Loren graces Vigan City feast day celebration

VIGAN CITY -- Senator Loren Legarda yesterday lauded the Vigan City folks for their big roles in the preservation of the charms, antiquity and wonders which she said "never cease to amaze visitors," and for which it earned the distinction of being the "City of Heritage."

"The immense contribution of what Vigan has painstakingly preserved is such that there is now a distinct Vigan design for houses and a design for furniture," said Loren, herself a virtual regular visitor in this city in the deep north of the Philippines.

"The old-world charms of Vigan, its ancient houses, its cobbled streets, the air of preserved antiquity, the traces of transported Iberian architecture are priceless," she said, adding that much of the world has failed to preserve the civilizations that thrived before the age of Facebook and text messaging. Some of these heritages, she said, had been ravaged by wars, and some had fallen prey to man's negligence. Some societies have wrecked these priceless heritage sites on purpose to built grotesque paeans to modernity, she added.

"I am so happy to be back here, where you can get a glimpse on how our major communities looked like centuries ago. The time when Father Jose Burgos, a Vigan native, was preaching like St. Paul, on the true meaning and spirit of Christianity," said Loren.

Loren was in this City as guest of honor and keynote speaker during the ABC-Ms. Vigan Night, main highlight of the nine-day celebration of the City's feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and its 8th anniversary as a City on the first month of the year.

The City, under City Mayor Eva Marie S. Medina who invited Loren, has lined up manifold events and undertakings, the climax of which is the crowning of Miss Vigan at the Plaza Burgos.

"Choosing a Ms. Vigan, who will be crowned tonight, among a sea of beautiful faces, is actually a daunting task," she said.

The boundless grace that comes to Vigan is inextricably linked to her choice of St. Paul as patron saint.

"If there is any New Testament apostle that has done the superhuman efforts to make Christianity the fate of billions across the globe, this is St. Paul. His writings dominate the New Testament," she said before thousands of Vigan Folks.

"What makes this celebration more glorious and more significant is that it falls on a Pauline Year, a special event in the Christian world." Pope Benedict XV1 has declared the June 28, 2008 as the start of a Pauline Year, which would close on June 29, 2009. Saul of Tarsus, St. Paul before his conversion, was believed to have been born between 7 to 10 AD in the City of Tarsus, Loren said. It is the bi-millennium of St. Paul's birth. His travels in the course of preaching the Christian faith produced an awesome body of religious literature unmatched till this day and age, Loren said, referring to St. Paul who also wrote epistles for the people of Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus among others.

"I fully understand why the conversion of Saul of Tarsus - dazzled by lightning on his way to Damascus - into St. Paul is an integral part of Vigan's celebration," she said. Not only is Vigan identified with a special form of architecture. It is also special city because of the "political leadership and its proud people." There were other towns and cities as uniquely blessed. But their people and their leaders have chosen to squander their awesome physical assets and special cultural heritage.

"Vigan's leaders and its people, like St. Paul, have chosen the path of righteousness." "I am happy to be with old friends, the political leaders of Vigan who have been my comrades and soul mates in working for good and enlightened government," she said. "I am happy to be here with the beautiful people of Vigan and the muse of the city who will be crowned tonight."