Iligan City celebrates its annual fiesta on Sept. 29, 1997 with a series of festivities. Among the activities marking this feast day of the city's patron saint, Senyor San Miguel, are cultural programs and sport activities presented by the city government and various schools. Agro-industrial trade fairs are also being set up by the business sector and civic clubs. Sen. Raul Roco will crown the new Miss Iligan during the coronation night on Sept. 27.

The carnival and fairs this year are set up at the Pryce Properties Landmark site in Tubod, Iligan City. The fiesta culminates with the annual procession and street celebration by devotees clad in all assortment of costumes depicting thru dances and reenactments the battle between Senyor San Miguel and Lucifer. Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, along with TV personalities Loren Legarda and Ricardo Puno, will join the street dancing (Wara-wara sa Kadalanan). Viva Senyor San Miguel!

This Doctor is also a Shutterbug

Ernesto Yu, of Batch '65, is not only a successful physician and prolific writer; he is also an accomplished photographer.

Ernie was a first placer in the Color Print competition of the 1994 American Society of Anesthesiologists Conference held in Washington, D.C. This Society Meeting is the biggest anesthesiology conference in the U.S.A.

A degree holder in professional photography from the New York Institute of Photography, Ernie is a member of the Twin Cities Camera Club in New York and was a finalist in the club's recent photo competition, placing him in the top 5% of over 20,000 entries. His works are published in the Annuals of Photography which are available in all U.S. libraries. He has his own darkroom and writes a monthly column in the club's publication. 

From: gates1@juno.com
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 10:36:56 -0500

Kudos to the LCHS Spectrum! I can see that it's taking off and the events are getting more interesting. I'm ecstatic to see familiar alumni and classmates somewhere along the memory lane chipping in their talents to keep this gazette going and thanks to your inexhaustible efforts. Nothing can prevent your dream to soar now and I'm proud to be part of your dream.

Alex Rodriguez, M.D. (Batch '65), Florida, U.S.A.

Keeping Alumni in Touch

From: gofamily@juno.com
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 16:47:35 -0700

I would like to let you know how much I appreciate the on-going work you put into each newsletter. I look forward each week to a new issue. It keeps me informed of our hometown news and makes me feel constantly in touch. Keep up the good work!

Tessie Siao-Go (Batch '66), U.S.A. 

Perhaps my being of a breed that habitually bemoans the daily torment of senile hormones justifies a privileged life of unlimited browsing of the LCHS web site for sentimental artifacts (wacky whimsies, relative quietude) of my grade school stint in Iligan. Perhaps with a zippy electronic journalism molded at the current refined state, I can just let my "fingers do the walking" to sniff magically at cherished comrades across remote continents; an absolutely mystifying late '90s marvel of unplugged technology. Perhaps once wonderfully charming segments of the fading past are rapturously regrouped, the bundle of sweet nothings just breathes a new lease of freshness that soothes frazzled nerves of morbidly nostalgic souls. Or perhaps, afforded a chance to visualize the aura of festive laziness in the air, a brand of radiant lullaby for the senses reverberates, swaying seductively like hypnotic fascination in a culture of long goodbye....

Spectrum, I owe you one for the exhilarating potion that fractured the palpable stillness of my long dormant pen and my world of slumbering emotion.

(Editors' Note: Ernie Yu can be reached on his e-mail address: Ernstyu49@aol.com) 

Grade Four. Chinese class was so boring that I repeated it for another year. DXIC was then a novelty. The first radio station in Iligan! They had a weekend program for elementary students called "It Pays to Know". My neighbor and friend in Ilaya, now Dr. Victor Mariano, invited me to join the program with him. It was a very nerve-wracking experience at my age to be "on air." I was asked "If a dozen eggs cost P1.20, how much will 5 dozens cost?". It was easy. I won five pesos. That was a fortune for anyone at that age. A soft drink cost 10 centavos then and a siopao only 20 centavos!

Grade Five. Chinese instruction was under Miss Kho Siok Oy, who just returned from Taiwan. She introduced us to the Chinese phonetics. And the whole class used to shout whenever we reached the point of "Oo, Oo-ya te Oo!" to tease her. And for the first time in our English classes, we had a male teacher, Mr. Pedro Campugan, who was also the basketball coach of the school. I remember English classes were then held in the afternoon session which started around 12:45 p.m., or one o'clock. And we used to go to school as early as 12 high noon to play basketball. By the time the first bell rang, we would be sweating all over. As punishment, Mr. Campugan would order us to line up along the classroom window.

Grade Six. Tan Dih Hong was our Chinese teacher-in-charge. Not only was he a great teacher, he was also really multi-talented, excelling in the arts of drawing, music, handicrafts and most of all, story-telling. His style was to teach the class in the better part of the period and reserved the last few minutes for his mesmerizing stories which he narrated in installments. While he was telling his suspenseful or thrilling stories, a pin dropping could be heard around the class. Such was the attention he commanded. In the English instruction, I was lucky to be taught by Mr. Fidel Fuertes, who was the number one enemy of the undisciplined. His favorite subject was not Music but, of course, Philippine History. He wanted his class to be in full concentration whenever he was teaching his favorite subject so much so that he allotted a minute of time for us to scratch or stretch our bodies. After that, no movement whatsoever was allowed. I will always remember that chapter in history about the "Code of Kalantiao". Mr. Fuertes would ask the class: "Why is it that everytime I mention this Code of Kalantiao, the whole class would laugh?"

When was the last time I joined Iligan in celebrating the city's fiesta? Ah, it was in 1979 when I had my postboard rural health service (after the medical board exam). But prior to that, it was in 1967 when I was then in my third year high school at LCHS and was still a permanent resident of the city. Since then, I haven't been in town for the fiesta not until after twelve years (that is, in 1979).

September 29 is St. Michael's Feast Day - the patron saint of Iligan City. I will never forget this particular date. After all, it's been there long before I was born. Besides that, September 29 happens to be my sister Mila's birthday. She was born 1945. That's where she got her name (Miguela).

So, what's so special about fiestas? For Chinese Filipinos like us, who have embraced the customs and traditions of the Republic of the Philippines; fiestas are times of jubilation, excitement, foodfests, etc. It is an occasion honoring our patron saint and thanking him for protecting the city, for everything nice and wholesome.

How were fiestas celebrated during our time in the early 60s? I was in my grade school (1959-1965) at LCHS then. Two weeks before Sept. 29, you would know it's going to be the city's fiesta again because the carnival would start setting up their paraphernalia at the Iligan City High School grounds. What fun it was to be riding in those Ferris wheels, caterpillars, sail boats, swings, roller-coasters, etc. There were also betting games like jumping horse, dice (kago-kago), shooting gallery, freak shows and other trade exhibits. Games were priced at 0.10 centavos. A bottle of Coke then cost only 0.25 centavos and a bagful of popcorn or cotton candies at 0.10 centavos. A week before the fiesta, there was the "China Night" when our school held a dance and musical program at the city auditorium. Other schools also had their turn in the presentations. Then on vesperas (Sept. 28), we would prepare excitedly, specially our school's drum and bugle numbers, for the civic parade the following day. On the day of the fiesta, a diana would be heard at dawn, after which a High Mass was celebrated at the St. Michael's Cathedral. The parade would start 8:00 a.m. passing through the key streets of the city. I vividly remember our LCHS majorettes then like Nene Ang, Vivina Chiu, Bonifacio Co, Virginia Handumon, etc. Friends and relatives would come to our house at lunchtime for the kumbera of fiesta foods, like lechon with matching dinuguan, morcon, fried chicken, sotanghon, kaldereta, humba, menudo, among other delectable homecooked delicacies. The procession was held in the afternoon.

I wonder how Iligan fiestas are being observed these days. All I know is I will always remember September 29 as the Feast Day of St. Michael and even if I may not be around the city, I always make it a point to hear mass here in Cebu on that day as my way of paying tribute and remembering St. Michael the Archangel - who has been a part of my childhood vocabulary as the mighty one, and who is still one of my favorites at 45. It may have been decades, but the memories of those fiestas of our beloved city of Iligan will forever linger on. After all, Iligan was the city of my youth. And nothing can beat that! Yeees!