One trivia in the ongoing impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte stirred my interest. I write “trivia” because, admittedly, it is far from being a part of the substance of the issues. I am referring to the fact that the current star, Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan is an ex-seminarian. He graduated valedictorian from Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte. In the nationally televised trial, Atty. Ligutan exudes confidence and mastery of the legal procedures. Even senator-judges who never miss a chance to remind us that they are lawyers could be virtually lectured by Atty. Libutan on matters of law without sounding offensive. On the other hand, he could show heroic patience in listening to inanities.
I hope the reader may understand my excitement over a detail which may seem insignificant to others. After all, in almost all of my priestly life, I have been involved in seminary education. Thus, when I hear news about someone who decided not to pursue priestly studies but who continues to show learning and commitment outside of the ecclesiastical milieu, then I am elated no end. One does not need to wear a priestly cassock to live the values which the seminary is trying to inculcate. Indeed, a lay person can show more commitment to priestly values than many ordained ministers themselves, myself included.
It is interesting to note that during the impeachment of Erap Estrada, the star among the private lawyers was also an ex-seminarian, Atty. Simeon Marcelo. He once studied in the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary. He presented Chavit Singson before the impeachment court. The rather complicated narrative of Singson was made understandable to the senators and to the public through the expert handling of Marcelo. Later, he became the Ombudsman. His incredible work ethic later exacted a toll on his health and he resigned. This led Cebuano journalist Juan Mercado to write, “Men of talent, vision, and rock-hard integrity are the rarest of resources. This is especially true for a nation like the Philippines, where tainted leaders handcuff us to treadmill crises.”
Ligutan and Marcelo are not the only ex-seminarians who make seminary mentors proud. In the field of law, numerous ex-seminarians have made a name for themselves. If I start mentioning their names, they may fill more than one column. But an exception can be made in the person of Justice Gabby Ingles, who once joined the Society of the Divine Word.
In the field of politics, the diocesan seminary in Cebu has produced Sergio Osmeña Sr., an incorruptible President, and Vicente Sotto, a nationalist senator and journalist. Many delegates in the first Philippine legislature in 1907 studied at almost the same time as Osmeña in Seminario Colegio de San Carlos.
At this point, it is interesting to note that, according to Michael Cullinane, an American historian who has extensively studied Cebuano history, “… Over sixty of Cebu’s conspirators of rebellion had studied for varying lengths of time at the (Seminario) Colegio de San Carlos.” To drive home this point, I will ask a question: “What do the following names have in common: Andres Abellana, Atilano Lopez, Arcadio Maxilom, Francisco Llamas?” The reader may answer that these are names of streets in Cebu City. Correct! But other common denominators are that they are all conspirators in the revolution against Spain, and that they all studied in the diocesan seminary! San Carlos Seminary has indeed produced heroes! Cullinane further explains that it is not that the rector (Padre Julia) intended to produce rebels, but that he “provided them with some of the tools to respond to the conflicts, grievances, and ideas that were circulating through this urban area in the last decades of the Spanish rule.”
In other words, seminary education is not limited to intra-ecclesial issues. It cannot be confined to reflections on the after-life. For example, the Trinity cannot be reduced to mental calisthenics. It should be related to the equality of persons in our society. Creation cannot be simply about the origins of the world. It should also deal with care for the environment. The Eucharist is not simply about rubrics. It is also about the call to give ourselves to others as Christ does.
Needless to say, there are many others who live ordinary lifestyles, minus the spotlight that is often focused on the VIPs. Yet, if they live lives of integrity the seminary is no less proud of them. Somewhere I have written this line and I will write it again: “Before you can become a good priest, you need to be a good Christian. And before you become a good Christian, you need to be an authentic human person.”
