Ladies of Charity Distribute Rice at Krus na Ligas
Last April 25, 2017, the Ladies of Charity went ahead with their quarterly rice distribution, this time at Holy Cross Parish in the historic Krus na Ligas district of Diliman. This follows the last quarter’s January rice distribution at San Isidro Labrador Parish. It’s also the second time the Ladies of Charity distributed rice in Krus na Ligas – the first time was approximately the same time last year, although Fr. Marvin Pajarillaga, Holy Cross’ parish priest, had been pleading for an even more frequent visitation.
Rice distribution as a Ladies of Charity project has been ongoing since 2015. Recipient s had included Libi s , Bagumbayan, Lady of Miraculous Medal parish in Project 4, Lady of Perpetual Help in Cubao, Sta. Rita de Cascia, Parish of the Risen Lord, and San Isidro Labrador parish, all part of the Cubao diocese. In fact, Fr. Arvi Bello of San Isidro Labrador parish has been the most frequent parish recipient with three visits.
In previous quarters, Ladies of Charity would raise funds, approximately P72,000 per distribution, to be able to purchase the rice but at the end of 2016 during the budget planning session, Fr. Bong agreed with the Social Services & Development Ministry and Ladies of Charity that the Lingap and Lolas program would be taken away from LOC and in its place, Christ the King’s Parish Pastoral Council would begin to fund the rice distribution. When the program first began , LOC distributed only 2 kilos each to only 100 families, which then increased to 250 families but this has nearly doubled to 400 families per quarterly distribution, and from only 2 kilos to 5 kilos.
At Holy Cross Parish, the Ladies of Charity members distributed on behalf of Christ the King Parish 400 packs of five-kilo premium rice to each of the families selected by a PPC group created by Fr. Marvin and tasked with selecting the poorest of the poor who deserved the rice donations. Most of the recipients were heard to say, ‘Malaking bagay as amin ito’. This sentiment was echoed by Fr. Marvin who exclaimed, ‘I’m very grateful to the Ladies of Charity.’
Present at the rice distribution were LOCs Fe Pery, president; Jessie Fajardo; Malu Cataldi; Emy Ti; Dolor Enriquez; Narching Malatuba; Eden dela Cruz; Eileen de Leon;Tessie Saulog; Terry Floro; and Beth Monedero. Fr. Marvin started with praying the Our Father.
Krus Na Ligas once served as a shelter for Philippine hero Andres Bonifacio who sought refuge from the 1896 Balintawak mayhem. With Balara, it eventually became the Katipunan headquarters. Krus Na Ligas thus became a site of struggle towards national independence and freedom from colonial arrests. How it got its name maybe ascribed to the crossed-branch poison ivy or ligas tree that thrived in this chapel’s location.
