DURING his almost 15-hour trip back to Rome from Manila aboard Philippine Airlines (PAL) A340 “Shepherd One,” Pope Francis dined on bistek Tagalog for his main course and dinuguan with puto for snack.
The pontiff touched the rice cake in the semi-darkened cabin, which he had apparently mistaken for a scoop of ice cream, and politely asked the stewardess, “Why is it not cold?”
And then in retrospect, he declared: “Rice?”
This tidbit of information was shared with the BusinessMirror by Capt. Manuel L. Tamayo, flight commander and vice president for operations.
Maria Criselda Rayos, who was in charge of catering, said there were four main courses offered to the pope: Angus rib-eye steak-Filipino (bistek), grilled prawns with crab-fat sauce, Chilean sea bass with fresh mango and chili sauce, and manok sa tanglad (chicken in lemongrass).
“The pope chose the bistek out of the four main courses because he was curious of our Filipino way of cooking steak,” Rayos said partly in Filipino.
This vignettes of the pope’s trip was revealed on Thursday to the media during a news conference at PAL’s head office.
Cabin attendant Maria Janet Perez said the pope likes to know what we eat in the country.
“He likes also dinuguan and arroz caldo and the puto. He was actually amused when after mistaking it for ice cream, he asked, ‘rice?’”
“It didn’t look like rice to him, although he ate everything,” said Perez, who hails from Bulacan and with a 31-year experience in PAL.
She said that as soon as the “seat belt-on” sign was off, she went out of the cabin to see how the most important passenger aboard was doing.
“I thought he was sleeping, then I realized he was praying. Then I knew that we were safe.”
Tamayo said Francis occupied two seats in first class, A and B.
Nearby are two aides, who are not priests, he said, but who screen all the food and beverages that the pope consumes.
“You have to ask them, ‘Can I serve this,’ and if they give their nod of approval, then the pope proceeds to eat or drink.”
Tamayo is a veteran pilot, who has 14,000 flying hours under his belt, earning his wings from the Air Force Flying School in Lipa, Batangas.
He used to be a flying instructor in Lipa, Batangas. Besides piloting trainer planes, he said he had probably flown all types of the Philippine Air Force helicopters.
In 1988 Tamayo joined PAL, went to become a B747 captain and then, the pontiff’s flight commander.
“I can’t say this is the most exciting,” he said when asked if he was excited of having the saintly passenger onboard.
“This is the highlight of my career!” said Tamayo, who was also given the task of choosing who among the many PAL pilots should accompany him to Rome.
He said he was involved in the preparation for the pope’s arrival three months ago, coordinating closely with the National Organizing Committee.
There are three considerations, he said: “Character, experience and Catholic.”
“When we say character, it means personality. You need somebody who can keep things quiet, because there are a lot of things here being discussed that will affect the security of the pope.”
“So every time I chair the meeting as head for PAL group for air transportation, the first thing I did was to announce: ‘Who is not involved here?’ Those who raised their hands are automatically showed the door.
“We have to make sure only those invited were present.”
Tamayo said the 254-seater plane had only 77 paying passengers aboard, which was not enough to answer for the flight cost.
“That’s no secret. The plane has a capacity of 254 passengers. PAL had to pay for the slack.”
Shepherd One’s total passengers include 30 from Vatican, 77 from the media, PAL President and COO Jaime Bautista, the five pilots and 11 cabin crew.
The Holy Father seen carrying his own bag made it to the news. He was surprised that the bag merited so much media attention.
“I have always taken a bag with me when traveling, it’s normal. But we must be normal. I don’t know. What you say is a bit strange for me; that the photograph went all over the world. But we must get used to being normal,” he told a foreign reporter.
The contents are his mundane requirements that included a razor, a breviary (liturgical book), an appointment book and a book to read.
“He did not sleep much while onboard, and he thanked PAL when we landed at Ciampino Airport. He said ‘Thank you and I love the Philippines’ in Spanish,” Bautista said.
2 comments
Pope eats “DINUGUAN” because he does not read the “Bible”.
Levitico 17:13 “ibuhos sa lupa at tabunan ng lupa”. Advance ung new normal nila. Ibuhos sa mangko at tabunan ng kanin. Myrun dn ibuhos sa mangko idutdot ang puto🤣🤭