How the lumen Christi Bibingka was born

CEBU, Philippines - Over a year ago the Lumen Christi (Light of Christ) CLC (Christian Life Community), a group composed mostly of college students supported by the Sacred Heart Parish for their studies, wanted to do something to help the Parish raise the Scholarship Fund which supported their studies. But being from poor families and preoccupied with their studies, their opportunity was quite limited.

Sometime later, I saw one possibility. I had seen how the Cheripoy Bibingka clicked at Mary the Queen, my former parish, and since the Tagalog Bibingka was not common in Cebu, I thought this could be a possible project. I discussed this plan with the members of the Lumen Christi and with their agreement and commitment to the project he started to explore possibilities.

I tried to get the recipe from Cheripoy Bibingka at Mary the Queen Parish. Unfortunately, Ms Charito could not give it to me, because her husband kept his secret recipe to himself. He was very protective, and would not reveal the secret to anyone, even when offered a price of P150,000.00 by some people.

Consequently, we researched the internet for various recipes. Our several attempts were able to produce some semblance of "bibingka" or "bibingkoy" and all kinds of cross-breeds - but not quite.

Then last October, after the CLC National Assembly, the CLC delegation from Cebu dropped by Mary the Queen, and met the Cheripoy Bibingka people. In the friendly exchange and pleasantries, Ms. Charito mentioned that we could invite them to come to Cebu. I took the opportunity and invited her and her husband to come. But only Mang Rudy, her husband, was able to come. Anyway, that was good enough, because he was the one who has the secret recipe. But he would teach only three people his secrets.

The first time they cooked was on a Wednesday evening (November 23). There happened to be two groups of people having meetings in the parish. After a free sampling, so many people ordered bibingka and puto bumbong that the students could hardly catch up with all the orders. They ended at 11:30 P.M. Some people who couldn't wait, left their orders for the coming Sunday.

The following Sunday morning (November 27) was the first attempt at offering the bibingka to the Mass-goers. The supply was sold out - with people ordering for the next Sunday, including orders for puto-bumbong which they would only start the following Sunday.

The parishioners were very supportive and offered many suggestions to improve the project. Some gave suggestions to be more efficient in preparing the materials. Others gave suggestions on how to be more environmental friendly.

The following Sunday (December 4) with all the suggested improvements, the sale doubled.

The project was conceived with a double objective:

First, it is a practical learning for the Lumen Christi members to work together as a team. Therefore, it is part of their formation process in community bonding.

Second, they exercise a sense of responsibility in trying to help the parish raise funds to support their studies.

In the process of the operation, an additional objective emerged: to foster awareness to be more environment-friendly in the use of materials - such as using paper instead of plastic, and charcoal made from leaves by farmer cooperatives.

The Lord has blessed our initial effort with success. We hope and pray that He will continue to bless our effort and with the help of supportive parishioners, we will attain the objectives we set out to achieve.