Fighting the darkness after storm

LIGHTING, instead of cursing, the darkness. Sto. Niño Church in Tacloban City is aglow in Christmas lights. RICHARD A. REYES

TACLOBAN CITY—The bright Christmas lanterns that light Sto. Niño Church seem to be out of place in surroundings that the word devastation isn’t enough to describe.

For church leaders here, however, they are a perfect fit for a city and people looking for symbols of hope, and perhaps, defiance, too.
The 10 lanterns, set up in the church premises on Thursday, shone brightly, as they were the only source of illumination in the pitch-black nights of the city that lost power when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” struck on November 8.

“The parol at this time is a symbol of hope for all of us in the midst of darkness,” said Fr. Amadeo Alvero, one of the assistant parish priests of the church and spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Palo.

“It can be a symbol of Christ himself, who is the light,” he said.

Beyond being a symbol of hope, Alvero said the lanterns were a sign of defiance, of the faithful’s refusal to simply sit in a corner and weep after losing loved ones, sources of livelihood, homes and nearly everything to Yolanda.

“With or without Yolanda, the church will celebrate Christmas,” he said.

To light the lanterns, the church used a generator it had acquired following the storm, according to Germaine Delicano, personal assistant of Monsignor Alex Opiniano, the parish priest.

Alvero said the celebration of Christmas in the middle of utter destruction had become “more fitting and meaningful, knowing that we have a savior to save us from our pain and suffering.”

Cristina Capambe, a 72-year-old resident of Barangay (village) 42-B, said the lanterns not only made her feel the spirit of Christmas but more importantly, the courage that hope brings.

“These parols, for me, signal that Christmas is with us now. That despite what Yolanda destroyed, faith was not among those,” Capambe said.

Hernando Trangie, 40, said he felt happy just looking at the lanterns, though the respite from anguish they offered could be fleeting.

“This makes me forget the gloom caused by Yolanda in your place,” said Trangie, a worker from Manila who was hired to do repair work on Sto. Niño Church, which suffered heavy damage when Yolanda struck.

Delicano said the lanterns were old ones retrieved from the church stockroom.

Their display usually starts on November 24, when Catholics celebrate the feast of Christ the King, until after the Christmas season.

Yolanda delayed the schedule but could not stop the practice altogether.

Prior to the display of the lanterns, churchgoers defied personal tragedies and went to daily Masses that were said at the church despite the extensive damage that it took from Yolanda, which is estimated to cost at least P20 million to repair.

The church lost its roof and ceiling to more than 300-kilometer-per-hour winds and the belfry’s ceiling was destroyed, too.

Life-size images of saints and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary were intact though thrown onto the floor. Several wooden benches facing the altar were stained with mud.

There is no doubt among church leaders and parishioners, however, that the church, believed to have been built in the 1700s, will rise again.

The lanterns, now glowing in a city besieged by darkness, are a testament to that.