[Photo above shows our KUYA RAUL who is BISHOP RAUL C. TOBIAS of the Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada of the Philippine Independent Church aka AGLIPAYAN CHURCH OF THE PHILIPPINES. He is the youngest son of the late Spouses CASTOR TOBIAS and LOLITA DE CASTRO TOBIAS of Santa Cruz, Laguna. Tiyo Castor Tobias is the eldest brother of my late Mom, Norma Rivera Tobias. As has been the culture in the Tagalog region of the Philippines, the children of the eldest sibling is accorded much respect as some kind of acknowledging the ELDEST as some analogical example of a PRIMUS INTER PARES.]
Sa mga KAANAK namin siya ang SINUSULINGAN,
Ukol sa mga payo at buhay-buhay MAN;
Dahil nga siya’y alagad ng DIYOS bilang isang PARI,
Siya’y OBISPO na ngayon, na mapusyaw na nga ang DALIRI1…
Mapusyaw ang DALIRI dahil sa SINUSUNOD,
Kapag tinaas ito’y tuluyan silang TATANGHOD;
Sa usap-usapan at lalo na sa PULPITO,
Mga salita niya’y para bagang PEETO 2 !
PEETO nga na mula sa SILBATO 3,
Kaya kapag umalingawngaw PAPARA4 ka ng TODO;
O kung tama din naman ang gawi o ginagawa MO…
Ibig sabihin nyan lang ay DERECHO aking IJO 5!
Siya’y OBISPO ng Simbahang AGLIPAYANO 6,
Na syang tinangkilik ng tanging angkan KO;
Ang pagkakaiba lamang sa KATOLIKO7,
Ay ang hindi pagtalima sa utos ng VATICANO 8!
Ang may-bahay ni KUYA RAUL na si ATE MONA 9,
Tunay na maganda at lalo pa ngang GRACIOSA;
Nang kami’y dumalaw noong 2015 sa ESTADOS UNIDOS,
Sinundo kami sa AIRPORT at nagsilbing DRAYBER 10 ng LUBOS!
Nalaman ko lamang na noong petsang IYON,
Ang SIMBAHANG AGLIPAYANO’y mayroon palang SELEBRASYON11 ;
Kaya nung kami’y dalhin sa simbahan para sa Banal na MISA,
Ang ABITO12 ng OBISPO’y pula at makapal na ORGANZA13!
Mula sa aming mag-anak at pati ang buong ANGKAN…
Nagpapaabot sa iyo KUYA RAUL ng puspos na PAG-GALANG;
Ikaw ang syang tulay naming lahat sa PARAISO 14,
Lumawig na nga’t humaba sana nga ang BUHAY MO!
Noong kami’y mga paslit pa at tuwing “school VACATION” 15,
Pagbabakasyon namin sa Santa Cruz, Laguna halos ay “training SESSION”;
Tinuturuan kaming lahat ni KUYA RAUL ng mga “BOY SCOUTS TYING KNOT” 16,
Totoong sa kaalaman siya’y HINDI NAGKUKUNAT17 !
Kaya nga ay palagiang tayong MAGDARASAL,
GOOD LUCK message para kay Kuya Raul ay patuloy nating IUSAL;
Pati prayers of “PROSPERITY” at “GOOD HEALTH WISHES”,
Upang s’ating pagtahak sa LANGIT marami tayong makuhang PLUSSES18!
[Legend: 1 – DALIRI na MAPUSYAW which roughly translates into ENGLISH as “dazzling or shining forefinger”– This is a phrase being used supported by POETIC LICENSE to denote the teaching profile of a man of the cloth, a priest, who would usually raise up his forefinger coupled by some kind of “up and down” motion to express or impress the guiding tenor of his statements and/or speech.
2 – PEETO is a term which denotes a WHISTLE or the shrilling sound generated by blowing a WHISTLE. The spelling was sort of exaggerated to make it distinct from the other Tagalog word “PITO” which could also mean SEVEN.
3 – SILBATO is another term for WHISTLE, which is the gadget that generates a WHISTLE sound.
4 – PAPARA is derived from the Spanish term PARAR which means to STOP. PAPARA therefore means TO STOP.
5 – IJO is another Spanish term which means a SON.
6 – AGLIPAYANO refers to the PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT CHURCH or AGLIPAYAN CHURCH which was established by the the late Catholic priest, Fr. Gregorio Aglipay of Ilocos Norte. It is an independent Christian denomination in the form of a national church in the Philippines. Its schism from the Catholic Church was proclaimed in 1902 by the members of the Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina due to the alleged mistreatment of the Filipinos by Spanish priests and the execution of José Rizal during Spanish colonial rule.I was in fact baptized in the Aglipay Church as I was born in Santa Cruz, Laguna except that when I went schooling at San Beda High School, I was thereafter baptized in the Catholic rites at the St. Ignatius Chapel inside Fort Aguinaldo (THEN KNOWN AS CAMP MURPHY), Quezon City.
7 – KATOLIKO refers to the Roman Catholic Church.
8 – VATICANO refers to the City of Vatican in Rome, Italy which serves as the seat of the Roman Catholic Church.
9 – ATE MONA is the beauteous wife of Kuya Raul and is the former MONALIZA ESCOBAR whose family hails from CAVITE.
10 – When I and my Daddy Max Young went to the U.S.A. in 2015 to join my daughters who earlier flew to the U.S.A. to compete in the 2015 World Hiphop International Contest, I got surprised to see Ate Mona, alone and unescorted, at the arrival area as she fetched us and served as our driver.
11 – I later learned that the AGLIPAYAN Church chapter in the U.S.A. was then celebrating the anniversary of the AGLIPAYAN Church in the U.S.A. When I and Daddy Max thereafter attended the HOLY MASS at the L.A. Church (after Ate MONA fetched us from the airport) where the Philippine Independent Church (U.S.A. Chapter) was holding their anniversary-celebration, I was amazed to learn that the Philippine National Anthem is sung before the HOLY COMMUNION.
12 – ABITO is the Tagalog term used to refer to the priestly vestment.
13 – ORGANZA –again, supported by POETIC LICENSE, this would refer to the priestly vestment then worn by Kuya Raul which is a seeming vestment of brocaded fabric or perhaps a thick organza.
14 – PARAISO would refer to HEAVEN.
15 – SCHOOL VACATION refers to the school break which starts from March until May. During those years of our nonage, we will always be brought (me, and my other sibling William together with my cousins notable Amormio and Agnes I think); to Santa Cruz, Laguna unto the care and custody of our late Tia Loling Tobias, to spend our vacation and we will be looking forward to Kuya Raul teaching us a lot of feats and things.
16 – As Kuya Raul was a high level officer of the BOY SCOUTS, he would brief us about the BOY SCOUTS and would teach us about those BOY SCOUTS TYING KNOTS.
17 – “Nagkukunat” would actually mean TRYING TO ACT SO STINGY. In this regard, Kuya Raul was not STINGY with his knowledge and would in fact teach us about those BOY SCOUTS TYING KNOTS.
18 – PLUSSES would actually mean the many merits that we would gain and accumulate by PRAYER and GOOD DEEDS as our own passport to eternal life in heaven.]
I am a litigation lawyer in the Philippines and a graduate of the UP College of Law. I am married to a culinary chef, my wife Criselda, endearingly called as Dang, who is now preparing her masteral thesis at UP; and have four (4) children: three (3) daughters (i.e. Shayna, a UP Masscom grad; Cheska, a UP Visual Arts grad; and, Alee who is a Grade 12 student at Miriam High) who are all passionate advocates of the hiphop culture particularly the dance genre (i.e. regular participants in the annual World Hiphop International Dance Competitions in the US) and one (1) son (i.e. Anthony who is an Ateneo graduate in European Studies) who lustily plays the guitar and the electronic drums.
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