Baby Angelo Plaza

Mr. Diay Plaza and Mrs. Nene Esperon Plaza has another cute grandchild by the name of Baby Angelo from their third son Ian Plaza. Baby Angelo was born last December 12, 2007.

Ian is now based in San Francisco, USA and working at the U.S. Justice Department. He is married to Abby, a Filipina nurse. His two other siblings are the young Gigaquitnon lawyers Atty. Pong Plaza who is with the Presidential legal staff in Manila and Atty. Denden Plaza based in Butuan City who is also married to a lawyer.

click photo to see more . . .

GOL Digest Volume 6

Greeting to our readers!

First of all we apologize for the delay in coming out with our Volume 5 and 6. No worry, we are still around to serve you despite of our very hectic schedules. As you may know, all current members of the website team are working and can do this part-time only.

By the way, for those who may wonder how the members of the website team look like, let us see first the following photos . . .

The above picture was taken sometime February 2008 at Max Restaurant in Shangri-la Mall, Mandaluyong City. Lunch was hosted by Mrs. Grace Roa Gonzales who is an avid reader of Gigaquit Online. She now serves as adviser for this website. The rest in the picture are the members of the GCC Media Committee (from left) Mr. Eliezer Molina, Mr. Steven Egay, Capt. Mario Recentes, Mana Grace, Mr. Emil Canda (Head of GCC Media Committee and GOL) and Mr. Rey Tupal.

In the above photo are the GCC Hometown Volunteers for Media. Ms. Cherry Dalagan at the front, Ms. Baby Recimo at extreme left and Mr. Jojo Patosa the tallest guy wearing shades. They are posing at Doot Bridge near the Municipal Guest House.

Going back to the subject of operating GOL, we wish to appeal for support by way of advertisers for this website. The ad rates can be seen under "Support Us" section. Whatever revenues that may be generated will go to Gigaquit Online and to supplement the funding requirements of our GCC Scholarship Project. For GOL in particular, we are planning to give monetary allowance to a few personnel of the website team. We would like give a small token every month to show appreciation for their hard toil as they give a steady stream of contents and have this website updated timely on a regular basis.

Your advertisements here will not go to naught as GOL have substantial readership. We have roughly 400,000 hits since August 2007. Most readers are from the United States, Canada and Australia. Your advertisements can be in the form of announcements to solicit business or simply to send some greetings. It can go a long way.

We hope to hear from you soon so send us your reply at contact-us@gigaquitonline.com.

Your utmost support is most welcome!

Mabuhay an mga Gigaquitnons!

Steven A. Egay
GCC President

Si Oya Okis

Si Oya Okis
by: Mar Recentes



Sajo sa buntag an putos an ija pas-an
Pasingod sa Mahanub, sa Ipil gikan
An ija bayon nilupak sanan uyang
Nasudsud sa likod nan simbahan

Nanuway kuno kabii sila Mano Larry
Did-on ra sa may sea wall kabii
Nanuyû, nanûdsud, namukot
May nabingwit na bigarol sab gani…

Ugsa may bayon na napalit si Oya Okis
Na likid ni Mana Komya kaina
Naglupak kabii sila Mana Gene
Na natûba kuno kahapon sa Alambique.

Dali ra naabot an Parang
Ni Oya Okis iban an amo silingan
Kadto kuno sila para sa balanghoy
Na tanum nila sa bukid...
Kalagku gajod kay an lupa, taba man!

Pagkahapon, jari na uli sila Oya Okis
Sakay sa traysikol nila Kyakya
Upat ka sako na balanghoy
Lima ka net bag na mga gulay
Hinog an ija espesyal taghatag sab sa akû...

Kalipay nila Tay Ale!
Kalipay sab nila Fuse sanan Mana Gene
Nahatagan sab sila Mano Buguy nan parte
Sila Popo Tino, Sir Kalan sanan Popo Ande...
Nan balanghoy, gulay, pati na mga sili.

Kasiluman ako na sab an nagbakang
Pasingod na sa ako iskuylahan
Nila Mama, Mana Melda, Mi-mi, Noni pati mga silingan
Bayon an balanghoy na inasukaran…

Kalami unta kuman kon may masudsud pa!
Kalami unta kon may mapukut pa!
May tuway pa kaha sa may sea wall…
Kay bisan luyung masipog na molamyerda?

Na hala! Sige, sige lamang kita na abuso
Utud nan kahoy, hilo nan ayog an mga puluho
Moabot an panahon waya nay maihatag sa silingan;
Moabot an panahon na si Oya Okis kita kasab-an!

Kadugay na jadto na mga tuig!
Di ko gajod kalimtan an ako Oya
Pati an hinog na saging na ija pirme hatag
Kay ako man lagi an ija payanggā.

Lang-on nato na lajo na ako sa ija tagpahuwajan kuman
Pero an ija pagmatuto jari pa nagbakang...
Sa ako dubdub ako tag-ignajan
Na akû maitudlo sa akû mga liwat kuman.

Ma, Oya Okis, Popo Ande, Sir Kalan...
Unta ijo mahibayuan...
Jari sa kasingkasing ko an ijo mga tagtudlo...
Sa lainlain na mga panawan;
Unta sa Diyos ijo kami iampo
Na an amo liwat intawon mabulahan
Salamat! Salamat sa ijo mga pag-atiman.

Blessings for the “Our Lady of Knock” Chapel in Gigaquit

Blessings for the “Our Lady of Knock” Chapel in Gigaquit
By Joel and Rosalie Gonzalez

After a long and arduous journey, the Lady of Knock has finally made it to Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte, Philippines.

“Who is that?” you may ask. Well, Our Lady of Knock is the vision of the Virgin Mary that first appeared in Knock, Ireland, over a century ago. A ‘Balikbayan’ Gigaquitnon who grew up in our town, Grace Dinneen Roa Gonzalez, has fulfilled a promise to her mother and to God, to bring Our Lady of Knock to the town and people of Gigaquit.

Grace, daughter of local teacher Nellie Dinneen Roa, grew up in Gigaquit until her teen years. Grace’s grandfather, Charles A. Dinneen, was himself an Irish-American immigrant teacher who was educated at the University of Santa Clara, in Santa Clara, California. Charles came to Gigaquit in 1903 to teach English to the local people. He ended up marrying a local girl, Marina Legaspi, Grandmother of Grace.

Grandfather Charles happily adopted this small town as his own and went on to purchase farmland and a large, prominent home on the corner of Legaspi and Canda streets. The house, originally built in 1895, was well appointed and finished with local and imported materials. It was built in the classic, Spanish-influenced Filipino style. Charles raised his family there. The home was passed to his daughter, Nellie, who in turn raised Grace there until she went to Butuan to finish high school.

Grace continued her college studies in Cebu, where she met her husband, Eduardo “Sonny” Gonzalez. Shortly following the birth of their two children, Joel and Rosalie, the whole family, including Mamma Nellie, briefly relocated to Manila while Sonny completed his Masters in Business Administration at the Asian Institute of Management. The entire family settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in the summer of 1976. Mamma Nellie lived a long and happy life in the desert and passed away on October 8, 1998.

Grace made a solemn promise to Mamma Nellie before her death that she would return to her hometown and rebuild and restore the ancestral home that her Grandfather built. What should have been a year-long project has become a five-years-long labor of love that has not ended yet, and with God’s blessing will stand for hundreds of years.

During one of her many trips to supervise the restoration of the ancestral home, she got into a conversation with a fellow airline passenger who exhorted her to thank God for all her good fortune. After the conversation, Grace was inspired to build a Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Knock as a ‘Thank You’ to God and to the people of Gigaquit. The Chapel is built on one corner of her family’s compound and is open to the public. All are welcome to come inside, reflect on God’s blessings, and pray to the Virgin Mary. (Additional background and historical information can be found in another Gigaquitonline.com article entitled “Our Lady of Knock - Gigaquit Traces its Roots in Ireland” via this link: http://gigaquitcivicclub.blogspot.jp/2008/04/our-lady-of-knock-gigaquit-tra-ces-its.html )

The building of the Chapel was started in 2006, and was finally dedicated on May 10, 2008. The Blessing of the Chapel was overseen by Father Jun Balbieri, parish priest of St. Augustine Parish Church in Gigaquit, and was attended by Grace, her husband, Sonny and their relatives, the project architect and craftsmen, and many of the townspeople. Following the blessing, Grace and her husband graciously hosted a large feast for all their guests. There was much rejoicing.

The vision of the Virgin Mary in Knock, Ireland was seen on August 21, 1879. Father Jun Balbieri will lead a nine (9) day long novena in honor of Our Lady, to end on August 21, Our Lady’s Feast Day.