My parents are devoted Filipinistas. No, not the nationality. It is what members of the Philippine Independent Church are called. In Spanish, it is known as Iglesia Filipina Independiente or IFI. In bisaya, it is commonly known as Filipinistas or Aglipay or Aglipayan - derived from the family name of the first head of the church who is a Roman Catholic Bishop in the year 1902 named Gregorio Aglipay.

So the Philippine Independent Church is a Christian denomination which is a faction of the Roman Catholic church as a product of the the 1898 Revolution against the Spanish colonization in the Philippines.

I grew up with the tradition of our church where every Holy Thursday, we attend a Holy Mass where the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles is reenacted. This reenactment is very significant in our church because this is when the Mystery of Transubstantiation happened - the bread and the wine becomes the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My husband and I woke up with a long day ahead of us and instead of spending it church-lunch-grocery-home routine, we decided its time for some fresh air with the sound of waves in the background...

We decided to go to a beach in Mactan... in just an hour we were already at Portofino Beach Resort with a pizza and some chips at hand. The place was cool considering it was quite cheap with 100-peso entrance fee and 180 pesos for the table and chairs we rented. The sun was blazing hot as we ate our cold pizza but the color of the sea was an appetizer no restaurant in the city can offer.