MANNY INUMERABLE
My wife, Nini, and I reside with our daughter, Yssa, at Severina Diamond Subdivision in Parañaque, in front of the Padre Pio Parish Church. This has been our home for the last 33 years.
As a civil engineer, I have worked in several construction companies in my younger years. I have a business called Stage Riggers that has served the entertainment and concert industry for the last 35 years.
My good friend Atty Bernie Flores, one of the people responsible for the parish project and a co-member of the PPP fund-raising team, asked me to share my experiences during the pandemic and how our devotion to St. Padre Pio has helped us.
My sharing goes back to 1988 when we built our house in our subdivision. At that time, there was ample land in front of our home, which was part of the open space of our subdivision.
I had a vision then that a church would be built on this open space one day, and I told Nini that if this ever happened, I would want to be a part of making this church. As a civil engineer, I had several experiences designing and building other churches, and I thought I could help in the Church’s design and construction.
Fast forward to 2016, the plans to build a church were slowly becoming a reality. The church was being built right in front of our house, so it was natural for me to get involved as a civil engineer in the construction. I joined a team of construction consultants and the fund-raising group. The meetings were held regularly in our garage until we could build a meeting room.
We built the church for a few years and became known as the Padre Pio Parish Church of Parañaque.
My business was doing quite well during this period, and I had several big projects. So, we decided to help financially in the construction of the church. During this period, we also decided to build the Stage Riggers office warehouse outside of Metro Manila, where we bought a property at an industrial business park in Silang, Cavite.
We have been renting our office warehouse in Mandaluyong City for the longest time since the start of my business in the late 80s. But the blessings of the Lord through Padre Pio were very evident while we were building our office warehouse in Silang Cavite. In return, every time we would have a substantial collection from our projects, we would give a portion to the church.
The Padre Pio Church was finished in 2019, and during this period, my wife and I became devotees of St. Padre Pio.
However, in 2020, when the pandemic struck, everything stopped. Our business in the entertainment industry was greatly affected. The concerts and shows were banned. No projects were coming in.
At first, I thought that the pandemic would last only a few months and that we would be back in business soon. But a year had passed, and there was no end in sight. My office and warehouse construction were still half completed, and I had no funds to finish them. I had no choice but to stop the construction of our warehouse, and we had to lay off many of my staff and workers.
We prayed to Padre Pio to help us survive this crisis. In my prayers to our Lord, I asked Him, “What shall I do? How will I support all these people working for us?” And by God’s grace, our prayers were answered. Some receivables were paid, and funds we did not expect slowly came in, enough to meet our obligations.
In one of my prayers to our Lord, He said, “Finish the warehouse, and I shall provide, for I have a task for you to do.” In quiet faith, I obeyed and kept the words of the Divine Mercy, “Jesus, I Trust in You,” and the words of Padre Pio, “Pray, Hope, and Don’t worry,” in my heart.
By the beginning of 2021, some small projects started coming in, and I decided to continue to finish the office warehouse using my workers instead of getting a contractor. We continued working slowly, and soon after, we were able to put up the big roof trusses of the warehouse, followed by the roofing and wall sidings. My office warehouse was finally done.
For me, this is a miracle and a dream come true. My trust in our Blessed Mother and our Lord Jesus has carried us through the pandemic.
We thank the Lord for all His blessings and for protecting our people. As we pray for the Lord to prepare us for the work he has assigned us and to keep us strong, we also pray for all our friends, relatives, and loved ones whom we lost during the pandemic.