PIA Press Release
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Dalipato 2012 in Tayum draws touristsby Maritess B. BeñasTAYUM, Abra, ,Jan. 17(PIA)-- The centennial anniversary celebration of the Holy Ghost School in the cradle town of the Mission Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) in the Philippines dubbed as ‘DALIPATO 2012’ has drawn foreign and local tourists in the province. The five-day celebration from January 11 to 16 had so much fun reminiscing the past 100 years of the SSpS mission in the country which started in Tayum, Abra. The centennial celebration was a mixed of religious and cultural festivities that started with the bamboo raft-riding at the Abra river in Sitio Guingad, Gaddani to welcome the SSpS Provincial Team led by Sr. Mary Eden Panganiban, who accompanied Mother-General Maria Theresia Hornemann based in Rome, Italy, who came all the way to the Philippines to grace the centennial celebrations of the SSpS here. After the raft-riding in the Abra River, the visiting sisters were brought to the Holy Ghost School and then to the St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in Tayum, the Shrine of the Holy Spirit in the Diocese of Bangued where a special Holy Mass was celebrated in their honor and in commemoration of missionary sisters who have served the province in the past, with Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian, SVD, DD as the main celebrant. The event was also an opportunity for the alumni of the Holy Ghost School, the first catholic school established by the SSpS sisters in the Philippines, for a grand homecoming to pay homage to their historic alma mater. Aside from the usual motorcade around the town proper after the Eucharistic Celebration officiated by the alumni-priests of the school, they also conducted on the last day of the 5-day celebrations, an outreach program of medical and dental mission and gift-giving ass their way of thanksgiving for all the blessings they received through the missions. Tayum, the cradle of the Missionary Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit in the Philippines had produced most of the catholic priests in the province. Tourism was at its height with the grand alumni homecoming of Holy Ghost School as hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers arrived for the said occasion. Relative to this, the Tayumenian International Association headed by Mr. Valentino Brillantes had given their commitment to Governor Eustaquio P. Bersamin to adopt one of the rooms in the newly constructed Abra Provincial Hospital in Brgy. Calaba, Bangued. As part of their sponsorship of the room which they will adopt, the Tayumenian Internationals will provide all the facilities that will be needed in the said room which will be named Tayumenian Ward. The supervision and management of the Holy Ghost School is now under the Diocese of Bangued through the parish priest of Tayum, Fr. Ruben Valdez as the School Director and Mrs. Celia Flor Brillantes-Taeza as the principal. (MTBB/PIA-Abra) | 
