Ifugao farmers’ son ordained priest; 2,000 folks attend ceremonies

By Vency D. Bulayungan

KIANGAN, Ifugao--A son of farmers here finally took his vow recently to serve the Almighty Father in front of about 2,000 provincemates.

In his ordination witnessed by parishioners of the Bontoc-Lagawe Vicariate, Rev. Fr. Charlie Magne Gano Buyayo, a native of Barangay Baguinge here, said he surrendered himself to the Lord saying he was happy and contented with his vocation.

He thanked his parents and the community for supporting him.

He also made special mention of assistance extended by the 86th Infantry Battalion wherein they provided transportation facilities to ferry the people who came to attend the ordination.

He said his calling to priesthood was felt by him when he was still in high school. “It was our Belgian parish priest when I was in high school at St. Vincent’s High School who inspired me to enter the missionary,” said Buyayo.

He added he appreciated so much the dedication of said priest in his vocation by leaving his family and good life behind and coming to this part of the world to preach the Word of God and help poor people.

After convincing his parents who at first were not supportive to his vocation for the reason they have only two children, Buyayo entered the seminary in 1998 at the St. Francis Xavier. 

He pursued his studies with the help of benefactors and finished Philosophy at the St. Pablo Seminary in Baguio City. It was then when his father Alejo and mother Angela accepted  their  second son’s vocation.

In 2005, he decided to volunteer and become a missionary in Africa where he learned French while serving the people in a remote place in Congo.

He narrated the pitiful condition and situation of the people there who were poor and afflicted with the dreadful disease AIDS.

“Together with some missionaries, we provided food and shelter to the people there up to the present,” Buyayo narrated adding that he suffered from malaria while serving the people thus his superior was forced to transfer him when he became thin due to said sickness.

However, despite the suffering he underwent in Africa, he is bent on going back to said country and he attributes the perseverance he possess to his experience as a son of poor farmers here where he knows the hardships of  a poor family. They put up schools to help the children especially the street children who were not exposed to school, he said.

Bishop Rodolfo Beltran, Apostolic Vicar of Bontoc-Lagawe,  in his homily  said a missionary is a man of faith. “Whatever restriction we are in whether abroad like Africa, or here like Bontoc-Lagawe, there should be a balance between faith and work. As a result, the missionaries” lives are full of activities but devoid of God.”

He added the missionary needs human and material resources. Let us not over estimate ourselves in the sense that the preaching of Christ is a question of money and works of development.

He said the missionary is a man of prayer. He is characterized by apostolic zeal based on his living contact with God made in prayer and contemplation.