Internet Newsletter of the Alumni of Lanao Chung Hua School Vol. 4, No. 16, October 23, 2000, Iligan City, Philippines Fiesta Extravaganza FIESTA EXTRAVAGANZA. Left Photo: Miss Iligan 2000 Felimar Pandaan (left) and 1st Runner-up Sheridzma Laojabangsa (right), photo by Robert Booc.  Right photo: a scene from the Kasadya 2000, a street dancing festival held as part of the fiesta celebration in Iligan City last Sept. 29, photo by Bobby Timonera.

EDITORIAL STAFF Charles O. Sy, Editor Henry L. Yu, Associate Editor Correspondents: Iligan - Johnny Chen, Teresita Racines, Vinson Ngo, Roger Suminguit, & Armi Leslie Te. Cebu - Igdono Caracho. Metro Manila - Marie Janiefer Lee. Canada - Peter Dy & Mikee Lee. Australia - Leonardo Tan. U.S.A. - Ernesto Yu, Alex Rodriguez, & Aurora Tansiokhian. 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: charlesy@cnms.net

LCHS Debating Teams joined a debate on gender issues held under the auspices of the MSU-IIT Math Department last Oct. 18. The debate was one of the series of events held in observance of the 11th National Statistics Month this October. The theme of this year's celebration is "Empowering Filipino Women through Gender Statistics." The LCHS teams were composed of, Team A: Jane Dale Racines, Maria Christine Samson & Mikhail Tolentino; and Team B: Cheerine Dy, Sheila Vy & Carissa Ong.

SMFCCC launches chapel project

The St. Michael's Filipino Chinese Catholic Community has launched a project to build a chapel and formation center in Iligan City.  Proposed site of the chapel is at Pala-o, near the LCHS campus.  The group is currently holding a fund drive through the sale of raffle tickets at P100 apiece.  Prizes at stake are a brand new Toyota Revo, 1st prize; Sharp 20-inch color TV set, 2nd prize; National 6-cu.ft. refrigerator, 3rd prize; and 10 other consolation prizes.  Draw date is Jan. 21, 2001.

Of editors past & present

"Tracers" met Victor L. Chiu (Batch '65) on the night of the Class Reunions last Aug. 4, and learned that he has ceased to be connected with the Philippine Port Authority, where he used to work as cashier.  He is now an independent certified public accountant.  He is married to Imelda Neri of Cagayan de Oro, with whom he has four children, 1 girl and 3 boys.  His wife is connected with the Iligan City Treasurer's Office.  Victor, known to many as "A-E," was managing editor of the Spectrum in 1969.  Speaking of editing job, Angeline Valencia, daughter of Victor "Siopao" Yu (Batch '68), is now the editor of the Metro Post, a new weekly newspaper in Dumaguete City.  Angeline graduated magna cum laude in Mass Communications at the Silliman University.  Other scoops: Remedios Tan Wee  (Batch '64) was a recipient of the "Philippine Airlines Madayaw Award."  The award was given for outstanding accomplishment in passenger sales in Mindanao of her Airtime Ticketing Travel & Tours based in Cotabato City.  Awarding ceremonies took place on  Oct. 8, 2000, at the Marco Polo Hotel, Davao City. Sally Vy, class valedictorian of Batch '99 and daughter of Beng Hong and Shirley Vy, is now a 2nd year Computer Science student at the Ateneo de Manila University. Eddie Rodriguez (Batch '61) underwent an appendectomy in Cebu last month. He is fine now and actively back in circulation.

Greetings to John Liu
Tue, 10 Oct 2000 11:29:39 -0600

I was so happy to see the picture of John Liu, my favorite high school teacher (Spectrum, Oct. 9, 2000 issue).  Please say hello to him and Agustin Wu.  Mr. Liu has maintained his youthful appearance.  I hope they can visit me whenever they have the opportunity to come to Canada. Our home is always open to them. I hope they still remember me. Thanks. -- Jesus "Hesing" Dy (Batch '63), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Jesus.Dy@gov.ab.ca

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

Perhaps my being of a persuasion where the moon and stars never hesitate to waltz on center stage of any daydreams ignited my mental cylinders to ram in full blast along Reverie Park while major spheres of my grey matter were taxed to the max with business-as-usual reflexes. Perhaps I'm of a strain of scribe who bolts out of a whimpering state of sedation to pierce together a thought every time a yearning for something so elegant to grab but too impossible to be mine propels my load of molecules to give the moment a certain symmetry to hug and kiss an elusive dream of the "too close yet too far" variety. Perhaps being an ardent worshipper of heavenly bodies who readily gets wowed with bug-eyed passion, the mere feasting on the shimmering roundness of the moon can cram into my cranium a sense of heightened inspiration to pen an encyclopedic volume of lazy prose, or bouncing my eyes on the cooing fascination bred among mesmerizing stars, even if dangled by the ears or neckline, can garb my soul with tremendous flowering of potent imagination, flashing tender ballads into the free air. Perhaps Czarina Gabrelle Soriano's ringingly poetic and fanciful dance number of her sleepless night resurrected my junior year at LCHS where I breathed refreshing delight in watching adverbs and adjectives mate, up to a phase where my creative spirit became so hot that my bones turned soft as marshmallow. At any rate, whatever maybe's and puzzling question marks I have filtered from her lyrical entries, I am consumed to scribble sweet nothing about my version of the moon, stars and junior high.

I can vividly recall the impromptu session I had with our high school populace last Reunion. I gathered the buffling shock and gnawing disappointment that only a handful have any recollection of flipping the Spectrum pages that have been pinned on the campus' bulletin board on a biweekly basis. Worst, a score of them didn't realize that the Spectrum is in orbit as a newsletter to paste, among other objectives, wings to their flight of ideas. Meaning: any student who wields an appreciation for the merry shuffling of cliches and action verbs can squeeze her/his literary juices into the editorial office and be stamped with a high statistical chance of being centrifuged into visual publication. In uncluttered English, their vocabulary circus will be tendered a swing to gyrate their journalistic twists and turns.

I'm rocked in renewed exhilarating whoa! to observe high schooler wonder Czarina Soriano flapped her feathers with an entertaining read: unfiltered essence of her love for my favorite evening skies' decors and philosophical musings about the delicate equilibrium of failure and success. Truth be told, her random accounts resuscitated the drenching excitement that clogged my arteries when my debut article ("Via Heart's Dictates" byline) was given a lease on life in the early '60s. To witness the muffled ramblings of your restless brain in black ink can indeed percolate energy-perking chemicals in your general system. Hopefully, an invasion of youthful lovers of synonyms and analogy with booming interest in the churning pace of deadline writing in the LCHS district is now twinkling in the horizon. Doubtlessly, these future flag carriers of our alumni gazette will sprinkle new spices and paint vibrant colors that will insure another generation to our printed voices.

Welcome home, new gangmates and jugglers of Sir Webster's pets. Keep the rainbows with beaming smile by endlessly infusing fresh oxygen to the old adage, "Every cloud has a silver lining." Your writeups are the laces of light and glory.

And, Czarina, embrace the moon and stars till the next stop to forever. Mumbling this lovely sentence just rekindles joyful memories of a dear friend.

By Charles O. Sy, Batch 1967

I learned at the GAH that Carlos "Bonnie" Dy holds the distinction of having served as our alumni president for 13 consecutive years.  Bonnie deserves a big toast for his Dy-dication.

By Leonardo "Eddie" Tan, Batch '66

There is a less known sporting event which usually follows a month after the Olympic games. And this is the second biggest sports festival known as the Paralympics which really means Parallel Olympic Games. Here in Sydney, we just witnessed the opening ceremony with as much fanfare although in a lesser grand scale as the games of the able bodied athletes a month ago. In Paralympics, we saw the parade of athletes mostly in wheelchair, in crutches, the legally blind or the visually impaired ones with their guide dogs, the mentally disadvantaged and many more disabled athletes proudly representing their country.

Sydney once again is proud to host the biggest 11th Paralympics. It has the participation of about 128 countries with a total of around 4,000 athletes. When Paralympics had its debut in Rome 40 years ago, it only attracted less than 500 athletes from only a handful of countries. Instead of the 5 rings as the symbol of its bigger brother, this time the white flag has three colors of teardrops representing mind, body and soul.

It all started in London in 1948 after the capital of the British Empire hosted the summer Olympics that very year. Some world war II veterans disabled by the cruelty of that conflict took advantage of the refurbished sporting venues and staged a Wheelchair Games just for fun and to exhibit what they still could achieve in spite of their being physically handicapped. Little did they know that 12 years later, their effort would become the Paralympics.

There are 18 different sporting events being contested here at the 11th Paralympics. Their basketball may not include "illegal travel," volleyball with net slightly lower, tennis may tolerate additional bounce. Generally, the Paralympics may show a slower sprint in the athletic field and in the swimming pool, but none the less, it is inspiring if not more than the other bigger games. Here, the disabled athletes demonstrate how they overcome the many obstacles the normal persons only take for granted. Try swimming with a few limbs missing. Try shooting that arrow into the bull'seye being blind. Or try a jump shot in a basketball from a wheelchair.

If this Paralympics will not inspire you, I don't know what will.

By Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch '69

"Fifty is the youth of sixty." So, are we that young or are we that old? We started grade I at the age of 7. We graduated high school at 17, and college at 21. And now we're ALMOST THERE – the golden state, our 50th. But do we really feel like it? Do we act and think like one?  Oh, to be 50. Well, almost …

So, how do you know you're 50, over or below? For this issue, we take you back to yesteryears via a flashback of our youth as we recall those popular things, prominent people, and significant places of our youth. Let us see how well we remember all those that have been part of our youth in a city called Iligan.

A = Ang Han Tiong * Ang Bon Chiong * Ang Suan Em * Asia Store * Acme * Alaska * Ang Tibay * April Love * Aldila * Anejo * Alcover * Arnejo * Alain Delon * Aruray
B = Bonicol * Brilliance * Beatles * Born Free * Bus Stop * Black Is Black * Banlon * Berley's * Bernardo * Bee Gees * Bato Lata * Bonbon bed * Bic ballpen
C = Chakekilai * Canton * Crystal * Casa Esperanza * Chu Eng * Century * Celdran Village * Camilo Cabili * Capitol * Cascades * Connie Francis * Cliff Richard * California * Cheding * Cortal * Constantly * Crazy * Corsican * Campugan * Cerveza negra * Chocovim * Custombuilt * Castoria * Chichay
D = Dy Cham * Dy Un Soy * Dy Chu Tee * Dy Tiao Lim * Dy Pico * Dy Yao * Doris * Darigold * Devoted To You * Dear Heart * Don't Sleep In The Subway * DXIC * Dave Clark Five * Dina's * Diomedes Maturan * Dyesebel * Darna
E = Elite * Excelsior * Everlast * Elvis Presley * Everly Brothers * Eternally * Everybody Knows * Elephant walk * Eddie Peregrina
F = Fibisco * FIBC * Fishnet * Fanbo * Frutella * Fita * Fuertes * Fat and Thin * Fox Trot * Frank Sinatra * Four Aces * Fernando Poe, Jr. *  Frankie Avalon
G = Genio * Gaite * Gener * Granex * Gardan * Ginger Ale * Graham * Gary Lewis * * Goldwyn Myers * Golden State Butter * Golden Gate Notebook
H = Hawchialailo * Hong Yao * Hing Huat * Hamilton * Hong Kong Restaurant * Heyrosa * Halili * Homeward Bound * Hua Lam * Handumon * Halo Shampoo
I = Iligan Constructions * I Understand * I Started A Joke * Iko
J = Jam Chiong * Jacqueline's Bowling * Jackshirt * Jukebox * Jerk * Julip * Jacob * Johnny Mathis * Jackstones * Jerry Lewis * Jerry Vale
K = King Sing * Krisland * Kim San * Kian Chiong * Kokang * Keng Hong * King * Kapitbahay * Kokuryo * Kiss Me * Kulafu * Kanaway * Kaminomoto
L = Lanao Mail * Lian Guan * Lian Hong * Lian Tay * Lim Chay * Liong’s * Lanao Milling * Lanao Arkay * Lonbisco * La Salle * Lettermen * Lemon Lime * Lemon Tree * Lioness * Lulu * Limbo Rock * Lard's Studio
M = Manila Bazar * Manila Grand Baratillo *  Mongul * Mansueto * Manila Bank * Minica * Masarap Carenderia * Matt Monro * Moo Moo * Maruya * Moon River * Mr. Lonely * Montagut * Miguel * Monkees * Maganda * M.Y. San
N = Naring Store * Nena's Luncheonette * Neil's Tailoring * No Reply * Neil Sedaka
O = Oriental Restaurant * Only You * Oh Carol * One Way Ticket * Ong Sian * Og-nut * Orange Kiss * Oro Bonito * Old Spice * Ovaltine
P = Pacific Commercial * Pasing's Grocery * Padilla's  * Premier * Pillsbury * Pat Boone * Petticoat * Puppy Love * Purico * Platters * Pepe and Pilar *  Petula Clark * Patintero * Purong * Patsy * Pugo * Ponga
Q = Quezon Avenue * Queen * Que Sera Sera
R = Roosevelt * Roxas Avenue * Rosario Heights * Redemptorist * Royco * Rufina Patis * Rolling Stones * RCA * Roy Hamilton * Ricoa * Rock 'n Roll
S = Siagidisiagidisiaopopow * Sen Chin Bee * Sen Hua * Sen Tay Seng * Sampaguita * Sabayle St. * San Cha * Siao Ching Tin * St. Michael's * St. Peter's * Sy Chu An * Siao Bon Po * Sioktong * Serg's * Sansapia * Star Margarine * Sad Movies * Saray * Siakoy * Scott's Emulsion * Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious * Superman
T = Tin Lu Sing * Tropical * Tan Lam * Tam Wong * Tay San * Tan Lian Hon * Twiggy * Tira-tira * Tancho * Tiger Balm * Twist * Timoga * Tartanilla * Takyan * Tabanog * Tiki-Tiki * Tambo * Tominobo * Tambacan * Tibanga
U = Unchained Melody * Uy's Hospital * Union Carbide
V = Vonnel * Villaruel * Victoria * Van Houten * Vicks * Voit * Ventures
X = Wakasan * Wan Seng * Walk Away * White Flower * Washington
X  = Xanadu * Xmas
Y = Yap Sian * Yoyo * Yellow Bird * Yee Tin
Z – Zorro * Zaldy Zhornack

HOW TO SCORE:  If you remember --
280 of the items listed above ----- You are an ORIGINAL Iliganon (80 and over)
250 ------- You are a SENIOR CITIZEN (60 and over)
220 ------- You are a GOLDEN BOY/GIRL (50 and over)
200 ------- You are a BEGINNER of life (40 and over)
180 ------- You are a YUPPY (21 and over)
150 ------- You are a TEENAGER (13-19)
100 ------- You are a GRADE SCHOOLER (7-12)

GAH: A Lung Twister
By Rodolfo P. Yu
Batch 1969

BongGAH na, GAHrantisado pa, GAHling-GAHling GAHyud,
We were all GAHbby and GAHdabout at GAHrabe at
GAHrGAHntuan ang GAHthering.
May GAHllant, may GAHloot, pero tanan well-GAHrbed during
the GAHbi ng Parangal.
My GAHsh, GAHbundok ang food GAHlore.
Sabi ni Roger S, "Sa sayawan at kantahan pa lang,
nakakaGAHGAH talaGAH ang GAH."
GAHnoon?

---

When speaking of language, the first thing that would come up in our minds is human speech, either spoken or written. So, does it mean then that if you don't say it, you don't feel it? Or are the sweetest words that play melody to your ears tantamount to what the heart dictates?

Listen to every beat and rhythm of your heart, it speaks the truth, an expression of your feelings. Unlike the mouth that could blabber, the heart speaks gently with a language only you could hear and understand, for only you really know what's deep inside. But how to express it out would sometimes seem to be the problem. Hmmm ... that sounds familiar. Ah, that must be how love letters originated!

Women, in general, like to hear the words being spoken out rather than to presume as mutual understanding. It's more reassuring and comforting, easing the jigzaw puzzle of the mind. We're "detailed" mammals and would like to hear every single part of the story. Our minds could play detectives, spies or psychologists. We could be emotional, ambivalent, unpredictable and fickle-minded at times. Irregardless of age, most women like to be appreciated and hate to be ignored and criticized. Watch out, ter! (as in mister).

I think the hardest part in a relationship is how to keep it alive and not just existing. It's how to maintain an open communication. Silence on the snowy mountain builds up turmoil, it slowly kills the inner self and eventually rottens the human soul. The damage goes beyond repair and the relationship breaks apart. Here in the States, you'd be surprised to see many couples who had been married for 20 some years with grown up children getting divorced. Or for the spouse to look for a younger lover. In the Philippines, this is usually a top hidden secret of James Bond 007.

Even with raising children, it's how to keep the channel of communication open. As children grow up, they have their own minds, their own choices, preferences, biorhythm, mood swings, etc. And parents have a hard time in letting go. In my own heart, Karen will always be my baby girl no matter how old she will be, as I am to my mom. The circle of life? Thanks mom, I know you warned me about this before.

Whatever the case may be, just remember that all feelings come from the heart, all words from the mind. However you want to express yourself, do it because you are who you are, and not how others want you to be. Listen to the language of your heart.