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Thursday, December 23, 2004
Serna: Msgr. Binghay: Christ is the reason for celebrating Christmas
By Roger Serna
Sounds & images
As in past Christmases, the Provincial Capitol façade is lighted up and becomes very visible at night. This time, a giant star, made up of multi-colored smaller stars, has been mounted at the terrace while below it stands a three-dimensional Nativity scene made of indigenous materials with the Holy Family as the only characters.
The structural design of the belen was executed by the Provincial Engineer’s Office staff led by Engr. Eul Pelayre. The belen’s artistic flavor was done through the ingenuity of Tony Casco.
The nativity scene served as the backdrop of the activities connected with the Garbo sa Sugbu - Pasko sa Kapitolyo celebration. This is the province’s own way of celebrating Christmas and its contribution to the task of spreading the hope, joy and everything positive and good this season of the year.
Merry Christmas!
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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Sky Patrol! Well, the original line of this portion in a song should have been, “It’s Superman,” but as we all know, Superman, or at least the actor who portrayed him on the wide screen, has already rested in peace.
Anyway, last Dec. 8, ABS-CBN Cebu launched its Sky Patrol with the blessing of the helicopter that is now being used by the crew to hover over the Metro Cebu area (or those near Cebu city) to give its televiewers a bird’s eye view of what’s going on down there, especially the traffic so that motorists can be guided as to which part of the city they need to avoid so as not to get caught in traffic jams.
The Manila counterpart has been doing this, especially during its morning program, Magandang Umaga Bayan, and it has helped a lot in bringing the news to its intended audience.
Now, the audiences in the other parts of the country can have an idea of how Cebu looks from way up there and Cebu motorists can also have an idea which streets to take to their destinations the soonest possible time.
Will the nearby provinces be able to, at least, enjoy the luxury of being covered by the Sky Patrol? An ABS-CBN executive was overheard, during the launching, expressing his apprehension about lending the Sky Patrol to the other provinces or extending its coverage to these areas out of fear that it might be shot down by insurgents or other bad elements of society.
So there. In the meantime, let the Cebuanos and those in the outskirts enjoy its services first. Maybe later the others can avail themselves of it, too, but not in the very near future. Not yet.
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The launching was attended by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez, among others. Gov. Gwen even rode with the ABS-CBN crew on the Sky Patrol’s maiden flight from the back of the Cebu City Marriott Hotel to the hangar in Lapu-Lapu city in the meantime that ABS-CBN Cebu is still developing its own hangar.
In the holy mass that preceded the blessing, celebrant Msgr. Esteban Binghay provided the input as to why we need and we should celebrate Christmas every year, no matter what economic situation is there.
Msgr. Binghay said that Christ is the reason for celebrating Christmas and no other. So for those who connect Christmas with material things and to those who immediately skip celebrating it for economic reasons, perhaps there is a need to look at the celebration from a different perspective.
For all you know, the way you celebrate the season might not be for the right reason at all.
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This year, yours truly sorely missed the Christmas party of the Sun.Star Cebu family. The event clashed with the annual fiesta of my hometown (that’s the southern town of Oslob) and so I missed the laughter, the camaraderie, the bonding (oh yes, the door prizes and the giveaways, too!).
Never mind the food. There were lots of it back home. It was the fiesta celebration I preferred, remember? Ha-ha! Hopefully this will not happen again in future celebrations.
(December 23, 2004 issue)
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