Internet Newsletter of the Alumni of Lanao Chung Hua School Iligan, Philippines, Year 5, Issue No.18, Dec. 3, 2001 WANTED: YOU! The Spectrum is a product of collective work.  Each issue is the result of the combined initiatives of many who share its vision and purpose.  For the Spectrum to pursue its mission, it needs the reciprocal participation of the very people that it seeks to serve: You! As an alumni newsletter, the Spectrum thrives on news about alumni supplied accordingly by fellow alumni. News from home and news about alumni everywhere constitute the staple stuffs that give the Spectrum its substance.  Without them, the Spectrum might as well cease as a newsletter.  It makes no sense for the Spectrum to continue its publication if the people it seeks to serve do not themselves care about feeding it with the needed materials.  The best help the Spectrum can ever expect to receive must emanate from its only logical source: You!  How you, as concerned alumni, respond to our plea for news materials will determine the life and death of the Spectrum in the coming year.  Will you live up to it?  Or shall we allow the Spectrum to fade away forever into the sunset?

EDITORIAL STAFF Henry L. Yu, Editor  Correspondents: Roger Suminguit, Teresita Racines, Vinson Ngo & Johnny Chen (Iligan); Igdono Caracho (Cebu);  Marie Janiefer Lee (Manila); Peter Dy (Canada); Leonardo Tan (Australia); Ernesto Yu & Aurora Tansiokhian (U.S.A.); and Charles O. Sy, Editorial Consultant Founded Aug. 1, 1968. Published fortnightly since its revival on April 15, 1997. Distributed free on the Internet to LCHS alumni & supporters worldwide. Postal address: LCHS Alumni Association, Lanao Chung Hua School, Pala-o, Iligan City, Philippines. Web site: www.geocities.com/lchsspectrum Spectrum welcomes articles, news reports & comments from LCHS alumni, students and readers. For contribution or subscription, contact: Roger Suminguit, tel. 221-2422; Teresita Racines, tel. 221-3253, or Henry Yu, Suite 101, Visayas Community Medical Center, Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City 6000, Philippines; E-mail: hvty@skyinet.net

Mark Dano (Batch '89) got married in Manila last Nov. 15.  The bride is from Manila.  Mark is the son of Marcelino Dano, also known as Siao Kiao Eng (Batch '66), and Susan Chiu-Dano of Tubod, Lanao del Norte.  The family owns the Nema Electrical Supply in Iligan City.  Kiao Eng used to be connected with Kim San Company, Inc. several years ago.

Lanao Norte eyes int'l games

After successfully hosting the First Mindanao Friendship Games, officials of Lanao del Norte are now hopeful of playing host to international games.  The town of Tubod in Lanao del Norte is home to the new Mindanao Sports Center which boasts of sports facilities that meet international standards.  Congressman Abdullah Dimaporo, of the second congressional district of Lanao del Norte, said that several known international sports promoters have already visited Tubod to conduct an ocular inspection of the new sports facilities.  The Mindanao Sports Center, which sits on an 18-hectare lot, can hold all indoor and outdoor games like track and field events and swimming.  It has three swimming pools, five tennis courts and a rubberized oval track. The floors of the basketball courts, the first of its kind in Asia, function like a shock absorber, cushioning the fall of a player to prevent severe injuries.
 

DECEMBER CALENDAR

1 –   World AIDS Day
6 –   Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM) Founders’ Day
8 –   Feast of the Immaculate Conception
12 – Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
         Guadalupe (Cebu) Fiesta
16 – Start of Misa de Gallo
17 – Spectrum issue no. 19 – the last for the year 2001
21 – Start of Christmas Vacation in Schools
25 -  Christmas Day
30 – LCHS-AA Christmas Party
         Dr. Jose Rizal’s 105th death anniversary
         Feast of the Holy Family

To Jane Racines:  Great article on UP food (Spectrum, Nov. 19, 2001)!  Makes me wish I were still in UP.  I'm a UP grad -- Pol. Sci. 1984, and Law 1988;  LCHHS elementary 1976; CEC high school 1980.  You must be studying in AdMU.   Keep it up and more power!  -- Atty. Kenton Sy Sua (Batch '80), Manila, Philippines, kenton@netasia.net
 

Life's Journey By Henry L. Yu, M.D. Batch '69

There’s no stopping it! Christmas is definitely in the air, as evidenced by the Christmas songs and carols we hear anywhere we go, plus the multitude of displays of Christmas decors, gift wrappers, knick knacks, etc. in flashy department stores to nearby convenient or sari-sari stores, and the 101 Christmas lanterns or parols being peddled along the sidewalks, beautifully crafted and artistically designed by equally creative Pinoys.

Among the many songs in our lifetime, Christmas songs rank as the most soothing, most loved, most treasured, and fondly remembered, simply because they bring back the youth in us, the beautiful memories representative of “the most wonderful time of the year” that we all know as Christmas, or Yuletide, or Pasko. For always, each time we hear replays and refrains of these songs, there’s that  touch of nostalgia of those past Christmases in our lives when we used to believe in Santa Claus, counting how many more days were there left before Christmas Day, anxiously awaiting for the gifts that our parents, relatives, ninongs, ninangs, and the significant others would send our way, times when we would look forward to endless shoppings, parties, exchanging gifts, sending greeting cards, putting up the Christmas Tree, decorating our classrooms, homes, or offices, caroling, Misa de Gallo, fire crackers, sparklers, watusi, Noche Buena, queso de bola, fruit cake, glazed ham, and other such foodfest.

Among the Christmas songs of our time, we remember most the following songs because they’re the ones we repeatedly sang during our youth – in school, at home, or anywhere else – once upon a time when we were the young and the restless, the carefree and the innocent bunch of noisy kids who used to loiter around and play from morning till night as if that was all there’s to life. How many of these songs do we still remember? How many of these bring back the memories of the past Christmases of our youth? Here’s a litany in alphabetical order:

Ang Pasko ay Sumapit / Blue Christmas / Deck the Halls / Do You Hear What I Hear? / Feliz Navidad / Frosty the Snowman / Give Love on Christmas Day / Hark the Herald / Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus / I’ll Be Home for Christmas / It Came Upon A Midnight Clear / Jingle Bells / Joy to the World/ Kasadya / Let It Snow / Little Christmas Tree / Mamacita / Merry Christmas Polka / O Come All Ye Faithful / O Holy Night / O Little Town of Bethlehem / Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer / Santa Claus is Coming to Town / Silent Night / Silver bells / The Christmas Alphabet / The Christmas Story / The First Noel / The Little Drummer Boy / Twelve Days of Christmas / We Wish You a Merry Christmas / Whispering Hope / White Christmas / Winter Wonderland / You’re All I Want for Christmas.

Many new Christmas songs may have been written as time went by, but for always these particular ones remain the ALL-TIME FAVORITES, the best-loved Christmas songs of all times because they’re the ones imprinted deep in our minds, so familiar that we could memorize the lyrics even now that we are past the calendar or the thermometer scale.

So let’s forget our worries for a while and sing together these old familiar Christmas songs of our times. Let’s bring back the Christmas that we knew in a world all our own. In an era that was ours.
 

Straight from the Heart By Marie Janiefer Q. Lee Batch '87

As I step out of the house one morning, I was surprised to be greeted by a chilly wind.  I looked up to the sky, expecting to see dark clouds hovering by but all I saw was a light blue sky and the sun was there peering down on us.  I muttered to myself,  “Hay salamat, no rain for today.”  So what’s causing this nice chilly air around us? Is it really almost Christmas?

Our street was exceptionally quiet that morning. Usually by that time there would have been a beeline of cars going towards the subdivision gate taking kids to school.  And there would have been swarms of tricycles taking shoppers to the supermarket across our house.  So I checked my watch to see if it’s really 6:30 a.m., it just looks and feels too early to be 6:30.  This probably explains the unusually quiet morning.  It seems that most people were caught off guard by the temperature and spent more time in bed thinking that it was still dawn.

That morning I realized that whether I’m ready or not, Christmas is on its way. With all the moving we did with our shop these past few months, it seems that my mind’s been too preoccupied that I still can’t believe that it’ll be Christmas in a few weeks.  I know that the malls have already put up their decorations since October and my neighbors have already hung the lights and lanterns around their houses for weeks now.  At the back of my head I have this notion that these people are just too excited about Christmas that they started early.  Come to think of it, it’s me who’s starting late this year. A big part of me wants to ask if it’s possible to postpone Christmas this year.  Like can we postpone it for just a few more weeks? Just enough time for me to get ready?

By this time last year, my Christmas cards were already sent.  Some of my cards reached their destination even before our friends in the States had their Thanksgiving. While as of now, I still haven’t bought a single card. I wonder how am I going to make it.  Last year I was able to avoid the long queues at the post office by sending my cards early.  Now with how long lines are outside the post office, I just wonder if I can even make it to the door before Christmas.  That is if I could still get myself those cards in time. If it’s late, well, there’s still the Chinese New Year to catch, right? I know it’s the age of e-cards but I don’t know why I still prefer the real cards.  Not just to give more business to Hallmark but there’s just this tingly feeling I get every time I open a card.  It’s a  mix of different levels of excitement that one can only get within a span of a few seconds while opening a card’s envelop. It’s one of those moments when my mind would be bursting with questions like what could be the message inside and what would the card look like. I know this sounds childish but I just can’t help it.

Also by this time last year, my gifts were already neatly wrapped under the tree ready to be delivered to my godchildren, nieces and nephews. Now our tree still stands alone in one corner of our small living room.  It must be wondering what happened to me. I used to be the most Christmas-loving person. I would always make it a point to decorate the house by myself.  I’d be mad if anybody touches anything before I say so.  But this year if not for my reliable helper who took out the decorations right after All Saints' Day, our house would have been the only one in the block without a trace of Christmas spirit in it.

Guess that chilly wind that blew one morning was really my wake up call. Telling me to stop awhile and take some time to notice that it’s time to get ready for Christmas. It’s not how grand the lights are both inside and outside our houses that matters, it’s how our hearts light up at the thought of Christmas that counts.
 

moody BLUES, 14221 By Ernesto L. Yu, M.D. Batch '65

Fly The Friendly Skies:  If you dare to tread, shrug it off like one helluva gutsy world traveler on a mission to conquer Mars at whatever price. Melt the entire chunk of other people's opinion about your rigid inflexibility (yes, stubbornness) to test the friendly skies in one pass. Nothing is more morbidly intriguing than knowing that scores of worrywarts in the opposite corner will tag you as an oddball, a glue-sniffing risk-taker who's primed for brain surgery to discard atoms that fire along the danger zone of cockiness. Nevertheless, if you truly sense it in your bladder that the commercial airliner that is going to deliver your bored stiff, washed out anatomy to a vacation nirvana has better odds (of course!) over wilting in a daze of work-related depression, guess it is the way to go. Actually, make a mental note of this, this is the ideal political climate to put on those running shoes and visit the United States. From airport to bus terminals, security is grinding its teeth in anticipation of any monkey business. Our uniformed men and women won't hesitate to stamp out, literally, "any shadow of a doubt" with major objectives of safeguarding the traveling public and preserving the sanctity of peace and freedom.  Although Anthrax are spores that laced our general consciousness with irritating agonies, these microbiology lab residents are like misguided missiles with an explosive power that extinguishes before exploding. They are as dead as autumn leaves. It is grossly magnified by our disbelief that in this day and age we have roaming psychopaths who love to propagate this choiced scare tactic of cowards. What jerks! The point is, a good segment of our populace - the stars and stripes - have started to brush off such killer fear and anxiety. If you see Niagara Falls in its splendor and magic on a brisk autumn afternoon, you'd come to grip with reality that this shimmering jewel of the world symbolizes our present way of life: The Falls flushes away any impurities that may contaminate our pool of democracy. The foundation of our liberty may have been dented by irrational animals, but it prevails because it is minted in solid principles from the ground up.  If you decide to verify my claim, take heed of this no-no list: No gift-wrapped packages in your luggage because our scout rangers will surely dismantle the bundled holiday spirit; refrain from bringing in anything aerosol or sharp (hairspray, deodorant, shaver) because they will be evaporated in thin, dull air; don't ever joke about having kins from the southern tip of Mindanao with Abu as first name unless you aspire to have faded finger prints from too much bouncing on ink pads.

Fasten the seatbelt. Safe is written all over our skies.

Hugs To Riches:  It is not the rattling and shoving vibration of my waistline-hugging beeper that stirs my store of adrenaline to soar to the Seventh Heaven. Nor is it primarily my mental engine's bug-eyed passion swinging wildly upon being caressed by familiar numbers that I have learned not to live without. Really stunning how these "digital shakes" can tickle and propel my heart on a tank of premium fuel to a deeper ecstatic rush, to dine in the unreachable star, to sway with the impossible dream. Impulsively, this ping pong game of numerals relays the soothing comfort of being entertained in one's thought at a particular frame in time. If you toss into the equation how a mere group of 1444s and 5555s can suffuse a blankety-blank day with a soulfullness that is timeless, you'll taste the full strength of the so-called psychic sweet tooth. Sadly, as the circuit overload becomes a daily ritual, addiction sets in. Whenever my buddy-gadget is orphaned (no one to hit balls with), my morning starts to stall: No sunshine, no caffeine perks, no sticky strokes. Evening rings the doorbell without the usual stars and moon, even if these planetary decors are littered all over space. Do I sound like a space cadet in mood swing who forgot to down his prescribed mind pills? Pardon my airing of bemused wonder on absolutely unequivocal nonsense. I am always a Walter Mitty incarnate when I'm a quart low on topics to flood my column. In plain English, my mind spins in a dose of silliness along the realm of steamy imaginary stuffs. At least I don't alarm our Spectrum editors about a possible Ernie Yu AWOL when I don't salute them with a literary piece at the final buzzer of the deadline dawn.

Anyhow, 1432, 2043, 3-1435, and 2222 to the very bones. Figure that out, dream lovers.

.

She enters the bar like all the rest of the women do: gliding in ever so gently, each step calculated, each movement composed.  Except for one little difference: she smiles generously at everyone who turns to look at her.  Even if they are total strangers.

Without so much as a by-your-leave, she takes a seat on one of the bar stools near where I sit, relishing my regular repast of ice cold beer. Nothing certainly can be more rousing than a lone damsel presenting herself inside a bar peopled by some six bored men idly drinking the night away.  Even so, she exudes a certain aura of decorum amid six pairs of hungry eyes stalking her every move.  There is something inexplicable in her audacity, reinforced by a mystic magnetism in her naked simplicity.  She orders herself a glass of gin tonic.

The bartender is reluctant to serve her order.  "She's nuts and has the habit of running off without paying her bill," the bartender whispers to his staff.  Momentarily the security guard is summoned inside and tries what little he knows in the delicate art of moral suasion to talk the girl out of the pub.  But she refuses to budge; says she has ordered her drink and will leave only after she finishes her drink.  Shall I now make my move?  This is my chance to play knight in shining armor and save the poor maiden from further humiliation, I tell myself.  What's a few bucks for a lady in distress?

Just then another chap in the bar beats me to it and, inching his way to a bar stool beside the girl, he tries to make a pass by striking up a conversation.  I back off and down some more beer.

The man's attempt apparently proves fruitless for he is back in his seat in a jiffy.  I reckon he must have sensed that the conversation is leading nowhere proximate to his grand design.  Could this girl be just a plain snob?  Or is she a little crazy as the bartender avers?

Now, she finishes her solitary drink.  I feel a strong urge to play hero by signaling the waiter that I am footing the bill to save the girl's dilemma but stop short of making the move.  Everyone is all eyes at the unfolding scenario.  She straightens herself and pulls out a bundle of coins wrapped in a piece of hanky that has seen better times. Meticulously she counts her money, coin by little coin till they somehow add up to the sum of her bill.  Shoving the coins to an unbelieving waiter, she picks up the remaining pieces of coins and turns to leave the pub without any fuss.  But with the same smile she displays on her way in.

I feel a lump in my throat.  It is just as well that I did not rush in to assume her bill.  That would have deprived her of her moment of triumph over the bar staff for their prejudice.  That would have deprived her of her chance to assert her dignity in the face of utter adversity.

There is an awkward silence in the bar.  All of us stare into our beer, unable to face up to the injustice of our jaundiced perceptions.  I down some more beer.

"The way you change my life …"
Have you ever attempted to write something for everyone to share only to be put off by the assumption that everyone may have known it already?  How many times have you started writing something and then stopped, not because you run out of thoughts, but because you were worried of what others might say about your writing ability. Certainly, there are those who would prefer to sneer, snob and snicker at what you've done than do something for themselves. If you give in to them, you won't be able to explore and express what's in your mind, nor expand and extend your capabilities. Worse, you'd only be sacrificing those who would have benefited from your idea, knowledge, or thought. And you would become so wrapped up with the thought of what others might think about you that you won't be able to realize that what you're doing is nothing more than putting off something worthwhile for yourself.

If life for each of us will one day pass away - and it will - and in time not even remembered, then why not make it count? Why not take the risk, do your best, and do something worthwhile? Why not make a difference? Why not try to change one's life for the better? Even if there is only one person who would benefit from your knowledge, thought or idea you want to share, just imagine making a difference in one life. It's a whole lot more than if you just keep your idea or knowledge to yourself all because you give in to others who might say things you don't like. You don't want to sacrifice such life for others. And what a person learns from an idea or knowledge of whoever gives it to him, would change his life forever or at least would last him a lifetime. Wouldn't you like the thought of having someone whom you may not even know singing, "The way you change my life…." because of what you've done?

"There's a light, a certain kind of light …"
But how many times have you had the occasion in which you just don't  want to share what you know because once you give it, it's gone and is no longer yours? Someone said: "A candle doesn't lose its light by lighting another candle." Wouldn't it be nice if we just light each other's candle and make this world or at least the Spectrum community a lot brighter? Wouldn't it be nice if we all learn to share and start thinking of building harmony instead of destroying it, or stay on the sideline and watch it deteriorate or break apart? Wouldn't it be nice if we can express our thanks and appreciation to the Spectrum staff for their unselfish deeds to keep us all enlightened, informed and entertained? And wouldn't it be even nicer if instead of feeling old in years by maintaining our status quo, we exercise our inner desire to be young at heart by doing something different that can help enlighten others like writing what we know? They are nice thoughts. Aren't they?

The Inner Youth
Life is, after all, all about being alive! It is not about how old or young we are in years. It is about recovering our Inner Youth that many of us have managed to lose along the way as we get older because of self-absorption and self-indulgence. It is about re-energizing or revitalizing our dying or waning spirits by exercising our love, friendship and most of all, compassion. It is about keeping the spark and the sparkle, or the glow and the glee of learning something different, of seeing long forgotten friends, of appreciating the beauty that surrounds us and the beauty of life itself. A musician blind for years, recovered his sight after a successful operation. When asked what thrilled him most after his sight had been restored, he answered: "The discovery of beauty. I used to think of music as the voice of God. Now I have discovered His smile."

Please do listen. Do not let time play a game with you by thinking and saying to yourself: "There will be time for those things. Or maybe next time, and then the next, and so on." In case you haven't noticed, time passes faster than you can imagine. It only undoes your chances and upsets the best of your goals and intentions. And time always moves on - as though it cares nothing at all about your foolish attempts to hang on to it. The time is now. So start doing something different for a change and most of all, try to make a difference. If the road you are going now is the same narrow road you've been following for years, then why not reassess and readjust your sights before you run out of gas? You might find yourself having a lot more mileage than you thought you had.
 

LCHS ALUMNI DIRECTORY (23rd of a Series)

The LCHS-AA, in coordination with the Spectrum, is currently updating its alumni database -- in preparation for distribution in the next GAH. The directory is presented here by batches, based on initial inputs. If you have any correction or additional data, please e-mail the Spectrum at: charlesy@i-cebu.com.ph

BATCH 1977
Nannette Chio, c/o Lily Chio, San Miguel Village, Pala-o, Iligan City, tel. 221-6444;  Zelda Chio, c/o Lily Chio, San Miguel Village, Pala-o, Iligan City, tel. 221-6444; Aileen Chiu; Flora Closas; Albert Dagondon, Iligan City; Jane Y. Dy, 74 General Luna St., Malabon, Metro Manila, tel. 281-8758; Dennis Jo, Dr. Jo's Medical Clinic, Mercado St., Iligan City, tel. 221-3160, e-mail: dennisjo@iligan.com; Tessie Lee; Joselito Lee; Silveria Ngo, Quezon Ave. Ext., Iligan City; Joel Ngo, c/o Vinson Ngo, 50-A Quezon Ave., Iligan City, tel. 221-3065, e-mail: joelngo@mailexcite.com; Sherlita Racines, 99A Quezon Ave. Ext., Iligan City, tel. 221-3705, e-mail: suracines@hotmail.com; Freddie Sim; Rolando Sim; Fe Soy; Benton Sy Sua, Geo-Transport & Construction, Inc., 3/F Cebu Long Se Temple Bldg., Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City, tel. 254-1355; Vicente Tan; Wilson Tan, Rosario Heights, Tubod, Iligan City, tel. 221-7761; Dante Villareal; Evelyn Yu, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., e-mail: ego@texas.net; Lolita Yu; and Felino Yu.    [Next issue: Batch 1978]