During the formal launching of the book on Wednesday at the Fiesta Hall of the Midori Hotel and Casino here, Alvaro’s wife, Irene, described the occasion as “a personal milestone” since it was timed on the occasion on the supposed 12th birthday of their beloved daughter Fiona who passed away barely four months after she was born due to congenital abnormalities.
“Parish management is surely not a walk in the park, but with an unimaginable return,” said Irene during her turn at the podium.
“This book is contained inside the heart,” she declared.
As what Rev. Celestino Cancio wrote in the foreword: “The moment you read this book, you have already made the right choice and wise decision to become the best of what you can be as a parish administrator.” Alvaro said,
“The book is intended for the local church workers who admit an inadequacy or feeble proficiency being managers of their own parishes…. It is a simple and practical tool for those who intend to start from the very basic tenets of parish management.”
The 53-page book has four chapters. Chapter 1 delves on the functions of management; chapter 2 is about “AGE” which are the fourth, fifth and sixth letters of the word “manager” that he defines as a leader; chapter 3 concerns “R” as in rhythm, the last letter of the word “manager;” and the fourth chapter is the conclusion entitled in Latin, “Pastores dabo vobis,” which translates to, “I will give you shepherds after my own heart,” from Jeremiah 3:15.
Alvaro was introduced by his ward Jeff Del Mundo during the book launching who said he was “given an impossible task to give a preview of the author with just a few phrases.”
He said in describing Alvaro, “two distinct virtues come to light besides perseverance and hard work and these are his pioneering spirit and willingness to think bold and decisive actions.
“For us in the corporate world, he is the prime mover of Clark who brings into flesh the promise of a good life after the pull out of the American bases,” Del Mundo said. “Indeed, Clark is now a premiere tourism destination in Asia because of Midori, Aqua Planet and the soon to unveil Mirej Clark Resort,” he added. The said enterprises were established by Alvaro who is president and CEO of BB International which is the firm behind the multi-billion peso projects.
“For others he is a senior lecturer and a professor in premiere universities. For many he is a public servant by heart and mostly he is a loving husband, a caring father and a devoted man of church,” professed Del Mundo in his introduction of the author.
“Here he speaks not only his commitment as a devoted man of the church but also his competence as a servant of God,” he added.
Dr. Alvaro acknowledged the significance of the day fondly remembering his late daughter Fiona.
“That is why we were in a hurry to finish the book on the 24th because it’s Fiona’s birthday,” he said. Alvaro said the first book he wrote was about local legislation.
“I was compelled by my colleagues to write a sort of a guide book for all new aldermen in the country,” he said. The second book is “Fiona: A journey of an angel,” which he co-authored with his wife.
“It was intentional that we wrote them because of the wonderful experiences that we had with Fiona that cannot be hoarded,” he said.
Alvaro said “it would be selfish for us to hoard the things that are wonderful, including the pain and the torment, and all these things. It is the only expression and only evidence of how God and his wonderful love and his amazing mercies worked into our lives,” he said.
Alvaro said the writing of the book, this time, was not intentional but providential.
“There is one friend of mine, Dr. Celestino Cancio. He asked me to lecture about managing the parish but I was not able to come to the appointment. I promised him to write, so this so this is the compelling reason,” he explained.
But he gave me three conditions in writing the book, narrated Alvaro.
“The words in the book should be descriptive, understandable and easy to understand with just one reading and he told me don’t make the book too thick because we might get tired of reading it and to make use of illustrations,” he said with a laugh.
“Fortunately and with God’s blessing, I met Mr. Jun Pena who did the illustrations,” Alvaro said as he paid tribute to him and to his assistant, Omar Niño V. Defensor, whom he called brother.
But Alvaro said, “my wife my inspiration” as he thanked her for her support.
The first part of the program was a call to gathering and order of worship with a reflection by Rev. Pedro Torio. Among those who were present at the book launching in the capacity filled Fiesta Hall were lay ministers of the United Methodist Church as well as friends and supporters.
The Most Rev. Paciano B. Aniceto, archbishop emeritus of San Fernando, gave the final blessing to cap the book launch.
