Congrats from Canada
Mon, 15 Jun 1998 00:01:15 -0700

Congrats to Dr. Henry Yu!  You finally made it!  Keep up that good work. Who knows maybe later the Philippine Medical Association Presidency?  CIM yata!

Roy Edward Gutianjo, M.D. (CIM Batch '77), White Rock, BC, Canada
gucci980@concentric.net

Cheers to Councilor Henry Dy
Tue, 16 Jun 1998 21:01:00 +0800

Big cheers to fellow alumnus Henry Dy on his reelection as councilor of Iligan City!  He is, on record, the only LCHS alumnus to have been elected to the city council for three straight terms. He is noted for having launched many worthwhile projects that benefit the city of Iligan.  LCHS alumni should be proud of his achievements in public service.

Tonga "Shek Tong" Dy, Cebu, Philippines
ralphlyn@skyinet.net
 

Dateline Buffalo

By Ernesto L. Yu, M.D., Batch 1965 Ernstyu49@aol.com

National recognition of all fathers, breathing or half-dead-from-marriage, can be a splendid celebration if such annual special can be written off as a pure paid holiday; meaning: green bucks in the pocket without tattooing your footprints on the office halls.  Excluded are mandatory breaks at home that all dads are eligible to savor for having June 21 declared as King-Again Day: the lawn mowing and hedges trimming, outdoor grilling, emergency errands ... beer opening.  Funny how the American calendar is fractured into segments of 24-hour pseudo-observance.  It seems like there is a coronation day reserved for every deserving pedigree in society: secretary, grandparents, sanitation worker, bimbo and bunnies ... dog lover (not canine chef!).

If June 21 is Father's Day, when is Mother's Day?  Nine months later!

Bet 'ya, Einstein!

Sip the sweetest sap like an aged wine for tomorrow is another working day.
 

Sentimental Journey

By Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch 1969

Iligan City.  Circa 1960s.  Their residential house was located to the left side of the school's periphery.  It was our favorite hang-out after dismissal time in the afternoon. It was the very place where we played hide and seek and other games of the era.  It was the house of Mr. Ngo Susing and Mrs. Eustaquia "Siok Hua" Lui-Ngo, and their four children who all went to the same school that I went to: Helen, Alice, Roderick, and Susan.

Helen (Batch 1968) was ahead of us by one year.  She was tall, slim and ever fresh-looking, a consistent honor student both in English and Chinese courses.  Alice (Batch 1969) was my classmate in the English course from grade I till second year high school.  She continued her schooling in Manila for her Chinese ko-tiong and her third year high school at the Chiang Kai Shek College.  Alice was our first honor since grade I till she left LCHS in 1967.  So it was Janet Lee who was our first honor in third year high.  I remember Alice as very efficient and diligent with her academic studies, always with a notebook and pencil ready to jot down the day's assignment.  She was a very organized student. Roderick, or Rod or Kek Dee or Tulabong, (Batch 1970), was my classmate in the Chinese course all throughout my stay in LCHS.  He was president of the student council, also a consistent honor student.  Rod was tall and lanky with his typical long arms being stretched every now and then out of habit.  Then there was Susan, the youngest among the four siblings, also an honor student belonging to batch 1972.  Among the four, she was the exception to the rule as she was not as tall as Helen, Alice and Rody.  But academically, they were all bright students.

I remember our times at their place almost every afternoon at 4:30 when we would proceed to their house along with fellow classmates like Santiago Ong (Ching Guan), Antonio Leo Te (Hon Tian), Leopoldo Tan (Tata), Johnson Lim (Hong Guan), etc.  We were the regulars at their place.  Decades may have passed since our LCHS days, but until now I can still hear (thru sheer reflective imagination) the tingling of the spoon Nang Siok Hua (the grand matriarch) used to stir our Ovaltine drink, or smell the aroma of fried bananas, or the sound emanating from the opening of the can of M.Y. San biscuits.  Their house was our snackhaus.

Nang Siok Hua was a very simple housewife who spent time with her kids.  She was very accommodating and generous.  An ideal wife and mother.  A very amiable person whom I've never seen angry or said harsh words.  She was every inch a lady.  A very regal one.  Such trait which the three ladies must have inherited.

I left LCHS in 1968 after my third year high school to pursue my fourth year in Dumaguete City at Holy Cross High School.  Since then, I was not regularly in touch with them anymore, except during vacation times when we crossed paths either at Lian Hong or along the streets of Iligan.

June 1973.  I was pursuing my medical proper at Cebu Institute of Medicine in Cebu.  And what a small world!  Alice and I were classmates again.  Alphabetically, she belonged to section A while I was at section B.  Helen got married to Dr. Lim of Ozamis City.  Alice married her long-time boyfriend (Pete Militante).  I was a witness to both Helen's and Alice's weddings.  The family has since then transferred to Cebu, just as our family did.

It was on August 15, 1986 when Nang Siok Hua all of a sudden went into coma.  She never regained her consciousness. She stayed with Rody all throughout until her demise last June 13.  All of 12 years.  With Nang Siok Hua gone, the children are now left alone with their respective families.  All four of them have married.

A case of history repeating itself, my youngest daughter (Hannah Victoria) happens to be the classmate of Alice's daughter (Stacey) and Helen's daughter (Stefi) at Sacred Heart School for Girls. They seem to be reliving our past. Only the setting is in another city, in another school, and in another era of high technology.

I will forever remember the Ngos of Iligan even now that we are residents no more of our beloved hometown.  The memories will always be there. Life goes on as we now become stage parents of our student-daughters.  Truly, nothing beats the memories of the bygone days.  Such times in our lives when the world was young and simpler.  We had our time. And our children are having theirs now.  Our superstar days are over. It is now our kids' time.

(P.S. June 21, 1998 marks the first death anniversary of my best friend and a dedicated LCHS alumnus, Jimmy Ling.)
 

Courageous Women of Iligan.  Throughout the days of peril following the attempted Moro siege of Iligan, our concern was that Iligan had a small population.  It simply didn't have enough manpower nor firepower to counter a sustained onslaught.  There were only nine cabesas.  Each cabesa was in charge of 50 households.  There were about 450 households in Iligan.  If the invaders persisted, Iligan might not have been able to hold them at bay long enough.

Fortunately, the women of Iligan were a sturdy and courageous breed.  They, too, took up arms and joined the men in guarding the town.  At 10 a.m., January 6, 1891, two days after the attacks, a group of men led by Chief Sango of Sangye, marched towards the makeshift fortress waving a white flag. The enemy had come to talk peace!

Peace Talk.  The peace talk between the Iliganons and the Moros promptly ensued.  Iligan was represented by a Spanish friar called Padre Juan.  After a series of negotiations, a peace treaty was signed.  The Moros began their retreat through Lanlukan road.  Looking at them from where we stood at the fence, they looked like a colony of ants veering away from their prey.  As soon as the coast was clear, a reconnaissance team was dispatched to ascertain that all the invaders had left as agreed.  From the team we came to learn that there were as plenty as 104 encampments set up by the Moros around Iligan when they launched their attacks earlier.  From this information, it was estimated that there could have been as many as 3,000 men on the enemy front.

Peaceful Coexistence.  From 1891 to 1893 we lived in relative calm.  However, sporadic skirmishes continued to erupt from time to time.  But on Saturdays, transactions at the tabo market proceeded normally as both sides inevitably needed to barter salt and rice for their subsistence.

Throughout this period, Governor Ayos worked his way to defuse whatever tension remained between the Moros and the Christians in his turf.  He and Iligan's kapitan del barrio, Ferdinand Ramiro, visited the surrounding barrios along the fringes of Lake Lanao.  Much to their relief, they learned that the people there were not united, thus were easy to win their alliance.  So they assembled 50 leaders there and brought them to meet with the kapitan general.  All the leaders were feted and amply rewarded.  Thus pleased and satisfied, they accepted the kapitan general as the authority.

Reward & Recognition.  For his successful efforts, Governor Ayos was subsequently promoted.  Kapitan General Blanco, on his part, realized that Lanao offered him a good opportunity for advancement and recognition.  In 1893, he sought permission from the King of Spain to govern Lanao as the commanding general.  The request was granted.  From then on, over the succeeding three years, more barracks and hospitals were built, including a railroad to Lanlukan.

EDITORS' NOTES:

Pre-War Iligan:  Sy Hock Yian, author of "The Invasion of Iligan: Circa 1891", was the grandfather of Charles and Nelson Sy.  The foregoing article is an excerpt of his memoirs written in 1937, entitled "Looking Back at Sixty Six", published in the book of the Sy Clan Family Tree. Watch out for more of such series on pre-war Iligan in our future issues.

Staff Updates: Our man in Sydney, Australia, Leonardo Tan, is experiencing some technical problem sending his article with his e-mail software.  Hopefully, his column "Briefs from Down Under" will resume next issue.  Our "Dr. Do Little" columnist, Alex Rodriguez, has changed his e-mail address to: alpacino_8@hotmail.com