Original patron saint returns to Subic Freeport

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT - More than a hundred years since it arrived here as a gift from the town of San Roque (now Cavite City), the original patron saint of the then barrio of Olongapo returns today (June to its original home, the San Roque Chapel in this free port.

From a house in Olongapo City where the statue was kept after World War II, the 102 year-old statue made in Segovia, Spain will be borne by the faithful and moved to the small Spanish-era chapel here for enthronement.

Its return will be marked by a eucharistic celebration by Bishop Florentino G. Lavarias of the Diocese of Iba (Zambales) and members of the clergy, as well as Olongapeños who had heard nothing of their original patron saint for more than half a century.

“This is a cause for celebration,” said Fr. Francel Paje, who initiated the search for the San Roque statue in 1997 when he was still San Roque parish priest.

“As we celebrate the 400th year of Catholicism in Zambales and Olongapo, it is only fitting that an icon, which had seen the vicissitudes of our religious history, will be finally brought out to our attention,” Paje said.

The San Roque statue, according to parish historians, was first enshrined here in 1905 when the then barrio of Olongapo was still a part of the parish of St. James in Subic, Zambales.

Andy Gregorio, who until today’s turnover was the custodian of the statue, said the image was given to their grandmother Cirila Guerrero-Macaraeg by a friend from Cavite City, which was then called San Roque town. The Macaraeg matriarch then donated the statue to the Olongapo parish.