Internet Newsletter of the Alumni of Lanao Chung Hua School Iligan, Philippines, Year 5, Issue No. 5, June 4, 2001 GRAND SALUTE! Henry Dy awarded top scout honor Henry C. Dy (Batch '64) was conferred the prestigious "Silver Usa Award" by the National Court of Honor of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP).  The award was given in recognition of his valuable contribution to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.  Henry Dy received the top honor at the National Court of Honor Ceremony on the occasion of the 45th Annual National Council Meeting of  the BSP held on May 27, 2001 at the Cebu Plaza Hotel, Cebu City.  The conferment was made upon the recommendation of the BSP National Executive Committee.  Henry Dy was also awarded the BSP "Gold Achiever Award" in 1999 in recognition of his having been a recipient of the "National Higher Award" and the "Bronze Usa Award."  Henry has served as a member of the BSP National Executive Board.

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

Here's the final Namfrel tally of the May 14 election results in Iligan City.  For city mayor: Franklin Quijano, 34,879; Alejo Yañez, 29,891; and Pedro Generalao, 11,916. For vice mayor: Lawrence Lluch Cruz, 34,127; Eric Capitan, 23,659; and Henry C. Dy, 18,244.  For congressman, 1st District: Alipio Cirilo Badelles, 72,508; and Ramon Jacinto, 41,890. For city councilors, the top ten are: Narciso Adeva Jr., 34,949; Ariel Anghay, 34,905; Wilfredo Bacareza, 34,616; Bienvenido Badelles, 32,205; Alfredo Busico, 30,673; Providencio Abragan, 29,961; Leobert Pairat, 29,690; Ronaldo Espina, 28,855; Emmanuel Engracia, 26,647; and Orlando Maglinao, 25,694.  Jose Booc, who ran under the Abag-Promdi Party, figured in a far 22nd place, with 13,720 votes.

SM to open in CdeO soon

This should come as a bit of good news for Iligan shoppers who do most of their weekend shopping in neighboring city, Cagayan de Oro.  SM Mall, the country's premier mall chain, will soon open in CdeO. Construction of the P473-million three-storey mall will start in June or July this year and to be completed in 18 months.  The SM Mall, to be built at the 25-hectare business park of Pueblo de Oro, has a floor area of 57,000 square meters.  It will house the SM supermarket and department store, various fast food outlets and restaurants, amusement and entertainment centers, boutiques, and retail shops. It will have 6 state-of-the-art cinemas, four of which will be built initially.

Alumni jetsetters

"Tracers" this week tracks down several alumni on globetrotting sprees.  Spectrum columnist, Ernesto Yu (Batch '65), recently jetted out of his home base in Buffalo, New York, for a week-long respite in North Carolina, U.S.A. with his family.  Another New York-based Spectrum columnist, Aurora Tanshiokian (Batch '58), flies to Maryland to stand as wedding sponsor on June 2.  And on June 18, she will take off for a two-week vacation in gay Paris, France.  Closer to home, Helen Ngo-Lim (Batch '68), together with her sisters Alice Ngo-Militante (Batch '69) and Susan Ngo-Lo (Batch '74), and cousin Emily Uy (Batch '71), brought along their families on a sentimental trip to their ancestral home in Kin-men last May.  It turned out to be a trip of gastronomic discoveries as well. While there, they were treated by kinfolk to an endless array of delectable foods for which Kinmen is noted for, such as oyster omelet and other homegrown delicacies. The group came home ecstatic and gushing with lasting impressions and endearing tales of their ancestral home town.

The election in Iligan
Fri, 18 May 2001 00:11:07

It's sad to note the outcome of the recent election in Iligan and the Philippines.  Until the people themselves will wake up from the cloud of dirty politics and politicians, the malady will linger on and the entire nation, especially the stupid ones, will get what they deserve.  For some, it's business as usual for now but soon people will be marching in the streets again talking about People Power and change ... for what?  --Alex Rodriguez (Batch '65), Miramaar, Florida, U.S.A., alpacino_8@hotmail.com
 

The month of June has always been equated with the school opening as far as the Philippines is concerned. It is Back to School season when notebooks, pad papers, ballpens, pencils, erasers, crayons, drawing books, plastic covers, etc. become the most saleable commodities in the market. It is that time of the year which most of our students look forward to with so much excitement, and the teachers in their renewed state of being refreshed and recharged, having rested their larynx the past one and a half month. It’s “Good morning, Ma’am” and “Good morning, Sir” again. Hello, classmates!

June is the marry month which that lady in red considers as a perfect time to make her dreams come true, when she shall walk down the aisles as the young and the restless June Bride, beautiful and radiant in her name brand wedding gown.

So, what else about the month of June?

• June 4 –  Start of the first semester for School Year  2001-2002 in most schools.
• June 12 -  The 103rd  anniversary of the Philippine Independence. It’s a holiday which most of our students wouldn’t be too excited about as classes have just started.
• June 16 -- Araw ng Iligan or Iligan City Charter Day.
• June 17 –  Father’s Day (observe annually worldwide every 3rd Sunday of June). A perfect time to greet the greatest man in the world a Happy Father’s Day by writing love notes, sending cards, text messages, cell to cell conversation, or avail of the different cards (Fonkard, Touch card, Bankard, Visa card, Citicard, or placard that states “I love you, Dad!”). So, cheers to the world’s greatest father, daddy, papa, lao pe, tatay, itay, ama.
• June 18 –  The next issue of the Spectrum (Year 5 issue, no. 6).
• June 19 –  The 140th birthday of our national hero, Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal, born 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, to parents Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonso y Quintos, and the brother of Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa, Olympia, Lucia, Maria, Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad, and Soledad.
• June 24 –  Feast of St. John or San Juan.  It’s Araw ng Maynila when the annual Metro Manila Film Festival parade takes place in the capital city of the Philippines.  Also, Feast of our Mother of Perpetual Help.
• June 25 –  It’s the 52nd birthday of the original Spectrum big boss, the legendary Charles O. Sy, when he joins the ranks of Alex Rodriguez (February 19), Leonardo Tan (April 11), and Ernesto Yu (May 8) in that order.
• June 29 –  Feast of St. Peter or San Pedro. Once again, beware of water splash by people from all walks of life, specially   those in the province.

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

June 23, 1988. That was the day my eldest daughter, Hazel Valerie, was born. Today, she’s starting her first year of high school life at Sacred Heart School for Girls.

June 4, 1965. That was the first day of classes for the School Year 1965-1966 when I started life as a first year high school student of Lanao Chinese High School under Mr. Julian Narciso as our class adviser. I was 13 years old then, the same age as my daughter now. So what’s the difference between now and then?

I remember the first day of our first year high school class thirty-six years ago. We were so excited and proud to be in our long khaki pants. It simply marked the end of our short pants days. We were the official and legitimate teenagers of that “Yeah, Yeah, Vonnel” generation, having reached the age of thirTEEN, fourTEEN, fifTEEN, and so on.

Back in the 60s, we never had such things as xerox copier, fax machine, computer, internet, e-mail, beeper, cellphone, etc. As such, we just relied on the manual methods which were indeed time consuming. Unlike now when things could be done faster, just by a touch of the fingers. Even the methods of teaching have changed. Ours before were done by didactic lectures, dictations, copying things word for word, comma after comma, or period after period. Now we have the so-called PBL (Problem Based Learning), II (Individual Initiative), QA (Quality Assurance), and the EBM (Evidence Based Medicine). Time has really changed, and along with it the quality of education and the kind of students that we now have in our midst. So which ones are better? Those of the 60s or these ones of the Y2K generation?

Today, we see the mushrooming of Preschools where toddlers, as young as 2 or 3 years old, are enrolled. During our time, we started school at age 6 with kindergarten as our point of entry to formal classroom education. Why is this so? Well, the roles of parents have changed too. Nowadays, mothers don’t just stay home as plain housewives. They now also occupy the business world to work and earn. So instead of leaving the kids at home under the supervision of the yayas where the kids do nothing but listen to radios, watch TV, or read komiks, we’d rather have the kids in preparatory school where they learn the ABCs of life as approved and accredited by DECS.  But didn’t we all stay home when we were of preschool age in the 60s just listening to the radios, etc.? It didn’t hinder us from becoming doctors, nurses, engineers, or whatever, did it?

During our time, we did things as we were told in just one split of a second. Today, we have to call our kids twice, thrice, or even more, before they come to us. And when they do, they ask many questions before doing what they’re told to do. In short, they don’t just take things hook, line, and sinker. More often than not, it’s always with a question mark instead of a period. Is this a sign of disobedience? Is this part of the so-called high tech generation? Where are our children heading? What will become of them?

Nowadays, we see a lot of parents sending their kids to as far as Cebu, Manila, or the U.S. for their high school or college education. The reason: To develop independence. Independence from what? You mean to say that if we just let our kids study in the province, they will not grow independent? With the many changes taking place in the world now, the high tech innovations, and the rampant drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, etc. how can we as parents ever be at peace and sleep well at night knowing that our children are out there in the bigger cities? Doing what? With whom?

Today, we also see parents trying very hard to get out of the country to live and work in the U.S., hoping to become citizens of that country eventually someday. Reasons: For the sake of the children. For greener pasture. For a more stable future? What and whose future? Ours or the children’s?

Personally, I have nothing against migration to the U.S. or parents sponsoring the children to become permanent U.S. residents. But what are we trying to emphasize or inculcate? To live and work in the U.S. to become materialistic instead of being patriotic? What a sad state if this is so. No offense made, I beg of you. I am just voicing out one reality that we Filipinos may have failed to realize just because we are sort-of blinded by the promise of a better future, earning dollars, and all.

The question is: If we follow this brain drain towards the mecca in the Big Dome, who will be left in the small nipa hut called the Philippines? Fellow Filipinos, where art thou? Remember that no matter how much we have become westernized in our ways and beliefs, or legally become naturalized U.S. citizens, thus denouncing our being Filipinos, deep in us, we are still Filipinos by virtue of our birth, consanguinity, culture, and heritage. Even if we claim ourselves as U.S. citizens, still the U.S. is not our country. The Philippines is and will always be. It’s all a matter of paperworks, documents, legalities, all written down on recycled papers. In our heart and mind, we are still Filipinos and the Philippines is where we truly belong. It is OUR NATIVE LAND. Lest you forget, brother!
 

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

Banana Split is a favorite during the hot days of summer, a close contender of  halo-halo everywhere in the country. But this topic is too sweet for me, whose genes carry a diabetic lineage. So let’s talk about another bana, the banas, or the husbands.

A few months ago I heard that the marriage of one of my classmates seemed to have ended with a final blow in court. This is not an article about the juicy stuff, like how and why they split up because I really have no idea what happened nor did any of my friends in Iligan knew anything about it. It’s just hard for me to accept that things like this do happen in real life. It’s scary to think that if this could happen to them then it could happen to anyone, including me.

It seems that when the marriages of celebrities like that of Pops and Martin, or that of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman ended, most of us would say that it happened because they are showbiz personalities. No if’s and but’s. It’s like being a celebrity, their marriages are destined to end up in a divorce or an annulment. But now that it happens to some people we know it somehow gets a new and painful pinch to it. It’s like it’s about time we all have a reality check. It may be painful to realize but we have to accept the fact that marriage is no bed of roses; if some people may refer to it as that then there’s practically more thorns than roses. It’s like an endurance test. It’s how we deal with the “thorns” that would make or break a relationship.

When something like this happens to celebrities we always hear both sides of the story eventually. Especially when both partners decide to grace a couple of talk shows. But with real life we really don’t get to hear both sides of the story. Like, for me if I’m close to the wife then I’ll hear only half of the story and so goes with those friends from the camp of the husband. So we will never really know the whole story.

Just yesterday I was told that a friend of ours just got separated. My initial reaction was “what?” They are a young couple with three young sons. We all used to go out together way before they got married. So we’ve known them for so long now. My husband readily took the side of the husband as expected, and said so many mean things about the wife.  And it irked me. I’m sure lots of our friends would do the same. Which makes me think, that actually we really don’t have the right to pass judgment on anyone because we just don’t know the real score. I’m sure that just admitting to someone else that something’s not right in one’s marriage must be awfully hard enough, so let’s not add insult to injury.

One of my college friends wrote me around Christmas that she’s already separated from her husband for quite some time now. I was shocked of course because I didn’t see it coming.  She said that it took her this long to come out and admit it because she’s embarrassed about the whole thing.  She feels like she’s a failure, blaming herself for what happened.

Now I’m wondering what’s causing all these break ups. It’s not something that’s in season I hope.  The list of reasons why a marriage fails is endless. It changes with time. Like years ago I think the main excuse was the weight problem of women who neglected their looks, thus driving the men to look elsewhere. But now we have a new breed of married women trying to take good care of how they look, trying to be superwomen by balancing family and career.  But still there are some new reasons for a marriage to fail, for the men to look elsewhere.

Now I’m even more convinced that the words “and they lived happily ever after” only exist in the last page of a fairy tale.  But on second thought, maybe it’s an unfinished sentence that should read something like “and they lived happily ever after … after they split up.”
 

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

Home Sweet HomeMortgage:  It would be breeding a tinted form of honesty if I claim Iligan as THE home. There’s no shaking off the fact that a chunky segment of my life cycle evolved with rosy memories along Iligan’s original Washington Street. I bumped into amazing comrades who shared my passion for marbles ( now translated into golf), my flight of reveries with St. Michael beauties (now wingless angels), my thuds at the LCHS campus along Roosevelt Ext. (now Spectrum in cyberspace). Nonetheless, I wrestled with the aftertaste of forced maturity, grappled with my survival instinct and coping mechanisms when left alone with my two feet in Upstate New York. A different lifestyle at a different time frame. Twenty five big years so far. So, here’s my reply to our Bunn Hill camper’s pinning “Ernie, where’s  home?” Wherever my heart filters a love symphony that soothes. Without breaking precious sweats on second-guessing, last year’s Alumni Homecoming recycled my parked dreams: Felt the grips of my youth, savored the homey feeling of existing in the once-upon-a-time. However, the four seasons in Buffalo still rank high in my preference.

Has nothing to do with my crippling home mortgage loan, mind you.

The June Bride In You:  Horoscope, lunar phases and Tarot card reading beef up the dizzying multitude of factors in picking out the enchanting daylight to exchange “I do.”  June, the sought-after month to flock the church altar, can be a smashing hit if you dig marching with crowds of tradition; or lamentable, if your better judgment has been laced with in-laws’ brainwashing maneuvers! Ultimately, the purity of your love and faith for each other acknowledges no restraints: You dive into the wedding bells pool per your heart’s dictates. In any given moonbeam, trading marriage promises should be as uncomplicated a joy as whispering “Can I be your forever?” If you can appreciate the cooing fascination in your partner’s eyes, it is time to translate those silent twitches into a lyrical poem: And when I roll the dreams/ Dripping with joy to the brim/ I play out the passing rain/ In a paradise never been seen/ Counting the magic in days/ Sprinkles laughters that linger/ You are the love of mylife/ the life in love to surrender.

Girls, get those high heels swinging before August comes by.

Fathers’ Season InThe Sun:  It’s an instant flash of winning smile to wax euphoric about the satisfying positives of being a father. To those fathers who sneak by tricky traffics, absorbing toxic fumes from hot engines, just to be spectators to their kids’ piano recital and soccer games; to those fathers who never make faces out of stinky diapers, soiled bibs, and drooling lips; to those fathers who willingly warm milk bottles during unholy hours and waltz their squealing newborns to hushed sleep; to those father who rebuild themselves into easy  confession boxes, with stretched ears to mellow and heal their gene-carriers’ emotional turmoil and moral dilemma; to those fathers who have ready answers to their little ones’ questions hatched from morbid curiosity, the birds and the bees; to those fathers who spread comforting blankets when their tiny angels  rush for cover against Mother Nature’s unpredictable and volatile mixed bags of  thunder and lightning; to those fathers who never air a complaint out of doing the dishes, loading the laundry and be occasional last-minute chefs; to those  fathers who never fail to hug their spouses and to admire the wonders of their  soul mates, in failure and success, “Happy Father’s Day.”

To the other fathers (absentee, escapee, free riders, liberated, illegal): Design your own celebration.

“The little reed, bending to the force of the wind, soon stood upright
again when the storm had passed over.” --  Aesop

In seeing someone having bad luck or misfortune after another - break up, divorce, kids on drugs, job loss, election loss, major illness, death, etc. -- have you ever wondered whether you could live your life the same way as before if you were that someone?  Whether you would be able to handle the traumatic pain, shame, and embarrassment, and go on with your life the way it used to be without turning your hair gray overnight? Whether you would be able to summon your courage and believe in the Goodyear Tire slogan, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” Or one of those ministers’ preaching words, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” Whether your skin is thick enough to be able to toughen it through, or just give up in despair and find comfort in alcohol and drugs? Most of us would probably just cringe and not even dare to wonder such thing, and perhaps hope or even swear it will never happen to us. Certainly we should thank our lucky star for keeping us away from troubles and misfortunes we might not be able to handle.

Now here is a story written by an unknown author that may give us some idea of what we must be or what we should do when Mis Fortune fell in love with us. To get through this unwanted romantic relationship, you need resilience, the only antidote to the poison of Mis Fortune.

Carrots, Eggs and Coffee Beans

A certain daughter complained to her father about her life and how things have been so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and she wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that just as one problem was solved, another arose.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water and placed the fire on high. Soon the three pots came to boil. In one of the pots, he placed carrots, in another he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil without saying a word.

The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently wondered what her father was trying to do. She had problems, and he was making this strange concoction. In half an hour the father walked over to the oven and turned down the fire. He pulled the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in another bowl. Then he ladled the coffee and placed it in a different bowl. Turning to her daughter he asked, “Darling, what do you see?”

Smartly, the daughter replied, “Carrots, eggs, and coffee.” He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling out the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Her face frowned from the strength of the coffee. Humbly, she asked, “What does it mean, Father?” Her father explained. Each of them faced the same adversity, 212 degrees of boiling water. However, each reacted differently.

The carrots went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after going through boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg was fragile, a thin outer shell protecting a liquid center. But after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The coffee beans are unique however. After they were in the boiling water, they became stronger and richer and changed the water.

“Which are you?” the father asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean? Are you a carrot that seems hard, but with the smallest amount of pain, adversity, and heat, you wilt and become soft with no strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart and fluid in spirit? But after a death, a break up, a divorce, a layoff, etc., you become hardened and stiff. Your shell looks the same, but you are so bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart internally. Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean does not get its peak flavor and robust until it reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better.”

Surviving Life’s Adverse Elements

An Appalachian adage says, “Rough weather makes good timber.” To the mountain people in southern Appalachia, this adage symbolizes how the trees on top of the mountain unprotected are forced to withstand from the storms, winds, and seasonal changes impacted on them. Obviously, only the strongest survive. The trees that survive provide the finest quality timber and are used for buildings that require most durable and sturdy construction.

It’s the same with people.  We are all unprotected from the traumas and tragedies of everyday life. Yet if we allow life’s adversities to devastate and disable us, we will age before our time and then wither away and perish. Thus to survive life’s trials and tribulations, we must develop the inner strength of the mountain trees and the resilience of the coffee beans and Aesop’s little reed that will enable us to bend, not break, through adversity and still capable of standing upright once again.  Standing up to life’s harsh realities rather than letting them uproot us can help us recover from them more quickly and enable us to accept the fact that each event, sad it may be, shapes the peaks and valleys in our life. As Charlie “Tremendous” Jones said, “Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.” 

Compared to introducing a speaker (subject of our article in the Spectrum, Mar. 29, 1999 issue), the task of introducing guests in a gathering is relatively simpler.  We acknowledge the presence of guests in a gathering to make them feel welcome. We introduce them to convey our appreciation to them for gracing our affair. That being the case, the job of the introducer is to present the guest in the best light possible.

The introduction generally consists of three parts: an opening statement; a brief information about the guest being introduced; and the identity of the guest -- in that order.

What you say in your opening statement will depend upon the occasion.  For example, if the occasion is formal, you may say:  "Ladies and gentlemen, the presence of our distinguished guests gives distinction and adds glamor to our affair tonight. And I am pleased to do the honors of introducing them to you!"

If it is an ordinary meeting, you might say: "We are happy to see so many visitors with us tonight.  I have the pleasure to introduce each one of them to you."  And in a really informal gathering, you can afford to be playful and say something like:  "Hey guys! The top honchos in the organization are with us in our weekly gathering.  In the order of their good looks, we have ..."

After the opening, you should  mention a few important facts about each guest prior to announcing his name. It could be his career or some special talents or his major achievement.

Finally, you should announce his name clearly and direct the attention of the audience to where he is seated.  An important rule to remember is that the name should be announced last -- for impact.  If you mention the name first, chances are the audience may no longer be keen enough to listen to the rest of what you have to say after that.  If possible, make your presentation dramatic.  After your final presentation, the guest will usually rise to be recognized. Wait until the applause subsides before proceeding to the next guest.  Once during an awarding ceremony, the presentor made a common mistake of announcing the name of the awardee first.  Naturally, the audience responded immediately with an applause even before the presentor could narrate the awardee's accomplishments.  The presentor committed a second blunder by proceeding to read the awardee's accomplishments even before the applause had died down. As a result, many in the audience were unable to hear clearly what the awardee was being honored for.

As usual, you must secure accurate data about each guest.  If possible, talk to them before hand.  Don't make your talk too long.  Pick out just a few important details.

Your job becomes more complicated when you are in a large formal function where there are many guests and the important ones are seated at the head tables.  Your problem will be whom to introduce first. As a general rule, you should go from the presidential table to the sub-presidential table and finally to the guests seated among the audience.  In each group, the more important guest is presented ahead.  If they are of equal importance, take your pick but make sure they are all introduced.  Another way is to go from one end of the table to the other. Usually guests in the audience belong to a certain group which is headed by an officer seated at the head table. You might simply include them in your introduction of their leader by adding the phrase "... and the members of his delegation."  If there is a guest speaker, do not introduce him but simply say: "Our guest speaker will be formally introduced in due time."  Otherwise, you steal the show from the person assigned  to introduce the guest speaker for his speech in the later part of the program.

Following all these, the job of introducing guests at your next club meeting or induction program will neither be as difficult nor as terrifying as it seems.
 

BATCH 1966
Salvador Booc, Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City; Igdono Caracho, Megaply, Inc., M.J. Cuenco Ave., Cebu City, tel. 232-8285, cell 0917-7162000; Lilia Chin, U.S.A.; Ernesto Chiu (deceased); Lina Chiu; Janne Co, Iligan City; Robert Co, CPK Mercantile, B. Labao St., Iligan City, tel. 221-3683; Peter Dy, 3619-24 Ave., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6L4V5, or Iligan Apollo Electrical Supply, Aguinaldo St., Iligan City, tel. 221-3416, e-mail: apollo@iligan.com; Deborah Debalucos, Iligan City; Nicomedes Debalucos, Iligan City; Josephine Jane Go (Lim), Cagayan de Oro City, cell 0917-7061507; Khu Chai Tin (Sy), Quezon Ave. Ext., Iligan City, tel. 221-2762; Ruben Lee, Zamora St., Iligan City, tel. 221-2606; Bienvenido Lim, Lian Guan Hardware, Quezon Ave., Iligan City, tel. 221-3262; Elena Lim, Anchor Marketing, Lim Chay Bldg., Quezon Ave. Ext., Pala-o, Iligan City, tel. 221-5175; Lolita Lim, Purok San Francisco, Villaverde, Iligan City, tel. 221-9949; Suniel Lim, 0013 Gagara St., Ma. Cristina Subd., Brgy. San Miguel, Iligan City, tel. 221-6773, cell 0915-5013998; e-mail: boylim@iligan.com; Wilson Lim, Manila, e-mail: wilsondl@skynet.net; Aurora Ong (Sy),  00-11 Samson Food Product,Tibanga, Iligan City, tel. 221-1931; Miguel Ong (Lee), 4623-37 Avenue, N.W. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, tel. (780)-463-6216, e-mail: mnmm@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca; Gloricita Racines (Kinnan), 10990 Morgan Way, P.O. Box 884, Keno, Oregon 97627-0884, U.S.A., e-mail:  WGKINNAN17@aol.com; Lolicita Samson (Yau), Bauhina Drive, Banilad, Cebu City, tel. 231-5852; Marcelino Siao, Nema Electrical & Industrial Sales, Inc., Quezon Ave., Iligan City, tels. 221-3142, 221-5655; Sergio Siao, Krisland Commercial Corp., J. Luna St., Iligan City, tel. 221-5692, e-mail: marksiao@iligan.com; Teresita Siao (Go), 6843 Cowles Mt. Blvd., San Diego CA 92119, U.S.A., tel. (619) 469-4048, e-mail: tessiego@home.com; James So, Iligan Ambassador Commercial, Quezon Ave., Iligan City, tel. 221-3777; Rudolfo Suy, Iligan City; Robert Sy, Mandaue City, tel. 344-0993; Corazon Tan, Manila; Leonardo Tan, 14 Hughes Street, Kings Langley, New South Wales 2147, Australia, tel. (02) 9674 4989, e-mail: edtan@idx.com.au; Pablito Tan, Manila; Ricarda Tan, Sim Enterprises, Ozamis City; Florfina Teh (Gough), 17419 Masonridge Drive, Houston, Texas 77095, U.S.A., tel. (281)-855-0527, e-mail: Jolilygough11@email.msn.com; Teh Yu Siong (deceased); Juanito Tiu, Cebu City;  Josefa Wong; Virginia Wong, Iligan City; Vy Siu Tin (Kho), FK Mart, Aguinaldo St., Pala-o, Iligan City, tel. 221-3819; Emma Yap (Matiao), Matiao Marketing Inc., Dumaguete City, e-mail: wilkie@mozcom.com; Johnson Yap; and Perla Yu, c/o Iligan Fortune Upholstery, De Leon St., Iligan City, tel. 221-3132. (Next issue: Batch 1967)

On the foreground was our 4-storey house along Quezon Avenue about to be consumed by the neighboring fire on May 23, 1957, listed as Mrs. R. Cruz residence as printed in the picture with pointing arrow.  Notice just outside the house, on the street were barbershop chairs unable to be moved further as the fire was catching on them.  Were they saved?  Why talk about barbershop chairs, when our house was about to be engulfed by fire! What a sight! -- Contributed by Rene Tio (Batch '70), Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.