As the Province celebrates its 40th anniversary, two new communities and three residences were approved to be formally established during the 11th Ordinary Provincial Chapter in Consolacion, Cebu on February 24, 2024, the last of the six-day gathering.
According to the Constitutions of the Order, an Augustinian community is composed of a group of friars who share the same life in a single place under the direction of a local prior. “In order that the local chapter may be held, not less than three friars with active voice are to be assigned to a house. Otherwise, it is called a residence of the Order.”
The two new communities of the Province are the St. Augustine Parish Saguday Community in Saguday, Quirino Province and Sta. Ana Parish Burgos Community in Burgos, Siargao Island while the three new residences are the San Agustin Center of Spirituality- Don Salvador Residence in Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental, the Greenhills San Fernando Residence in San Fernando, Cebu, and the Santo Niño Mission Station- Vintar Residence in Pallas Valley, Vintar, Ilocos Norte.
St. Augustine Parish, Saguday, Quirino Province
The St. Augustine of Hippo Parish Church began as Our Lady of the Assumption Chapel in the Municipality of Saguday, Quirino, which was under the jurisdiction of the Parish of St. Mark in Cabarroguis, Quirino.
Due to the scarcity of priests in the Diocese of Bayombong and the extensive area covered by the parish in Cabarroguis, Most Rev. Ramon B. Villena, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Bayombong, invited the Augustinian Friars through Very Rev. Fr. Eusebio B. Berdon, OSA (then Prior Provincial), to send missionaries to take care of the spiritual needs of the faithful in the municipality of Saguday. The Augustinians accepted the invitation and on June 7, 2012, the first two Augustinian missionaries arrived: Rev. Fr. Sisinio A. Paderog, OSA and Rev. Fr. Tarquin C. Gamao, OSA.
On October 7, 2012, Bishop Villena canonically erected the St. Augustine of Hippo Quasi-Parish, which covered the entire town of Saguday, and situated its seat in the Our Lady of the Assumption Chapel, installing Rev. Fr. Sisinio A. Paderog, OSA as the first Parish Priest and Rev. Fr. Tarquin C. Gamao, OSA as Parochial Vicar. On the same occasion, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between the Bishop of Bayombong, Most Rev. Ramon B. Villena, D.D., and then Prior Provincial of the Augustinian Province of Santo Niño de Cebu- Philippines, Very Rev. Fr. Eusebio B. Berdon, OSA, formally turning over the pastoral care of Saguday to the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA).
On August 26, 2015, the Augustinian residence in Saguday was formally established and on August 28 of the same year, the St. Augustine of Hippo Quasi-Parish was elevated to parish status by Bishop Villena.
Sta. Ana Parish, Burgos, Siargao Island
In 2001, the diocesan clergy took over the pastoral care of the Parish of Santa Monica from the SVD Missionaries. Years later, in 2009, the parish priest of Santa Monica expressed his concern to the Augustinians in his parish territory that he could no longer handle the growing number of faithful and chapels likewise fulfilling the pastoral needs of the sub-parish of Santa Ana.
Hence, then Parish Priest, Fr. Julian Dayola, DCS, who was also the Vicar Forane of the Vicariate of Mt. Carmel in Siargao Island at that time, verbally asked the Augustinians of Socorro to take over the pastoral needs of the town. Consequently, the invitation to formally accept Burgos was raised to the Bishop of Surigao, Most Rev. Antonieto Cabajog, D.D.
In April 2012, the 8th Ordinary Provincial Chapter of the Province Santo Niño de Cebu approved the definitive acceptance of Burgos and created a separate Augustinian presence from Socorro, thus, founding the Burgos Residence with Fr. Benjamin Unabia, Jr., OSA as local superior and treasurer and Fr. Alfonso Sedurifa, OSA as procurator.
On July 26, 2012, the Diocese of Surigao and the Province of Santo Niño de Cebu- Philippines signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) ratifying a twenty five-year – and renewable – presence of the Augustinians in ministering the then sub-parish of Santa Ana. Rev. Msgr. Edito N. Alcala, DCS and then Prior Provincial, Very Rev. Fr. Eusebio Berdon, OSA signed the MOA in the presence of the diocesan clergy, the Augustinian friars, and the people of Burgos. Even without the status of a parish, Sta. Ana sub-parish enjoyed privileges and rights proper to a parish.
Eventually, after three years of Augustinian presence, Most Rev. Antonieto Cabajog, D.D. created in a decree the elevation of Santa Ana sub-parish as a Parish. The consecration coincided with the 46th town fiesta on July 26, 2013.
Santo Niño Mission Station, Vintar, Ilocos Norte
The Augustinians Vintar’s presence began in August 2019 after they received an invitation from the Bishop of the Diocese of Laoag, Most Rev. Renato Mayugba, D.D., to return to Ilocos. It is called the Santo Niño Mission Station, wherein the friars from Saguday Residence were sent as the pioneering missionaries.
The first local superior of Vintar Residence is Fr. Sisinio Paderog, OSA, with Fr. Edmar Escobar, OSA, and Fray Ronel Marollano Bayon-on, OSA, as members. Fr. Paderog was installed as the local superior on July 2, 2024.
Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental
In the same year, 2019, the Colegio San Agustin – Bacolod Community acquired a retreat house in Don Salvador Benedicto naming it Centro Sant’ Agostino – Benedicto Retreat House. Since then, it served as a retreat venue for the students and personnel of CSA-Bacolod until four friars namely: Fr. Elmer Lendo, OSA, Fray Leo Jallorina, OSA, Fr. Alfredo Jubac, OSA, and Fr. Vincent Liwag, OSA, were assigned to administer the retreat house on October 1, 2021. Despite being assigned to the retreat house, the friars remained part of the Colegio San Agustin- Bacolod Community.
This year, 2024, the retreat house is renamed to San Agustin Center of Spirituality, with Fr. Joel Beronque, OSA, as the first local superior with Fr. Fernando Cleopas, OSA, and Fr. Alfredo Jubac, OSA, as members. Fr. Beronque was installed on July 8, 2024.
Greenhills, San Fernando, Cebu
The third new residence is the Greenhills San Fernando Residence in San Fernando, Cebu. Its first local superior is Fr. Candido Saladaga Jr., OSA, with Fr. Ariel Panimdim, OSA and Fray King Villacastin Nepangue, OSA, as members. Fr. Saladaga was installed as local superior on July 10, 2024.
In 2013, the Augustinians started their presence in San Fernando after it was inaugurated for the creation of an extension campus of the Colegio del Santo Niño in Cebu City. Friars from the Provincialate community regularly visited the extension campus when it started its operations in 2014. In 2018, Fr. Dominador Besares, OSA and Fr. Cleopas, OSA were the pioneering friars who lived in San Fernando until the school was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the closure of the school campus, friars from the Provincialate community take turns in celebrating weekly masses as part of their pastoral apostolate.
With the addition of the new communities and residences, the Province is now composed of five residences and fifteen communities in total.
