LCHS students romped off with the top honors in the Math Olympiad held in Iligan City last Oct. 2-3.  Selected high school students representing 15 private and public schools in the city participated in the Division level of the math proficiency competitions.  MSU-IIT high school was exempted from the elimination round.

In the Individual Division, LCHS students Sheila T. Vy (daughter of Vy Beng Hong) won the championship in the 1st Year level; Sharon Sy (daughter of Sy Beng Gui) won second place, 2nd Year level; Haydee Wang (daughter of Chiok Hian Dy-Wang) , first runner-up, 3rd Year level; and Abigail Te (daughter of Antonio "Boy" Te), first runner-up, 4th Year level.

In the Group Division, LCHS students also captured the championship in the 1st Year and 3rd Year levels. Comprising the 1st Year group were Sheila Vy, Jane Dale Chua Racines & Carissa Amorcilla Ong. The 3rd Year group was made up of Sally Tan Vy, Jean Haydee Wang & Jelly Ng.  In the 2nd Year level, first runner-up was the group of Sharon Sy, Jerumae Lee & Kimberly Siao.  Likewise placing first runner-up in the 4th Year level were Abigail Louise Te, Joan Ling & Jennifer Tan.

Alcover now with National High
By Teresita Racines (Batch '67)

Crisanta Alcover-Ayson, former LCHS principal, is now head of the Science Department (night classes) at the Iligan National High School.  She holds office from 4:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and supervises evening classes of the Science Department.

During a visit to her office by this reporter, Mrs. Ayson expressed amusement upon learning from the Spectrum that her former LCHS students still remember her after thirty years.  She also expressed interest to contribute some articles to the Spectrum about her life at LCHS.  On the side, she runs a famiy business with her husband, who has retired from Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation. The Aysons have three children.  The eldest is a Commerce graduate and is now taking up Law.  The second is an engineer while the youngest is a second year medical student at the Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City.  (Coming soon: Spectrum's exclusive interview with Mr. Felipe Oh in Cagayan de Oro by Rene Tio of  Batch '70!)
 

The following are true-to-life anecdotes involving a Chinese lady doctor from Siquijor who does not speak Chinese very well.  Contributed by Rene Tio (Batch '70):

High BP
The lady doctor advising an old Chinese patient to refrain from climbing the stairs or his blood pressure might rise: "Di boy choy keh pan-ting; di e hoey e keh pan-ting."

Chit Tiam!
When asked what time was the operation, the lady doctor, first counted mentally "chit, nang, sah..," then answered: "Chit tiam."  Questioned further: "Chah-khe o ah-mi?"  Again mentally checking, "chit, nang, sah, si..," assured that she was right, the lady doctor confidently responded: "Chit tiam." The operation started promptly at one in the afternoon.

Dentist
This happened last Friday night when she visited us and introduced a dentist friend to my mom, proudly stressing the profession 'dentist.' Fearing that my mom may not understand the English word 'dentist', she said: "E si esing eh choey-khi." (Translated in Bisaya: "Doktor sa ngipon siya!")
 

Dub it as a brand of common sense, clinical research on the link between coronary artery disease and cholesterol level.  Ninety five percent of patients who land in our operating suites spit out cholesterol number in the normal range.  Mind you, these are the very species who isolate themselves from the worlds of cappuccino, slabs of sirloin, french fries.  Instead, they breathe in a controlled milieu of veggies, diet cola, tofu, olive oil. What a tragedy? Not exactly. Those who slurp tons of pure lard never endure the scalpel's mania because they just don't make it to the hospital.  Plain and simple.

Next move is yours, man

Pardon the partial list,  the rest are in fossils.

And remember that while you still can.

       Ultimately we cross the site the second time
                  Was there a first when we never unwind?
              We pasted wings for fantasies to free-fly
       Random directions boundless spaces to sigh
                Like echo the heart grinds the sweetest sap
              In your absence there was loveliness without love.
 

A few months ago, I celebrated my ten years of living here in Sydney, Australia.  I read somewhere that time passes faster as we grow older. And that was a very quick ten years indeed!

I arrived here in mid-autumn of 1987.  My first impression was the clean air and the cool weather, as if the whole city was being airconditioned with a temperature ranging from 15c - 22c.  A very pleasant relief from the summer heat of Manila which I left just seven hours earlier.  Autumn months here are March - May.  Just the opposite weather of the northern hemisphere. Thanks to the tilt of the earth's axis, we have four seasons.

Upon reaching our temporary home as guest of my wife's sister, I wasted no time in tasting the water from the tap.  I was very satisfied as it tasted just like the water from Iligan's spring and as cold as Timoga.  I had to move my watch two hours ahead.  That's the minimal time difference between my native country and this new world of kangaroos and koalas.  Maybe there will be no problem for me here, like the two unique marsupials, I also have a pouch.

The first few days were spent in touring the city and its suburbs. Sydney is Australia's premier city and dubbed as the most beautiful harbour city in the world which is accented by the world-famous Sydney Opera House.  It has a population of about 4 million people in an area a bit bigger than Metro Manila.  It is said that all the nationalities are represented in this cosmopolis.  Filipinos, being one of the fastest growing community here, number about 40,000.  The whole of Australia is an island continent as big as mainland China but has only a population of around 18 million.  Just equal to one Chinese city of Shanghai perhaps. Yet it is less crowded and less polluted, which is better for the environment.  But not so good for business as demand is lesser too.

Australia is a very young nation.  As we arrived, the whole country was then preparing to celebrate its bicentennial of the arrival of the First Fleet with its first shipment of convicts from Great Britain which was on January 26, 1788.  I was a bit confused at first to learn that Queen Elizabeth II of United Kingdom is also the Queen of this country.  How could this be, knowing Australia is a sovereign country independent from Britain?  Even its flag has the Union Jack on the corner.  Names of places like Hyde Park, Kings Cross, Waterloo, Liverpool are  all borrowed from England.  This is indeed a very British place.  We therefore drive on the left side of the road.  When crossing the road:  look to the right first then left! That explains why more Americans are run over here than the Japanese.

One of the first things I did was to secure a driving license. After studying the local handbook for traffic rules, I luckily passed the written exam.  With my Philippine LTO license, I was exempted from the practical examination.  However, I was very much dismayed to swap my old credit card-type license with photo with a plain half bond paper-size document without even a picture.  Was Australia this behind in technology?   I realized much later that a sophisticated fool-proof document was unnecesssary in a land where people are mostly honest.  A plain paper would do just fine.

For the first six months, I was doing nothing. I was jobless. The Australian government took care of me and my family.  Every fortnight, I was receiving around 400 Aussie dollars. The money was automatically deposited into my bank account.  I just had to fill out a form and joined the line once every two weeks. As a social security benefit recipient, I also received many privileges from many government agencies.  Pay a fraction of fares for public transports. Pay nothing for medical needs--hospital or doctor.  Two dollars flat rate for any medicine. School fees for the two kids were subsidized by the government as well, so I paid next to nothing.  Food is very cheap and I paid no rent as my in-laws were kind enough to provide accommodation.  200 dollars a week for doing nothing was more than enough.  What a life!  I thought I was living in a paradise! (End of first part)
 

In the past  two issues, I made mention of several classmates of mine who shared with me my first schooling years at LCHS.  That was taken from my memory at random as they flashed back into my mind.  Going over these articles, I realized that I have sort-of forgotten to include some batch mates who, nonetheless, were part of my young life at LCHS then.  With the help of my antique photo albums, I came across some of the half-forgotten ones, like: Reynaldo Dy, Ruben (I simply forgot his family name), Vicente Binolirao, Claro Tan, Leopoldo Tan, Felipe Lim, Rosalina Tiu, Teresita Chin, Apolonia Chiu, Presentacion, and Bonifacia.  There are indeed classmates whose names I no longer remember, and if ever I do, I could not seem to remember their family names.  There are really times when no matter how much we try to remember some things, they just don't register in our mind.  Must be the aging process!  After all, 45 is spelled as forty-five.  And very soon, my 45th Christmas on this planet earth.  Funny, but the other day, my brother Ernie in Buffalo couldn't remember the name of his very own combo way back in LCHS in the mid-60s.  Poor brother!  Let me come to your rescue and help you...its' the VULTURES, or have you really forgotten?  Well, well, it's high time you accept the fact that you are 3 years older than me.  Hehehe!

Well, going back to my half-forgotten batch mates...Reynaldo was the brother of Ching Chong who lived near LCHS.  He was that kid with a recurrent runny nose (the male version of Dy Chiok Hian).  Ruben was the small but terrible lad, shy and naive.  Vicente or Inting was the Dixie Peach boy with hair so thick, shiny and sticky, but clean cut just the same.  They owned that carenderia along Sabayle Street who sold the best paklay or halang-halang in town.  I really really miss that stuff!  Claro or Kai Lok or Boy Misamis was my second-degree cousin who would prefer to play than to study.  He just passed away recently, succumbing from a case of cerebral (brain) AV malformation.  Leopoldo or Tata was that chubby guy also with chronic allergic rhinitis (read: sip-onon) who easily got irritated (read: sapoton) when you joked at him.  He died some ten years ago.  Felipe or Lim Yok Kong was a leader in every way in the tradition of Jack (of all trades).  Rosalina or Tiu Bee Bee was Jimmy Ling's first crush and constant partner in the dance programs.  She was that girl with salapid hair (along with Delia Dy and Bonifacia). Teresita or Nenette was our neighbor.  They own the famous Sampaguita Bakery.  She was that girl with overdue baby fats whose appetite was insatiable and who brought with her a lot of bread or cookies to our class.  She shared a lot.  And that made our days.  Apolonia or Chiu Lu Beng was that tall and chubby girl who also loved to eat (read: busawan) who could compete with the boys in energy, games and eating.  Presentacion was the little shy girl (remember this song by the Cascades?) while Bonifacia was the black beauty with a Pocahontas hairstyle.

Postscript: As I travel along this sentimental journey, the memories of several people who likewise formed an integral part of my life in Iligan in general and LCHS in particular keep flashing back.  There are indeed people whose whereabouts I would like to be updated about, like, the Handumons: Jaime, Mike, Lilia, Virgie, Mila, Alex, Larry, Vincent.  The Lims of Lim Chay: Cristina, Elena, Lolita, Elizabeth.  The Lims of Lian Guan: Bienvenido,  Jose, Felipe, Wilson, Betty, Josefina.  The Lees: Ruben, Emelita, Janet, Erlito, brothers and sisters.  The Angs: Ampao, Linda, Minda, Amboy, Angkaw.  The Gos: Jane, Henry James, Mario, Edwin, Pido, Edna.  The Chius: Victor, Apolonia, Yolanda.  Grace Po, Matahum Lao, Proserpina Siangco, Felicitas Ly, etc., etc., etc., or just about any Iliganon or LCHS alumni whom you think that we, being away from Iligan, need to be updated about.  Should you have any knowledge about them, please share your info with me.  I would be very happy to know more about them now.

(Editors' Note: Due to space limitation, continuation of Charles O. Sy's "Life in the Old LCHS Auditorium" will resume next issue.)
 

Dream Team of the 60s Triumphant with many hardcourt victories, the  LCHS basketball team of 1962 line up for a posterity shot with their trophy in this rare  photo taken at the LCHS basketball court.  Left to right: Glicerio Uy, Jaime Rodriguez,  Victor Chiu, Manuel Tan, George Sy,  Santiago Chan, Bienvenido Lim, Artemio Lagrosas, Peter Co, and Antonio Chan.  Seated, left to right:  coach Pedro Campugan, muse Elsa Ang, and Chinese teacher-adviser  John Liu. At foreground are:  team captains Henry Dy and Franklin Siao. (Photo courtesy of Franklin "Bobo" Siao, Batch '62)