Since I adapted myself to San Pedro City life 24 years ago, I always notice a lot of people milling around the corner of Landayan and the Old National Highway in the heart of the city.
They are either going in or moving out of the Landayan Road in trikes or private vehicles or simply walking, crossing the street.
A traffic congestion is normally created, especially during Fridays but would slowly ease up towards dusk.
In my tenth year of residency in the city, I’ve learned that Fridays are delivering a behemoth of pilgrims to and from a religious place of worship called the Shrine of Jesus of the Holy Sepulcher located in the populous end point of Landayan near the Laguna Lake.
The Shrine of Jesus of the Holy Sepulchre is a holy place mostly visited every Friday but it is crowded with pilgrims during the entire duration of Holy Week.
I would soon be informed that the Shrine is the spiritual dwelling of an image of Jesus Christ popularly known as Lolo Uweng by prayerful travelers.
Its history dates back during the Spanish period when local fishermen discovered and rescued an image of the dead Jesus Christ floating in the lake so they brought it to a chapel for veneration.
News of miracles happening to visitors started to spread around the community, neighboring towns and the whole country that the sick were healed, the desperate, the forlorn, the marginalized and other problematic people resolved and reformed and they began to congregate in the ermita (small religious place) every Friday.
The image was displayed near the altar of the visita or camarin (another word for chapel) and soon pilgrims flocked to it for prayers and supplications, individually or collectively, asking for miracles which allegedly were felt and granted.
The image of the dead Jesus Christ was named Lolo (Grandfather) Uweng (short name for Emmanuel—another for Son of the Father—Savior of the World).
Organizations to man the Shrine were formed and their leaders did everything to manage the church orderly.
They come and go while others persist like Sonny Ordona, a San Pedro resident for years, who has stood by Lolo Uweng for the longest time.
I’ve known Sonny for over forty years.
Ordona and this writer are brothers in Phi Chi Rho, a legitimate and recognized fraternity at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters.
I was one year his junior when he graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Journalism while I finished AB Lit, formerly Bachelor of Literature (LittB).
The last time I talked with Sonny he was proud and committed to the religious service to Lolo Uweng.
“Ito ang advocacy ko (This is my),” he said with conviction.
Through Ordona’s leadership, a new pilgrim’s home is being built by his group.
Anyway, we were supposed to do an interview with Sonny last week for a longer story on Lolo Uweng but he was indisposed so we reset our talk sometime this week.
It must be a colorful experience for Ordona so we have to get excited and awaited by it so don’t ever miss it here in OpinYon Laguna Entertainment.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #LandayanChurch #LoloUweng