(Press Release) — The Friends of San Jose Church, Tinian are pleased to announce the donation of architectural and engineering or A&E services for the building of the new concrete San Jose Parish Church that was destroyed by Super Typhoon Yutu.
From left, Dawn Sarmiento, co-chair of the Friends of San Jose Church, Tinian; Richard Lazaro, vice chair; Jessie Arizala, Pacific Engineering Group & Services general manager; Denm Manglona, PEGS assistant GM; Gregorio Q. Castro, PEGS president; Kimberlyn King-Hinds, co-chair of the Friends; Father Anthony Aguason; and Teruko King, treasurer of the Friends.
Contributed photo
Officers of the Friends met with Gregorio Q. Castro, president of Pacific Engineering Group & Services or PEGS, and its general manager Jessie Arizala to discuss the services they will be donating.
PEGS will be providing the overall coordination and production of the A&E which has an estimated value of $110,000. PEGS announced that they will be collaborating with numerous subcontractors to complete the A&E.
The Friends of San Jose Church, Tinian would also like to thank Roman Demapan and Gus Delgado (RSD Associates); James Ripple (Marianas Geotech Services); Alfred Pangelinan (Meridian Land Survey); Aquilino S. Cabrias, Jr. (ASC Engineers Inc.); and John Gourley (Micronesian Environmental Services) for their generous contribution and support of this project.
“We want to especially thank Gregorio Q. Castro, president of PEGS, who has taken the lead to organize the donation of the services from subcontractors who have signed on to assist with the A&E,” stated Kimberlyn King-Hinds, co-chair of the Friends. “We are so grateful and excited about this collaboration and the opportunity to move this project one step closer to making this a reality for the community of Tinian.”
The group recently completed the first phase of the project in December with the turnover of the refurbished Tinian Social Hall which is now the temporary place of worship for the Tinian Catholic parishioners. The second phase of the project is to build a concrete, air-conditioned church building that will include living quarters for the priest, parish office space, baptistry, choir, and chapel to accommodate smaller daily mass services.
“The intent is for the design to as much as possible replicate the original church that was built by the people of Tinian in the 1950’s,” said King-Hinds. “Mr. Castro is a son of Tinian who volunteered his time as young man, along with many other members of the community, to build the original church. With his personally knowledge and the team’s subject matter expertise, we are confident that we will soon have a design focused on simple elegance, functionality and low maintenance.”
