INTERNET NEWSLETTER OF THE ALUMNI OF LANAO CHUNG HUA SCHOOL
Vol. II - No. 20, August 31, 1998, Iligan City, Philippines

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For the second consecutive year, the Security Bank Corporation (SBC) has donated the sum of P12,000 to LCHS.  The donation comes directly from the Frederick Y. Dy Social Fund.  Mr. Dy is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Security Bank. The donation was made possible through the recommendation of LCHS alumna Janet Lee Tan, who is the branch manager of Security Bank in Iligan.

LCHS holds math quiz contests
By Igdono Caracho (Batch '66) & Alicia Cu-Go (Batch '79)

LCHS recently held its annual math quiz contests.  The first placers in the Math Quiz Contest, Individual Category, are: (Elementary Department) Dave Dengal, Grade IV; Kristine Yu, Grade V; and Jean Racines, Grade VI.  (High School Department) Bryan Dy, 1st Year; Jane Doli Racines and Sheila Vy, 2nd Year; Sharon Sy, 3rd Year; and Jean Haydee Wang, 4th Year.  In the Group Cetegory, the winners are: Team 2 (composed of Jean Haydee Wang, Rosalyn Sy, Christine Samson, and Cheerine Dy), 1st place; Team 3 (Sally Vy, Jody Ling, Luzette Go, and Armi Te), 2nd place; Team 6 (Christine Portugaliza, Sharon Sy, Jeremy Ling, and Franklin Khu), 3rd place.  In the Math Quiz Bee Contest, High School Department, the winners are: Jefferson Romarez (4th Year), 1st place; Dax Lua (2nd Year), 2nd place; and Jefferson Wong (4th Year), 3rd place.

St. Michael group marks 1st anniversary
By Janet Lee-Tan (Batch '69)

The St. Michael Filipino Chinese Community of Iligan City, a Catholic religious organization composed of Chinese Filipinos in Iligan City, will celebrate its first anniversary on August 31, 1998. A thanksgiving mass and fellowship will be celebrated on Sunday, August 30, 1998, at ISK church. The Christian Life Program, Part II, sponsored by the Community last July 6, 13, 20, 27 and Aug. 2, 1998 has generated more than twenty baptizees. The Community has now more than a hundred members, including children. The Community holds at least two prayer meetings a month. Occasionally, a Lord's Day is also observed each month. And, every 2nd Sunday of the month, the Community sponsors a mass at ISK. Many claim that the mass is lively because of the Community's wonderful choir, led by Rosanna Co Belmonte and Alicia Cu Go.

LCHS alumni at Silliman U
Sat, 22 Aug 1998 10:02:08 -0700

My name is Jonathan Mark Te (Batch '96 ), youngest son of Manuel Te and Jeanne Nacague.  I'm studying at Silliman U taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Computer Applications. We're now celebrating  Silliman's Founder's Day.  Organizations here have begun to set up booths to show their different exhibits and also provide for a way to add funds to the organizations.  August 23 is the date for  the opening of the booths and everybody is busy trying to finish in time for the opening.  Another bit of information I would like to add is about another LCHS high school classmate of mine: Johnard Ngo, who is very busy these days with the SU Student Government.  Another alumna, Farah Vei Genobaten (Batch '94), graduated just last March. Everybody at LCHS might remember Mrs. Ma. Celeste Amor-Ham, one of our past English teachers.  I owe it to her for my decision to study here in Silliman.  More power to the Spectrum!

Jonathan Mark Te (Batch '96), Dumaguete, Philippines
usagi@dgte.mozcom.com

This is in response to Ernie Yu's "Nostalgic Awakening".   Keep your satires on nostalgic Iligan memories coming. I am enjoying the fun of your youth escapades and those icons of the past, like 'the LCHS mango tree' and 'Washington Street.' They have been rejuvenated and taking up new values in our lives. I like best your nibbling words on Vino Kulafu, on our 'aristocratic' tartanilla, carrying those raw fertilizers in doggy bags. YUCKS indeed! And your adventures 'Spielberg' style, mentioned in titles - Maruya and the City Hall. And Spielberg's dinosaurs and batchoy banded together? Only 'Yu' can connect them in spitfire vocabulary. I hope there will be more to come.

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

I was both surprised and happy when I saw my former classmate, Carlo Bodiongan's "America - Land of the Free?" article (Spectrum, Aug. 24, 1998 issue).  I'm glad I have a batch mate who writes to the LCHS Spectrum too, although I beg to disagree with some of his thoughts, to wit:

(a) Care-free indulgences or "inuman sa kalye".  Most heinous crimes like incest and  murder occur during this "self-gratifying" activity. Everybody knows that alcohol is harmful to the human body; it alters the normal brain activity.  I still don't understand why people drink.  (b) Noisy neighborhood as  "public nuisance." I wouldn't want waking up after a 16-hour, 3 pm to 7 am,  back-breaking hospital duty. All because of an ear-shattering metal rock music?  (c) Expensive car insurance and costly parking fees. Every government in this world has to have its own revenue. Aside from the fact that every car owner has to have insurance as  mandated by law. Public transport is a viable alternative, it's cheaper and walking is an excellent exercise.  (d) Speed limits & hefty tickets.  These restrictions are needed to ensure the safety of the driver as well as the public. Here in our beloved country, there's no such thing as speed limit, tickets are issued because of some ridiculous violation and one can get himself out by bribing the traffic enforcer (which is not surprising) ... and look where we are right now.

Alfred Lai II (Batch '89), Iligan, Philippines
lai@iligan.com

Readers Response Gathers Momentum.  Of late, readers response to the Spectrum has been pretty encouraging.  Readers reactions have been as vibrant and varied as are the articles.  Our feedback comes from a broad range of readers, both alumni and non-alumni, regular subscribers as well as transient Web surfers.  This, without question, points to a good and positive sign. It indicates we now have a more enlightened and definitely more articulate readership.  We enjoin more readers to take part in this healthy exchange of ideas in the Spectrum.  Let's breathe more life into it with your voice.

Columnists' E-mails in Hypertext.  Starting with this issue, the bylines of our columnists are now set in blue hypertexts. Which means they are interlinked to the columnists' e-mail address.  Readers who may wish to respond directly to or communicate privately with an individual columnist by e-mail will simply need to click on the columnist's byline.  The hypertext will generate an auto e-mail message window addressed to the columnist concerned.

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

Ice Drop - the  frozen treat that was peddled in a wooden box cramped with papers and carried around like a school bag. The container was a vintage mold of the modern day foam insulation. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that such "freezer of the Dark Ages" succeeded in prolonging the shelf life of those ice by-products. I specially miss the white variety sprinkled with cooked mongo at the tip. In the baking heat of Iligan's dry season, this frosty snack soothed receptive buccal nerve endings, lick by lick, slurp by slurp.

DXRI - The station that made my dog days of summer and midnight shadow-chasing drift with an inner assortment of loveliness and psychic peace. I recall my intractable addiction to Lorna Fernandez's (the DJ with a musical opiate voice) dedication program, where you phone in a request for touchy-feely ballads for beloved sweetie-pies who in turn flood your senses with blown kisses of gratefulness. Having aced my radio announcing courses at Silliman U, I seriously considered landing a career in communication. The fascination instantly evaporated upon the disheartening realization that my heart fluttered, palms quivered and tongue blushed with numbness once the bold red "On the Air" flashed. Worst, I degenerated into a monosyllabic stutterer with halting English! At any rate, the bundled sweet nothings of my radio days are worth revisiting, if only to show off to all assassins of my blind ambition the polished art of my monologue delivery. Please extinguish that bloody-red sign!

Movie Theaters - The predominantly single-feature multiplex cinemas here have no class distinction: no balcony or lodge sections. This downright erases those sweethearts' sweaty wrestling and unspeakable groping way up at the back row. The general setup is an approximately 200-seat all-orchestra accommodation with an audio system that will rock your pulses. You come in before the start of the movie and forcefully free up your rested behind when the final waltz of the soundtrack fades away. No ifs and buts. You are not allowed "to review", "to camp" or to bring any bagged snacks. Everything tantalizing for the palate has to be bought from the theaters' concession stands, which are priced to choke. For the Dracula in me, I yearn to bare my fangs in the charmed moments and sensuous mood of darkness.

Cockfighting - Arming, militant roosters with razor-sharp blades to hack each other's pulsating vessels is not viewed here as an amusing sport. In some isolated terrains in Texas and Louisiana, this "shuffling barbarism" has a throng of aficionados. But for the rest of the country, this is a lunatic mistreatment of the feathered species and is unlawful. How I cherish the chicken-gladiator's muscled shield and vitamin-fortified anatomy, the soaring pitch of its masculine pride, the bravado of its well-combed head and the unpredictability of its borrowed life. Truthfully, I miss the clinical thrill of emergency surgery on wounded victors that I mastered way before my M.D. license: ligation of pumpers, suturing gaping injuries using tailor's thread after a pinch of cheap antibiotic and holy water, senseless tendon repairs...and the house dressing to marinate for grilling the carcasses of dead cases.

By Aurora H. Tansiokhian, M.D., Batch '58

"Keep the gold and the silver, but give us wisdom." (Arabian Proverb)

A dear person I know recently won an award for her poetry at the 44th Annual American Society of Aging National Poetry Contest held in San Francisco.  Her poem was selected  out of 2000 entries. She was one of four finalists. It was the first time she has received national recognition for her creative writing skills.

I like the poem very much and with her permission, I would like to share it with you.  Here it is.

LIFE BRINGS JOY

Sometimes life brings joy
To put in our hearts to hold.
Sometimes life brings true love to share
With someone who is always there.
Sometimes we are blessed with strength anew
To finish tasks that we must do.
The best of all gifts that life can give
Is a heart with a song that continues to sing
Regardless of what fate might bring.
A heart and mind that takes what comes each day
and makes the most of it someway.
A heart that accepts growing old
But continues to sing its song of Peace & Hope.

-- Ida Mae Rehberg, age 86, Allentown, PA, U.S.A.

Hearts Still Go On for a True Princess

"Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful princess ..." - sounds very familiar with a nostalgic feeling of the years of our youth when the heroines were Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. We met them joyfully from the color pages of Junior Classic Comics which we couldn't remember how many times we went thru them from cover to cover. And later came alive on the big screen through the wonders of Walt Disney's animations. Such were the magical worlds our innocent mind traveled through. It existed only in the fairy tales and fantasy land.

Then sometime in the early 80s, an obscure young Lady Diana Spencer, then a shy kindergarten teacher came to fit in the glass shoe of Cinderella. The world's focus was immediately on her. And her wedding was an event watched by almost a billion people. She became the Princess of Wales. And the world had fallen in love with a real Princess. She became the most photographed woman ever. A magazine with her face was sure to be a bestseller. Her hair style and signature dresses were instant fashion gems. The House of Windsor suddenly became popular through its brightest star. The future Queen of the United Kingdom and Australia looked like she was to live happily ever after with her future king. But her marriage only lasted more than just a decade as if the bell had chimed for 12 midnight and the party was soon over. The world not only sympathized with her but loved her even more after her Prince dumped her. She became Snow White and dedicated her life to helping the sick and the less fortunate of our society. She seemed to love her charitable works as she would be a much helping hand to the Seven Dwarfs. In the fairy tale, Snow White died due to apple poisoning. Diana's life ended abruptly with a car accident. The world was shocked and England was a nation in mourning. She is now a Sleeping Beauty lying among the greenest grass of England in her ancestral home of Althorp.  Only this time there will be no Prince Charming who will one day kiss her back to life.

I just could not believe that it is already a year since the People's Princess started her journey to another world.  We still see her on the cover of some magazines. We still see her on our TV screens. We still read about her in our newspapers. Her life based on a recent book is even serialized weekly in our Sydney Sunday paper. It started on the first week of her supposed 37th birthday and will end this week on her first death anniversary. Diana, the late Princess of Wales is still the best seller.

Millions of hearts still go on for a true Princess.

By Alex S. Rodriguez, M.D., Batch '65

Heart attack is a byword for people young and old and, most especially, the middle aged group. Most people are terrified to even think that this condition exists. Why? Because most of us think that when we have had a heart attack, one's life will forever change to an incapacitated state with no chance of going back to one's usual activity. Again, this is a myth because the after-effects of a heart attack will depend on the site and severity of the insult to the heart muscles.

The heart is a four chambered, hollow, globular, muscular organ found behind the sternum (the bone at the middle of the anterior or front chest which holds the ribs in place anteriorly together.) which pumps the blood out towards the peripheral parts of the body thereby nourishing all the body cells to maintain their individual function to sustain life. Unoxygenated blood returns to the right side of the heart then to the lungs to be re-oxygenated before it goes to the left side of the heart to be pumped out to the circulation again. This organ is supplied by the coronary blood vessels (arteries and veins).

Heart attack or myocardial infarction then is the sudden occlusion of the heart's blood supply or supplies causing ischemia or insufficient blood flow thus depriving certain muscle areas of nourishment resulting in the incapacitation of the heart to do its pumping action effectively affecting the rest of the body.

This year in the U.S., approximately 4 to 5 million patients will be evaluated in the Emergency Room. Of these patients, 2 million will be diagnosed as having an acute ischemic syndromes. More than half of these patients will be hospitalized with a diagnosis of unstable angina and 1.5 milllion will experience acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Of the 1.5 million AMI patients, about half a million will die and 50% of these deaths will occur within the first hour. Including the pre-hospital mortality, the first prolonged attack of ischemic pain has a 34% fatality rate, and in 17% of these patients, it is the first, last and only symptom.

Factors involved with this condition includes genetics, diet, obesity, smoking, diet, activity, sex, age and concomitant diseases like hypertension and diabetes mellitus especially. As you can see, there are factors which can be modified to stay away from this disease like diet, activity, smoking and obesity.  (Continued next week)
 

LCHS-AA ROSTER OF MEMBERS

Published hereunder is the list of registered members of the LCHS Alumni Association.  The Membership Committee is publishing the list to encourage those who are not yet listed to register now for membership.

Fourth Installment: P to S
Pagarigan, Michelle; Palang, Bebencio; Papa, Marigold K.; Patiño, Rosemarie L.; Peñaflor, Ruth R.; Po, Ann Dee L.; Po, Charita Sia; Po, Johnson S.; Po, Jonathan S.; Pua, Judy; Pua, Noralita Y.; Quimbo, Fe Dy; Quimbo, Jefferson; Quimbo, Marie Joan; Quimbo, Marie Josiefel; Racines, Gloricita U.; Racines, Jone Raye C.; Racines, Sherlita U.; Racines, Teresita; Rodriguez, Eddie S.; Rovira, Voltaire I.; Salud, Clair Ann; Salud, Minda Ang; Salvador, Josefina Chiu; Samson, Alexander; Samson, Arturo; Samson, Guido; Samson, Jacque Lynn G.; Samson, Janice; Samson, Karen Mae L.; Samson, Kristine; Samson, Romulo; Santos, Ian Jerome; Sia, Anthony T.; Siangco, Michael John L.; Siao, Benjohnson; Siao, Franklin U.; Siao, Guardson A.; Siao, Henry; Siao, Kok Te T. (deceased); Siao, Maria Elena; Siao, Norma Valdez; Siao, Sergio; Sien, Christiane Levi; So, Dy Pick Giok; So, James; So, Jecely T.; So, Jeverly T.; So, Mary Jocelyn; So, Phillip Steven; So, Pitrickson T.; Suminguit, Ann Jeremy L.; Suminguit, Remedios; Suminguit, Reynaldo; Suminguit, Rogelio; Suminguit, Romeo; Sun, Lee Abraham U.; Sun, Ligaya Samantha U.; Sy, Alfredo L.; Sy, Amelia Lehua; Sy, Amy Lee; Sy, Bing Gui; Sy, Caroline Jean; Sy, Charles O.; Sy, Chu Eng Ben; Sy, Daniel K.; Sy, Dewey T.; Sy, Edward Ryan; Sy, Farley; Sy, Felipe S.; Sy, Floricita T.; Sy, Grace Sia; Sy, Gregoria Ang; Sy, Hilton Neil O.; Sy, Hong Kiau (deceased); Sy, Lucing (deceased); Sy, Nelson O.; Sy, Patricia Jeanette L.; Sy, Raymund U.; Sy, Richard; Sy, Romeo U.; Sy, Ronald U.; Sy, Rosie Siao; Sy, Ruben U.; Sy, Sandy U.; Sy, Sheila Kathryn; Sy, Sherwin; Sy, Stephen; and Sy, William S.