- Sulat Eastern Samar Fiesta Celebration 2010
- Borongan Eastern Samar Fiesta Celebration 2010

Boronganons based in Metro Manila once again gathered together to celebrate the Borongan fiesta last September 8, 2010.

Interior of the Sacred Heart of Jesus church.

The celebration began with a mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Kamuning, Quezon City. From there, the people proceeded to the Shangrila Restaurant in West Avenue, Quezon City for lunch and ‘sarayaw’.

What’s a fiesta in Eastern Samar without ‘sarayaw’?

Click on ‘more’ for more photos and a video of the celebration.


The Sacred Heart of Jesus parish church.

NOBITCOMS (Natives of Borongan in Manila and Suburbs) president Max Aljibe leading the processing during the mass.

Fr. Bernie Bacsal led the celebration of the mass for Borongan’s patron saint, the Nativity of Our Lady.

Figurines of the Nativity of Our Lady that were given to the hermanos and hermanas of the celebration.

Fr. Pio Aclon was one of the four priests who celebrated the mass that day.

Some of the hermanos and hermanas for this year’s fiesta celebration.

Officers of the NOBITCOMS posing for the camera.

Video Highlights of the 2010 Borongan Fiesta Celebration

This is a long delayed post but here are the photos and a video of the Sulat fiesta celebration held in Quiapo Manila, last July 31, 2010.

The church of the Holy Face of Jesus was jampacked during that night.

Click on ‘more’ for more photos.

Here’s a Video of the Highlights of the Sulat Fiesta Celebration 2010

Absent during the forum were Lakas-Kampi’s candidates Fe Abunda and Fidel Anacta, Jr., who are running for major and vice-mayor, respectively.

Watch the replay of the forum in the video below.

You may also follow the Tweets during the forum at http://twitter.com/sinirangan

Bishop Crispin Varquez of the Diocese of Borongan ordained the following new priests: Dennis de Leon, Anthony Lugo, Dale Perez, Michael Jay Rebamontan, and Jay Romualdo.

De Leon hails from Brgy. Paya in Giporlos, Eastern Samar, Lugo from Oras, Eastern Samar, Perez from Ormoc City, Rebamontan from Brgy. Nena, San Julian Eastern Samar, and Romulado from Borongan, Eastern Samar.

Former Borongan Bishop Leonardo Medroso also attended the ordination.

The event was witnessed by a multitude of people including priests from different parts of the country, parents and guests of the new priests, seminarians, religious, as well as Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone, who handed out gifts to the new priests after the ordination.

You may view the entire album here: http://siniranganblog.multiply.com/photos/album/1

If you’re interested in joining, click here to download the 6th Lamiraw Application Form.

“6^th Lamiraw Accepts Fellowship Applications

The Lamiraw Regional Creative Writing Workshop (LRCWW) is now accepting applications for the 6th Regional Writers Workshop to be held on November 4-7, 2009 in Calbayog City, Samar.

Panelists invited in said workshop are Prof. Daryll Delgado and Prof. Larry Ypil from Ateneo de Manila University; Prof. Merlie Alunan and Dr. Victor Sugbo from UP Tacloban; Dr. David Genotiva from EVSU (Eastern Visayas State University), Tacloban City; and Mr. Dante Rosales from Calbayog City.

Fifteen slots are at stake for young and adult writers who are willing to improve or develop their craft in fiction, poetry, the essay and drama. As decided by the organizers, three slots are allotted for fellows coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (1 slot per area), nine slots for writers residing in Samar, Leyte and Biliran, and the remaining three slots for Abaknon speakers in Capul, Northern Samar. Applicants will be admitted given that their works pass the aesthetic standard of the Selection Committee. Writers may send entries in Waray, Cebuano, or English. Entries written in Abaknon or in any regional languages spoken in Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao should have a translation in English or Filipino.

This Writers Workshop is funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and hosted by the Tiburcio Tancinco Memorial Institute of Science and Technology (TTMIST). A decent housing, a modest stipend, and a subsidy to partially defray costs of the fellows’ transportation will be provided to those who will qualify in the selection process. Walk-in auditors will have to pay a registration fee of P3,000.00 each which cover their meals, accommodations and workshop materials.

Consider submitting to us a collection of any of the following: 3 poems, 2 short stories, 2 essays, 1 one-act play, or any reasonable combination of the above in hardcopy and on a CD containing the manuscripts and your application form in Microsoft Word (Windows 2003, font 12, Arial) and two 2×2 pictures. Sending your entries together with other requirements (scanned) through email at lamiraw@yahoo.com is also accepted. Include in your submission a statement from one person of authority attesting to the originality of your works. Use the application form posted at Panitikan.com, the NCCA website or simply google it.

Evaluators of Lamiraw RCWW manuscripts this year are Dr. Victor N. Sugbo, NCLA Regional Coordinator; Harold L. Mercurio, Lamiraw Project Coordinator; and Mr. Dante A. Rosales, member of Ibabao Arts Council of Calbayog.

Send applications on or before September 30, 2009 to Harold L. Mercurio, Project Coordinator, Lamiraw Regional Creative Writing Workshop c/o Office of the Arts, Social and Cultural Affairs of TTMIST, Calbayog City, Samar, 6710.

For inquiries, call at 09177982781 or email at lamiraw@yahoo.com.”

Image courtesy of typofi.

To view the pictures I’ve taken, click on this link.

The group from the Eastern Samar State University(ESSU)-Maydolong Campus bagged the top prize, followed by the Rayhak Han San Julian Group which won P75,000, with Sta. Fe National High School claiming the 3rd place with P50,000.

ESSU-Maydolong also won the Best in Musicality Category, and the Karasikas Dance Group won the Merrymaking Category.

You can preview some of the photos taken during the competition by clicking on this link.

Participants continued to complain about the road situation in the province during the forum that talked about the Bishop’s pastoral work in the province, the creation of a priest home for retired priests and finally, setting the purpose of the forum.

Road monitoring group in Eastern Samar created

In the forum’s first agenda, Bishop Varquez metioned to the participants that he, along with several sectors of society in the province, formed a group to monitor the construction of the roads in Eastern Samar.

According to him, the group already sent a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through Sec. Hermogenes Ebdane of the Department of Public Works and Highways regarding this matter.

Bishop seeks support for creation of priest home

Bishop Varquez also sought the help of Eastern Samarenos based in Metro Manila and all over the world in building the priest home where retired priests of Eastern Samar would eventually be housed.

The retirement home, which will be built behind the Seminario de Jesus Nazareno in Borongan, currently has a fund of P300,000.

Varquez said that the construction of the retirement home would begin as soon as the funds reach P500,000.

The group will remain a forum

The final agenda discussed during the forum was whether the forum would remain as such or a more formal group would be created out of it.

Members in the forum eventually agreed that the group would remain a forum, although there would always be a concrete action to be done by the members at the end of each meeting.

Aside from that, a secretariat was also formed to lead the members of the forum. The secretariat would be headed by Msgr. Pepe Quitorio. He would then be joined by 3 representatives from each municipality who are currently based in Metro Manila.

You can read the tweets during the forum by reading the Eastern Samar Community Blog’s twitter page.

There are no news about the agenda of the meeting yet.

If all plans push through, you may be able to watch the meeting LIVE tomorrow via the Eastern Samar’s Community Blog’s Stickam page at www.stickam.com/sinirangan at around 4pm Manila time. Watch out for it.