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Saturday, December 27, 2003
Talk back: ‘Barrio Baho’
By Dr. Jose Lucero Bonpua Jr.
Oslob, Cebu
I read with great interest the story on “Barrio Baho” in San Fernando town, Cebu (Sun.Star Cebu, Dec. 9, 2003).
I travel to Cebu City from my hometown of Oslob five times a month and looked for “Barrio Baho” for quite sometime. This is because it was the site of the accident that took Msgr. Teofilo B. Camomot’s life.
Camomot and I knew each other when he was coadjutor bishop of Jaro, Iloilo. He was known for his humility, love and dedication for the poor. He was not interested in worldly and materialistic affairs.
I have high regards for him not only for his “heroic virtues” but also for what he did personally to me. At age 16, as a seminarian at the Seminario San Vicente Ferrer in Jaro, he confirmed me at the Jaro Cathedral.
Another act I couldn’t forget was his writing a letter of reference for me in Spanish in support of my application for full scholarship at the Escuela Diplomatica de Espana in Madrid.
With his reference and those of constitutionalist Jose Maria Aruego and Sotero Laurel, president of the Lyceum of the Philippines, I was on my way to “Madre Espana.”
Shrine
“Barrio Baho” is indeed smelly no more.
With the current construction of a 40-square meter shrine to Camomot, the place will serve as a “beacon” of hope not only for the people who so admired and respected him but also for Catholic priests who badly need a role model.
One anecdote that was recently communicated to me was about Camomot’s visit to Cardinal Vidal. When asked why he wasn’t wearing his bishop’s ring, he said that he pawned it to give money and help to a poor parishioner.
Another story was about American Bishop Hayes’s refusal to retire in his diocese in Mindanao because Camomot was appointed his episcopal successor. Bishop Hayes reportedly feared that with Camomot’s takeover, the diocese would go bankrupt because of his penchant for the poor.
Still another story is about a bank executive who said that some people told him that when a woman got sick and prayed for Camomot’s intercession, she got cured.
Today, young and old people from Mindanao who knew of the bishop’s piety, come and pray before his grave in the cemetery reserved for priests in Carcar town. Some pray crying and come out happy in visits there.
Beatification
San Fernando officials should rename “Barrio Baho” to Barrio Archbishop Camomot, as the shrine for him will surely become not only as a tourist attraction but also a place of hope for the hopeless.
The building of this shrine would be first a sure step towards the beatification and eventual canonization of a Cebuano saint whose virtues and actions in life will serve as an inspiration for us all.
Those who would like to support the call for the beatification of Msgr. Camomot should contact the Knights of Columbus in Talisay City headed by Knight Ernesto Deiparene.
As for us, “The Villa del Mar Don Jose Bonpua” has appropriated P20,000 for the Camomot Shrine and his eventual beatification.
Incidentally, I was told that the Congregation of Sisters founded by the late Padre Veronico Salvador has been entrusted with the documentary evidence for beatification to be submitted to the Vatican.
Padre Veronico was a good friend of the family. In fact, he bought for me my first two Latin grammar books at the San Vicente Ferrer Seminary.
(December 27, 2003 issue)
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