BALANGA City – Bishop Ruperto C. Santos of the Diocese of Balanga has announced the holding of a long procession at dawn on first Saturday of October from two directions to Orani, Bataan as a way of sacrifice to voice strong opposition to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and other issues.
The 4:00 a.m. procession will start south of Orani at the Saint Catherine of Siena church in Samal town and in the north at the Saint John de Baptist church in Tapulao, Orani.
The two groups will meet at the Virgen Milagrosa del Rosario church in Orani where a Holy Mass will be held.
The bishop asked participants to offer acts of contrition and consecration. “Ang ating Mahal na Ina, ang Santo Rosaryo ang ating pag-asa at kalakasan sa ating pagtangis sa ating bayang kahapis-hapis dahil sa eskandalo sa pork barrel,” Santos said.
“Through the procession and the recitation of the Holy Rosary, we will knock into the hearts of some in government to change their evil ways and for those doing good to continue doing so,” he said.
Participants in the procession and the Holy Mass will also be asked to promise of having a credible barangay election, of being friendly to the environment and to oppose contraceptive mentality.
The bishop said that through the Marian procession, the diocese hopes that its request to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines of turning the Orani parish into a national shrine will be realized.
He said that when the first Dominican fathers arrived in the Philippines, the missionaries carried with them three Santo Rosario – La Naval in Sto. Domingo, Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan and Virgen Milagrosa in Orani.
“Tulad ng La Naval at Manaoag na naging lugar ng pilgrimage, maging lugar din sana ng pamimintuho at pagdarasal hindi lamang kung Oktubre kundi buong taon ang ating bayan,” Cruz said.
