AKBAY: CHAPTER 2 - THE TRANSITION YEARS (1983-1990)

AKBAY 1 and AKBAY 2, residence of the Morota brothers, Sonny and Alex, Sct. Gandia.

Photo from Analou C. Limuaco

One December afternoon in 1982, while practicing for a caroling project to raise funds for our coming annual retreat, Fr. Bong angrily stormed out of the sacristy because there was no choir in the Sunday 6:00 pm mass he just officiated. Seeing us at the lobby and probably wanting to ensure there was going to be a choir come Christmas Day, he instructed us, ordered us, commanded us, to take on the Sunday 6:00 pm mass ... for good. 

In one simple unexpected moment, “magical” maybe, the Youth Formation group became a choir!!!

And so it was that we thought of changing the name Youth Formation to another name, AWITING KRISTIYANO PARA SA SAMBAYANAN or AKBAY, to embody a new identify, a new mandate and a new ministry. While some of our historical "experts", thank you Joy Sto. Domingo and Sonny Morota, are still sorting out dates and who named what, we move on to writing this exciting segment of AKBAY's history.

We had two choirs initially, AKBAY 1, made up of college students and AKBAY 2, made up of high-school students. For the following years, we organized a Children Choir, a Teen Choir, a Youth Choir, a Young Professional Choir, an Adult Choir and a Performing Group. Each group had a Sunday mass time slot, except for the PG.

Please write your reflections, thoughts and insights about this "heavenly" intervention and post/publish as a separate article in this website. We will appreciate very much your contributions to this history writing exercise.

AKBAY 1 Christmas Party 1984, Analou's residence, Sct. Fernandez.

Photo from Analou C. Limuaco