Sto Niño Church and 'triskads'', Lianga
I won't be posting at least until 18 May. I fly to Manila tomorrow for a meeting on Wednesday and then fly to Mindanao on Thursday for a wedding the following day in my former parish of Lianga, Surigao del Sur. The Diocese of Tandag covers the province of Surigao del Sur. When I was there for eleven months in 1993-94 the mayor was promising that by the following year there would be 'a telephone' in the town, in the municipal hall. I don't know if it was every installed but everyone now has cellphones.
A ricefield outside the town of Lianga
When I was there most of the highway through the province left a lot to be desired. It is now a concrete highway I'm told. We Columbans in the Philippines joke that once we leave an area they pave the roads. There is some truth in that.
Sto Niño Church, Lianga
It's just over ten years since my last visit to Sto Niño (Holy Child) parish, where I was the last Columban priest. I had been sent there for two years but was asked to become the Columban vocation director and moved to Manila after only eleven months. The Columbans took four parishes in the Diocese of Tandag in 1979. When I was there we had only two and we left the diocese in 1995, I think.
Sto Niño Church, interior
A street scene in Lianga
I found the photos of Lianga above on A Lianga Diary in Photographs by Benjie Otagan who lives there. (So they must have a telephone line in by now!)
Lianga, Surigao del Sur, on the east coast of Mindanao, Philippines
Pugad Beach, Lianga
The map and the photo of Pugad Beach are taken from the page on Lianga in Wikipedia.