Vol. 11, No. 20, Jan. 21, 2008
The
3rd LCHS Grand Alumni Homecoming, scheduled on May 23-24, 2008, has finally
been set in motion with the creation of key committees. The Board of Officers
& Directors of the LCHS Alumni Associaton recently appointed Johnny
Tamala Chen (Batch '83), in photo, as chair of the Steering Committee for
GAH2008. Class of '83, being this year's silver jubilarians, is among the
lead group that will play host to the GAH2008. The other two are Batches
'82 and '84.
Composing the Steering Committee are Johnny Tamala Chen ('83), chair; James Booc ('82), Jimmy Mecina Ang ('83), Ian Uy ('86), Marie Joan Quimbo-Quidlat ('87), and Geraldine Tan ('87), members. Another key committee, the Ways & Means Committee, has Suniel Lim ('66) as chair. Part of the tasks of this committee is the publication of the souvenir program, a major revenue generating component of the GAH. Also being organized are batch coordinators, each of whom will take charge of communicating and gathering their respective batch members for the GAH. The batch coordinators system, implemented during the first GAH in 2000, was a significant factor in the big turnout of alumni to the affair.
SILVER JUBILARIANS
Batch
'83: Our turn
By Johnny T. Chen
Batch '83
While the dust has yet to settle on 2007 holidays, LCHS Batch '83 took on the challenge of being called upon to host the 2008 Christmas Party. Batch '82, led by Steven So, turned over the baton to the next silver (25th) jubilarian batch during the Dec 30, 2007 party. The first meeting of the Batch was held last Jan 3 at Albert Chiu's residence (in photo). Ronald U. Sy has been task to become the chairman of the Batch. The group has agreed to undertake fund raising projects as currently there is nothing in their group's coffers.
Batch '83 is part of the spearhead batches for the 3rd Grand Alumni Homecoming on May 23-24, 2008, with Johnny Tamala Chen and Jimmy Mecina Ang included in the core of the LCHSAA GAH Steering Committee. Earlier, the LCHSAA had designated Batches '82, '83 and '84 to be the lead group that will push for the forthcoming GAH.
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It's
Batch '87, not '84
Thu, 3 Jan 2008 6:42:04
To Roger Suminguit: An entry in the latest issue
of LCHS Spectrum (under "Tracers") indicates that I belong to Batch
'84. For your info, I belong to Batch '87. It's my brother, Dr. Jose Tan,
Jr., who's with Batch '84.
--Gigi Tan, Iligan, Philippines; email:
giraldyn@yahoo.com
[Thanks for informing me and sorry for my mistake of entry. God Bless.--Roger Suminguit]
Friends
are like street lights
Thu, 3 Jan 2008 11:17:35
Good friends are like street lights along the road. They don't
make the distance shorter but they light up the path and make the walk
worthwhile.
--Susan Lim de la Cruz, Iloilo, Philippines; email: iko1031@hotmail.com
Impromptu get-together
BIRTHDAY BASH IN CEBU. It was a well-attended grand birthday bash at the Taste of Mandarin Restaurant in Banilad, Cebu City, where Melania Dy celebrated her birthday last Jan. 5. Throughout the lauriat dinner, Melania and hubby Jesus "Hesing" Dy (Batch '63) were busy entertaining their guests, many of whom came all the way from Iligan, Ozamis, and Manila. The occasion turned out to be a happy impromptu reunion for many fellow alumni and Iliganons who showed up at the party. Among those seen at the gathering were: Dr. Greg Dy (Batch '59) & wife Mary Dy, Carlos Dy ('58), Fe "Guat Ching" Quimbo ('54), Dy Kim Seng ('40), Marie Janiefer Lee ('87), Marie Joan Quidlat ('87), Charina Dy-Carlos Yu ('85) & husband Roland Yu, Cristina Dy-Carlos Deleste ('90) & husband Pipo Deleste, Chester Dy-Carlos ('87) & wife Angelie Dy-Carlos ('87), Jose Tan, Dr. Jose Tan Jr. ('84), Bebe Palang ('57), Christopher Chua Tek An ('55), Nelson Sy ('62), Charles O. Sy ('67), Romeo DyPico, and many other friends and relatives of Hesing and Melania.
GET-TOGETHER IN LOS ANGELES. Roderick Ngo (Batch '70) arrived home in Cebu City on Jan. 11 after a three-week vacation in the U.S.A. together with his wife Marivic and their three children. Rod and his family spent their Christmas and New Year in America. Their trip took them to San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. While in L.A. last Jan. 2, Rod had a get-together with his U.S.A.-based batch mate and fellow alumnus, namely, Elsie Tan Lao ('70) and Laureto Lao ('68), respectively, who personally cooked and prepared a sumptuous feast for Rod and his family. It’s the first time Laureto & Elsie saw Rod after 40 years since leaving LCHS.
Every once in a while, messages land on our email inquiring about our web site. Every so often, quite a few invariably mistake our Spectrum web site for that of LCHS.
The site, lodged at geocities.com, is Spectrum's web site. The site houses the entire archive of this paper's past issues (from 1997 to the present). In addition, it also features this paper's history, a listing of alumni batches, among other info.
LCHS, on the other hand, or the LCHS Alumni Association for that matter, has no web site. Yes, there was a time when we had a web site created for LCHS. It doubled as portal for our alumni association. That was in 1997. Unfortunately, it was short-lived. The host server, IligaNet, decided in 2001 to restrict our access in its efforts to shield its server from threats of virus infection. The move rendered all our data inaccessible. Those data may have been trashed by now. Or if not, those web pages are now virtual cobwebs! Thus ended the brief presence of LCHS in the World Wide Web.
Now that we have a new powerhouse of young alumni at the helm of the LCHS-AA, perhaps they can put up a web site that the LCHS-AA can call its own. That shouldn't be too difficult for our new crop of Internet-savvy alumni leaders. As a matter of fact, they have just set up the LCHS Alumni Blog. It's launched mainly for GAH2008 and related events. A web site, on the other hand, is different; it has more permanence. It comes with a home page that showcases LCHS as a school and the LCHS-AA as an organization. It's a virtual brochure that alumni and non-alumni alike can access to browse or learn about LCHS in general, and the LCHS-AA in particular.
Having said that, we hope our alumni top honchos will see the imperative of putting up, as we did a decade ago, a web site for LCHS or the LCHS-AA. Come to think of it, even that may yet be long overdue.
Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch '69
The Year at a Glance
Another year has gone. It's a brand new start for all of us, young and old. Yo! It's another year. It's 2008 or simply Y28. Let us take a glance at it.
o 2008 is Year of the Earthly Rat.
o There is only one "Friday the 13th" (June 13, 2008).
o Three Kings or Feast of the Epiphany falls on Sunday, January 6 (1st
Sunday of January).
o Sinulog will be on January 20 (3rd Sunday of January).
o Chinese New Year will be on February 7.
o It's a leap year. So there are 29 days in February.
o Valentines Day falls on a Thursday (February 14).
o Ash Wednesday will be on February 6 (six weeks before Holy Week).
o Palm Sunday will be on March 16 (the Sunday before Easter).
o March 20 is Holy Thursday and March 21 is Good Friday.
o Easter Sunday is on March 23.
o Araw ng Kagitingan or Bataan Day falls on a Wednesday (April 9).
o Labor Day is a Thursday (May 1).
o Mother's Day will be on May 11 (2nd Sunday of May).
o Independence Day is a Thursday (June 12).
o Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be on May 30.
o Father's Day and the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help will be
on June 15 (3rd Sunday of June).
o Dr. Jose Rizal's birthday falls on a Thursday (June 19).
o Feast of St. John or San Juan is a Tuesday (June 24).
o Feast of Sts. Peter/Paul or San Pedro/San Pablo is a Sunday (June
29).
o Ninoy Aquino's death anniversary is a Saturday (August 23).
o Mama Mary's birthday is a Monday (September 8).
o President Sergio Osmena's birthday is a Tuesday (September 9).
o Martial Law anniversary is a Sunday (September 21).
o All Saints Day is a Saturday (November 1). All Souls Day is a Sunday
(November 2).
o Thanksgiving Day will be on November 27 (4th Thursday of November).
o National Heroes Day or Bonifacio Day falls on a Sunday (November
30).
o World AIDS Day is a Monday (December 1).
o The Feast of Mary Immaculate Conception falls on a Monday (December
8).
o The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of Cebu, falls on a
Friday (December 12).
o Christmas (December 25) and New Year (January 1) falls on a Thursday.
o Dr. Jose Rizal's death anniversary is a Tuesday (December 30).
For most of us at LCHS in the 50s and 60s, our introduction to music came from Huang Hun, the wife of school principal Tan Dian Hun. Madame Huang, whom we all addressed as Hao Tiu Niew, taught kindergarten for many years. From her we learned a string of memorable nursery rhymes, such as Hao Chia Lai Lo and Tsa Khih Ke Lai. These were standard nursery rhymes which she improvised with Chinese lyrics. Tsa Khih Ke Lai, for instance, was adapted from Percy Montross' Clementine.
As we moved up to the elementary grades, our music lessons likewise advanced to a more serious level. One of the teachers who exposed us to formal music education was our Grade V teacher, Pedro Campugan. From him we came to know about G-clef, keys, tempo, and other basic norms in the art of music. From our music book we learned to sing such famous hymns as America the Beautiful and Edmund Louis Gruber's Caissons Song (whose opening lines went something like: "Over hill, over dale, we have hit the dusty trail / and our caissons go rolling along / In and out hear them shout 'Counter march and right a-bout' / And the caissons go rolling along."). We also amassed a hefty repertoire of Pilipino folk classics like Leron Leron Sinta, Bahay Kubo, Planting Rice, Sit-Si-Rit-Sit and Paruparong Bukid.
Our class always had fun when it came to music, except me. I didn't only have difficulty hitting the right note, I was also clumsy with the baton. Once during our lesson in using the baton to the beat of a song, I didn't realize that I was doing something wrong until Pedro Campugan sneaked up behind me and gave my baton a whack, sending the stick hurtling in the air. He was fuming mad because I was doing 1/4 for a song with a 3/4 beat.
I soon shifted to instrumental music. LCHS then had a fairly bountiful collection of musical instruments. There were trumpets, bugles, clarinets, flutes, tuba, xylophone, piano, accordion, harmonica, snare drums, bass drums, tom-toms, cymbals, and the like. Most of them were for the use of the school marching band but there were some which were available to other interested students as well. I enlisted myself for a Hohner harmonica. There were no formal tutorials for the individual aficionados so we all brought our respective instruments to practice at home. Those who excelled invariably earned the chance to join the band in civic parades while others had their share of stardom by performing in school programs. I never got such a chance. Until today I'm still practicing. So I have not yet returned the Hohner harmonica.
Another notable music teacher was Agustin Wu (aka Ngo Nai Kong). He was as well versed in music as he was in literature. Under him we were taught many patriotic Chinese songs. Agustin Wu's forte was choral singing. He would divide our class according to our voice range, like soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Because I couldn't hit the high notes, I was assigned to the bass section. But somehow during rehearsals, Agustin Wu found out that even with my voice assignment, I was consistently singing out of tune. Ultimately, he solved the problem by placing me the farthest away from the microphone during our final choral presentation.
Agustin Wu was at heart a lover of classical music. And he loved to share his passion for classical music with his students. Sometimes after class, he would invite some of us to his quarters to listen to his collection of classical music on his vintage portable turntable. For hours, we would sit there obediently and listen to Beethoven's First Movement, Chopin's Etude in C-Minor, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, and Schumann's Traumerie, among others. Needless to say, not having been born with an ear for classical music, we squirmed through the entire session although we tried to feign appreciation just to please the teacher.
On another occasion when Agustin Wu invited us to yet another session of classical music, he asked us which of the three Great B's of music history we loved most. He, of course, was referring to Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. Without hesitation, I answered, "Beatles!" From that moment on, he never invited me back.
Today I'm still learning to sing. I still sing off-key. My voice
still cracks on the high notes. But at least there's no more frustrated
teacher to notice it except the sexy GRO by my side at my favorite karaoke
pub.
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