Exploring St.Joseph Church and the Bamboo Organ

City of Las Pinas

Since I was a grade school student, I've been hearing about the bamboo organ of Las Pinas. This organ is famous maybe because it is the only bamboo organ in the entire Philippines.

St. Joseph Church Facade

I've seen several old organs similar to the bamboo organ but instead of using "bamboo", the pipes are made of metal hence, they are called pipe organs. Two of these pipe organs can be found inside the San Agustin church and inside Manila cathedral in Intramuros respectively..

I've been planning to visit St. Joseph church since July but because of torrential rains, the planned trip had been postponed several times. After storm Maring exited the Philippine area of responsibility and the weather normalizes, I took the chance to travel to Las Pinas.

Church Interior

From my home base at the vicinity of Malacanang in Manila, I traveled south. With a distance of nearly 15 kilometers, it took me 35 minutes to reach St. Joseph church.

I was so very excited. St. Joseph church, just like any other ancient church found in the Philippines, is of Baroque style. It is made of stone brick and the walls are at least a meter thick.

Main Altar

Inside the church, there are several massive buttresses supporting the ceiling and the wall. Something that captured my attention were the chairs made of bamboo and the church ceiling covered with bamboo as well.

Bamboo Organ

The bamboo organ is at the left side of the church isle facing the altar. It was installed as if it is hanging between two massive buttresses. The entry to the bamboo organ is through the church convent which is now a museum.

Though the bamboo pipes are no longer the original ones considering the age of the bamboo organ, it was repaired and reconstructed to its exact original style.

After wandering inside the church, I decided to visit the convent which is now a museum. Inside the museum are several memorabilia of St. Joseph parish church. The original bell of the church is displayed near the main entrance door. There were old memorable photographs of the church and the bamboo organ. The old parts of the bamboo organ that were replaced when it was repaired in Germany were one of the many displays.

After visiting the museum, we climbed up the balcony of the church and then come close to the bamboo organ. At that time, someone is playing a music at the bamboo organ and I have to agree that the sound of it was truly amazing.

It was a dream come true for me to have seen the bamboo organ in person finally.

Museum

According to Wikipedia, the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ in St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas City, Philippines, is a nineteenth-century church organ with unique organ pipes; they are made almost entirely of bamboo. It was completed in 1824 by Father Diego Cera, the builder of the town's stone church and its first resident Catholic parish priest.

Church Old Bell

After age and numerous disasters had rendered the musical instrument unplayable for a long time, in 1972, the national government and the local community joined together to have the organ shipped to Germany for restoration. For its anticipated return in 1975, the home church of the bamboo organ and the surrounding buildings were restored to their 19th-century state by Architects Francisco Mañosa and partner Ludwig Alvarez in time for its scheduled return.The annual International Bamboo Organ Festival, a music festival of classical music was started to celebrate the music of the reborn instrument and its unique sound.

Since 1992, Prof. Armando V. Salarza has been the titular organist of the Bamboo Organ.He is also the Artistic Director of the International Bamboo Organ Festival, now the longest-running annual international music festival held in the country.

Old Keyboard

The organ is declared a National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines in 2003. The St. Joseph Parish Church, the church museum at the old convent house, and the famous organ is a popular tourist destination for Filipinos and foreign visitors alike in Las Piñas.

The builder of both the church and its organ was Father Diego Cera de la Virgen del Carmen, a Catholic priest under the Augustinian Recollects. A native of Spain, he served as parish priest in Las Piñas from 1795 to 1830. Historians portray him as a gifted man, a natural scientist, chemist, architect, community leader, as well as organist and organ builder.

Having previously built organs in the Manila area with some organ stops made from bamboo, he chose bamboo for most of this organ - only the trumpet stops are made of metal. The choice of bamboo was probably both practical and aesthetic - bamboo was abundant and used for hundreds of items of both a practical and an artistic nature.

Fr. Cera began work on the organ in 1816, while the church was still under construction. The church was completed in 1819 and the organ was playable in 1821, but without the trumpet stops. The organ was finally completed in 1824 after Fr. Cera decided to make the trumpets using metal, musical characteristics of which he could not replicate with bamboo.

The National Museum of the Philippines officially declared the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ a National Cultural Treasure on November 24, 2003 for its uniqueness and significance.

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Trekking Mt. Manabu

Sto. Tomas, Province of Batanagas

I still can remember the advice of my mountain guide at Lombok island in Indonesia when I climbed Mt. Rinjani. He said that before climbing high altitude mountains such as Mt. Rinjani, it is best to do a training in preparation for a long trail hike and the altitude.

Jump-Off Point

According to him, the best training in preparation for a high altitude climb is also to climb a mountain. Having that in mind, I thought then that maybe the best way to maintain body condition ready for high altitude climb at anytime is also to continuously climb mountains regardless of the altitude.

So I decided to search the web once more for a mountain that is not on my "Climbed" list yet. Based on the recommendations that I saw from several mountain review websites and blogs, Mt. Manabu is a highly recommended mountain for minor hike that can be easily accessed from the Metro.

Trail

A short mountain background says, the mountain is less that 800MASL, and it is located at Sto. Tomas in the province of Batangas, south of Manila.

At the meeting place, I found that there were 13 of us. Together with us were 2 Indians and 3 Japanese participants.

Water Stream

We head on to Sto. Tomas Batangas at 0500H. Travel to the jump-off point, according to our van driver, normally takes 4 hours.

We were at the jump-off point few minutes past 0800H and started trekking at around 0830H. Mt. Manabu trail is actually a circuit, but not a traverse. The total trail length is almost 5KM and the trail is shaped like the Holy Rosary with the Giant Cross at the peak and a Grotto found somewhere else along the trail.

Manabu Summit

The trail is generally good and the overall hike was nice. It could have been even better if the trail was dry - slippery and muddy trail were our challenges.

At 1030H, we reached the summit and had a very early lunch. We had photo shoots after and then started our descent at 1130H.

Going down a muddy and slippery trail was even more challenging than going up. We reached the jump-off point at 1225H and tidy-up.

Cross at the Summit

We left the jump-off point at 1430H back to Manila. Along the way, we decided to reward our taste buds with one of Batangas' specialties - the famous "Bulalo" at a nearby restaurant.

At 1730H. We were back home safe.

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Exploring the Puzzle Mansion and Ponderosa Leisure Farm in Tagaytay

Ponderosa Leisure Farm - Tagaytay City

Day 01: 13 December 2013

It was Friday the 13th and all of us - leaders of Kerry-ATS Logistics were exhausted. We had just concluded our CEO's farewell party at the F1 Hotel at The Fort. The program that we had been preparing for the last three weeks was a success. Our CEO and us went home happy.

Puzzle Mansion

I and few other leaders left the hotel quarter to 12AM on the 12th of December and I reached home longing for the bed past 1:00AM. My energy was almost completely depleted and all I wanted to do was to hibernate. Though I was aware that our last Strat Planning for 2013 will push through at Tagaytay few hours from the time I reached home. Our Strat Plan call time was 9:00 AM at Tagaytay.

I set my alarm at 5:00AM. I told myself to leave home at 6:00AM and proceed to a Lani's place then we will both proceed to Tagaytay for the Strat Plan. 

Mona Lisa

After retiring on my bed, I never heard the sound of my alarm. When I woke up, it was 6:00AM already. I was shocked. I hurriedly took the shower, wore my jeans, grabbed by laptop bag and camera and then run out for a taxi.

While on the road I sent a text message Lani that I was on my way to her place. I was about to text her that I can no longer make it to the Strat Plan. Fortunately, she replied to my first message saying that she just woke up.

Puzzles Display

We left Paranaque almost 8:00AM. Alen, our HR leader was with us. There was no heavy traffic on SLEX and we reached Sta. Rosa exit at 8:45AM. The road to Ponderosa Leisure farm was clear of any heavy traffic so we reached the venue 5 minutes past 9:00AM. 

Puzzles for Sale

When we were preparing our materials for the Strat Plan, we learned that somebody left the LCD projector and so NLR decided to send someone to pickup the LCD at Paranaque office.

While waiting for the LCD projector, we decided to visit the Puzzle Mansion. The said Mansion is a holder of the World's largest puzzle with 1,028 pieces and recorded in the Guinness World Book of Records. It is owned by Gina Gil Lacuna. We drove from Ponderosa down south for atleast 30 minutes.

The mansion is located on a slope similar to the sunken garden in Baguio City. The road going down is steep. I never heard of this mansion before and I was puzzled. The registration fee is P100.00 per head. Aside from the Puzzle Mansion itself, there are rooms for rent and a swimming pool at the place.

Enjoying Boko Pie

The Puzzle Mansion is a two-story building. At the ground floor is a display of hundreds of completed puzzles nicely framed. In particular, my attention was captured by the "Mona Liza"  portrait. Every puzzle there is nice.

The second floor is a store of puzzles. This is for those we love puzzle and those who have time before bed to do puzzles. We met the owner, Gina herself and she explained to us that the best time to do puzzles is before bed.

I got the 1,000 pieces 69cm x 50cm Sistine Chapel. I liked the design.

Before 11AM, we left the place back to Ponderosa. On the way, we stopped at a Robinson's Mall to buy something for our leaders bonding after the Strat Plan.

We were back at the Tea House, Ponderosa Leisure farm at 11:20AM. LCD was in and we started our Strat PLan proper.

We concluded our Strat Plan at 5:20PM and then we head on to NLR's place for our bonding.

We started our bonding/party with the Barbeque. Maggie and I prepared the frying pan while NLR and Rhea went out to get more charcoals. 

We brought our gifts of any kind. There was one gift for everyone and another one for the exciting "White Elephant". I never heard of White Elephant before. White Elephant is another creative way of exchanging gifts. Pair of dice is rolled. An even number of dots means "Take a Gift" from the table while odd number of dots means pass on to the next person. Each person will roll the dice depending on the number of gifts he or she brought.

White Elephant

Our gifts were all at the table and we started the White Elephant. Melanie was the first one to roll the dice. We had our turns on the dice and it was a very funny way of exchanging gifts.

After the White Elephant we had our dinner. Alen, Ronnie and Icar left the place after dinner.

Leaders Bonding

NLR's place is so peaceful. I felt that we were the only person at the place at that time. The wind was cold.  After a while, we started sharing our stories with each other at a table in the garden near the Christmas tree. This was one of my most favorite parts of the bonding. We reminisced our past - working with the company, Hapag-Lloyd and Kerry - ATS in particular. It was a very relaxing session and we learned a lot of stories from each other.

I enjoyed taking photos of NLR's backyard at night with the warm lights and the green Bermuda grass. We decided to go to bed past 11:00PM.

NLR's Backyard at Night

I had a goodnight sleep at a room that I shared with Dr. Norway at NLR's place. Lanie and the rest of the ladies were upstairs.

Day 02: 14 December 2013

Walking Tour - Ponderosa

I woke up 7:00AM the following day and a nice "Champorado" was waiting on the table. NLR was ready for a walk around Ponderosa. Melanie, Dr. Norway, Myra and I joined the walk. 

The walk was also a tour of Ponderosa Leisure Farm. Ponderosa is a high-end subdivision. Houses are on Mexican accent/style. More info about Ponderosa Leisure Farm.

At 10:30AM, we were all back at NLR's place. We left Ponderosa at around 11:00AM.

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Reaching Out to RSCC (Reception and Study Center for Children) - Lubao, Pampanga

Lubao, Pampanga

23 November 2013

RSCC Office, Prado Siongco, Lubao, Pampanga

The Holy Bible says: "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." (Hebrews 13:16).

I'm not a party-goer type of a person, but it does not mean that I hate parties. Whenever I hear the words, "Birthday', 'Christmas' and 'Anniversaries', for me they only mean one thing, party!

For my more than 10-year stay at the corporate world, I must say that I, together with my colleagues, must have been truly blessed - to had celebrated our anniversaries and Christmas seasons with fun-filled glittery and some glamorous parties.

Since then, these practices or corporate culture had been imprinted into my system such that when the calendar points to 'ber' - months, I already know what it means even without our bosses telling us.

My type of celebrations could be quite different from others as I feel more joy and long-lasting happiness to share whatever that is pleasing to my heart and conscience to the most needy - forgo fancy parties and noisy celebrations - and celebrate instead with simplicity full of gratitude.

I had been dreaming for us at the company, on our special occasions to go out, to give hope and do any little and simple ways we can to touch the lives of those who are in need.

 
Such dream had finally came into reality.

I felt as if my heart jumped out of my chest when the management announced that they had decided to do a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to celebrate the company's 21st anniversary in the Philippines. I had been tasked to scout a nearby place where we could do our CSR.

The initial plan was to do a tree-planting in the morning, celebrate the company's anniversary at an orphanage or at a kindergarten school with the children in the afternoon and finally spend the night bonding with each other at a nice resort or hotel.

We had few challenges. We learned from the bureau of forestry that the tree-planting season had ended in the month of July and the next season continues in the beginning of next year. The overnight stay had also been cancelled by the management lately and decided to donate the budget to a selected orphanage or children school.

We then focused on celebrating the anniversary at an orphanage in the morning and then do a simple team building in the remaining half of the day.

I learned from a colleague who was raised from a province up north about a lone orphanage for children 0 to 6 years of age. The Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) is a home for more than 75 abandoned, neglected and abused children 0 to 6 years old located at Prado Siongco, Lubao, Pampanga.

RSCC is a home for atleast 75 abandoned, neglected and abused children

Nearby the site, is the "Dambana ng Kagitingan" (Shrine of Valor), a national park situated atop Mt. Samat in the province of Bataan. After several weeks of preparation, we had finalized our plans and programs for the company's 21st year anniversary celebration - not with the usual glittery party but to reach out, give hope and touch the lives of the children at RSCC.

Each member of the company had been assigned with atleast 1 child from RSCC to adopt and provide any useful gift. There were around 80 children including those from the nursery and orange group (special kids).

We decided to get the service of the nearest food provider - Jollibee for the lunch with a mascot to entertain the kids.

Early morning on the 23rd day of November 2013, we left Makati on a convoy towards Lubao, Pampanga. It was a 2-hour drive. RSCC is located at the middle of a vast open field about a kilometer away from the main road. The first half of the road is cemented and the remaining half until RSCC office is a rough road.

The volunteers were preparing the venue when we arrived - arranging chairs and setting up the sound system. While we are preparing, the kids were slowly escorted by the volunteers into the venue. I had to say that by looking at them, my heart started to melt. We gathered the children around the stage.

Kids lined-up as they arrive at the venue

Even before we started the program, the children were already happily interacting with us. I felt, from the looks of their faces, that they were so happy to see us, wanting to be cuddled and feel a warm hug, things they had always been longing for in every moment of their lives. Their innocent smiles were their simplest way of saying "thank you" to all of us.

Celebrating our anniversary with the RSCC kids

We started the program at 9:00AM. "Ate" Erma delivered a simple and cheerful opening remarks for the kids and then followed by "Ate" Noris. "Ate" Alinil prepared several exciting games for everyone.

Playing games with RSCC kids

The games were not played by the children alone. All of the staff played with the children too.

While everyone was busy playing the games, I was equally busy taking close-up candid shots of the children's happy faces and a laptop operator at the same time.

Everyone enjoyed the balloon burst, match box race, sack race and most of all the "pabitin".

Kids partying with Mascot

HLP Team with RSCC Kids

Much was the excitement of the children to see the Jollibee mascot wiggle and giggle at the middle of the stage to the tune of "Gimme.. gimme.. gimme.." and "Gangnam style.." We had many photo-ops with the mascot and with the children. I was so delighted to see the happy faces of every child as they gracefully danced at the stage with the mascot.

The lunch was served for the children. Again, staff were assigned to assist the volunteers.

 

While the kids were enjoying their spaghetti and chicken, I was so busy taking candid "moments shots". Deep inside me, I was celebrating with the kids - just looking at their happy faces -  and my heart also was smiling with joy.

I was once a kid and I know the feeling of receiving a toy or a gift. After the lunch, we started distributing our gifts to the children. Each staff was called at the stage to present individual gifts to the children.

 

 

Three kids were assigned to me and I felt how happy the kids were at that time. I felt so honored and fulfilled to hand-over my gifts to the children assigned to me one-by-one and saw a sincere smile at their faces as they looked at the toys.

Goods for RSCC and kids

The company also donated goods to RSCC for the children and the volunteers.

HLP Team at RSCC

We ended the program with a happy and fulfilled heart knowing that what we did something with a great value.

We had our lunch at around 12:00 noon, tidy up after and headed on to our side trip at "Dambana ng Kagitingan".

From RSCC, we headed on west and down south to the province of Bataan. Bataan is one of the best places to go to reminisce the heroism of our fellow Filipinos during World War II.

Shrine of Valor at Mt. Samat

It took us an hour drive to the Mt. Samat National Shrine from RSCC. It is located atop Mt. Samat and it is about 6 kilometers away from the main road. The road going up the shrine is a zigzag cemented road. The altitude at the shrine is around 600 Meters Above Sea Level (MASL).

HLP members at Dambana ng Kagitingan

It was my first time to be at the site, though, I had seen the big cross from the main road in one of my travels at the province of Bataan.

According to Wikipedia, the cross is about 302 feet high. The Mount Samat National Shrine was erected as a fitting memorial to the heroic struggle and sacrifices of those soldiers who fought and died in that historic bastion of freedom. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Samat).

HLP team having dinner at Razon's along NLEX

HLP team having dinner at Razon's along NLEX

At about 3:00 PM, we left Mt. Samat and then headed back to Manila via the SCTEX. We stopped at a gas station along NLEX and ended the day with a sumptuous dinner.

This activity, for me, is certainly one of the best and I will always remember.

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