The program was part of the parish’s efforts to employ people and keep jobless youth off the streets.
Father Dari Dioquino shared his life with indigent and abandoned seniors by working to provide them with a home over the past twenty years.
In 2002, the Kanlungan ni Maria—Home for the Aged—in Antipolo, Rizal, opened its doors to neglected seniors. The diocese chose Dioquino to be in charge of the residence.
He looked for resources to feed, clothe, and care for more than 20 residents for 12 years.
At the start, Kanlungan ni Maria rented a house in Antipolo to shelter the abandoned seniors. Dioquino lived in that house with the seniors. He slept in a bed in the same room that stored boxes of milk, adult diapers, medicines, and other provisions for the seniors.
Generous individuals and organizations have always met the basic needs of the residents.
"There was not a single time that we thought of doing fundraising for the needs of the seniors," he said. "The seniors were always provided."
There were even times when they had to give cans of milk away because the supply was more than enough and nearing the expiration date.
His rewarding stewardship of the residence and its occupants earned him charitable people and groups' trust and support.
Keen on providing the seniors with their own home, Dioquino worked on sourcing funds to build their own residence.
In 2008, he and the seniors moved into their own newly constructed house, also in Antipolo.
After 12 years as the priest in charge of Kanlungan ni Maria, he turned over the stewardship of the residence to a congregation of nuns. Then he joined volunteers in establishing another home for the elderly in Pililia, Rizal, in 2015.
Known as the Josefheim Foundation, the home for the elderly rented a house in Marikina to shelter the neglected seniors. The house sank in the flood when Typhoon Ulysses hit Manila in 2020.
The water reached the second floor of the residence, Dioquino said. Five seniors and two staff nearly drowned.
One of the seniors climbed the roof of the house to keep away from the flood. The public witnessed the resident taking refuge on the roof, which resulted in donations amounting to P6 million.
The flood damaged the house and caused the goods to drift away. After safely evacuating the seniors, they were taken to a state-owned school in Marikina.
"A generous man donated to us one hectare of land in Pililia," Dioquino said. "We built the home for the elderly on that land. The donor also lent us two more hectares that we use to grow vegetables, fruits, and trees. The income goes to the foundation."
The Josefheim Foundation rented a house for five years in Marikina before they transferred to their own home in Pililia.
If the homeless in the street were willing, we would take them to our home for the elderly in Pililia.
Dioquino served as an assistant priest at Immaculate Conception parish in Marikina while at the same time caring for the neglected seniors. They opened a hotline in the parish for constituents in need of a plumber or repairman. The parish served as the third party processing the transaction between the client and the accredited plumber or repairman.
"The program was part of the parish’s efforts to employ people and keep jobless youth off the streets," he said.
Dioquino and other volunteers rolled out a mobile unit that offered showers, haircuts, and food to the homeless in the streets.
"If the homeless in the street were willing, we would take them to our home for the elderly in Pililia," he said.
He would care for the homeless as long as he could, the priest said.
As a priest, he is well-loved by parishioners. He solicited school supplies for elementary school pupils from parishioners when he was assistant priest at Immaculate Conception. He gave the school supplies—bags, notebooks, pencils, papers, and others—to schoolchildren in Barcelona, a municipality in Sorsogon and the hometown of this author.
Dioquino, who also came from Sorsogon, is currently an assistant priest at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Diocesan Shrine and Parish in the diocese of Antipolo.
