PEGS, subcontractors donate A&E services for new Tinian church

From left, Friends of San Jose Church, Tinian co-chair Dawn Sarmiento; Friends vice chair Richard Lazaro; Pacific Engineering Group and Services general manager Jessie Arizala; PEGS assistant general manager Denm Manglona; PEGS president Gregorio Q. Castro; Friends co-chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds; Fr. Anthony Aguason; and Friends treasurer Teruko King.  (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Pacific Engineering Group and Services has committed to donating architectural and engineering services worth an estimated $110,000 as part of a larger project to build a new concrete San Jose Parish Church.

The ad-hoc group Friends of San Jose Church, Tinian announced yesterday the PEGS donation, which would pave the way to build a new church on Tinian to replace the one that was destroyed by Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018.

Officers of Friends of San Jose Church recently met with PEGS president Gregorio Q. Castro and PEGS 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. PEGS said that they will be collaborating with numerous subcontractors to complete the A&E.

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,” said Kimberly King-Hinds, who is co-chair of Friends of San Jose Church, Tinian. “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.” (PR)