The philanthropy of Don Juan

THERE’S SOMETHING about the musicals of Andy Alviz that never fails to sear, then soothe, the core of my being, eventually raising it to some spiritual high. Those I had the chance to experience, at least.

Perry the Musical and Ciniong took me back to my own Age of Innocence, rejuvenating that Faith once lost, regained, and, from time to time, still faltering owing to the weakness of the flesh. Coming to rekindling with Tulauk. Aye, Alviz’s musicals are not merely watched; a feast for the senses, they are absorbed, internalized, even conscienticized, if we can take to the spiritual plane one  favorite term of the usually-atheistic aktibista of old.      
So much regret then for my failure to be at the Holy Angel University Theater this Saturday and Tuesday past for Andy’s latest opus, Juan & Nena Nepomusical.
“The story of the couple who helped transform Angeles town into a city through their unparalleled contributions to business, church, education and social life of Angeleños.” So the press released blurb of the musical said.  
“Juan D. Nepomuceno founded Holy Angel University, Angeles Electric Company, Angeles Ice Plant, Villa Teresa Subdivision, Nepo Mart, and other businesses that have influenced the everyday lives of Kapampangans and helped shape the destiny of an entire community.” Impressive!
“His marriage to Teresa Gomez, descendant of a learned but feisty Spanish friar, produced 10 children including a Jesuit priest and a Benedictine nun, a pioneer top executive of the Ayala Corporation, a college dean at UP, and patriarch of a business empire.” Awesome!
“Truly an unforgettable couple.” So was quoted Robby Tantingco, HAU’s vice president for student affairs: “Their individual personalities, their romance, their Catholic values and their legacy deserve to be told and retold for generations to come.”
Not mere duty-bound obsequiousness from Robby there, owing to his exalted post in the Nepomuceno-owned institution. He speaks the truth of the Don Juan and Dona Nena legacy, indeed meriting – like a prized heirloom – to be passed on to progenies and plebeians alike, for all time.
And certainly, I would have been levitated anew to sanctified heights, had I partaken, even but a bit, of the Juan & Nena Nepomusical, for:
IN MY age of innocence, Don Juan Nepomuceno made the supreme representation of all things good and holy.
In all my four years at the Mater Boni Consilii Seminary (MBCS), there was never a day that we did not pray for Don Juan and his wife Dona Nena, whether in the recitation of the rosary, in novenas, or in the Holy Mass. The very names of the couple defined – in our young minds – the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope, and above all, Charity.
That time, Don Juan was benefactor to up to 50 seminarians – veritably half of the student body – coming not only from Angeles City but throughout Pampanga and Tarlac. Don Juan paid for the tuition, board and lodging of these papari and gave them allowances. In many instances, the families of the poorest among them were also provided for by the Don.
In all those years, I rued my misfortune of not being one among those so much blessed with the generosity of Don Juan.
Even after they left MBCS, many of these ex-seminarians continued being scholars of Don Juan at the family-owned Holy Angel University. Just goes to show the depth of the man’s philanthropy.
Aside from sending young boys to study for the priesthood, Don Juan extended unquantified and unqualified support to MBCS itself.
One of the most awaited events among seminarians was the Christmas caroling at the home of Don Juan. We practically fought to be included among the carolers not only for the sumptuous feasts Dona Nena always prepared and the to-go giveaways of Hersheys, Baby Ruths, grapes and American apples – exclusively from Clark Air Base that time, but moreso for the honor of kissing the hands of the holy couple. It was as though our young lips touched heaven itself.
Holiness veritably permeated the ground upon which Don Juan and Dona Nena stood. The couple did indeed make “a cofradia of two” as the book on their life was most appropriately titled.
Philanthropy Don Juan lived. Philanthropy Don Juan left as legacy. Philanthropy metaphored, synonymized, aye, verily defined: Don Juan. 
Until – long detached from MBCS and already immersed in secularity – I chanced upon Renato “Katoks” Tayag’s definitive epic The Sinners of Angeles.
“…(I)n Angeles there are two kinds of sinners, those who sin against God and those who sin against Don Juan” made a fittingly sublime summation of “a tale of self that forgets all others – neighbors, brothers, relatives, the whole town even.”    
Aye, the man’s “philosophy of self,” I readily (dis)contextualized to the oxymoronic “philanthropy of self.” Definition defiled, whence emerged one shattered showcase of sainthood. Twice, thus, have I become the sinner, against God and Don Juan, albeit I am not from Angeles.
After Katoks, the adored Don, like Humpty Dumpty, cannot be Juan and the same again.
But then, had I just sat through Juan & Nena Nepomusical, who knows? Given the beatific effect Andy’s works unfailingly impact in me.