Fr Gil Rochar Pancho-Dulay, SVD

The author, an SVD priest ordained in December 2008, is from Baybay, Bulan Sorsogon. He is currently parish priest of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, Salegseg, Balbalan, Kalinga, and director of St Theresita’s School there. Here he tells of his experience when he was assigned to the Mountain Province.

The thought of the Cordilleras haunted me through my childhood and seminary days, even though one of my motives for joining the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) was to be assigned to a foreign mission. Before ordination we were asked to write our preferred countries of assignment. I wrote Mexico as my first choice, China as my second and lastly, the Philippines. I hadn’t specified any of the three SVD provinces in the Philippines but our prefect insisted I do so, in case my other first two choices would not materialize. Mesmerized and enchanted by the beauty and culture of the Cordilleras, I immediately wrote ‘Northern Province’. It’s the place that captivated my adventurous spirit one summer when I was assigned to Calanasan, Apayao.