The BLACK PARADE

GOOD FRIDAY
in San Fernando, Pampanga.

At dusk,
the image of The PIETA
leads off the yearly procession
that winds through the downtown streets,
then moves along MacArthur's highway,
before finally ending at the San Fernando Basilica.



It's a solemn,


if somewhat eerie sight...


Saint after Saint,
dressed in funereal black.




...and towards the tailend of the procession,
our family's "carroza",
St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.


This icon was left in our care by our uncle,
the iconic designer formerly known as GANG GOMEZ,
who shocked the Philippine Fashion World
when he finally heeded his true vocation,

and became DOM MARTIN,
a monk of the Benedictine Monastery of the Transfiguration
in faraway Malaybalay, Bukidnon.



This year,
we offered our prayers and intentions
for another family member in an even more remote location:

our cousin,
Sgt. Ramon "MonMon" Hizon of the U.S. Army,
assigned for a year somewhere in IRAQ.

This one's for you, cuz!!!