INTERNET NEWSLETTER OF THE ALUMNI OF LANAO CHUNG HUA SCHOOL
Vol. II - No. 42, February 8, 1999, Iligan City, Philippines

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The St. Michael's Filipino Chinese Catholic Ladies Circle, led by its energetic president, Matea B. Dy, has launched a raffle project dubbed "Wheels of Love." The project, which started in September 1998, will culminate on February 14, 1999, Valentine's Day, which is also the Fifth Anniversary of the religious organization. The Ladies Circle will give away one unit Honda City Sedan  (red color) as its grand prize. The second and third prizes are a Sony 20" color TV set and a G.E. refrigerator, respectively. Consolation prizes include the following: 5 electric fans and 8 electric table fans. The raffle draw will be held at the Cathedral grounds with a short program. This laudable project is intended for the Inahan Sa Kinabuhi Chapel and the building of the Formation Center of the St. Michael Filipino Chinese Catholic Ladies Circle in Iligan City.

Dy brothers join CdeO golf tourney

Greg Dy, M.D., is currently back home in Iligan City. He, along with brothers Carlos, Jesus, Henry and Peter, will participate in the Invitational Golf Tournament sponsored by PNP Chief Gen. Roberto Lastimoso at the Pueblo de Oro Golf Course in Cagayan de Oro City on Feb. 6 & 7, 1999.  Gen. Lastimoso has reserved two flights for the Dy brothers, who will be joined by their Iligan golf buddies to complete the team. The Dy brothers leave for Cebu City on Feb. 8, where Greg will be making arrangements for the Filipino American Masonic Convention scheduled in Cebu in July 2000, of which Greg is the convention chairman.

Alumni news roundup

"Tracers" this week continues tracking down the whereabouts and whatabouts of  LCHS alumni.  Considered one of Iligan's kingpins today in the agriculture industry is Charles "Amboy" Ang (Batch '71), who runs a flourishing piggery business in the suburbs of Iligan.  Assisting Charles in running his business operations are his sisters Linda Ang and Joselyn "Angkaw" Ang (Batch '67).  Past LCHS-AA president Manuel Te (Batch '65) now runs his own general merchandising business called Good Year Commercial on Mercado st.  In the business of upholstery materials, two alumni stand out among the notable top grossers, they are Santiago Ong (Batch '70), who runs the Ang Suan Em Store on Quezon Ave., and Virgilio "Tarzan" Yu, who owns and manages the Iligan Fortune Upholstery Supply, along De Leon st.  If you're scouting for quality trophies, the source for these is Farley Sy (Batch '73), who also owns the Crown Paper and Stationers along Roxas Ave.  Interested in setting up your own home page on the World Wide Web?  Check it out with Vinson Ngo (Batch '83), marketing manager of IliGANet and Microtouch Computer System, Iligan City. Vinson is the webmaster behind the creative design of Iligan Net home page. Stanley Ong, son of alumna Conchita Te Ong (Batch '62), is the new president of the Mandaue Lions Club. Stanley led his club in celebrating its 28th charter anniversary last Jan. 28.

Thanks for the free ride!
Mon, 1 Feb 1999 16:11:00 +0800

After four months of Spectrum columnist Leonardo "Eddie" Tan's continuing saga of  "Adventure in North America," putting an end to it last issue, it made me feel a sense of melancholy.  For some of us who don't have the opportunity to go to North America, the series was a complete travelogue, taking us readers on a virtual trip with him around that continent. I do hope the "complete" writer will travel again, to Europe maybe, so we will have a sequel to the adventure. To Eddie I say: Thanks for the free ride. It was nice taking us with you, ol' Chap!  By the way, an Australian  missionary friend to whom I introduced our Spectrum newsletter, who's a trained speed reader, was impressed with the design of the LCHS Home Page and was amused by "Leo the Banker's" adventures and misadventures while working with a Sydney bank (Spectrum, October 1997 series). He is leaving home with his family this week with some hard copies of the Spectrum. He said he will open the Spectrum archive and browse more of our back issues.

Rene Tio (Batch '70), Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
fishers@cdo.weblinq.com

By Ernesto L. Yu, M.D., Batch '65

It was as if I laced myself with a delirium dose of espresso caffeine: heart racing at a bouncy 120 per minute, mind chugging at hyperkinetic tempo and eyes swirling like a romantic in the grip of a passionate high. But, accidentally unearthing an unmailed love letter that has languished in deathly silence - some thirty years when it was scribbled - can handily fracture any genetic armors of shyness and reservation, especially when Valentine's Day is hitting home and I can't bleed my heart for more moldy pages of juvenile romance classics of the vanished puppy love era. At any rate, dear heart, wherever you are, these mummified revelations are premiered to impart the exhumed message that  there was a frame in time where the essence of your drop-dead glamour that I wolfishly admired seethed through my sinuses and reigned the soft spots in my heart without you knowing about it. Until now

October 4, 1968. Sometimes I 'm crushed in tons of spasmodic knocks that somehow agitate the rhythmic cycle of my sleep. Oftentimes, I entertain  the impression that these are unspoken words and repressed thought bubbles that, unknowingly, are primed to splatter on the walls the naked truth that had me frozen in anxiety and insomnia. The redeeming thing is these are subtle touches as breezy as episodic intermissions in a good night sleep, gliding in the rhythm of sheer enchantment and bruising tenderness. I don't vividly recall how it snapped one day. Was it the style you sway your lips and drip the silly sweetness that triggered my obsessive compulsion to scoop the fleeting poetry of my every the-wonder-of-you moment? Was it the glittering radiance of your wandering shadow that torched the whole me into bits and pieces, cooing dreamer, and into a prodding march to the magical skies of castles and fairies? Was it the awkwardness of your being a left-handed guide of our LCHS parade troop whose every finger stroke was like a dazzling ballet that lullabies the senses? Was it because you oozed an incense that lingered in my every shriver, rapture, drool, murmur and breath during solemn communion with solitude?

The rousing times we wobbled our hips and jerked our appendages in the ‘60s Elephant Walk and Watosi during Christmas breaks and private jam sessions; the blissful occasions of sweet surrender between the muted interplay of our sideline glances and toothy smile; the jittery periods of my inner turmoil, self-doubt and emotional lethargy to dispatch the "letter" that never garnered the requisite steam to kiss the mailbox ... To all those spellbinding once-upon-a-time chapters and what-if nightmares, I stamp a painstaking goodbye. Those outmoded remnants of the ancient times - of petticoat and jeans, The Searchers and The Cascades, electric guitars and bleached TVs - wafted the wild promise of all the mystery of teenage infatuation, and were endearingly exquisite while it lasted. Having wilted under these strains, I sincerely hope that I'll never have to bump into you along the avenues of fragmented puberty fantasies. After all, life is a forward propulsion: You reverse your acceleration only to enthuse breathlessly over - not to bundle up -  the achy twinges, anticipatory tingling, palpable stillness, hypnotic fascination and the vagaries of the hours gone by.  Nonetheless, if I ever tangle myself again in those rippling waves of nocturnal replays, you bet I'd be panting with each throb and beg the heavenly forces not to wake me up so soon.

I like dreaming for dreaming makes you mine.

By Leonardo "Eddie" Tan, Batch '66

I am just glad that my travelogue series is over. I don't know how many readers did I lose over the weeks and months from the boring tale. To be frank, I was already bored after a few episodes and was contemplating a quick exit.  Anyway, for those loyal readers, thanks for your patience and I hope it was worth the free ride.  No way am I going to write such series again in the future. That's why I was really horrified with the suggestion by our construction magnate, Rod Ngo, that the Spectrum come out monthly instead of weekly. My series would then end sometime in the middle of year 2000! By the way, in a couple of months, I hope to travel to Europe with my wife for 30 days to celebrate our Silver Wedding anniversary.  Anybody interested to read ... ooops forget it! I still have to win lotto.

By Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch '69

"And they call it puppy love
Just because we're seventeen.
Tell them all, oh please tell them it isn't fair.
To take away my only dream..."

As Valentine's Day approaches, our thoughts drift back to the times in our life when we first experienced how it was to get attracted to someone.  Nobody taught us.  It was a natural instinct.  Part of growing up.  We remember the beautiful moments when everything seemed in accucolor all of a sudden.  We were inspired to do good in our studies and extracurricular activities all because of that special someone being our "soul and inspiration." Then the unlimited daydreams and building of air castles.  Oh, what a beautiful feeling, such memorable times in our life spent with our Romeo and Juliet or our knight in shining armor.

Valentines is a season of the heart that loves.  We always associate it with those we love most - our parents and family, our boyfriend or girlfriend, barkada, classmates, etc. But for this particular special someone, there is no stopping the music.  We spend a lot of wistful thinking of only the good things that he/she is made of - the tantalizing pair of eyes, the soft and silky long hair, the face that refreshes and all that.  Having someone to love is such an irresistible feeling, putting all our time and effort just thinking about him/her to the point of dismissing his negative traits in the tradition of "Love is blind, and lovers cannot see."

The experiences that we had when we were teenage high schoolers all form a fabric part of life we once were leading.  We thought we were in love only to find out and realize later that it was just a plain crush, bordering on infatuation or puppy love, a feeling which we alone could feel and understand.  Just how we adored those crushes - be they movie stars or the neighbor next door or the schoolmates or our classmates - to the point of displaying their photos in our room, by the bedside table, or keeping a copy in our notebook for fear of being known by mom and dad.  You know, strict ang parents ko!

As the autograph would put it: Define love. Who was your first crush?  Where and when did you meet? What attracted you most in him? The experience may have long been gone, but deep in us, the memories will always linger on like no other.  After all, the first is always unforgettable.

Year after year, we make new friends, we go through several experiences in life, and collectively we restore these in the pages of our diaries, rewinding every now and then the years when life's little and simple pleasures were part of the day's agenda - like sharing a bowl of halo-halo, a plate of pancit, or a bagful of popcorn.  We all passed that puppy love stage. And it is indeed in reminiscing this particular episode in our life when we somehow feel young again.

Now that we are parents ourselves, we pause and ponder of the swiftly gliding years. As we take a close look at our little angels whom we used to cuddle, we realize that we have indeed grown older. The once innocent kids of ours are now starting to look at life in another perspective. Our children serve as a beautiful reflection of our youth.  We smile as we remember our yesteryears when we were their age, when we too went into the same experiences - having crushes, cutting pictures of movie stars from the magazines or buying posters of our idols, or doing telebabad.  Life is a cycle.  Very soon, our kids will also become parents. Only then will they realize how it is to be one.  It is never easy to be parents.  But being one is worth the experience.

"And they called it puppy love
Oh I guess they'll never know
How a young heart, how it really feels.
And why I love her so..."

Today
Quoted from an ancient Sanskrit poem

Look to this day, for it is life,
the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities
and truths of existence,
the joy of growth, the splendour
of action, the glory of power.

For yesterday is but a memory
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well lived makes every
yesterday a memory of happiness
and every tomorrow a vision of hope
look well therefore to this day!
        -- Contributed by Lydia Sy Chona (Batch '65)

Every second week of February, for the past five years, Operation Smile has been initiating free services in Iligan City as part of its Asian itinerary.  Iligan was chosen because of its strategic location and the facilities Mindanao Sanitarium & Hospital has to offer. 1998 was their last year in Iligan.

Hundreds of patients, from 2 to 68 years old, are assessed of their health history and main complaint. Cleft lip, cleft palate, and burn patients are often the cases we see. Operational cases are noted while risky ones are referred to tertiary level hospitals where local doctors can follow up the post-op condition of the patient.

I remember a 10-year-old boy from a distant town, who came in with a bulge of water and blood between his eyes. It was approximately 15 c.m. in circumference.  He wanted to be operated on as soon as he heard the news on the radio. He wanted to go to school again. Everybody made fun of him, he said. As the Nicaraguan doctor examined him and told me of his decision, a feeling of helplessness filled my inner self. How am I gonna tell him this? In the most easiest way I can, in the simplest Bisayan term I can possibly translate.

Volunteer nurses are often the translators of these doctors and nurses who came from Norfolk, Virginia, USA, as well as Nicaragua, Cuba, and Manila. Paper works, weighing, taking the blood pressure and temperature are among the tasks performed by the Iliganon volunteers during the assessment phase.  Some nurses were disappointed during the despidida party because volunteer nurses were not recognized for their effort and services rendered. The endless hours of assisting the operation itself is undeniably gruesome. On the brighter side, other nurses were convinced that the importance is not with the certificate of recognition but the essence of fulfillment and contentment that one has given his time, skills and effort for the needy and less fortunate ... without expecting anything in return.

What's a piece of paper with your name on it worth anyway?