Internet Newsletter of the Alumni of Lanao Chung Hua School Iligan, Philippines, Year 5, Issue No. 3, May 7, 2001 LCHS AWARDEES Recipients of recognition  awards at LCHS By Igdono Caracho (Batch '66) Apart from academic honors, special recognition awards were given to selected students at the LCHS Commencement Exercises on April 1, 2001.  The awardees were, for 4th year high school level, Sheila Vy -- Best in English, Math, Science and Leadership Awards; Jane Dale Racines -- Best in Filipino and Social Studies; Ghelbe Garay -- C.A.T. Leadership Award; Jeremy Ling -- Athlete of the Year Award; Aimeelyn Fuentes, Luzette Go, Ma. Christine Samson, Sheila Vy, and Katherine Yu -- Loyalty Awards; and Luzette Go, Jeremy Ling, Carissa Ong, Jane Dale Racines, Ma. Christine Samson, and Sheila Vy -- Model C.A.T. Officers.  In the Grade VI level, the awardees were: Polimyr Caesar Dave Dingal -- Best in English, Math, Hekasi, and Science; Karen Zerna -- Best in Filipino; and Giselle Mae Letigio -- Deportment Award.

EDITORIAL STAFF Henry L. Yu, Editor Correspondents Roger Suminguit, Teresita Racines, Vinson Ngo & Johnny Chen (Iligan); Igdono Caracho (Cebu);  Marie Janiefer Lee (Manila); Peter Dy (Canada); Leonardo Tan (Australia); Ernesto Yu & Aurora Tansiokhian (U.S.A.); and Charles O. Sy, Editorial Consultant Founded Aug. 1, 1968. Published fortnightly since its revival on April 15, 1997. Distributed free on the Internet to LCHS alumni and supporters worldwide. Postal address: LCHS Alumni Association, Lanao Chung Hua School, Pala-o, Iligan City, Philippines. Website: http://www.iligan.com/~lchs/alumni/ For subscription, contact: Johnny Chen, Tel. No. (063) 221-3883. Email: johnchen@iligan.com For submission of manuscripts, Email: hvty@cbu.skyinet.net

The month of May is Flores de Mayo or Flowers of May.  It is the season of the Santa Cruzan procession (Reyna Elena, Emperatriz, etc.), Kite Festival, fiestas, kumbiras, etc. It is convention month for the doctors and other professional groups. It is the peak of summer.

May 1 – Labor Day. Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU). Once again, we’ll be seeing a parade of laborers, workers, and veterans in their fresh-from-the-laundry uniforms, etc.

May 8 – The birthday of Dr. Ernesto Yu, author of the column “moody BLUES 14221” (used to be "Dateline Buffalo," Spectrum, circa 1997-2001). He turns 52 this year of the snake.

May 13 – Mother’s Day (observed annually every second Sunday of May). A perfect time to send our mothers love notes, cards (Hallmark, Sterling, Fiesta), flowers (roses, orchids, carnations, chrysanthemums, anthuriums), chocolates (Cadbury, Hersheys, Van Houten, Sergs), cakes (Goldilocks, Red Ribbon, Anitas, Cheds), or beribboned packages (Rustans, Ayala, SM, Robinsons, Gaisano). A million thanks to the greatest woman in the world  – Mama, Mother, Mommy, Lao Bo, Inay, Nanay, Inang.

May 14 – Election Day. A special non-working holiday when Filipino citizens from age 18 and above will go to the voting centers/precincts to vote for the following: senators (13-0, 0-13, or 50-50), mayor, vice mayor, governor, vice governor, councilors, congressmen. It’s Election of the New Millennium.

May 21 – The next issue of the Spectrum (Year I, issue number 4).

May 23 – The conflagration of 1957. It’s been 44 years since a big fire burned down half  the land area of Iligan City. How old were you then? Where were you? Your relocation site? Top tunes of the era? Yo! It’s time to reminisce the past – the unforgettable Thursday, the 23rd of May, 1957.
 

Intro to Chinese Text Messaging

Text messaging can be fun.  Since the system thrives in abbreviations, it can become even shorter and more practical when texts are conveyed in Chinese lingo, as conceptualized by the Spectrum staff.  Try these:

Welcome  -- DLAI
Are you coming?  -- DBLAI?
Yes  -- C
No -- M
It is not -- MC
Let's go  --  LAI K
I will go  --  BK
Will not go   --  BO BK
I will certainly go  --  8TING BK
When?  --  TC?
Where to?   --  K2?
Going home  --  B2K
Thank you  --  2SHA
Where are you?   --  DT2?
None of your business  --  BO D A TAI
Good grief  --  OWA KOA

---

After reading the LCHS Spectrum for quite a time now, these I can say:

1.  Dr. Ernesto Yu often writes us his wit and mesmerizes us with the way he swings our mood. I sometimes wonder if he gets his inspiration from the mesmerizing water of the Niagara Falls, or the natural wonder of the migration of the Canadian geese to their yard and swimming pool. When he becomes melancholic, watch out. Chances are, you become melancholic too.

2.  Dr Henry Yu fascinates us with his astounding memory that appears to have millions of megabytes. He writes in detail the blast from the past with such ease like he is only going to the refrigerator to get some milk. He has a way of making us long for what we used to be, and making us hum, swing and sway with the music and songs from past memories.

3.  Leonardo “Eddie” Tan awes us with his bold opinions and philosophy on a variety of subjects: politics, Olympic, movies, society, culture, religion, etc. and of course, the events from down under. He writes whatever is in his mind without a hint of hesitation. He sometimes reminds us of Crocodile Dundee who never hesitates to grab and grasp the jaws of a crocodile and keep its mouth shut. In his latest article, he stated that he hurt his right hand flying after missing a couple of concrete steps. Do you believe so? Could it be that he actually hurt his right hand while practicing to wrestle one of those baby crocodiles perhaps?

4.  Marie Janiefer Lee is always upbeat in giving us valuable information that could readily come real handy when the time comes or a situation arises for anyone’s family’s fancy. Particularly for women, she located those places in Manila where women of class in particular, can change their looks into becoming prettier, sexier and younger-looking for their men to behold. “Pssst … Guys … I mean … the ‘Space Cowboys’ kind of guys, why don’t you ask Janiefer to take your women to one of those places? While they are there, go get a prescription of Viagra.”

5.  Evelyn Yu Go is something else, serious and sincere, in providing us with knowledge and wisdom that come right out of her own experiences that sometimes make us think of what might have been if only we knew then what we know now from her. But at the same time, we are also given a dilemma of what it is going to be, now that we know.

6.  Charles Sy represents the foundation, formidability and strength that have brought the Spectrum to where others not dare.

Of course, the rest of the members of the staff may only represent the nuts and bolts, but try imagining a house or a building without nuts and bolts. But they also give you, LCHS alumni in particular, the whereabouts of your members, so you can reconnect with them if you want to. At least you don’t have to scan the obituary section of the newspaper looking for some of them.

So, as you can see, Ernie, Henry, Leonardo, Janiefer, Evelyn, and Charles have one thing in common: They find writing fun. And as the Nike slogan says, “Just do it.”  So now, join the fun.
 

Life's Journey By Henry L. Yu, M.D. Batch '69

     “We’re all going on a summer holiday, no more work for a week or two.
     Fun and laughter on a summer holiday, no more worries for me or you.”

Yo! It’s that popular song of the ‘60s by Cliff Richard as recorded under Mercury Records. Remember?

We’re now at the peak of summer when most of us must have already gone back to our respective abodes, refreshed and recharged, fresh from that SUMMER HOLIDAY spent in such summer capital like Baguio or that packaged tour around Asia which has long been planned but only materialized now due to some unavoidable circumstances. It’s quite an expensive one but it’s worth the experiences and memories, so you’d claim. But what now after that SUMMER HOLIDAY?

We certainly differ from each other in terms of our priorities and preferences. Some of us would make it a point to go on a vacation annually to break the monotony of daily living, while others would opt to buy something that would last longer instead of spending the money for a tour.  Indeed, we live life according to our wishes and caprices.  For those of us who love traveling, we certainly wouldn’t mind spending thousands of pesos as long as we get a worthwhile return of investment (ROI) to our heart’s desire. But for those of us who are poor travelers or killjoys to traveling, probably because we easily get airsick or seasick or experience some dizzy spells on board the aircraft or the love boat, naturally we would rather settle for some simple pleasures from an overnight stay in a beach resort or simply malling or cruising in Ayala or SM. Afterall, what matters most is not the place but the company. Whether you’re traveling in far flung Chicago or go on a Caribbean cruise or just Manila, Boracay, Dakak, or at nearby Shangrila or Plantation Bay, it’s basically the same enjoyment you get so long as you’re with that somebody you love, someone whose company you’d enjoy traveling or doing things with.

This year’s summer will surely be one that we’ll remember long after it’s gone if only because we’ve spent it with people who jibe with us, with our kind of fun and frolic. For once in our life, we’re glad we’ve spent it with those we love the most – our family, our barkadas, our neighbors, or our crushes, etc. Yes, we’ll remember always this year’s SUMMER HOLIDAY if only for the simple reason that it’s a summer worth experiencing all over again like a song’s sweet refrain, when we savored the scorching heat of the sun like no other season, when all we thought about was what to do and where to go for that splashy summer rhapsody at this time of the year, when the light of day was longer, delaying the sunset to a quarter after six, or the sunrise coming earlier than 5:00 in the morning. And of course, to be involved in the campaigns - for our personal choices among the senatoriables, mayorables and governorables and their vice, councilorables, and congressmenorables – in this so-called Election of the New Millennium. The Summer of 2001.

Like life, somehow some rain must fall all too suddenly without aural warning amidst the summer weather, enough to drench the dried land where varied plants try hard to survive.  We do enjoy the sudden drizzle or downpour nonetheless as part of summer, don’t we? Yes, we run around freely like birds out of their cage, singing and playing while “raindrops keep falling on our head just like the guy whose feet are too big for his head, nothing seems to fit those raindrops keep falling on our head, they keep falling.”

And suddenly… yes, suddenly, we wake up to the realization that like all the other summers in our past life, this year’s SUMMER HOLIDAY will soon be gone. Truly, nothing is made to last forever.

Like these public officials, don’t they wish there’s no end to their term? And like all the rest of us, don’t we all wish there’s no end to our SUMMER HOLIDAY if only because…?
 

Straight from the Heart By Marie Janiefer Q. Lee Batch '87

Our country is under a certain type of epidemic, the E-fever, or the Election Fever.  With the election day just a few days away, the fever is at its peak these days.  And it is in the very contagious stage right now.

One of the early symptoms of this disease is when one sees people “go up the walls” or maybe in this case just the faces go up the walls.  Here in Manila there’s not an empty space without any poster pasted on it. Not a single post without banners and streamers hanging from it.  It’s like the whole place is now wrapped in faces and in nicknames like Ping Ding Dong and Nip Nap Nop. Just like any other fever,  it’s not advisable to stay too long outside, though it’s not that staying outside would make one even more sick. It’s just that when one stays outside too long, one might be mistaken for an electric post, and with how fast the poster-pasters work round the clock one might come back with a poster nailed on one’s forehead. That’s not part of the election violence that goes with this epidemic,  it’s just part of  their job. Sometimes I wonder if these posters have something to do with the traffic situation here that has gone worse, the walls are now thicker by a few inches with the layers upon layers of posters pasted on the murals.

This E-fever can be really dangerous.  Some people plagued with this disease would end up singing on stage, even if he or she sounds worse than the frog in a pond on a rainy day. Some will make false claims and lie openly in public. Some will even threaten to jump off a plane without a parachute and even asked to be shot in Luneta. Sounds familiar huh? While some will make up lies and stories just to destroy a good name. Just like what some politicians are doing now in Iligan.  It’s time we stop being gullible and try to really get to know the people running for office, look at their track records, etc. Ask yourself questions like “what has this person done for the city?” If you come out with the answer “none” then this person is not good enough.  Look for somebody who really cares, somebody who has already done something. Not somebody who has been giving nothing but empty promises.

I’m sure you all know that HENRY DY, my uncle,  is running for Vice Mayor of  Iligan.  I’m sure all those who’ve been following the Spectrum these past few years are very familiar with what he has done for our city. I don’t have to enumerate each of what he has achieved all these years as there just isn’t enough space here to list down everything. I just want to urge our readers in Iligan to vote wisely and vote for Dy best nobody else but Dy Henry.

So while Europe is still coping with the Mad Cow Disease, the Philippines is trying to survive this E-fever. Though with the events these past few days I’m wondering if the Mad Cow Disease has somehow invaded the brains of some people. That would explain why they acted so irrationally and spoke without thinking.

I just hope that the country heals from this E-fever right after May 14, 2001.  It’s been suffering long enough.  We should all help our country get back on its feet after this fever.
 

moody BLUES, 14221 By Ernesto L. Yu, M.D. Batch '65

A FISH WHEN HOT, HOT, HOT:  From all barometric indications, it's a sizzling summer for you guys in the Tropics. Slide into the equation the sporadic brownouts and zero rainfall, you are as good as toasted bread. Unless your residence is wired with a fighting backup generator, your options are: Camp out in the cooler mountain resorts and hope that there's enough soothing breeze left to humidify your steaming forehead, or be a fish in a refreshing pool and have a whale of a time. Fortunately, Buffalo is one city in America that prides itself with mild-mannered sun; a tad warmer than the slopes in Baguio during mid-summer night. Guess this is our redeeming bonus for staying alive and kicking in spite of nasty snowstorms during winter months (December to March). Here's a special deal:  See the majestic splendor of Niagara Falls during May-August (my treat) and I'll hold hands with you when the monsoon season hits Manila Bay. But here's the rub: Spare me a paddle boat if the street water bloats to knee-deep.

Yeah, I do need water for my kidney stones but not much.

CROCODILE IN BIRTHDAY SUIT:  Showering tears when the physical damage has already been etched in the annals of history is like jabbing relentlessly at your shadow in flaming rage" too many wasted motion for nothing. Once upon a full moon, I had the choice in my hand to mummify my chronological age at 32. Yet, being of a breed that champions the social dazzle of extinguishing one's birthday cake torch amid the clicks of digital cameras ,I just can't write off my annual May 8 milestone without a silenced acceptance speech of the sorry truth that another tough-to-swallow pill has been shove into my aging throat. Besides, testaments of being an old fart, pardon my French, like facial blotches and sagging eyelids, are too rough to smooth up with magic markers. Not even during Halloween. The three telltale signs of heading into the rocking chair: First, loss of memory; second, ah, ah, second ...

Sorry I forgot!

ALUMNI FLASHES BY CANDLELIGHT:  Amazing is the keyword on how varied are the topics streaming along the LCHS web page: from graduation cheers to funeral march, from computer virus alert to Iligan's political climate. Whatever is the flavor of the day, it is a marvelous site to sponge off fresh news around our alumni circle. For "outsiders" like me, it's the perfect window to gather exclusive flashes of old country wisdom and tidbits, the stuffs that assure my distant star not to miss a single beat of comrades' whispers and delight. A definite manna from heaven, perfused in rapid-fire electronic technology. If it doesn't get contaminated by California's ailing electric might. Dark days inevitably propagate a strong urge for a candle to project shadows on the walls.

Keep twinkling, Spectrum.
 

Briefs from Down Under By Leonardo "Eddie" Tan Batch '66

What is happening to our mother Philippines? Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo just had enough time to warm the Presidential seat at Malacañang by celebrating her 100 days in office and now she is facing the crisis of EDSA - Tres! A reversal of fortune with the pro-Erap forces occupying the hallowed ground of EDSA Shrine while the supporters of President Arroyo are encamped at the strategic Mendiola Bridge. Who needs an election if the fate of the Philippine government could be decided by any EDSA movement?

Although the EDSA People Power revolt is now recognized throughout the world as a unique peaceful movement of the Filipino people which was awarded recently with a special award from the committee of the Nobel Peace Prize, yet it has its negative effect. It shows the immaturity of Philippine democracy bordering on anarchy or mob rule.

The original EDSA fifteen years ago was about removing a dictator after 20 years with the massive snap election frauds as the catalyst. The second EDSA movement last January was about impeachment of a President with the unfairness of the senate proceedings which triggered it. Both peaceful revolts were morally upright so that the military forces had to side with the manifestations of EDSA mutineers. A decision which was upheld by the Supreme Court in unanimous vote. By what right or moral ground does the EDSA Tres people have demanding that their leader now being arrested and charged with plunder be returned to the highest office of the land? Will the military turn once again their allegiance? In the ultimate analysis it will come down to which side the military is supporting.  That is how fragile the Philippine Government is.

This is sending the worst signal to all foreign investors. The stability of the government or the lack of it. Let us now forget about any hope of rehabilitation  of National Steel Corporation by any foreign capital. With NSC being idle, other industries are also in deep slumber. The dream of reviving Iligan as the Industrial Center of the South is now dead and buried. Iligan City continues to be in its “dark age” without any hint as to when will we see the light at the end of the tunnel. It will now take more than a miracle to resurrect our city’s economy.

If there will still be an election this coming May 14, I hope the Filipino people in general and the Iliganons in particular will think seriously as to how important their votes will be. This could be the last election in the long long time if the wrong people are elected to the senate and with them their victorious local leaders. Why still elect people whose allegiance is not to the Filipino people but to their corrupt leader? Why support the candidates who have no intention of serving their country but to enrich their own pockets as their only motive?  Vote wisely this time. This election is the most important one. Think not about yourself, but the future of your community and country. This will be a turning point. It is either a road towards a better democracy with a brighter tomorrow or we will be ruled by anarchy with a gang of thieves.  The choice is yours.

At the start of this news magazine some four years ago, I was one of the first persons who strongly suggested to its founder and former editor - Charles O. Sy - that we should not deal iin the subjects of politics and religions which may polarize our readers. I hope I will not be accused of violating my own suggested policy. I am not supporting any candidate here neither did I mention any name whom I am supporting. What I am writing here is just my thoughts about the political reality of my mother country. If I am so passionate about this subject, it is because deep in my heart I still have so much love for my native land.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Charmed
By Candice Ang Uy

On that rainy day you came
On board a taxi with no name
In grandma’s house you came to stay
The city had driven you away.

Playing with the board you wrought
Ancient powers we never sought
Beam of light falling free
Gifting us dear sisters three.

Flying objects, power of mind
Prue is never far behind
Freezing everything to a still
Piper bends time to her will.

Phoebe can with a touch of hand
Watch past and future unfold as planned
In this manor the charmed ones dwell
Nothing ordinary about the Halliwells.

Warlock and demons we must fight
Protecting the innocents from evil’s plight
The Book of Shadows always by
Reminding us never to doubt why.

For personal gain remember to keep
Or consequences we shall reap
How changed our lives have been
Only time will tell what all these means.

We have come as was foretold
The Warren legacy ours to hold
For in this manor the charmed ones dwell
Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell.

Of all the subjects in school, Pilipino was my nemesis.  How I managed to pass the subject throughout my high school years at LCHS was itself a minor miracle.

Pilipino was never my cup of tea.  It was as strange as Latin in my vocabulary.  Sulating pangwika was no different to me as a solitary pawikan.  In my book, pampaalarang balarila could well have been a biography of a Pinoy Barbarella.

As a student, I never really understood the lessons in Pilipino as they were conducted in Tagalog. The lectures bore me to sleep.  Once during my sleep in class I dreamed that I was listening to yet another lecture in Tagalog.  I woke up promptly out of sheer boredom.

Test period on the subject was always an ordeal.  While my classmates were trying to surpass each other in the test, I was struggling just to pass the test.  And I did so with a little luck and a lot of cheating on the side.  I was fortunate to have our class valedictorian as my ally.  He was my seat mate.  But he'd rather call me his cheat mate. Understandably so. He had no choice but to help me out during the tests because I would not stop pestering him. Somehow he must be grateful I initiated him to the art of sign language.  When the test involved simple answers as "wasto"or "mali," he simply had to point the lead of his pencil up for "wasto," and to turn the eraser up for "mali."

The modus operandi worked.  But not all the time.  In tests involving long answers or complicated jargons I had to explore another exercise in ingenuity. I patiently etched tiny texts on the flat trunk of Bic ball pens with a sharp needle.  The miniaturized text was visible when positioned at a certain angle against the sunlight.  There was no way the teacher could have caught me in the act. Come to think of it, the same technique might well have been the precursor of today's science of micro-etching and miniature art form. Funny the teacher never wondered why I used half a dozen ball pens during exams.

The pressure became more intense when it came time for our periodical tests.  I could no longer depend on my usual seat mate as our seats were rearranged and scattered.  Neither could I use micro-etching on ball pens as the tests were lengthy. Desperate to pass the course, I conspired with a few similarly desperate classmates as accomplices in resorting to what was known in our campus underworld as the "stencil raid."

It was a common practice for teachers to prepare their questionnaire in stencils for mimeograph a day before the examination.  When done, the teacher would destroy the used stencils by burning them on an open space at the back of the faculty office.  Knowing this routine, we spent hours in a stake-out at the vicinity of the disposal area.  As soon as the teacher had left the scene after setting the stencils on fire, we would rush over to douse the fire and retrieve whatever remained of the charred stencils.

While a good portion of the stencil had been burned beyond recognition, a few remaining parts of its content were often still legible. I only needed to prepare the correct answers to this little segment of the tests. They were enough to fetch me a passing mark of 75.  For somebody to whom Tagalog was a waterloo, that was no mean feat. O, anong say mo?
 

BATCH 1964
Santiago Chan, Lim Chay Bldg., Quezon Ave. Ext., Pala-o, Iligan City, tels. 221-6371, 221-5175; Fernando Chin, Iligan City; Elizabeth Co, U.S.A.; Peter Co, U.S.A.; Henry Dy, Iligan Apollo Electrical & Industrial Supply, Inc., cor. Aguinaldo & B.S. Ong Sts., Pala-o, Iligan City, tels. 221-3416, 221-3415, 221-2568, cell 0917-7161200, e-mail: apollo@iligan.com; Johnson Dy, 10630 Misty Hill Road, Orland Park, IL 60462, U.S.A., e-mail: dy-johnson@usa.net, Josefina Dy; Teresita Go; Victoria Go, U.S.A.; Lily Lee, San Miguel Village, Pala-o, Iligan City, tel. 221-4662; Victoria "Shiok An" Kho, Cebu City; Wilson Lao (deceased); Alberto Rodriguez, Zone 1 San Pedro, La Salle Road, Pala-o, Iligan City; Yolando Siao (deceased); Edwin Suy; George "Hong Kiau" Sy (deceased); Florcita Tiu Huan (Sy), Cagayan de Oro City, e-mail: cbs9@iname.com; Remedios Tan (Wee), Airtime Ticketing Travel & Tours, 51-53 Sinsuat Avenue, Cotabato City 9600, cell 0917-4884078, e-mail: airtime168@hotmail.com; and Nora Uy.   (Next issue: Batch 1965)

Bird's-eye view of Quezon Avenue, main thoroughfare of Iligan City, before the big fire that razed the city to ashes on May 23, 1957. Photo courtesy of Mike Lee (Batch '66).