Vol. 8, No. 4, May 24, 2004

Henry Dy (in photo) has been elected vice mayor of Iligan City.  Henry Dy, of Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), beat Bernard Pacaña (Lakas-CMD) by an overwhelming majority in the synchronized national and local elections held last May 10.  Henry's running mate for city mayor, Lawrence Lluch Cruz, also won against incumbent mayor Franklin Quijano.  Alipio Cirilo "Tikbong" Badelles, also running under the KNP, won another term as congressman.  Seven KNP candidates for councilors also made it to the 10 winning slates. The winning candidates were formally proclaimed by the Comelec on May 17, 2004.

Here are the Namfrel tabulations, as of May 20, 2004, showing how Iligan voted.  For president:  Fernando Poe Jr., 115,773; Gloria Arroyo, 73,730; Panfilo Lacson, 21,694.  For vice president:  Loren Legarda, 107,519; Noli de Castro, 100,790.  For congressman, 1st District: Alipio Cirilo Badelles, 116,605; Thomas Quijano, 31,173. For mayor:  Lawrence Cruz, 61,511; Franklin Quijano, 37,395. For vice mayor:  Henry Dy, 60,199; Bernard Pacaña, 35,720. For councilors:  (1) Providencio Abragan Jr. (KNP), 54,169; (2) Vicente Belmonte Jr. (KNP), 49,090; (3) Chonilo Ruiz (KNP), 46,911; (4) Alfredo Busico (KNP), 46,439; (5) Moises Dalisay Jr. (KNP), 45,521; (6) Ruderic Marzo (Lakas), 43,707; (7) Bienvenido Badelles (KNP), 39,354; (8) Orlando Maglinao (Lakas), 38,646; (9) Wilfredo Bacareza Jr. (Lakas), 37,054; and (10) Voltaire Rovira (KNP), 37,010.  Meanwhile, Joe Booc garnered only 8,517 votes and placed a distant 25th among a field of 44 candidates for councilors.

Jose Sy Lim Teck Hua, 63

Jose Sy Lim Teck Hua (Batch '58), in photo, passed away on May 21, 2004 at the Chong Hua Hospital, Cebu City.  He died of cancer of the pancreas.  He was 63 years old.  His body was shipped to Iligan City last May 22.  Interment date has not yet been announced.  He is survived by his wife Lorenza (Bee Ngo), and children Jeanne Margaret, David Warren (Batch '87), Jason Robert (Batch '89), and Christopher Dominic (Batch '92).  Teck Hua, better known to friends by his nickname "A-Hua," was an active member of the LCHS Alumni Association and the Lanao Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce (LFCCC).  He owned the Regence Enterprises on Sabayle St., Iligan City.  He was the eldest brother of Aida Lim-Uy (Cebu), Bienvenido Lim, Betty Lim, Josefina Lim (U.S.A.), Felipe Lim (Cebu), Wilson Lim (U.S.A.), and Debbie Lim-Carzon (San Francisco, U.S.A.).  We request our pious readers to pray for the eternal repose of his soul.

Roger Suminguit, Batch '73

Election Bet and Beat

The election is over.  Now the electorate awaits the final outcome of the counting of votes nationwide.  As usual, the waiting can take at least two months.  Many candidates who lost the election say, "We are cheated!" while the winners say otherwise.  And then there are also the "Tom Jones," referring to losing incumbent candidates holding office until June or "Taman sa June."

As usual, there was a lot of betting during the election.  Betting is a way of Filipino life.  Some lost a hundred thousand but many won too!  Philip Jones Lee says "He's lonely," meaning he did not place his bet ... pero Bonnie Dy observed that Philip got a new Nokia model cell phone!  Is he lonely?  He-he.

Our alumnus candidate for vice mayor of Iligan City, Henry C. Dy (in photo, at work in his office with me paying him a visit) made an impressive showing.  In the Namfrel tabulation, Henry got 60,000 votes over his rival's 35,000 votes, or a huge 26% margin covering almost 700 precincts.  News broke out as soon as the first counting started. Within four hours of the counting, the tallies showed Henry Dy unmistakably leading the race.  And there was no stopping his lead from there on.   Cheers of "Naglawig na ang kadaugan ni Henry Dy" soon spread like wildfire through text messages among our alumni and friends.  Nag baha og beer sa Teepoy's Grill with Chester Dy-Carlos, Bonnie Dy, Philip Lee, Alexander Chua & Dr. Quimpo.   Cheers and congrats to our new Vice Mayor, Henry Dy!

Speaking of Teepoy's Grill, this place has become a favorite hangout of our alumni.  It is where alumni get together for occasional blow-out, drinking, "sparring," or business talks. The regular night owls are Bonnie Dy, Chester Dy-Carlos, Philip Jones Lee, Santiago Ong, Bonifacio Khu, Khu Chuy Guan, Franklin Tan, Ernest Oliver Uy, and the group of badminton players.  Last May 16, brothers Peter Dy and Carlos "Bonnie" Dy left Iligan for Edmonton, Canada.  "Tracers" received word that they had a funfilled flight.  Their seats were upgraded to Mabuhay Class by some well-placed friends in the Philippine Airlines.  Look what having friends in high places can do!

New Vice Mayor

Sat May 15, 2004 9:44 am
Congratulations to vice mayor Henry Dy & family. We never have a doubt that you will have a runaway vote this time.
--Alex Rodriguez (Batch '65) & Family, Miramar, Fl., U.S.A., email: alpacino_8@hotmail.com

Sis Bee-ngo, Bro. Warren Lim and Family:  Very sorry to hear Bro. Jose Lim Teck Hua dropped his working tools.  Please accept our heartfelt sympathy.  With our love and prayers.
--Peter, Tita, Peterson (Amy), Princess and Phillip Dy, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; email: pdy@telusplanet.net

Charles O. Sy, Batch '67

The election is over.  Most of the winning local candidates have been proclaimed.  All that remain now are the sound and fury.  Many losing candidates are crying foul.  So what else is new?  Come to think of it, since when have our candidates ever learned to accept their defeat with grace?

Marie Janiefer Q. Lee, Batch '87

May is here and no matter what happens in our national elections no one can ever stop the exodus of house helps going home to the provinces to grace their towns’ fiesta with their beautiful presence.  And my ever-reliable Ashang wouldn’t want to be the last one to get there.  As early as the first week of April I can already sense the agitation in her disposition.  She was always jumpy, at the same time over-eager and extra nice.  I knew from experience that something was up, and that she’s going to ask for something really big soon.  So after a few days of following me around whenever I was at home, she finally caught me in a good mood and blurted out her plans of going on a vacation.  After hearing her plans my mood changed drastically from good to bad. But how can I say no to her when she’s been extra good for the past few days?  Even if it means that I can’t go anywhere anymore, no more daydreams of escaping to Bohol or Vancouver.  At that moment all my daydreams which are contained in giant bubbles just exploded one after another with a big pop.

I knew that she deserves this vacation since she's been vacation-less for the past four years.  But will we make it without her?

Ashang’s real name is really Marisa. How she became Ashang is quite a story and it’s not that we just want to make her name sound Chinese.  Through the years she’s been "baptized" with a lot of names just like everybody else in our household.  She’s been with me since I gave birth to my second son Justin in 1996 and Justin will turn 8 this month. In 1996 the most famous tele-novela then was Marimar and so we called her by that name.  She loves it because she can pretend that she’s like the real Marimar with flowing hair and very mestiza features.  She went home when Justin was four but came back after a few months a little more matured in some ways but still remained the same in a lot of ways.  From being Justin’s nanny she volunteered to be the cook since my Justin is already too old to have a nanny.  So for the past four years we’ve put up with whatever she decides to prepare for us.  From the veggies which turned out to be too salty, as if it’s just been cooked in sea water, to the adobo which got burnt and turned out to be more black than the pot it’s been cooked in.  In the kitchen she’s the female counterpart of this famous comic character Asiong Aksaya, thus the name Ashang.  The comic character is depicted as somebody who intentionally or unintentionally wastes both money and energy.  And that’s how our Ashang was.  I’ve taught her all the home economics techniques I could find but she just couldn’t get my point.  So for the sake of world peace I kept my mouth shut and we’ve somehow lived harmoniously since then.  At least rain or shine we know that as we come down for breakfast each morning there’s always something there for us.  And as we go home at night there’s a warm meal waiting for us. (Burnt or otherwise, salty or nice).

After all things said and done about Ashang, why I want to keep her is really the sense of “familiarity.” She knows how I want things to be done; at the same time I know how she works and I don’t get unnecessary surprises.  I even know which part of my instructions she’d skip and which of my orders she’d ignore.  Just like old dancing partners, we already know how to move to the beat, we know when to step forward, when to step backward and when to step aside.  And we already know when we’re already stepping on each other’s toes.

She said she’s coming back on Sunday, although knowing her the way I do, I know that she’s going to extend her vacation indefinitely.  Next time I should ask her which Sunday of what year will she come back.  The exact time when she will come back depends on the “whether.”  Like whether she still have enough money left to buy herself a one-way ticket back to Manila.  And whether or not she’s through doing a fashion show of all the new clothes she laboriously brought home with her in three bags full.  Even if she couldn’t lift all her bags by herself, I just bit my lips and refrained from asking how she could wear all those clothes in a matter of 10 days.

Life without Ashang means that I have to resurrect the little cooking prowess that I used to possess, re-acquaint myself with the parts of the vacuum cleaner, and reroute my routine to include the nearest laundry shop.

So far we’re doing fine.  Although another week of a life like this and I’ll be handing in my resignation letter, pack my own three bags full, then get a one-way ticket to the Republic of No Where.

Leonardo Tan, Batch '66

One of the wonders of this Spectrum is locating our old acquaintance such as classmates of yesteryears or former teachers.  It was therefore a great delight to read about Miss Catalina Daan after all these years. Thirty six long years to be exact, as reported by Charles O. Sy a few issues ago with the sleuthing done by my batch mate Igdono Caracho.

It is always wonderful to know about the whereabouts of the people with significant importance who had somehow touched our lives through close-up and personal.  And teachers are always in the forefront in shaping and influencing our lives, perhaps next only to our parents.

So nice to know that Miss Catalina Daan did become Mrs. Catalina Pahang. Had added Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws to her name.  Has two grown-up and successful sons. And still continues to do what she loves most -- teaching.  But I am also sorry to hear that she has now become a widow with the passing of her husband -- an architect like me.  Like all LCHSians, Iligan must be very dear to her heart, for it was here that the young Miss Daan met her future husband for the first time.

I did not realise that she was only 19 when she started her teaching career at our alma mater in 1963.  She was our class adviser when we were then in 2nd year high school. So the average age gaps between the adviser and her students were just barely 4 or 5 years.  And I was the immature class president.

Her subject Pilipino was the least interesting as far as I was concerned.  Not challenging enough and I could not find any practical use for it.  Perhaps I was biased then that our native Cebuano, which we don’t need to learn, should be the national language instead.  So in retrospect, did I learn anything from Miss Daan?  After all these years, I have to say that Miss Daan taught me a very important lesson in life, which I never encountered in any text books.  Such valuable lesson arose from an unforgettable episode during the life of a sophomore class president.

I don’t remember now who initiated it but one day there was a popular clamour in our class to have an excursion to Timoga.  At that time, the resort had only one large swimming pool.  We deliberated on the proposal with the class adviser during her Pilipino class.  But despite how we argued with Miss Daan, she wouldn't accept our argument for a weekend outing to our famous ever cool and constantly flowing clear water resort.  I no longer could remember her reasoning at that time.  It could be just simply the safety of her students.  And that was her final decision. No Timoga excursion.

But as far as the sophomore class at that time was concerned, the dream of going to Timoga for the whole class was not dead yet.  We were still searching for any alternative solution.

And we found one with the formation of the 2nd Year Geometry Class Organisation with Miss Elena Uy as adviser of this newly formed group.  And we set the ball rolling towards Timoga one Sunday.  We were able to secure permission to use that old yellow Chevrolet school bus with its perennial chauffeur Nicomedes.  Aside from Miss Uy, our Biology teacher Miss Crisanta Alcover also joined the excursion.  Miss Daan, our class adviser, was of course absent.  I was also left behind as I had some other commitments on weekend.  But as class president, I went to see that all system was go before the school bus drove off for a fun-filled outing that sunny Sunday to Timoga.

Then Monday came.  And everyone was talking about having a great time.  I was very happy to hear that.  But at the same time sorry that I was not able to go.

Miss Daan’s class was on the third period that day. The sophomore class of 1963 was just naive and carefree.  We had no inkling at all that a bombshell was about to explode in our Pilipino class.  For we were unaware of any wrong that was done.  Nobody was feeling any guilt about the successful excursion just the day before.

Then entered Miss Daan into our classroom.  From her facial expression and body language, we could sense immediately that she was not a happy person.  The class atmosphere suddenly changed from a happy one to a somber mood.  We still did not know for whatever reason.  Then she started unleashing her tirade of disgust regarding our rebellion with her decision about the excursion. That to form another class group with another adviser was indeed the greatest insult she ever had felt in her life.  The calculated monotone verbal barrage went on for about ten minutes but it seemed forever.  And everyone was really shocked with bowed heads and could not dare to meet her fiery eyes or to say anything, much less to make a contradiction.

When she was done, there were a few moments of total silence and one could hear a pin drop.  It was a very difficult time for me.  Being the class president, I did not know what I must do or what to say that very moment.  I had to think hard.

After a few moments of hesitation, I was able to gather whatever strength I could muster and then I stood up.  As class president, I had to take responsibility of the consequences.  On behalf of the class, I expressed to her our sincere apologies for what we have done.  I explained to her that we were merely immature kids and did not know that what we did could hurt her.  I told her that if she thinks of punishing anyone in the class it should be me.  I took full responsibility. I remember I finished with a very sincere "I am very sorry, Ma'am."  She was teary eyed. She responded by saying that she would rather forget this fiasco as long as we will never do it again.

I have since learned to take responsibility of any action I take.  And never to repeat the same mistake again.  These are the legacies of Miss Daan to me.

Thank you, Ma’am.

Signs of Old Age
Forwarded by Susan Lim-de la Cruz
Iloilo, Philippines

Before:  Long hair
Now:  Longing for hair

Before:  Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
Now:  Trying not to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

Before:  Going to a new, hip joint
Now:  Receiving a new hip joint

Before:  Rolling Stones
Now:  Kidney Stones

Before:  Being called into the principal's office
Now:  Calling the principal's office

Before:  Parents begging you to get your hair cut
Now:  Children begging you to get their heads shaved

Before:  Passing the drivers' test
Now:  Passing the vision test

As parents, some of you may have a daughter or a son who just graduated or is about to graduate college this month or next month. Congratulations! Be very proud of your son’s or daughter’s accomplishment. Think of how much struggles he or she had to undergo to get that diploma, not how much money you had to work for to support him or her in school so that even if your son’s or daughter’s best is not good enough for you, you can still grin and glow with pride.

I attended my older daughter’s graduation this past weekend at the University of Virginia, School of Medicine, and like all the parents I’ve met, I was so proud of my daughter who finally received her degree of M.D. after 8 years of hard work and hard study, 8 years of pimples that intermittently sprouted and roughened her face due to lack of sleep. I also felt relief for her.

Just like every other profession, the school of medicine at UVA had its own separate graduation ceremony after the school general commencement exercise. Appropriately, to make the parents glow more with pride, the school of medicine requested parents to accompany their son or daughter on stage to put the hood on and to be with their son or daughter in receiving the diploma. Parents definitely deserved it.

As soon as my daughter got hold of her diploma, she offered to give it to me while on stage and I grabbed it like a child. Then my wife wanted to grab it from me to give it back to my daughter and like a child, I played with her by hiding it in my back and she hit me on my arm demanding to give the diploma back to my daughter. The whole time we were still on stage. She then fussed at me as soon as we were seated saying; “This is America, not Camotes!” But it was fun to behave like a school boy again especially with my younger daughter and my son cheering and encouraging me saying: “Keep it, Dad! You deserve it!”

Sitting there watching the new MDs glowing with their parents made me reminisce those days when the children were still little ones and we had to put up with angers, frustrations and disappointments as parts of the process in nurturing them. Somehow in my reminiscence, I was reminded by this Helen Young quote:

“There will come a time when there’ll be no more slamming of doors, no more toys to pick up on the stairs, no more childhood quarrels and no more fingerprints on the wallpaper. Then may I look back with joy and not regret.

May I have the wisdom to see that today is my day with my children; that there are no unimportant moments in their lives; that no career is more precious, no work more rewarding and no task more urgent.

May I not defer it, nor neglect it, but accept it gladly – and understand that my time is short and my time is now, for my children won’t wait.”

Well, parents, hang in there. At times, your children may seem ungrateful and act irresponsibly; they will ignore your reminders and forget your advice. But believe me. As long as you’ve tried to be the best parent you can be and to do the best you know how, they’ll never stop loving you. And don’t ever forget the permanence of your imprint. Wherever they are and whatever they become, they cannot erase your influence!

I was leafing through the pages of an old issue of LIFE magazine when I came across the feature story of the coronation of the Shah of Iran.  The affair was breathtakingly pompous with a grandeur that could have easily rivaled the coronation of King Arthur in the majestic days of the Knights of the Round Table.  The Shah crowned himself and his pretty wife tiaras of glittering diamonds while thousands of his brethren watched in awe at the splendor that was unfolding before their bedazzled eyes. It was indeed an every mother's child's most outlandish fantasy come true.

But that was in 1967.

Today, the same man, who had once wallowed in vast wealth and who had once wielded power that extended to various parts of the world, became a fugitive from his own country -- hunted by his own people who thirsted for his blood.  As he sought refuge from country to country, he sowed the seed of hatred.  When he died, his funeral was a far cry in opulence from his coronation day.  A sad end indeed to the glory that was.

That is the irony of life.  Now once may be kind of the world but tomorrow he can be as poor and as despised as a cellar rat.  Life certainly works like a spinning wheel -- what goes up must come down.  And the bitter fact is that the higher one goes, the harder he falls.  It is along this light then that somebody's admonition of "Be good to the people you meet on your way up, because they are the same people you'll meet on your way down" takes on very profound meaning.  There is no point in building up your success on the ruins of somebody else's life, because when eventually one goes back to where he started, he will have to mingle with the same people.

Look at what happened to Richard Nixon, that exceedingly ambitious man in America who rose to the top mutilating a lot of egos and destroying countless people's lives along the way.  He soon achieved his lifelong ambition -- he became number one, but no sooner had he savored the sweet taste of his victory than his enemies gathered momentum and swept him off his pedestal and with it reduced his good deeds to ashes and consigned them to the dustbins of oblivion.  Many people now drops his name with a heavy tinge of irreverence and Watergate, the name he has been associated with, has become a term of derision.

It reminds me of a small town boy too who had a string of good fortunes and who eventually rose to the top level position in a bank.  At this point he got drunk with the spirit of success and started throwing his weight around, bullying people and forgetting old friends in favor of newly-found rich business associates.  But his fortune changed and soon he found himself without a job and was forced to eke out a living doing odd jobs.  I saw him recently in a massage parlor and he was drunk.  And perhaps trying to relive his lost glories, he tried to appear arrogant still and asked a companion impertinently, "Did you f--k her?" within earshot of everybody.  Of course, he knew it was sheer braggadocio, and we saw the hollowness of the arrogance.  We found him more pitiful than impressive.

One should not allow success to intoxicate oneself.  If you are feeling high and mighty and suddenly have the urge to trample on other people's rights and happiness, think again.  Take a look at all those fallen stars around you.  The Shah of Iran.  Nixon.  Your arrogant boss.  Your mean neighbor.  Your cheating associates.  They do teach us a very profound lesson, don't they?
 
 

EDITORIAL STAFF VICTOR L. CHIU, editor Correspondents: Roger Suminguit,Teresita Racines, Charmaine Molo, Rodolfo Yu & Virginia Handumon-Te (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 & Henry L. Yu, past editors. 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.oocities.org/lchsspectrum. Spectrum welcomes articles, news reports & comments from LCHS alumni, students and readers. For subscription, contact Roger Suminguit, tel. 221-2422. For contribution, e-mail manuscripts to the editor:  perfidia6180@hotmail.com