Down in History
She was born two years ahead when President Manuel L. Quezon was elected to the presidency. Quezon, as history taught us, became the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth, the administrative body that governed the country from 1935-1936.
Luningning De Jesus first unleashed her baby yelp when the Philippines was still under the Insular Government under US Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr and the Pope was Pius XI the pontiff who issued numerous encyclicals, including Quadragesimo anno.
Everybody’s Tia Ning was born on May 27, 1933, here in Sablayan, and is 90 years old now, alive, blabbing, and still hearing mass unaccompanied and receiving the Holy Eucharist. The Sablayan’s most adored nonagenarian was already 11 or so when World War II broke out and outlived 15 out of 17 presidents this country has.
She was by then 7 when the people of Sablayan elected their first-ever municipal mayor Pedro Gonzales.
This woman touched many lives, including mine. How do you remember Tia Ning?
Town’s Echo
Medel Bundang recalled Tia Ning as his religion teacher way back in his elementary days in the late 60s. “To her, from my point of view as a child, I think her way of teaching the subject is more than forming our faith but an invitation to a way of life,” says Bundang, 59, the town’s Human Resource Officer. Tia Ning started to work under Fr. Father Ludwig (Luis) Halász, SVD, the missionary who first came to Sablayan in 1958. Tia Ning spent almost all her life as a catechist together with the late Minerva “Tia Meny” Gallardo.
Father Ronald Panganiban, present parish priest of Sablayan said that despite her age, though she is already retired, she is still active in various religious organizations like the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (DMI), Catholic Women’s League (CWL) and Mother Butlers League (MBL), among others. The clergy said that she even received the Gawad San Sebastian, Huwarang Lingkod ng Simbahan bestowed by the parish on January 17 this year.
The word catechist comes from a Greek word meaning "to echo". True enough, this curly-haired little woman who has a stature like Mother Teresa of Calcutta echoed the Word of God to the children of the town whose patron saint is Sebastian. She was a full-grown lass of 20 when San Sebastian Parish church was canonically erected. From there she became every catechumen’s catechist in this Christian community in Occidental Mindoro.
Almost every prominent settler and resident in the town proper considered Tia Ning as one of their main travel companions in faith, keeping alive the memory of Jesus. As Pope Francis aptly puts it, "Catechists are people who keep the memory of God alive; they keep it alive in themselves and can revive it in others." The numerous priests who hailed from the place called Dongon of yore could very well attest to that.
Exemplary Spirituality
“She is my idol when it comes to spirituality,” narrates Flordeliza Paz or Tita Flor, who came to work as a government employee in Sablayan from Agkawayan, Looc in Lubang Island in 1973.
Tita Flor reiterates that Tia Ning’s devotion to Mary is worth emulating for she learned many examples from Mary, as a teacher and “model of catechists.” “Tia Ning’s ministry is especially enriched by her prayerful devotion to the Blessed Mother,” concludes Tita Flor who is also a member of the parish’s Lectorate Ministry. Like the Blessed Virgin, she is faithful to Jesus, the Light of the World.
Her fellow parish server, Sheryll Kenept (Naning), cannot forget how Tia Ning asserts herself to lead prayers before a dining table on every occasion. Her prayers are very long and religiously follow the sequence of Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. “Pero mahaba talaga. Gutom na gutom na ang mga kakain, hindi pa siya tapos magdasal. Grace before meals pa lang, parang rollo na sa Cursillo,” narrates Naning in jest. What is her membership in Cursillo (Spanish for “Short Course”) in Christianity and Apostolada ng Panalangin for? But Naning believes that her main secret to staying alive is her every day going to the Holy Mass, her devotion and everything follows like a stress-free mind and healthy lifestyle and all.
Naning is the daughter of equally illustrious Dr. Susana Diaz, the town's longtime physician, and past councilor.
Luningning Daprosa Orlina De Jesus’s spirituality defines who she is and what her life is all about.
Couple Shirts
Councilor Clarinda Lorenzo (nee Alvarez), 56, can still vividly remember Tia Ning and her late husband Leopoldo De Jesus, known in the neighborhood as Tio Polding, attending the mass donning clothes with identical color and design. She was so aristocratic with her elegant dress, complete with her signature handbag and lady shoes. Those were the days when couple shirts are still things of the future.
Like the lady councilor, our birthday granny also dived into politics. She was voted kagawad (councilor) of Barangay Poblacion and served her full term from 1998 to 2002 with Amable Urieta as the Punong Barangay, because, understandably, she is everybody’s Tia Ning.
“She sings like nightingale be it with the regular choir or during processions where she leads the singing,” recalls the local lady lawmaker who was once a teacher and a police officer. In SB Clarinda’s mind, such matching or complementary clothing of Polding and Ning gives a strong message: belonging, unity, and togetherness. Death did not separate Ning and Polding for in her heart, he lives eternally.
Though they are not used to wearing couple shirts, though a dozen of them were kept in their closet, Clarinda and her husband Edmon are trying to live up to such an example of being in love together, belonging in each other’s arms, and united by the bond of marriage, forever.
Birthday Bash
It started with a challenge or provocation, you may say. Mylen Lontoc, proprietor of the town’s famous Mylits Restobar along Medalla Boulevard told this scribe that when Tia Ning reached her 85th birth anniversary in 2018, the retired catechist is very sickly. Her weight dropped and was not in the pink of health.
“Sinabi ko kanya, kapag umabot ka ng 90, libre venue mo sa Mylits. Basta magpalakas kayo at kumain ng mabuti,” (I told her, when you reach 90, you will have a free venue at Mylits. Just get strong and eat well.) the restaurateur assures her.
Lo and behold, at 90, Tia Ning is very much alive to date, still praying and kicking!
Her Wishes
This is how she wants to be remembered, especially by the young generation:
“Gusto kong maalala ng mga kabataan ng Sablayan na minsan ay may taong kalakbay nila sa pananampalataya, namuhay nang simple at inilaan ang buhay sa paglilingkod sa Diyos at kapwa.” (I want the young people of Sablayan to remember that there was once a person who joined them in their journey of faith, who lived a simple life and devoted her life to serving God and others.)
She fervently wished she will live long and continue to accumulate not earthly treasures but heavenly ones.
It is a sure ball that many were invited to Mylits tomorrow and greet her and share this momentous moment with her. Wishing her good tidings and may she reach the century mark of life or even beyond.
Truly, Jesus loves those who make His light shine for the world.
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(Photo: Mrs. Tina Paz)
