BEFORE WE KNOW IT, September is at our door with all its splendor as the Archdiocese of Caceres celebrates the Tercentenary of the devotion to Nuestra Señora de Peña de Francia.

        Despite setbacks in some of its activities, it’s all systems go for the Tercentenary celebrations.

        One setback is the change in the lead role of the movie “Ikaw lang ang Pagibig” --- said to have been given up by Judy Ann Santos due to her pregnancy. After shooting for about two months, Santos after collecting a substantial downpayment for her role in the Tercentenary movie was reported to have backed out, setting the movie back to square one.

        Working for the devotion to Ina is an opportunity of grace as the local church in Caceres preaches. This opportunity was set aside by actress Santos and believers in the miraculous image contend that it might put a whammy on Santos in her endeavors, considering that even today she is not hampered by her pregnancy in shooting “Hating Kapatid”. Her excuse that her pregnancy was threatened by blood spots while on early location shooting her parts in the movie on Ina is far from being convincing. We do not like to think about it, but there is much more to rejecting an opportunity of grace than just a sinister event. Remember the year when their image of Ina fell into the river and in three months a very strong storm swept the region and flood waters submerged most of the provinces, then fire hit the public market of the City of Naga.

        Another opportunity of grace that was rejected was the reservation given by the local Church of Caceres to the City Mayor of Naga City when it marked the Peñafrancia celebration last year, for him to be in the pagoda when Ina made her sakay. Instead of taking his reserved place in the pagoda, he took a speedboat instead as the more than 360 eyes in the pagoda and those at both banks of the Naga River watched him board the pagoda and jump into a waiting speedboat at the side of the pagoda. It was a rejection of an opportunity of grace by a City Executive. We do not like to think about it but there is much more to rejecting the opportunity to ride in the pagoda with Ina than the turning down a month after of a request of the Council of the Laity in Caceres to have an ordinance passed declaring the City of Naga as a Pilgrim City. Is his exclusion from the list of the members in the Cabinet of ---- among whom his name was earlier prominently floated and favored by --- President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III a sign of the whammy for rejecting an opportunity of grace?

        A whammy or not, another opportunity is offered this year to a new City Executive. How will Mayor John Bongat handle the Tercentenary of the devotion to Ina?

        What will Mayor Bongat say and do when the request for a declaration of the City of Naga as a Pilgrim City reaches him ---- a declaration which gives recognition to the historical fact that the City of Naga has time and again become a center for pilgrims who gather from all over the world to pay respect to their Ina within the week of the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in September?

        The requested declaration is not a religious affirmation but a historical and cultural recognition of a time-honored tradition among Bicolanos, something even affirmed by the City of Naga in Resolution No. 160, series of 1970 when the City took into account “the fact that Naga City is the center of culture, education, commerce and religion in the Bicol Region.”

        Will this opportunity, that comes only after 300 years, be missed or be given respect by Mayor John Bongat?