Erwin "Pastor" Emata, made it as the second Filipino to reach the summit of Mt. Everest at dawn, May 18, 2006, after Heracleo "Leo" Oracion who successfully scaled the world's tallest mountain on the mid-afternoon of Wednesday, May 17, 2006 via the south trail in Nepal.  Both Filipino climbers who triumphantly stepped on the peak of the 8,848-meter mountain are members of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition (originally set for 2007) tagged as "an expedition climb" (and not a full race). Arturo Valdez heads the expedition with ABS-CBN as its principal sponsor.

Members of the Philippine Expedition Team were stationed in separate base camps below the mountain. It takes six to eight days to reach the Base Camp (which is already 17,600 feet high with a thin air causing difficulty in breathing) from Kathmandu. Climbers have to track the Khumbu Icefall to reach Camp 1 (20,000 feet), pass the "Valley of Silence" to Camp 2 (21,300 feet) before reaching Camp 3 (24,000 feet above sea level). The summit which is already 29,028 feet high is still said to be rising at an average of 2.5 centimeters annually.  Sherpas, local porters or guides for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas who are experts in their local terrain, advise that climbers stay at the summit for only 15-20 minutes because of thin air. The tough descent back to Camp 4 typically takes 11-17 hours.

Iliganon mountaineering enthusiast Bambi Guevara arrived at the Mount Everest Base Camp on April 17 in full support of Iligan's bet to the expedition, Erwin Emata and Carina Dayondon, who used to play for Team Iligan Pride. Although a native of Davao, Emata's humble beginnings as a seasoned adventure racer started in Iligan City as one of the original members of the Team Iligan Pride with the memorable Mt. Agad-agad as witness to the unfolding of his love story with fellow adventurer partner in life. From there, it took years of preparation and proper training for the veteran adventurer to achieve the required physical endurance and resilience to high altitude conditions, especially the extreme altitude of Mount Everest.  Another veteran adventurer from Bataan, 37-year-old Romeo "Romi" Garduce, likewise made it to the world's tallest peak taking the southeast ridge route from Nepal on his own, backed by GMA 7.  The Philippine Team is one of the 21 expedition teams aspiring to conquer the world’s tallest peak this year.

Iligan swimmers to compete in SEA games

Two swimmers from Iligan City are now gearing up for this year's South East Asian Games (SEAG) to be held in Indonesia after beating other aspiring amateurs from different parts of the country.  Twelve-year-old Max Dale Manzano and Bea Felise Garrido bested out 28 young swimmers in last month`s 7th National Age Group Swimming Championships at Los Banos, Laguna by the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (PASA). The swimmers, both under the training hands of Coach Cecil Miquiabas, will represent the country in the prestigious sports event on June 2-4 in their respective swimming categories.  The city has long been producers of good swimmers in the country including swimmer-turned-singer Monique "Nikki" Bacolod who have also competed and won in the national and international level.

NEW PROFESSIONALS.  Jessica Dy, daughter of Johnson Dy (Batch '64), in photo, graduated Magna Cum Laude this year with major in B.S. Biology and minor in Mathematics, at the New York University, U.S.A.  She will continue her studies in Medicine at the University of Chicago starting this fall.  She's indeed following the footsteps of her father who is a doctor.  Meanwhile, Jacob Dy, Johnson Dy's second son, likewise graduated this year from the School of Law, University of Southern California.  Watch out for the rise of a new generation of top-calibre professionals.  Many of them are sons and daughters of our fellow alumni. May their tribe increase.  Mabuhay!

DOCTORS CONFAB.   Seen jetting off from Cebu to Manila recently was Henry Yu (Batch '69) who attended the 99th annual convention of  the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) at the Manila Hotel, last May 18-20.  Henry is an internist in Cebu and a past president of the Cebu Medical Society.

HOMETOWN VISITOR.   Lily Lueong (Batch '67) was spotted spending a brief vacation in Iligan City last May 12.  And while in Iligan, Lily had a small yet happy reunion with her batch mates, namely Terry Racines, Flor Tan, Aida Chow, Lalita Uy, and Joselyn Ang who played host to the gathering in her house (see photo).  Lily is now residing in Manila with her husband and family.

In photo, seated from left: Terry Racines, Linda Ang, Lily Lueong; standing from left: Flor Tan, Lalita Uy, Joselyn Ang, and Aida Chow.

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Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch '69

Let's take a walk down memory lane and recapture the splendor of the 1960s. Where were we forty something years ago? What were the happenings of that era? What were the hit songs, top grosser movies, popular brands of items from toiletries to apparels to food, etc.? Remember the times of our life?

• With ten centavos in hand we could buy binangkal, siakoy, maruya, tira-tira, bukayo, ampao, mais, tri-color ice cream, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, 7-Up, Tru-Orange, Lemolime, etc.
• We have Star Margarine, Lily's Peanut Butter, Lady's Choice Guava Jelly or Sandwich Spread, as fillings for our American bread.
• We took Cortal for fever and Diatabs for LBM as home remedies.
• We tuned in to Darigold Jamboree, Student Canteen, Dear Tiya Dely, Diego Salvador, and other radio dramas.
• We used the Olympus typewriter for our home reading reports and term papers.
• To make two or three copies, we used carbon paper. Xerox machine wasn't heard of then.
• Tancho was the favorite pomade of our uncles.
• Kokuryo and Fanbo were the popular brands of cosmetics used by our aunties.
• We drunk Ovaltine for breakfast and Klim or Alpine milk at night before we slept.
• How we loved to eat pancit guisado wrapped in banana leaves bought from a nearby carenderia.
• Our younger siblings were fed on Pelargon and Lactogen, which were among the popular brands of infant milk formulas then.
• With twenty pesos as marketing money, we could buy a kilo of pork, some chicken, fish and vegetables.
• With one peso, we could watch a double-program movie, may snack pa.
• Song Cavalcade and Pioneer Songhits, Graphic, Expressweek, Kislap, Bisaya, Alimyon, Junior Illustrated Classic or Wakasan komiks were sold at twenty centavos a copy.
• Senorita menthol candy, Nougat, or Flying Kiss caramel was lima singko.
• With fifty centavos we could have a decent haircut from Noy Carding at the barbershop.
• We went gaga over autographs, penpal writing, radio dedication program, jam sessions, 45 rpm records, songhits, stamp and postcard collection, among other things.
• It took a week for ordinary mails and three days for air mails to reach its destination.
• Tiki-tiki, Scott's Emulsion were the vitamin supplements that we grew up with.
• Saturday afternoons would see us at the backyard playing patintero, bato-lata, siatong, tago-tago, etc. or playing Chinese checker, dama, sungka, domino, or chess in the sala.
• Sunday mornings would see us attending the Sunday mass and watched movies in the afternoon.
• We dropped twenty centavos in a jukebox to listen to Timi Yuro's Crazy or Matt Monro's Walk Away and Before You Go.
• We have to connect to the operator before we could talk to a friend over the telephone.
• It was jam session time with the Beatles, Gary Lewis, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five, etc.
• Twist, Jerk, Limbo Rock, Elephant Walk were the popular dance crazes of the era.
• How we would dance the Soul to the tune of "Bus Stop wet day she's there I say please share my umbrella" or "Black is Black, I want my baby back".
• How we loved doing the Grind to the tune of Gimme A Little Sign or simply Bye-Bye to the tune of Lucky Guy by the Cascades or Devoted To You by the Everly Brothers.
• Eddie Peregrina's Together Again and Two Lovely Flowers were such national anthems, with Guy & Pip and Vi & Bot as screen idols, and the rest of the gang: Perla Adea, Romy Mallari, Manny de Leon, Esperanza Fabon, Mildred Ortega, atbp.
• Two of the hit movies were The Sound of Music and To Sir With Love, and the many series of those James Bond 007 movies of Sean Connery.
• We would watch the movies of Eddie Fernandez as Agent Lagalag and Tony Ferrer as Agent X-44, and the other Tagalog movies produced by Sampaguita, LVN, Premier, Tagalog Ilang-Ilang, Larry Santiago, Lea Productions, etc.
• Stella Suarez and Divina Valencia were two of the most popular sex symbols in Philippine cinema, so popular indeed that we would make a chorus in singing "Divina Valencia, Stella Suarez naga-burles..."
• How we adored and idolized the Sampaguita Stars '66 composed of Pepito Rodriguez and Rosemarie Sonora, Ramil Rodriguez and Shirley Moreno, Dindo Fernando and Blanca Gomez, Bert Leroy, Jr. and Gina Pareno, Edgar Salcedo and Loretta Marquez.
• How our girl classmates wore balloon skirts, petticoats, and later the mini-skirts with fishnet.
• How the boys wore jack shirts with matching tight fitting pants which were so hard to put on or take out, yet we insisted to wear them because they were the IN things.
• Custombuilt, Ang Tibay, Alex, Spartan were the popular brands of footwears, and Vonnel, Corsican, Montagut, Banlon, Guitar, Crispa for the shirts.
• How we munched our favorite brands of chocolate like Serg's, Goya, Ricoa, etc.
• How we sipped hot Royco noodle soup on rainy afternoons.

Igdono U. Caracho, Batch '66