Image of Our Lady of La Salette

La Salette of Santiago celebrated its 55th Foundation Day at the heels of the looming turnover of St. James Parish to the Diocese of Ilagan. But despite this approaching turnover, the entire La Salette family managed to move on with the celebration of the 160th anniversary of the apparition of the Our Lady to the shepherds, Maximin and Melanie.

Our batch, along with other alumni, showed up in force at the Foundation Day festivities in the high school campus. The festivities began on September 14th, with a “Salubong”, wherein the visiting image of Our Lady of La Salette, coming all the way from France, was received from La Salette of Jones. Then there was a vigil the following night, September 15th, in the covered court. Batches ’81 and ‘82 were in-charge of the vigil, which began at 10:00 pm, with each batch alternately leading the novena until 6:00 a.m. After the novena, our Lady was transferred to the shrine in Balintocatoc around 8:45 a.m. Present during the vigil were: Theresa Mina, Geraldo Marcelo, Miguel Agustin, Yolanda Miranda, Gina Giron-San Gil, Jesusa Tiu, Felipe Miranda, James Meimban, and Cesareo Flores.

Batch82 Booth

September 17th was one heck of a day! Batch ‘82 participated in t he parade along with thousands of elementary, high school and college students. Then they opened up a booth on campus where they sold food, mostly merienda like palamig, hotdogs etc. They also sold stickers that have the seal of La Salette and Reconciliare for P50.00 each.

The boys, now men, of course, played a winning friendship game of basketball against Batch ’78. According to Tere, “batch '78 ang kalaban ng batch natin kasi naghintay pa kami ng mga players natin, instead of batch '80. Nanalo tayo, 68-36 ang score.” Members of the winning team include Jerry Marcelo, Henry Panganiban, Rosalito Soriano, Ferdinand Ko, Alexander Apacible, Edwin Millan, Cesareo Flores, Melanio Vinoray, Danny Bautista. Officers of the Executive Committee, represented by Jerry and Ige, had the enviable task of being judges for the Miss Intramurals held on September 18th. And as always, the final event was the cheering contest on September 19th.

St. James Parish has been the flagship mission of the La Salette Missionaries here in the Philippines. Their remarkable service to the Catholic community of Santiago City will soon be ending. They have served for 58 years, chose to establish the University here and now they have come to the final stretch of their steering the flock in this community. On April 8, 2007, the parish of St. James will revert to the Diocese of Ilagan. All La Salette missions in Isabela, with the exception of St. Roque Parish, have been recalled by the Diocese. However, the University of La Salette and all the La Salette schools including La Salette of San Mateo are not included in the recall. Those will remain under the administration of the missionaries as these were registered as private institutions.

Coinciding with the Foundation Day celebrations, there was an exhibit of the history of the Missionaries of La Salette displayed in the old parish church during the month of September 1st to 30th.

Exhibit for 1948 to 1950

Exhibit for 1951 to 1960

Exhibits for 1961-1970 and 1971-1980

Exhibit for 1981-1990

Exhibits - Miscellaneous

Exhibits - Miscellaneous

Exhibits - Miscellaneous

Photos courtesy of Jerry Marcelo

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Back in 1997, when we were publishing the first Dimension, we asked for the whereabouts of Jonathan Thiam in every single issue, or so it seemed. The grand reunion of 1997 came and went with no news about him.

In 1999, I received a letter from Ilocos Norte, from Jojo, informing me of how he got the copies of the newsletter and how he thought that its just right to respond and let me know where he is and how he’s doing. Apparently, his mother kept all of our printed issues and forwarded it to him when he came back from the Middle East. Well, the excitement had died down by that time and I was back in my real life, as a mother and wife, and I let that opportunity to reestablish communication pass by. I wrote him back but that letter never got mailed!

I sat next to Jojo in first grade and to this date I vividly remember him reading “BA-BA Baba, BA-O Bao”. His is the only face I remember looking at, as the procession down to the field began on graduation night. It’s ironic that he opened and closed the doors of my La Salette memories… The letter that I received from him, two years after the termination of our publication was reward enough for all the countless and sleepless nights that Higee and I spent working on what seemed like nonsense articles. BUT, I again wonder, where could Jonathan be now?

GEMS from THE JOURNAL

Boy, I am overwhelmed with a lot of good memories! Remember the Horror Booth down at Blanchet Hall; how about the Jail Booth, which was absent this year, I was told! The Executive Committee have seen the hits and misses this year and since next year’s Foundation Day celebration is our banner project, we must make sure that our favorite booths return. Bring them back for us to walk down memory lane than for the kids to enjoy, right? (Disclaimer: These two booths have been canceled years ago due to reports of inappropriate activities)

We have previously reported that the Executive Committee in Santiago City is abuzz with activities. For alumni of Batch ’82, the 55th Foundation Day celebration opened the door to new responsibilities. 2007 is our jubilee year and our 25th year celebration, which will culminate with a grand reunion on December 30, 2007 have just begun. As part of our reunion activities, we have taken on different projects. Adopt-a-School program is one that is at the forefront at this time. Others include the promotion of the class ring, in hopes that each alumni of Batch ’82 would own one, and the grand reunion dinner and dance.

There were discussions as to how to promote the class ring to all Batch ’82 and to make each one own a class ring. The ring costs P500.00, The first suggestion is to give away the class ring to everyone who will contribute $50.00 or more. There is also a suggestion to match alumni unable to purchase the ring due to financial constraints with alumni willing to sponsor them. Another suggestion is to raffle off a few class rings bought from general funds. As these are merely suggestions at this time, we would like to encourage everyone to voice out their opinions. Maybe you are the willing and able sponsor…. (I really have made this part sound like there are readers of this newsletter out there!!! If so, we’d like to hear from you… and fairly soon, I hope.)

UPCOMING EVENTS

Inter-batch basketball tournament between batches ‘78 to ‘82 and ULSHS faculty. Games every Saturday in the covered court.

There will be a class reunion in December 2006 for La Salette Elementary School alumni batch ’78. For further information, contact Tere 0927-932-7778 or Jerry 0917-574-5888.

UPDATE ON ADOPT-A-SCHOOL PROGRAM

As copied from an email:

18 September 2006

Dear fellow alumnus:

May we respectfully inform you of what transpired during our last meeting for the Adopt-A-School Program on September 4, 2006.

It was agreed upon that, adopting NGOs in coordination with their respective school counterparts and its Parents-Teachers and Community Associations will consider to maintain mass feeding until the end of the school year and hopefully for the entire duration of the program as written in the Memorandum of Understanding.

Moreover, the adopting NGO shall likewise provide for the third quarter the following:

* World Globe - 2 sets@ 319 pesos each
* World and Philippine Map-2 sets 190 pesos
* Illustration Board and Plastic Cover-93 pesos

For your humane perusal and consideration…

Thank You!

Very truly yours,
Paul

Facilitator

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE FOLLOWING:

Elmer Gabatin, David Macato, Edna Sanchez, Alfea Santos, Florencia Fernandez, Carmelita Gonzaga, Luisa Ronda, Grace Sillos, Emmanuel Mari, Edgardo Pascua, Robert Perlado, Emmanuel Roxas, Marilou Deyto, Elvira Gabayan, Ursula Garcia, Remedios Sales, Rodela Valdez, Marcelo Aquino, Jose Adonis Manango, Jaime Corpuz, Beatrice Agustin, Eleanor Concepcion, Isabel Manubay, Norita Salazar, Generosa Bayaua, Evalyn Bernardo, Alexander Apacible, Fernando Linsangan, Brigido Ricomano, Heaven Granil, Nelia Natividad, Rolando Dumaliang, Reynaldo del Rosario, Jovelyn Andres, Francisca Calilung, Elsie Lily de Leon, Imelda Luluquisen, Eleanor Tullao, Anthony Ballinan, Christina Navarro

The Class Directory

We would like to show how we have grown from a listing of 35 in August 1996 to our current listing of 139.

Thank you very much to our Santiago counterparts, for sending us a list of updates and new listings. If you would like to change any information on this listing, please drop us a note. Please send your information to
Marilou Bayaua or Francisca Torres.

Dimension 1982
Jan97 | Feb97 | Mar97 | Apr97 | May97 |
Jun97 | July97 | Aug97 | Sep97 |

The 1997 Reunion

Dec99 | Jan05 |

Aug 06 | Sep 06 | Oct 06 | Nov 06 | Dec 06 |

The Class Directory

ulshs82 Yahoo Group

Please send comments about this page to Nek Torres

1:22 PM 10/12/2006