilin, Cebu's annual "open house" of all museums.

He rallied members of the Visayas Association of Museums and Galleries (VAMG), which he headed, to support the idea of mounting a Night of Heritage in Cebu patterned after "Lange Nacht der Museen," a big cultural event in Berlin, Germany.

Gabii sa Kabilin was launched in May 2007with three host museums -- Casa Gorordo of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., the Cathedral Museum and the Sto. Niño Basilica Museum. More partners joined each year. Today, the event in May is participated by over 20 museums and heritage sites in Metro Cebu that stay open from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight for a growing audience of patrons.

"He was very open to new ideas," said Dr. Jocelyn Gerra, executive director of RAFI's heritage and culture unit at the time. Back from graduate studies in Germany, she presented the proposal for a night-long open house to celebrate the heritage month of May.

When she suggested giving visitors access to all museums with a single ticket, Pono said, "Let's give it a try" and immediately asked for mechanics.

Clodoveo "Louie" Nacorda, a friend of the amiable priest for 20 years, said Pono's special traits were his humility and jolly nature.

"He didn't have a mean bone in his body. He would just smile or laugh it off when he heard negative stories or intrigue about church people," said Nacorda, who has written books on religious icons, which he also collects, and Bantayan's Holy Week tradition.

During Pono's stint as parish priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in 2001 to 2012, he tapped Nacorda's help to promote devotion to the Virgin Mary as the patroness of Cebu and to research on the origin of the carved image hidden in a cave as far back as the 1700s in the old district of Banawa. From one generation to the next, the dark wooden icon, whose features are different from the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, has inspired fervent faith and accounts of miracle cures.

For Pono, the effort earned a "feather in his cap." A papal bull was issued in 2006 for the canonical crowning of the "Virgen de Guadalupe de Cebu," said Nacorda, a fellow CHAC commissioner and parishioner of Guadalupe for eight years. The title was recognition by the Vatican of the Cebuanos' long-standing Marian devotion and of the icon's distinct identity.

Pono was later assigned in big parishes of Talamban in Cebu City and Carcar City. A sign of his impact as a shepherd was the waves of mourners who filled his9-day vigil wake in St. Peter's Funeral Home in Cebu City and the St. Catherine of Sienna parish in Carcar.

"Fr. Carlito Pono was a well-loved pastor who in a very human way was able to translate the Gospels in the language of friendship," said Msgr. Jose Tan, media liaison of the Archdiocese.

One way "Nyor Carl" liked to show his generosity was to serve hearty meals and refreshments to volunteers and visitors.

His last post as moderator of a team of pastors in Carcar placed Pono in charge of the beautiful coral stone church of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Built in the 1800s, it has twin bell towers capped with onion-shaped domes.

When the Bohol-Cebu earthquake of 2013 damaged the "retablo" (altar shelf) in Carcar and other church structures, Pono's sights turned again to restoration work, this time state-funded by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

His good humor held up.

According to Louella Alix, a warm welcome always awaited heritage commission members who stopped by to check progress on repairs in Carcar and other churches in south Cebu.

"He would smile, joke around and tell us, 'gimingaw nako ninyo, oy (I really miss you all)!" Pono would prepare meals with chicharon or lechon, both Carcar specialties.

Alix, in a eulogy at the cathedral, talked of the warm bond Pono shared with people who worked alongside him for church heritage even after he had left the helm of the commission.

"It was not difficult to say goodbye to you in 2014, knowing you were just a phone call away in Carcar," said Alix, an author on heritage cooking.

"It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to you now. Thank you, Nyor. Working with you was a privilege. We will always remember the food and the laughter you shared with us. You will be greatly missed."

Pono was laid to rest in his hometown in Pinamungahan, south Cebu, on April 16.

Parishioners from Carcar and Cebu City came in cars, vans and buses to pay their last respects. The requiem Mass in Sta. Monica parish was celebrated by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma with about 100 other priests. (Eileen G. Mangubat)

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