We have done Visita Iglesia many times in the past, but these were mostly in Metro Manila. For the first time, we joined a pilgrimage to seven churches in seven towns in Bataan two weeks before Holy Week. The trip was organized by Radio Veritas lectors led by Renee Jose, the station’s head of the religious department. The churches are part of the Catholic church’s Jubilee celebration.
The timing was good, as I had the Hongqi HQ9 7-seater Executive Van with me at that time, which was one of the vehicles used during the trip with about 18 participants, including my wife, Aurora, and I. The HQ9 has a 2.0L gasoline engine churning out 188 horsepower and 300 Newton meters of torque. It has an 8-speed automatic transmission. There are two captain’s seats on the second row with electronically controlled leg rest, giving the passengers first-class seating comfort. But all the seats are controlled electronically, including those of the driver, front passenger and the third row. Two sliding doors at the rear make it easy for passengers to ingress and egress.
For the first time, too, we get to experience a van with what Hongqi calls a Forest Oxygen Bar. This utilizes nano-ion technology, which continuously releases nano-ecological negative oxygen ions known as the “air vitamin.” The interior maintains over 2500 negative ions per cubic centimeter, creating a “ forest-level” oxygen bar experience. It’s quite technical, but maybe in layman’s terms, we just felt extremely comfortable in the van. Some of my passengers easily fell asleep a few minutes after boarding the van.
Our call time was 4 o’clock in the morning at the first Petron station on NLEX. We joined the other pilgrims in their Toyota Fortuner and Foton Transvan in a two-hour drive to our first destination, the Minor Basilica and Parish Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Orani, Bulacan. We stayed there for about 15- 20 minutes and then drove again to the National Shrine and Parish of Pope St. John Paul II in Culis, Hermosa. Next was the Parokya ng Sto. Domingo de Guzman in Abucay. We then proceeded to the Cathedral Shrine of St. Joseph in Balanga City.
The last time I visited Balanga was in 1999, and I was surprised to see much progress in the area. We took a break for lunch at SM Balanga.
We continued our journey with visits to the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Mariveles, where I saw the Kilometer “0” marker of Bataan Death (March) many years ago, the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Bagac and the Diocesan Shrine of Healing and Parish of San Roque in Limay.
The most challenging drive was from Mariveles town proper to Morong, Bataan. It was approximately 35 kilometers of mountain passes with barely a community on the sides of the road. There was also no gasoline station in sight until we reached Morong. We spent the night at Jet Coast Resort in Morong, which surprisingly has several resorts and nice beaches.
The trip was quite tiring, considering we slept only for about three hours the night before, but it was a blessed journey, and I hope to do it again next year in another province.
The Hongqi HQ 9 Executive Van prides itself on being a harmonious vehicle with safety. It exceeds the National China 2021 C-NCAP 6-star safety design standards.It has a robust body with features like automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection, rear collision warning, 360-degree monitor, and more to ensure the protection of occupants.
