Deed of Benefaction from FSC

This one took me by surprised and I was teary-eyed when the De La Salle Brothers, through the Visitor, Br. Dodo Fernandez, FSC, presented me with a "Deed of Benefaction" (a certificate and a medallion) for the services I have been rendering De La Salle Lipa for the past ten (10) years and the district, as well, as chaplain. I thought it would just be a simple "thank you for being chaplain for the past ten years", but this was not so.

I was all the more touched when Br. Dodo told me that it was Br. Rafael "Rafe" Donato who "engineered" all this. Br. Rafe was the one who personally lobbied for me to be assigned full-time chaplain from the Archbishop of Lipa, now Archbishop of Manila, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, in 1996. It was he who challenged me that "we will change the face of Lipa". To date, I have blessed more than 15 new edifices starting with the Sentrum in 1995 (and I was not yet the chaplain during that year)! Br. Rafe worked on this Deed of Benefaction early this year as he was aware that this is my silver jubilee year -- and his golden jubilee year, as well! I need not point out that he died a few weeks after October 16, Nov. 2 to be exact, of mysterious circumstances, which we can only accpet in faith. God bless Br. Rafe. God bless the Brothers of the Christian Schools!

The citation in the certificate is in French, the official language of the FSC. Br. Mawel Pajarillo, FSC, president of DLSL, and a multi-linguist scholar, read the text in the original, while Br. Ricky Laguda, FSC, Director of Novices, read the English translation.

I will treasure this forever!