SAN JOSE CITY – Aware that many fellow Filipinos, especially the children, go hungry, parishioners in the Diocese of San Jose in Nueva Ecija are sharing their blessings thru “Balik-Handog” love offerings. Literally, “balik-handog”
means “return gifts or offerings (to God).”
Fr. Ernie Pesimo, director of the diocese’s Commission on Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, said the official name adopted for this church program is “Spirituality of Stewardship”.
This “Balik-Handog“ program of the Diocese of San Jose, and the response given by the parishioners, become significant as the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) report indicated some 4.8 million Filipino families said they experienced hunger in September, about 1.2 million families more than the previous quarter as hunger rose in all areas except in Mindanao.
The hunger figure, it was reported, was the worst in a year and was 2.5 points above last year’s annual average of 19.5 percent. A record high of 23.8 percent was reported in March 2012. “We know that God is the source of many blessings.
How to return these blessings is the essence of the program,” Pesimo said. He added it is not the usual essence of Christian’s concept of tithing or giving the “ika-pu’” or ten percent of income. It is the sharing of the faithful of their three “Ts” which are time, treasure and talent.
It is in the sharing of “treasure”, however, especially of the circumstance of having many poor “neighbors,” that those who “have” must graciously share to the “have- nots”. The program was started in 2010 by then Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara. It is being continued by current Bishop Roberto Mallari.
Under this program, 20 percent of the amount offered is given to the diocese and the remaining 80 percent is retained by the respective parishes for various projects, one of them is the feeding program. For those giving their “balik- handog” in kind, like rice, canned goods and noodles, the goods are repacked for distribution to needy families.
The diocese has 21 parishes, one quasi-parish, and one chaplaincy in 12 towns and cities in the northern, western and eastern parts of the province. Pesimo said those who regularly give their offerings are enrollees chipping in their promised amount once a month while others participate in variations of giving their offerings carried out by certain parishes in the diocese.
The other Sunday, in the Science City of Muñoz, more than 350 cavans of palay and ten sacks of milled rice were brought in as offering in the afternoon Mass by the parishioners in different barangays in that city. The offerings were the response of the parishioners to the call of parish priest Fr. Nestor Romano in his “Ani ko, balik-handog ko” appeal.
The rice farmers in Nueva Ecija achieved relatively good harvest this cropping due to favorable weather condition.
Their good harvest was all the more spiced up when traders bought their fresh palay harvest at P17 to P19 per kilogram and the dry palay at up to P23 per kilogram. “The rice will be repacked for distribution to the more than a hundred poor parishioners who come to our church yard every day to request for food assistance,” Elena Miranda, coordinator of the “Balik-Handog” program in the San Sebastian parish in Muñoz, said.
“In addition to the rice, there are canned goods, noodles and other foods included in the pack given them,” she added. She said the proceeds from the sale of palay will be used for the renovation of the church and other church facilities.
The poor sick parishioners are also given packs of the goods whenever the lay ministers visit them. On Sundays, sponsors provided cooked food for the church’s feeding program for more than 100 children. In Quezon town, Fr. Bonifacio Flores, parish priest of the Holy Family, held in September “Pasko sa Gawat” (Christmas in Lean Season).
He appealed to those who have more blessings in life to share to the less fortunate. In the agricultural world, the “lean season” in rice cropping is the time when agricultural work is finished and the harvest time is still long in coming. It is the time when the poor farmers have no income for food and other necessities.
The response was unprecedented in the parish as many parishioners responded positively. They offered rice, canned goods, noodles and others which were repacked and distributed to the needy. Pesimo said the Diocese of San Jose is holding a pastoral assembly soon for a forum to discuss some more the “Balik-Handog” and “Damayang Kristiyano” or helping one another programs of the diocese.
