CLARK FREEPORT – Four Philippine Air Force (PAF) generals, trailed by some 150 soldiers, trekked to the summit of Mt. Pinatubo last Sunday to erect a 15-feet tall cross and pray at the volcano’s crater amid corruption scandals rocking their organization.
The setting up of the wooden cross was in prayer the for God’s intervention in the success of the Aquino administration’s peace talks with both communist and Muslim rebels, said Mabalacat tourism officer Guy Hilbero who assisted the soldiers in the project.
Such intention was stated by Fr. Gilbert Licudan, chaplain of the 600th Air Base Wing, during a Mass he officiated in Barangay Sta. Juliana in Capas, Tarlac from where the military officials and their soldiers started their trek to the volcano’s summit.
While the ongoing Senate hearings on alleged corruption in the highest levels of the military was not mentioned during the Mass, Brig. Gen. Fred Payawan, commander of the 600th Air Base Wing, said in a text message that it was among the intentions in the prayers before the planted cross at the volcanic summit.
Hilbero noted the cross, made from treated mahogany and measuring about seven inch thick, was also put in place in time for the commemoration of both Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14 and the 18th founding anniversary of the 600th Air Base Wing next week.
“Remember that when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, there were people who claimed the eruption was divine retribution for the so-called sin cities of Angeles and Olongapo which had hosted recreation areas for Americans at their former military bases in the two areas,” he said.
“So apart from the cross symbolizing the plea of the military for successful peace talks, it is also a prayer for divine enlightenment so that folk not only in Angeles and Olongapo but in all of Central Luzon would take Valentines Day from a nobler and spiritually rewarding perspective,” he added.
Hotels and motels fill up on Valentines Day in the region as elsewhere in the country, and there has been suspicion that some young women lose their virginity to their boyfriends on that day.
Hilbero noted that the location of the cross was significant, as it provides a panoramic view not only of the two-kilometer wide crater-lake of Mt. Pinatubo, but also a vista of the expanse of Central Luzon.
Apart from Payawan, the early Sunday trekkers were led by 1st Air Division commander Maj. Gen. Ricardo Banayat, 410th Air Division commander Brig. Gen. Wilfredo Ona, and Air Defense Wing commander Brig. Gen. Edwin Manuel Remotigue.
The generals and their soldiers numbering about 150, as well as tourism officials led by Hilbero, assembled at about 4 a.m. at the grounds of the 600th Air Base Wing here last Sunday and proceeded to Sta. Juliana in Capas, Tarlac, which provides the safest route to the volcanic summit.
“At Sta., Juliana, the military held a Mass before they planted trees on the slopes and distributed some gifts to Aetas who live in the area,” Hilbero said.
About 20 vehicles, mostly military, then transported the generals and the other trekkers in a one-hour-and-a-half ride to a point on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo, and from there they walked another hour to reach the crater summit.
The cross was actually installed last Saturday but was blessed by Licudan last Sunday in the presence of the generals, Hilbero noted.
“The cross is the first to be seen by trekkers as they approach the summit. At the elevated site of the cross, one can already have a panoramic view of the crater lake some 500 steps away,” he said.
The setting up of the wooden cross was in prayer the for God’s intervention in the success of the Aquino administration’s peace talks with both communist and Muslim rebels, said Mabalacat tourism officer Guy Hilbero who assisted the soldiers in the project.
Such intention was stated by Fr. Gilbert Licudan, chaplain of the 600th Air Base Wing, during a Mass he officiated in Barangay Sta. Juliana in Capas, Tarlac from where the military officials and their soldiers started their trek to the volcano’s summit.
While the ongoing Senate hearings on alleged corruption in the highest levels of the military was not mentioned during the Mass, Brig. Gen. Fred Payawan, commander of the 600th Air Base Wing, said in a text message that it was among the intentions in the prayers before the planted cross at the volcanic summit.
Hilbero noted the cross, made from treated mahogany and measuring about seven inch thick, was also put in place in time for the commemoration of both Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14 and the 18th founding anniversary of the 600th Air Base Wing next week.
“Remember that when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, there were people who claimed the eruption was divine retribution for the so-called sin cities of Angeles and Olongapo which had hosted recreation areas for Americans at their former military bases in the two areas,” he said.
“So apart from the cross symbolizing the plea of the military for successful peace talks, it is also a prayer for divine enlightenment so that folk not only in Angeles and Olongapo but in all of Central Luzon would take Valentines Day from a nobler and spiritually rewarding perspective,” he added.
Hotels and motels fill up on Valentines Day in the region as elsewhere in the country, and there has been suspicion that some young women lose their virginity to their boyfriends on that day.
Hilbero noted that the location of the cross was significant, as it provides a panoramic view not only of the two-kilometer wide crater-lake of Mt. Pinatubo, but also a vista of the expanse of Central Luzon.
Apart from Payawan, the early Sunday trekkers were led by 1st Air Division commander Maj. Gen. Ricardo Banayat, 410th Air Division commander Brig. Gen. Wilfredo Ona, and Air Defense Wing commander Brig. Gen. Edwin Manuel Remotigue.
The generals and their soldiers numbering about 150, as well as tourism officials led by Hilbero, assembled at about 4 a.m. at the grounds of the 600th Air Base Wing here last Sunday and proceeded to Sta. Juliana in Capas, Tarlac, which provides the safest route to the volcanic summit.
“At Sta., Juliana, the military held a Mass before they planted trees on the slopes and distributed some gifts to Aetas who live in the area,” Hilbero said.
About 20 vehicles, mostly military, then transported the generals and the other trekkers in a one-hour-and-a-half ride to a point on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo, and from there they walked another hour to reach the crater summit.
The cross was actually installed last Saturday but was blessed by Licudan last Sunday in the presence of the generals, Hilbero noted.
“The cross is the first to be seen by trekkers as they approach the summit. At the elevated site of the cross, one can already have a panoramic view of the crater lake some 500 steps away,” he said.
