Internet Newsletter of the Alumni of Lanao Chung Hua School Vol. 4, No. 18, November 20, 2000, Iligan City, Philippines 62ND ANNIVERSARY Fanfare at LCHS Foundation Day By Roger Suminguit (Batch '73) LCHS marked its 62nd Foundation Day with lots of fun last Nov. 10 to 12.  School officials, teachers, students and alumni all converged at the LCHS campus to celebrate the occasion.  Among the festivities were art competition, exhibits, fairs, band contest, games, field demonstrations, musical and cultural presentations. Actively involved in this year's celebration was the LCHS Parents Association headed by Liza Ang (wife of Charles Ang).  The group raised over P220,000 through the sale of raffle tickets.  Part of the proceeds is intended for school improvements. The LCHS-AA, for its part, contributed P5,000 to LCHS for the celebration. Christmas party on Dec. 30 By Roger Suminguit (Batch '73) The LCHS-AA will hold its traditional Christmas party on Dec. 30. Raffle tickets, at P100 each, are now on sale.  Among the major prizes are 21" color TV, refrigerator, microwave oven, and many more. Proceeds will go to the LCHS Scholarship Fund and other projects.

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

Kho Siok We (Batch '57) has been chosen one of five "Outstanding Chinese Teachers" in Metro Cebu. The awarding ceremony will be held at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel on December 10, 2000. The award, now on its third year, is a project of the Mario Osmeña Educational Foundation to honor teachers in Cebu for their dedication and outstanding service in the pursuit of Chinese education.  The awardees will receive a trophy and cash prize of P50,000 each.  Kho Siok We is a ranking administrative officer and faculty member at the Cebu Eastern College.  She taught Chinese elementary education at LCHS in the early 1960s.  She has devoted her career to teaching ever since her graduation from higher Chinese education in Taipei, Taiwan.

Guardson Siao is UV awardee

Guardson Siao (Batch '58) was chosen one of the "Outstanding Alumni" awardees of the University of the Visayas (UV) for his achievements as arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).  The awarding ceremony was held on the occasion of the 78th UV Alumni Homecoming last Nov. 4 at the Cebu Capitol Social Hall.  A lawyer by profession, Guardson was also adjudged one of the "LCHS Outstanding Alumni Achievers" at the 1st LCHS Grand Alumni Homecoming last Aug. 5.

Alumni news roundup

Jaime Tiu Andaquig (Batch '75), who has been a Sydneysider for ten years, has moved recently to Phoenix, Arizona, USA and joined the Phoenix Ritz Carlton Hotel. Together with his wife, the former Lolita Cabili, they both were exemplary staff of Sydney's Ritz Carlton for several years. With the closure of the prestigious hotel in Sydney due to change of owners and management, both Jaime and Lolit were recruited by the Ritz Carlton Hotel management for the USA jobs. The Andaquigs promised to return to Sydney once Ritz Carlton re-establishes a new hotel in this magnificent harbor city of Australia.  Felipe "Boy" Lim (Batch '70) is currently in Los Angeles, U.S.A., where his younger brother Wilson Lim (Batch '71) runs a thriving dental clinic.  Felipe is due back in Cebu on Nov. 20.  Jonathan Mark Te (Batch '96) is now a computer programmer at the Silliman University Computer Center.  He recently finished Business Computer Applications at the same university.  He is son of Manuel Te (Batch '65). Joel Chiu  (Batch '82),  was recently elected director of the Cebu Computer Business Association.  He owns and manages Leading Enterprise, a computer hardware and software store located at Gen. Maxilom Ave., Cebu City.  If you're surfing the World Wide Web, try to visit and browse a new web site belonging to Spectrum columnist Marie Janiefer Lee (Batch '87) and her husband Stanley.  The site houses the home page of Karplus Car Audio & Accessories.  It's accessible at:  http://www.karplus.com.ph/

Pride of Niagara
Mon, 13 Nov 2000 14:25:44 EST

Glad to hear that our very own Janiefer Lee felt "an overflowing love and a million kisses" from her brief Niagara Falls visit (Spectrum, Nov. 6, 2000).  Niagara Falls prides itself as a honeymoon capital. Too bad, my fellow columnist didn't cross the American side of the Falls. With a breezy night walk by the park, she would have savored the honey in the full moon. Also, she would have seen the major attraction in Buffalo. Not the wings, of course! --Ernesto L. Yu (Batch '65), Buffalo, New York, U.S.A., Ernstyu49@aol.com

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

Doubtlessly, the crumpled expression on her face and her calculated steps bespeak of the obvious collection of gnawing pain and discomfort that she has rehearsed for years. Her sunken eyes and shallow breathing seem to beg for miracles, even transient, to gather some rainbows out of another gloomy skies ...

I ponder on this dime-a-dozen doctor-patient clinic encounter that is replicated day in and day out, and distill the reflected symbolism of our white attire: Mine representing the knowledge and skill to ease that ailing something in her system and hers stands for the myriad of symptoms that torment a blurred world; mine is a constant thirst for scientific know-how and compassionate care, hers an amplified plea to rebuild herself into whole again.

Back in my early breaks in med school, I recall how my white coat speaks of faith and purity, of purpose and pursuit, of professionalism and empathy, and the tons of dualities that henceforth wiggle ceaselessly at the center of my life. Like the twin serpents of knowledge and wisdom in the caduceus where both complement each other to render a soothing symphony for the senses; one is a discordant music scale without the other. During this phase, my white coat was an ultimate prize for all the sleepless nights endured digesting lengthy lecture notes that trained my brain to absorb better than sponges, the lonely shadow chasing and mental torture in the wee hours, the pathetic overtime lab works on weekends, the nauseating smell of slow death after dizzying exams. In addition, the jacket doubles as an excellent repository for pens, percussion hammer, handbooks, papers ... pride. The frequent inescapable stains splattered on its starched whiteness were medals of the trial and error maneuvers against bewildering illnesses, of the miserable tales in the wounds I dressed, of the many educational sessions on suffering from its very roots - the eyes of the debilitated, of the miles I traveled to refine the art of attentive listening and mellow whispering back to the heart and soul of the agonizing person, of the realization that what transpired on the patient's bedside is not just an exhibit of what I know but of what and who am I.

With maturity and a good volume of experiences on the fragility of life and death, I have discovered that occasions abound where sometimes the ideal way to auscultate the chest is to free your ears of the stethoscope and just see, feel and understand the dreadful corner of fear and ache, scars of agony that are the visual imprints of a patient's muffled bark for help. Moreover, I've discovered mechanisms to renew and nurture my own body, mind and spirit as I would to those diseased mortals whom I elected to serve. Gone are my monochromatic perspectives of life. There is a bounty of enriching beauty outside medicine when you rest the white coat at day's end. One is music that vibrates with one's inner harmonies. Another ones, art and medical journals which give you fresh vision of life. The wisdom generated from such sources spray new insights which you eventually channel into the patients.

Sensitive writers have aired the need for physicians to be priests also. This is not to be confused with having a sacred site to kneel before God or an altar to observe religious rituals. Rather, it is about the summon to remedy the soul as you would attempt to drain the body of toxic impurities. Doing so, one bumps into the fullfilling richness of his calling.

As such, the white coat is a privileged access to a bedside of moans and groans. It's what makes doctors stay humane, unreluctant to propagate the embers of tenderness and empathy which are at the core of the instincts which made doctors dedicate a lifetime of healing and loving.

By Marie Janiefer Q. Lee, Batch '87

When I reached Edmonton the temperature was several degrees below zero, though with my bag full of sunshine from Manila the weather eased a bit in the days that followed. But the temperature still hovered around freezing point.  It may be icy cold in that part of Canada but nothing can extinguish the warmth inside the home of my uncle Hesing and aunt Melania and the warmth of the welcome they gave me.

I learned a lot of things in my short stay in Edmonton. Like why is Alberta called "Sunny Alberta"? Here's why: because in the days that followed it was so sunny, that looking at the back yard from the kitchen window makes me want to run outside and chase those squirrels which were balancing on top of the wooden fence. But my uncle would remind me to hold my horses because looks can be deceiving. It may look sunny and warm but if I step outside without the right layers of clothing I'd end up a "frozen delight." This is the same term he used when we visited Lake Louise, probably reading what's going through my mind as I gazed into that crystal clear body of  water which was  so inviting that the thought of just jumping right in keeps crossing my mind. He said that if I jumped in I would come out a "frozen delight."

Speaking of frozen delight, as we sliced through the Banff area lined on one side with the view of the great Canadian Rockies capped with thick white snow, all I could think of was a chocolate sundae topped with vanilla cream. In other words it looks so delicious. It's like a scene from an IMAX 3D movie, being so close to something so big. The big difference is that I was staring wide-eyed at the gigantic rocks while I kept my eyes closed all throughout the IMAX 3D movie that my uncle took me to. The movie felt so real. While I was breathless admiring the Rockies, I got seasick watching the movie. And I knew that the scenes even got worse by the number of  "ka-leche ba ani" I heard from my uncle. While I was speechless looking at those huge rocks, I couldn't stop laughing inside the movie theater every time I heard my uncle utter those words.

Everybody commented on how lucky we were with such a good weather all throughout our long trip to Banff and Calgary.  It was like having the best of both worlds -- having the sun and the sight of snow at the same time. And I think that we even got luckier when a black bear crossed our path. Though he was just walking slowly it wasn't slow enough for us to alight from the car and aim our cameras. Unlike the small herd of mountain goats which patiently posed with me at the foot of the mountain.

Posing in my heavy winter clothing I know an American friend would say that I look like an "American frog," but at that temperature I think it would be more appropriate to call me a "frozen frog."  Unlike the wild geese that we missed one late afternoon at the golf course that my uncle frequents, I welcome  the experience of feeling the cold and chilly wind on my face. While the wild geese would migrate to a warmer land as the winter closes in, I would always welcome the thought of flying back to Edmonton and delight at being frozen once again.

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

While staying home one lazy Saturday afternoon listening to some old tunes over my favorite radio station, I chanced upon these lines from a particular song, "Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, telling me just what a fool I've been. I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain, and let me be alone again…" All of a sudden, my memories were drifted back to those moments in my life when it rained, bringing forth some realizations about life and living.

I remember … it was raining when I wrote my first poem when I was in grade five. It was also raining when we had our Junior-Senior Prom, during our high school graduation, our first day in college, when I sent off my best friend to eternal rest, and the many significant occasions when such RHYTHM OF THE RAIN reverberated without aural warning. Certainly, the rain means many things to many people. We are two individuals living in two different worlds.

No two people are exactly alike. This is one reality in life that we should come to terms with. The sooner the better. As Desiderata would put it, "For always, there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."  We differ in our growth and maturity in terms of physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, academic, or economic status. There are those of us who graduated valedictorian or cum laude, rich as far as bank accounts or business empires are concerned, or beautiful as far as Rosalinda's standards go. But be it as it may, there are also aspects of life and living that we are equal with Frank Sinatra, Ramon Mitra, Mother Teresa, or anybody else. And these are the inevitability of Aging and Death. Whether we like it or not, we all will grow old and gray someday despite the burgeoning brands of beauty paraphernalia available in the leading supermarkets or our friendly neighborhood sari-sari stores, all acclaiming to preserve youth, or those  concoctions which are made to promote longevity. But reality tells us that nobody will ever remain as flawless as the blooming teenagers that we once were, not even Rosanna Roces in all her fame and glory. Whether we like it or not, one of these days, our names will appear in the newspaper's obit section, side by side with those who have gone ahead to the Great Beyond. As a book has a prologue, so there also must have an epilogue. The final chapter, so to speak. For everything, there is a season: to be born, to grow up, to die. Life is a cycle. We are the passengers of one great tourist bus Driver, He that leads the way, anywhere, anytime, all the time. We are all but passing visitors on a limited visa. And that is one generality which poses no exceptions.

Aside from the eventualities of Aging and Dying, we also have another thing in which you and I are equal with Atong, Bong, and Chavit. The RHYTHM OF THE RAIN says it all. Yes, when it rains it pours, and we all get wet. But how we protect ourselves from being wet all over is another thing. A challenge.

Life is a dram-edy, a mixture of dramas and comedies. It is like the weather from PAGASA. Sometimes, it's sunny, other times it's cloudy, rainy, or stormy. Life is never a bed of roses all the time, just as it is never sunshiny everyday of our lives. Somehow, some rain must fall. But then, after the rain comes the promise of another day of brightness and cheer. Yes, "the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar till tomorrow, there'll be sun." It's time to smell the flowers, to appreciate the rainbows and bluebirds in the sky, "time for celebrations now, time to have a party,” or just simply "smile though your heart is aching, even though it's breaking," with a song in your heart.

Yes, the RHYTHM OF THE RAIN – it comes and goes like any seasons in the sun. Today, it's raining in our hearts. Tomorrow, it might still be raining. But for how long? It doesn't rain forever, does it?

Any discussion about the Spectrum today will not be complete if we do not look back to 32 years ago. On Aug. 1, 1968 the Spectrum was born. Its concept was to serve as a medium of communication among LCHS alumni.  Its objective was to preserve our ties as fellow alumni. That objective remains unchanged today.

But managing the Spectrum in the 1960s was a different story altogether. We had no computer then. There was no Internet or text messaging. Our system of communication was awfully slow and primitive. Yet despite such conditions, the Spectrum was run like a network already.  Among our staff, we had Leonardo Tan in Manila; Ernesto Yu, Henry Yu, and Emma Yap in Dumaguete; Peter Dy, Teresita Racines, and myself in Cebu; Mike Ong, Victor Chiu and Yolando Siao in Iligan. We were all still in college. The one single burden we faced was the printing cost. We operated mainly with funds donated by fellow alumni and students of LCHS.  Somehow we managed to survive 1 year and 3 months.  In November of 1969 we ceased publication.

Today, things have changed. The facility of the computer now allows us to compose and print the Spectrum entirely in the comfort of our homes. The interconnectivity of the Internet allows us to distribute the Spectrum directly from our computer to our readers. From 15 subscribers when we revived the Spectrum on April 15, 1997, we have now about 200 subscribers.  About 70% of these subscribers are in the U.S.A. and other places outside Iligan. This figure does not include readers who access the Spectrum on their own from our web site. As you know, any issue of the Spectrum can be read on our web site.  And for this we should thank our fellow alumni at IligaNet for hosting our home page on their server for free, namely Johnny Chen, Vinson Ngo and Jose Chu.

What the Spectrum has accomplished so far may not really be spectacular. But it's something not many schools have been able to do.  In Iligan, only the MSU-IIT and LCHS have alumni newsletters posted on their respective web sites.  But MSU-IIT does not distribute copies of its newsletter to its alumni individually via the Internet like we do.  Not long ago at a party, an alumna of the UP College of Medicine was telling us about how she was able to produce their alumni newsletter once every two months using the Internet.  She, as editor, was based in New Jersey, U.S.A. while her staff members were scattered in the Philippines and elsewhere.  Everybody was impressed until I volunteered the information that our Spectrum was done pretty much the same way except that we, in our case, came out weekly.  (That was in 1998 before we shifted from a weekly to a fortnightly.)  Everybody was stunned.  Even more so when they learned that ours is just a small community high school, and not a university like theirs. To top it all, the Spectrum is produced at no cost whatsoever to LCHS or the LCHS-AA and its members.

Today, the Spectrum has evolved into a global network linking our alumni scattered in different corners of the world.  Our alumni, separated from one another for years, have come to be in close contact again through our Internet linkage.  Every now and then we are discovering new talents among our alumni as they come forward to express themselves through our newsletter.  The Spectrum has become standard reading material for news from home for our alumni abroad   There were times when an issue missed its release date by a few days; immediately I received a couple of e-mails inquiring if their copy of the Spectrum was missent, or if the editor was ill.

What does the future hold for the Spectrum?  Many prospects lie ahead.  The possibilities and the potentials are endless.  Modern technology is developing at breakneck speed.  This advancement gives rise to computers with increased speed and more multimedia functionalities. Slowly we, on our part, are applying new technology to enhance our newsletter.  We have started incorporating digital photos in our newsletter.  Soon we may integrate sound effects and animation for our website edition. And more is yet to come.

But for us to be of better service, we will also need the help of our alumni officers.  Our alumni association can help by promoting the Spectrum and encouraging our alumni to contribute to the newsletter. You can also help by feeding us with news tips or scoops -- either by e-mail or mobile text -- on maatters of general interest to our alumni.  Every bit of  info concerning our fellow alumni at home or the LCHS community is big news for our alumni away from home. Our immediate concern is to expand our readership base.  Our alumni officers can help us likewise in this area by introducing fellow alumni with email addresses to our subscription list.

For as long as you will continue to support us, our writers will continue to write.  And for as long as our writers will continue to write, you can be sure the Spectrum will be around for another 5 years -- or until the next grand homecoming.

Have you ever played the game "Wheel of Fortune"? Or watched the show on TV? As you spin the roulette, you don't know where it would stop though you're cheering out loud hoping it hits the jackpot! If you're lucky, you'll go home rich. Otherwise, you can fake a smile and give the winner a hug, Sport! Ayaw lang sad pagpaklaro nga naminghoy kay napildi.

Life is like a spinning wheel. You don't know where it would take you when it stops; and it continues to spin for as long as you live. Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. There's no exemption nor exclusion, no matter who you are. What you have now will become preserved memories of tomorrow that you can only hold in the treasures of your heart.

Like cancer, it can strike at anybody, at anytime. It doesn't distinguish rich or poor, fat or thin, short or tall, young or old. My landlady in Cebu died of lymph node cancer. And she was a VERY nice person, always helpful, religious -- she was almost like a living saint. My own dad and Kowa Cresing (Cresencio Tan) both died of gastric cancer, and they were both very good men. The sweetest mom I encountered when I was working as an NICU nurse was diagnosed with uterine cancer two months after she delivered the little premie and died before the baby was a year old. My classmate in nursing school, who was hilomon, hinayon ug buotan, had pancreatic cancer when she was pregnant and died. Can you imagine the trauma her husband went through in losing both his wife and first unborn fetus? My friend's 9-year-old daughter died of leukemia, and she was the best of the three children -- so, why her? Why did they all have to suffer from the torture of cancer when they were good people?

Remember Christopher Reeve? A very good looking man who played Superman and made many movies, he had an accident while riding a horse and ended up a paralyzed man for the rest of his life. Who would have guessed that he would end up in the wheelchair forever? It just took one accident, and it changed his entire life. Why him? Kausik, kasayang, pagmahay nga sangko sa langit!

Why do bad things happen to good people? Who knows! But one thing for sure, it happens for a reason. When everything is perfect, life loses its meaning. It becomes monotonous and boring instead of challenging and motivating. You don't realize the beauty of what life has to offer unless you miss a part of it, especially a very important part. Most of the time, even good people forget to pray and give thanks to the Lord for His blessings until something wrong happens. It's like reminding you and me: Hey, come back here, sluggard!

It gives you an opportunity to get closer to God and your family. When was the last time you really had a talk with every member of your family? I asked my patient this question, and she replied: "When my dad was in ICU dying." Oftentimes, we become slaves of time -- always racing against time. We forget our family and the importance of spending quality time together.

There's one final destination in life with many different routes to take. Even good people have to take some bad routes on this journey because nobody has a ticket to the freeways to heaven. Each bad thing makes a person strong by knowing how to face life, how to deal with crises and life's adversities. It helps the person to understand others with the same or similar situations. It helps the person to become wiser, extra careful, patient, less self-centered, helpful to others. True to life experience is the best teacher, not the theories in text books. Unless you actually live with it, you will never really know how it is to be in it.