Pedro Campugan, former LCHS grade-V teacher and basketball coach, has retired from the teaching profession.  These days he spends most of his leisure hours attending to his coco farm in Tambo, Hinaplanon.  Yet at 70 years old, he is actively involved in the community activities of his barangay.  Mr. Campugan taught at LCHS from 1954 to 1963.  After LCHS, he moved to Dalipuga Central School as teacher in charge of its vocational department.  From then on he has taught in several other elementary schools in Tuburan, Digkilaan, and Kalibuhan.  He returned to Dalipuga Elementary School to become its principal from 1975-82.  He capped his illustrious career in education as an assistant supervisor before retiring in 1986.
 

Igdono Caracho’s narrative scoop of the LCHS Alumni Christmas party is like ceaseless emotional punches to my mid-sternum.  The list of attendees in that festive social gathering made me almost asthmatic with fervent wish to have been in Iligan that very special affair, to swap stuffs that are cutesy-wootsies, trade rounds of idle talks and to savor the whooshing roar of the grip-and-grin session.  His write-up stirred me to linger countless times around names of peers, schoolmates, idols, heroes...and former inspirations.  Practically, I was a nut case, taking a crack at any residue of my faded past.  If there is such a bacterium that torments a homesick daydreamer, Igdono’s finely chopped journal is it.

Were your ears ringing yesterday?  My friend, it was just my primordial compulsion to reactivate our dormant connections: the relic of camaraderie from eons back.

Ever heard of Pac-Man appetite?

Derwin, you are one kid I long to touch for sparks.
 

Belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!

What's in store in 1998 for us?  Late last year, I read in one of our newspapers here that 1998 is the product of 666 x 3.  Also, it is the 3rd year from the 3rd millennium.  And we have 3 Fridays the 13th, which are on the months of February, March and November.  And we will be riding on the Year of the Tiger as far as the Chinese lunar calendar is concerned, which starts on the 28th of this month.  Well, Happy New Year again!

Regarding the start of the next millennium, Australia's official stand is that it will start on January 1st of 2001.  However, most of the Australian people would like to celebrate it on January 1st of 2000 with the rest of the world.  So we will be lucky here, we will be celebrating it twice!

Smart people here contend that there was no Zero A.D. year.  The first year was called first A.D. So to complete the first decade needs 10 years.  Consequently,  the 2nd decade started in 11 A.D.  In the same explanation, a first century ended on Dec. 31, 100 A.D.  So the second century started in Jan. 1, 101.  With this reasoning, year 2001 may be the correct start of 3rd millennium then!

Intsik is a word of respect actually.  It came from the Amoy term An-Chik which simply means uncle or Tio or Tito in our Philippine dialect.  Over the years, it evolved into Intsik.

(EDITORS' NOTE: Loloy Tan has now a new e-mail address: edtan@bigpond.com)
 

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are; anything your heart desires will come to you.  If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme; when you wish upon a star as dreamers do..."

This particular song caught my fancy when I read the article "An Evening of Christmas Cheers and Blissful Nostalgia" by Igdono Caracho of LCHS batch 1966.  For one thing, I was wishing upon a star when I read it because I was so touched with his reportorial write-up and the people who attended the said affair.  I really wished I too was there to be one among the many LCHS alumni gathered for the December 30 annual Christmas Party and homecoming circa 1997.  But much as I wanted to, I could not possibly make it since tradition has it that we have to be home on New Year's Eve plus some preoccupations that such date entailed.  So, if I would be there on the 30th, how could I possibly be back in Cebu on the 31st?  Hopefully, some solutions will come up later.  Probably we can move the date earlier so as to give time for the out-of-towners (those residing outside the city of Iligan)?  Or some means of transportation faster than a boat, a plane, or a waterjet?  Or are there now?

Anyway, reading through the said article also brought back "haunting undertones of blissful nostalgia" on my part, specially since most of those who attended are familiar to me despite the passage of time, and with them I have fond memories imprinted in my mind as a youth in Iligan in the 60s.

When was the last time I attended an affair like the LCHS Alumni Christmas Party?  Ah, that was twenty nine years ago, in 1968, when I was still sixteen years old.  The said affair was sponsored then by the Millionaires Club (composed of LCHS alumni).  Here is an account of that party held on December 29, 1968 as published in the January 1969 issue of the LCHS Spectrum:

The very moment we stepped into the grand threshold of the LCHS auditorium, a striking glimpse of an aboriginal locale was what immediately saturated in our mind.  The cozy atmosphere of the hall, coupled with that hip-swaying Bali-hai music, reflected a typical Hawaiian motif.

The decor was splendid (kudos to the decor committee). Softly as we trudged along the aisle, gifts-for-exchange in hand, we found our path adorned with banana trunks prompting an alumnus to describe the motif as befitting a banana republic.  Instantaneously as the soft Bali-hai music shifted to the beat of samba, we found ourselves transported to the peerless homegrown Caribbean environs.

The time drew near and one by one our fellow alumni trekked in.  Smiling faces, animated shrieks, mammoth hairdos, mini-skirts, high heels, Beatle haircuts, crew cuts, big mouths, non-run stockings, seamlesses, fish nets...all were on the scene, combined with a heavy exchange of Christmas greetings and hellos.  In a second the auditorium was awash in endless chuckles and chatters.

The clock struck eight and there from amidst the eye-catching bevy of our fellow alumnae, charming and beautifully-grown Grace Po sat gracefully by while her dad George Po busied himself arranging the gifts, door prizes, etc.  Together with Grace at the sidelines was the cynosure of all eyes, Merle Galan.  No doubt, our boys that evening appeared exceptionally attentive!  The first to come to the limelight was no other than our very own prexy Carlos "Bonnie" Dy.  Dressed in polo barong, Bonnie was again in his busy self. And there was Dy Sun Kang, rushing back and forth, seeing to it that each alumni get his stub for the gift exchange.

Approaching the entrance now we met two of our alumni from Dumaguete, Ernesto and Henry Yu.  Both wore yellow striped polo shirts.  My! I thought they were to perform a duet. Familiar faces were altogether seen in the hall like Bebencio Ma Palang, Rudy "Waya" Te, Chua Tek An, Manuel Sy Gaite, Richard Sy, with their beautiful spouses and juniors.  And there was that man with the camera, Cresencio Tan, clicking away his shutters every which way.

No sooner had we arrived from a brief joy ride along Quezon Avenue when then the party reeled off.  The ladies had their pick of the dishes first and then the men rushed in a cordon armed to the teeth with spoons and matching plates.  Indeed the food was worth the two pesos we each contributed.

We had a good twenty minutes' breather and then the lights dimmed.  As the sound of the popular hit "Mony Mony" filled the hall, we saw dominating the dance floor Bonnie Dy, Merle Galan, James So, Grace Po, Maning Gaite, Mila Handumon, Ernie Yu, Betty Bernardo, Henry Yu, Alex Handumon, Antonio Te, Virgie Handumon, Stephen Sy doing his "horsy" steps, Charie Chin, Roberto Handumon, and there was Gregorio Dy doing his version of the "horse".

Among the throng of on-lookers were happy pairs like Mr. and Mrs. Henry Siao, Mr. and Mrs. Sy Chu Pin, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Sy, Mr. and Mrs. Rudy Te, and many more.  Also huddled in faintly-lit corners, we saw groups like that of Johnson Dy, Sandy So, Arturo Samson, Henry Dy, Yolando Siao, Augusto Sy, Ong Ching An, James Tiu Huan, Victor Chiu, Peter Co.  At the rear section were Romulo Tiu, Carmen Chan, Francisco Co, Khu Chai Tin, Bonifacio Co, Constantino Sy, Wilson Lim, Suniel Lim, Miguel Ong, Peter Dy and Robert Co.

With the music stopping at interval, Maning, Bonnie, Waya and Teck An came up with the draws for the consolation prizes in the night's raffles.  Of course they didn't need any microphone at all, Maning Gaite, with his baritone, was there to do the job.

The first prize, a portable piano organ, was won by Mrs. Sy Chu Pin. Other prizes, mostly play things, went to Mrs. Henry Ang, James So, Leonardo Go, among others.  The affair ended a couple of minutes near midnight with the auditorium a veritable sea of torn Christmas wrappers.

I would have loved meeting some of the people whom I missed when I was there in Iligan on June 24, 1997 (for Jimmy Ling's funeral), people like: Rudy Co, Terry Racines, Aida Chow, Charmaine Molo, the Lim sisters (Elena and Elizabeth), Julius Racines, Bonnie Khu, Virgie Handumon-Te, Dy Sun Kang, Sandy Chua, Guardson Siao, to name a few among the many personalities whom I terribly miss considering that these are the people I haven't seen for ages.  I'm just as pretty excited as anybody else to see them now.  Years may have passed since we were together in one sheltering roof of our dear Lanao Chinese High School, but deep in me, the memories of these people among others, are beyond forgetting.  Truly, the best years of my life were spent in Iligan along with fellow Iliganons.  They are just simply unforgettable, so much so that it makes one wish upon a star to bring back the good old days of Mongol pencil, tira-tira, maruya, orange sweet, bucayo, Senorita lemon candy, Fibisco soda crackers, Mabuti sardines, Wakasan komiks, Graphic and Expressweek magazines, The Sun newspaper, avocado ice candy, ice flower, sambag balls, Texas bubble gum, plastic balloon, watusi, jerk, soul, horse, Beatles, Cary Lewis and the Playboys, Matt Monroe, magic slate, Darigold, Sergs, Ricoa curly tops, ognut, nougat, cortal, tiki-tiki, castoria, the list continues on and on...