Calungsod and Tubid

Ronald Tubid (born on October 15, 1981 in Iloilo City, Philippines) is a Filipino professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association who plays for the Barako Bull Energy. While playing for the amateur Philippine Basketball League, he was selected by artist Rafael del Casal to model for the painting of (then) Blessed Pedro Calungsod, hence earning him the nickname "The Saint". Here are two news articles regarding Tubid and Calungsod which were written twelve years apart, from Tubid's amateur to professional career in basketball and from Calungsod's Beatification to Canonization.  

Blessed Pedro's bewildered sub 

by Gerry Carpio (The Philippine Star) 

March 07, 2000 12:00 AM 

Ronald Tubid, guard-forward of the University of the East Red Warriors, thought it was just one of those things, but barely 24 hours after his face appeared in the newspapers, he was overwhelmed.

"Marami akong phone calls na natatanggap maya't maya," said Tubid, a bit amused when interviewed in the Warriors headquarters at the K.B. Lepanto Bldg near the UE campus on Gastambide st., Sampaloc.

He said his callers started calling him "Pedro", after Blessed Pedro Calungsod, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in ceremonies at the Vatican last weekend.

From among over 100 possible candidates, Tubid, now 18, was chosen to stand in as model for the 16th century martyr two years ago. A huge portrait, produced by painter Rafael de Casal from photos taken of Tubid, was unveiled during the beatification ceremonies.

Throughout the day yesterday, Tubid was hounded by calls by his friends and members of the UE Warriors teasing him "Pedro".

"Pati ang girl friend ko binibiro ako," he mused.

Even his team, the Ana Water Dispensers, in the PBL, is being christened "Ana Blessed Water" and the young cager himself is being called "Ronald Tubig."

"Okay lang naman sa akin iyan," said Tubid.

Fr. Catalino Arevalo of the Archdiocese of Cebu picked him to be the model of the martyr whom he described as a "brave, strong, dexterous and loyal" catechist who was killed by the Chamorro tribesmen in the Marianas Islands in 1672.

Arevalo said it was not easy to choose who among the more than 100 young men really looked like Calungsod. All the young men listed as models were carefully reviewed and studied by the Archdiocese of Cebu.

"Each one of them was interviewed, their background investigated and their families examined by the Catholic Church," Arevalo said.

He said that while he was in deep prayer, a quick flash of lightning appeared in front of him and a face similar to Tubid came into sight.

"My feelings were very strong that Tubid had the young blessed's feature," Arevalo said. Tubid was chosen when he was 17, about as old as the Blessed Pedro Calungsod when the latter was murdered.

Tubid also appeared to be the "right person" for the purpose because of his features, and by coincidence, he also comes from Oton, Iloilo, where the Blessed Calungsod is believed to have lived before he joined the Catholic mission to the Marianas.

"Sa bayan namin, maraming Calungsod, Calunsod o Calongsod. When the beatification rites were held at the Vatican, I was told there was a big celebration - like a fiesta - in my town and in the towns of Molo, Tigbawal and Leon, Iloilo," he said.

Tubid may not be the "blessed" that he portrays in leaflets, but he was raised by a Catholic family and started living a more "directed, disciplined" life when his father died last January.

His mother teaches accounting subjects at the University of Iloilo while his younger brother, 15, is still in high school. He said he was already a UE freshman when he was tapped for the portraiture.

"Ang gusto ko ngayon ay makatapos. Ang konting allowance na natatanggap ko eh pinadadala ko naman sa amin," said Tubid, who normed 12 points per game for the Warriors last season and 10 ppg for Ana Dispenser.

"I sometimes fail to go to Church on Sundays because of my hectic basketball schedule, but I always try to find the time, lalo na ngayong wala pang laro sa UAAP," he said.

Things have, indeed, changed for this sturdy youth from Iloilo who found himself unwittingly thrust into the limelight for being a stand-in for the country's second Blessed Filipino, and hoped to be, to use a basketball parlance, his worthy substitute. - With report from Sandy Araneta

A painting of Blessed Pedro Calungsod by Alfredo Esquillo at the Loyola House of Studies (Photo: John Francis Lagman)

Basketball player is Filipino Saint’s face

UCA News, February 24, 2012

A PROFESSIONAL basketball player has become the face of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino who will be proclaimed saint by Pope Benedict XVI in October.

Ronald Tubid from Iloilo province was used as a model for the image of Calungsod, said Jesuit Father Catalino Arevalo.

“If you look at the portrait carefully he was the one used as model,” said Father Arevalo during a seminar at the Loyola School of Theology on Wednesday.

He said Tubid is a Visayan like Calungsod and was only 17 years old when he posed as a model for the future saint.

“We asked everybody who knew him if he was a good candidate, of good moral character, and everybody said yes. So we used him as the official face of Calungsod,” Arevalo said.

Tubid plays professional basketball for the Barako Bull Energy team at the Philippine Basketball Association. He used to play for the University of the East and the Philippine Basketball League during his younger years.

Calungsod was a catechist who went with Spanish Jesuit missionaries to Ladrones Islands in the western Pacific in 1668 when he was martyred.

Because no one knows what the boy martyr looked like, at least eight various likenesses of him had made their appearance since the time he was proposed for the altar.

But the easy favorite among many likeable likenesses is the first oil painting of him (1999) by Rafael del Casal which was eventually chosen by the Archdiocese of Cebu as the official portrait.

EPILOGUE

Had basketball developed in the seventeenth century, San Pedro Calungsod might had played it as well. Ronald Tubid is also known by many as "The Fearless" in the hard court. Sometimes, he would be labelled as "Bad Boy" especially in the heat of the game. 

Whenever we see Tubid on the court, we see a basketball player. But whenever we see his painted image as San Pedro Calungsod, we see a "Saint". San Pedro Calungsod is the model for filipino youth and we are all proud for his elevation to sainthood. He may not be a hard court hero, but his physical agility was proven remarkable by account witnesses. Most importantly, he offered his life as a martyr and never feared death. This only proved that he is "Faithful and Fearless".

San Pedro Calungsod, pray for us!