A tale of three keys. (From left) The Governor’s, the San Fernando Mayor’s and the Angeles Mayor’s. Photo by Bong Lacson
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – A palpable sense of blessedness obtained at the Capitol early Monday morning as the officialdom of Pampanga awaited the new shepherd of the Catholic faithful in this “ultrareligious” province.
A couple of minutes short of 8 a.m., the Most Rev. Florentino G. Lavarias, at that point still archbishop-designate of San Fernando, arrived, accompanied by Msgr. Jun Mercado and Rev. Fr. Sol Gabriel and was promptly met by Gov. Lilia G. Pineda, Vice Gov. Dennis G. Pineda and 1st District Rep. Joseller Guiao.
Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab presented the prelate with a sampaguita garland, as a recognition of her town’s being the birthplace of Catholicism in the province, and the purity of the flower symbolic of the blossoming of the faith from the seeds planted by the Augustinian friars in 1571.
More symbolisms took center stage at the welcoming rites, with the speaking parts consisting of only the welcome remarks of the governor and the response of the archbishop.
Starting with the expression of gratitude to the Almighty for this “great blessing” bestowed upon Pampanga with the appointment of a native Kapampangan for its fourth archbishop, Pineda capped her brief address with an appeal for Lavarias “to include us (local officials) always in your prayers that we may always serve our people with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our strengths.”
Lavarias in his response could have defined the social dimension of his prelature, saying he would “listen and learn, as much as share and work” with the civil authorities in the service of the people, “most specially the poor.”
3 keys
In between the speeches, the governor presented the archbishop with the symbolic key to the province, seven-inch in brass crafted by an Apalit artisan in metal repousse, locally known as “pinukpuk,” and encased in lacquered wood.
For his part, Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan presented Lavarias with an 18-inch gold-colored key, crafted in wood by local sculptor Chok Sotto in a case lined with lahar, symbolic of the city’s phoenix-like re-borning from the devastation of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions.
City of San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago handed to Lavarias a yellow key of undetermined material – laminated plastic or colored capiz? – with chips, dents and folds throughout its length of some 12 inches. The seal of the city at the center of its head, a paper cut-out with fading colors and texts. It’s general appearance, in the words of board member, “the impression of a key by a kindergarten pupil just learning how to use a pair of scissors.”
Commentaries
“Migtipid ya ing San Fernando,” said the Rev. Fr. Bogs Moraleja, as he ran his fingers on Santiago’s key, commenting on its aesthetic value or lack of it. A mediaman was not as kind: “No mistake about it. It is a found object from the city dumpsite in Barangay Lara.”
In his annotation of the proceedings at the welcoming rites, local historian Lord Francis Musni explained the historic significance of the symbolic key to the city in the Philippine setting, harking back to the Spanish era when the gobernador-general welcomed the new arzobispo with the key to the walled city of Intramuros.
The key afforded the recipient full access to the gates of the city and freedom of movement therein. The key to the city has since taken the nature of a “symbolic gift presented to esteemed visitors, residents, or others the city wishes to honor.”
“Instead of honor, it is insult that Santiago heaped to the archbishop with that key,” said a lay leader, who requested for anonymity lest his remarks be taken as the official position of his church organization. “That key is not befitting of the stature of a prince of the Church.”
“An insult too to the people and the city itself, as for all that self-acclamation of world-class status, of being cosmopolitan and a business center, all it can afford to give its spiritual leader is a sordid excuse for a key,” he added.
“And to think the seat of the archbishopric is Santiago’s city!” To a judge who was present at the Capitol rites and who also asked for anonymity, the key Santiago presented to Lavarias was “indeed symbolic – of the dearth of culture, lack of sense of history, and spiritual drought of the city government.”
From the Capitol, Lavarias proceeded to the Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown San Fernando where he was officially installed as archbishop of San Fernando, taking over the retired Most Rev. Paciano B. Aniceto, now archbishop emeritus of San Fernando.
Presiding over the installation rites was the Most Rev. Giuseppe Pinto, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle and members of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines in attendance.
