Sy Chu An Heads LCHS Board of Trustees
By Igdono Caracho (Batch '66) and Alicia Cu-Go (Batch '79)

Sy Chu An, prominent businessman and civic leader, is head of the LCHS Board of Trustees.  The board is composed of the following officers:  Sy Chu An, president; Robert Co, vice president; Stephen Sy, secretary (English); Henry Siao, secretary (Chinese); and Jimmy Co, treasurer.  Heading the different committees are Johnny Sim, general services; Sy Chu Pin, assistant, general services; Jose Lim Teck Hua, education; Henry Dy, sports; Fernando Khu, assistant, sports; Christopher Chua, coordination; and Richard Sy, assistant, coordination.

The finance committee is composed of Sy Chu An, chairman; Robert Co, vice chairman; with the following as members: Jimmy Co, Richard Sy, Johnny Sim, Sy Chu Pin, Henry Siao, Henry Dy, Stephen Sy, Sy Beng Gui, Francisco Dy Pico, and Stephen Gaisano Jr.

LCHS Administration Officers

The current officers of the LCHS Administration are Henry T. Siao, school director; William Kong, head, Chinese department; Lorena B. Jasma, head, English high school department; Elizabeth P. David, head, English elementary department; Perfecta Uy, school cashier; Eva Khey, disciplinarian (Chinese department); and Sol Erwin Diaz, disciplinarian (English department).

LCHS Alumni Attend Int'l Confab
By Larry V. Sy (Batch '72)

Virginia Handumon-Te (Batch '62) and Maria "Eyay" Cu (Batch '58) attended the 42nd Triennial Assembly of General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star (1994-1997), held Nov. 1-7, 1997, in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.  The two alumni are members of the Maria Cristina Chapter No. 13, Order of the Eastern Star, Iligan City, of which Virgie was the Worthy Matron in 1996.  Also with them at the confab was Alice Handumon, the first Martha (officer) and charter member of the Maria Cristina Chapter No. 13.  Other Iliganons on the trip were Mena Padilla, Belen Patis, Lilia Tam, and Josie Empleo. They will return home on Dec. 1.

Iligan Bureau of Customs Inaugurates New Building

The Bureau of Customs sub-port of Iligan recently inaugurated its new building at the port area with Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo and Customs Commissioner Guillermo Parayno as guests of honor. Iligan customs collector Glen Superable said the building was constructed at the cost of P900,000.  The port of Iligan boasts of being No. 1 in collection of revenues in Mindanao and No. 3 in the entire country.
 

Here in Troy, Michigan, life is really very quiet.  If you don't read the paper or watch the tube, days can be as peaceful and uneventful as an empty church.  Only an occasional cloud rolls by.  There are many Chinese here, mostly from Taiwan and lately from the mainland. There are only half a dozen Chinese families from the Philippines. My nephew lives right next door to me, and we visit each other often. My brother lives twenty minutes (by car) away, but he is out of town a lot. So we communicate mostly by e-mail. There is also a large Filipino community. I occasionally talk to them, but don't really socialize with anyone in particular.  I play basketball with some guys from Taiwan and their kids, but it's getting more and more painful each time I play.  I might have to put away my sneakers soon.  Hate to do that, considering I can still score a bunch of points when my back is not sore.

Felipe Oh, former LCHS teacher, Troy, Michigan, U.S.A.

Tribute to Ong Ching An
From: gates1@juno.com
Date:  Mon, 24 Nov 1997 18:09:19 -0500

Your tribute to Hym Hym was outstanding for I never knew how colorful his life was until I read your column.  He was fortunate enough to have you as a friend for somehow he carved a strong character into your sensitive and growing mind.

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

That the Spectrum's gripping influence acknowledges no boundaries is a fair statement that I subscribe to.  Count me in the army of LCHS veterans who can still extract effortlessly the uncomplicated joys of teens' idle talks: the times when puppy love was nothing but a hormonal impurity that dotted pimples on our faces; when the prevailing stock market jittery mood-swing is like an insignificant game of marbles and rubber bands (you win some, you lose some), with no residual seismic reverberation on our sleep pattern.  Was this newsletter conceived to sketch the historical twists of our maturity (what's that?)?

Besides furnishing a medium for stark realization of my evolving into an old fart (excuse my french).

Don't junk my byline.  It is my sole, legitimate defense against the American Dementia Brotherhood, and lately, a depot of unsolicited kindness.

For all we know, we may never meet again.  Can we stop and talk for awhile?
 

Permanent residents here in Australia are only required 2 years accumulative stay and are eligible to apply for Australian citizenship.  The approval is just a matter of formality as long as the applicant is of good moral character and has not committed any major crimes. The Department of Immigration takes care of the processing with a personal interview but it is more or less just a matter of explaining to the applicant his or her rights and duties as a citizen of this country.

There is not much difference between a citizen or not.  The only difference is in the election process. The rights to vote and to be voted upon.  That's all.  Otherwise, there is no distinction whether one is an Australian citizen or not.  Voting here is compulsory.  If a citizen fails to vote during election day, he has to have a valid reason otherwise he will be fined $50.  Election campaigns usually run for only 30 days be it local or federal.  No carnival atmosphere.  It is all about a party's policies and not based on personalities.

We have 3 tiers of government here: local, state and federal; and the 3 have their own schedule of election.  In every level of the government, the system is the same - parliamentary.  In short, we don't directly elect our mayors but the councilors elected in the local wards decide among themselves.  A state premier is the leader of the party who gets the most number of parliamentary seats from the district.  And so is the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia.  He is the head of the federal government.

Queen Elizabeth the Second, as an absentee Queen of Australia, has a representative here in the person of the Governor General, who is an Australian.  The Governor General is an appointee of the Prime Minister and the Queen as head of state approves the appointment.  This practice dates back when Australia was a colony of Great Britain.  Australia got its independence on January 1, 1901 when the British Parliament granted the six states and other territories to form a single  nation formally known as the Commonwealth of Australia.  New Zealand, then also a colony of Britain, was invited to join the new nation.  They declined the invitation due to the distance which was a seven-day voyage by ship during the late 19th century.

However, we are now in the process of amending the Australian constitution.  Some changes are proposed to suit the need for the next century or the millennium.  A constitutional convention will be held next February and many groups have fielded their candidates for the convention. The 2 main groups are Australian Republican Movement or ARM who wants to dump the Queen and replace her with an Australian President, and the Constitutional Monarchists who advocates the status quo. They still want the British Monarch as the head of state! If the ARM have their say, they will even change the Australian flag, getting rid of the Union Jack on the corner! And they want to do this in time for the Sydney Olympic Games in the year 2000.

So we, too,  have our own CHA-CHA here!
 

When was the first time I heard about Lanao Chinese High School?  As fas as I remember, it was long before I started my kindergarten.  My elder sister and two brothers all went to the same school way back in the 50s.  For my part, I started my schooling in 1958 as a kindergarten pupil (Chinese class) under the tutelage of Haw Tio Niew.  Oh, that's almost three dozens and four years ago.

So, what do I remember about the LCHS of our youth?  How did it look like during our time?  Let me describe our alma mater as far as my relatively fading photographic memory can go.  Sail along with me as we travel into the LCHS of our youth...

LCHS in the 50s was located at Roosevelt Extension, nestled on a one-hectare lot, more or less.  There were three gates: the one on the right of the frontage was the entrance for vehicles, our school bus and other private cars.  The center gate served as the students' entrance, or for that matter, the teachers and yayas.  The left gate was never used except during school affairs when it was opened to serve as exit for vehicles.

The main building housed the 4 classrooms for Grade III to Grade VI.  Each classroom had its own small garden on its front yard, where violetas served as fence and divider. There were also several other ornamental plants, notably kutsarita, san francisco, etc., that adorned the yards in various formations.  Each class had its own unique style and individual distinction in tending the garden.

Adjacent to the grade VI classroom was the faculty office, which was subdivided into the English department on the right, and the Chinese department on the left.  The center being occupied by the principal's desk.  Daily newspapers were available in the faculty office; teachers and students alike shared in reading the papers at the office during class recess.

Fronting the faculty office was our assembly area for flag ceremonies and flag retreats.  Two large cypress trees adorned the left and right sides where the Chinese flag and the Philippine flag were raised or brought down during the morning ceremonies and afternoon retreats, respectively.  Students were assigned in two pairs each school day for the two flags.  After singing the anthems, a student came forward in front to recite the Panatang Makabayan ("Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas, ito ang lupa kong sinilangan...").  We then walked in line by pairs to our respective classrooms.

Side by side with the faculty office was a stairway leading to the second floor where the male Chinese teachers had their quarters.  Below it was the comfort room.  A bulletin board was mounted at the left side of the faculty room where announcements and honor rolls were regularly posted.  Beside that was the school bell which rang during recess and dismissal time.  Below the bell was the lost and found box made of glass.  (Continued next issue)

There is a Chinese proverb which states that "fuel is not sold in the forest, nor fish on the shore of a lake" and it is akin to saying that "money doesn't grow on trees."  And many traditional Chinese Filipinos are trained at an early age to become entrepreneurs.

Franklin U. Siao (of Batch '62), or "Bobo" to friends, is no exception.  He was born and bred in the traditional Chinese discipline of hard work and frugality.

Born on October 21, 1945 in Iligan City, the young Frank finished his primary and secondary education in the then Lanao Chinese High School with high honors (salutatorian and valedictorian, respectively).  He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Accounting in the University of the East in 1966.

Frank worked his way to the top. He joined Security Bank-Iligan Branch as Cashier a year after graduation and then put up his own business, the Vinta-Mobil Service, in Iligan a year later.  Barely 26 years old (a time when, for most people, life has just begun) and armed with enough experience on the ins and outs of doing business, he joined the Macajalar Port Services Inc. in  Cagayan de Oro City as Executive Vice President in 1971.  Concurrent to this position, he was also the Manager of the Secured Savings and Loan Association, Inc. and the Executive Vice President of Gold City Integrated Port Services, Inc.

Before joining National Steel Corporation as Vice-President and Resident Manager of the Iligan Plant in early 1997, Frank was responsible in steering the Gold City Integrated Port Services, Inc. into becoming one of the outstanding firms in Cagayan de Oro, for which he received the "Industrial Leadership Award" in May this year.

Notwithstanding his many responsibilities, he is still able to manage time for other equally demanding tasks like being president, past master and member of the Board of Trustees of various groups, such as the Rotary Club, Jaycees, Carmen Valley Lodge 250, and the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce.

Ten years down the road, Frank envisions to see both NSC, in particular, and Iligan City in general, soar to new heights of economic prosperity and greater mutual dependence.

A peek into his personal life reveals Frank as a family man--a loving father adored by his three sons and two daughters.  He is married to the former Irma Mae Neri who hails from Cagayan de Oro. Most of the weekends are spent with his family.  His passion for golf as his chief form of recreation keeps him physically fit.  He is a highly principled person well loved not only by his family but by employees and friends alike.