The university community remembers the survivors and their families who went through the harrowing experience wrought havoc by Super Typhoon Pablo which made a furious landfall in Baganga, Davao Oriental, a year ago today, on 4th December 2012.
In a special noontime mass presided by Fr. Gabriel Jose T. Gonzalez, SJ, and sponsored by the Arrupe Office of Social Formation, the university recalled the devastation in eastern parts of Mindanao, including Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Sur, Agusan de Sur, and neighbouring places. The commemorative mass was offered to take a moment to remember the painful day which changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and hapless communities who took a heavy pounding from Typhoon Pablo’s wrath, destroying their homes, agricultural crops, and sources of livelihood. The mass paid tribute to the courage of people in these areas who survived this imperious of storms ever to hit Mindanao last year, at the same time honor those who didn’t make it, even as the university continues to mourn the death and destruction of the Super Typhoon Yolanda which impacted on the Visayas region this October, the earthquake that rumbled in many parts of Bohol and Cebu also in October, as well as the man-made devastation brought about by the military siege in Zamboanga City in September that displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the maelstrom of conflict and violence.
The mass was also offered as a culmination of the university’s celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace 2013, imploring the end to violence and conflict in regions in Mindanao that have remained vulnerable, at the same time imploring God for a lasting and sustainable peace in this part of the Philippines.
In anticipation of the International Volunteers Day tomorrow, 5th December, the mass was also celebrated by the Arrupe Office and its corps of student volunteers to continue to honour the countless, the nameless, and the faceless volunteers who have dedicated their lives to give of their time, energy, resources, and of themselves to peoples and communities in dire need of help and assistance in the spirit of loving service and generous volunteerism. (By M. Isabel S. Actub, Arrupe Communications & Advocacy)