Vol. 11, No. 10, August 20, 2007

LCHS has adopted a new administrative structure starting with this school year.  The new structure was approved for implementation in a meeting of the LCHS Board of Trustees at the LCHS library on June 4, 2007. Christine Veronica "Jeng" Uy (in photo, left) has been appointed Head of English Department, and Glenda "Hong-hong" Sy Cabilan (in photo, right), Head of Chinese Department.

Heading the organizational chart of the new structure are the Board of Trustees and the Lanao Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Inc.; under them is the School Board, followed by the School Director.  Under the School Director are the Head of Physical Set-up, Head of English Dep’t., and Head of Chinese Dep’t. Under the department heads are the Elementary In-Charge and Secondary In-Charge.  With the new setup, the positions of school principal, assistant school principal, and prefect of Chinese language instruction have been abolished.

Nominees for LCHS-AA officers
By Roger Suminguit (Batch '73)

LCHS Alumni Association (LCHS-AA) has come up with a line-up of nominees for the election of its new officers. The nomination and election process has been simplified as the LCHS-AA was unable to enlist a sufficient number of alumni who are interested to serve as officers. The election is also long overdue.  LCHS-AA President Henry Dy and his officers have been in office since 2003.

The nominees come from a wide range of batches between 1960 and 1996.  Most of the nominees belong to the younger generation since many of the older alumni have declined nomination as they have already served the Association for many years. The nomination and election process has been simplified to enable the LCHS-AA to proceed with its election without further delay.  The nominees for officers are: James Booc ('82), Sandy Sy ('96), Johnny Chen ('83), Geraldine Tan ('87), Alicia Go ('78), Jimmy Mecina Ang ('83), Steward Co ('83), Joan Quimbo ('87), and Ian Uy ('86).  And for directors: Suniel S. Lim ('66), Rogelio Suminguit ('73), Vy Veng Hong ('69), Glenda Sy-Cabilan ('72), Teresita U. Racines ('67), and PP Dy Sio Te ('65).

LCHS student receives Kumon award

LCHS student, Dana Co, recently qualified for Kumon's ASHR (Advance Student Honor Roll) with a Gold Award which she received from no less than the president of Kumon Philippines, Inc., Norihiro Nakamura.  The awarding ceremony was held in Davao City last Aug. 11. Dana is the granddaughter of Jimmy Co Kepte.  Grace Quijano, Kumon Iligan Chief Instructor, also announced that LCHS students occupy the top 5 highest starting points, per their record of diagnostic tests taken upon enrollment.  Meanwhile, three other LCHS students, Kenn Carlson Dy, Jim Darrell Ang, and Ann Catherine Co, recently received their Credit Certificate in the Australian Science Competition. Congratulations!

CdO gears up for fiesta

Residents of Cagayan de Oro are in high spirit as the city prepares to celebrate its annual fiesta in honor of its patron, St. Augustine, on Aug. 28. Among the highlights of the week-long festivities are Miss Kagay-an Tourism 2007 Pageant; Agro-Industrial Trade Fair; the Kumbira; River Activities/Long Boat Race; Horse Show Competition; Regional Trade Fair; River Activities/Whitewater Rafting Competition; Kagay-an Festival Street Dancing; the first Cagayan de Oro Golden Float Competition "Beyond the Usual"; civic parade; and fluvial parade.

Iligan still has no congressman

Three months after the May 14, 2007 elections, the First District of Iligan City & Lanao del Norte is still without a representative because of an unresolved poll controversy.

The controversy arose after voting day, when the padlocks of three ballot boxes containing the Certificates of Canvass (COC) from Kauswagan, Bacolod and Maigo, Lanao del Norte were found to have been destroyed.  Lawyers of United Opposition candidate Vicente Belmonte Jr. contended that there was tampering of the said COCs.  They asked the Comelec instead to base the canvassing on other authentic copies of COCs in the possession of the Namfrel-PPCRV and the copy of the Liberal Party (LP).  These authentic copies show Belmonte garnered 59,932 votes, Angelique Badelles (Kampi) got 46,600, and former Lanao del Norte governor Imelda Dimaporo (Lakas-CMD) had 43,403 votes.

The Comelec directed the Special Provincial Board of Canvassers (SPBOC) to refrain from proclaiming any candidate and ordered it to bring the controversial ballot boxes containing the questioned COCs to the Comelec 2nd Division in Manila. Dimaporo's lawyers then filed a petition with the 2nd Division for lack of jurisdiction, contending that the case should be resolved by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal. But the Comelec 2nd Division granted Belmonte's petition to exclude the controversial COCs from the towns and Dimaporo's lawyers elevated the case to the Comelec en banc for resolution.  As of this date, the Comelec en banc has yet to calendar the hearing on the controversy and resolve the case. The First Congressional District is composed of Iligan City and the towns of Linamon, Kauswagan, Bacolod, Maigo, Kolambugan, Tubod, Baroy in Lanao del Norte.

Congratulations
Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:59:47 +0000

Congratulations and warm felicitations to Henry Siao (my "tukayo", one of the five (5) original Henry's of our Alumni Association, the others being Henry Dy, Henry James Go, Henry Lagrosas, and myself) for being the new LCHS School Director and to our two new supervisors in the persons of Glenda "Hong Hong" Sy Cabilan (Chinese Department) and Christine Veronica "Jing" Uy (English Department). More power to you all. Mabuhay ang LCHS!
--Henry L. Yu, M.D. (Batch '69), Cebu, Philippines; email: hvty@skyinet.net

NEW GRADUATE.  Diana Grace Sy (Batch '99) just graduated from Keller University (Chicago, Illinois) for her Masters in Network Communication Management last June 24. She was a full time student at Keller University for more than one year and a half while working at AT & T's downtown Chicago office as an analyst in the company's Online Services team. In her job, she also develops websites for their sophisticated data/voice technologies.  Diana is the daughter of Aurora Ong Sy (Batch '66) and Samson Sy. Other alumni in Chicago are Bryan Bruce Lai (Batch '93) and Alfred Lai (Batch' 89).

GOING GLOBAL.  More and more alumni kids who have recently turned professional are now going global in their respective careers. Scheduled to travel to Sydney, Australia on Aug. 21 is Hugh Winthrop Sy, who is connected with IBM Philippines in Makati.  Winthrop will be in Sydney for about two weeks to conduct an audit operation with IBM Sydney.  Winthrop is the son of Jonas Sy (Batch '68).  And soon to take a week-long business trip to Richmond, Canada is Derwin Dexter Sy, son of Nelson Sy (Batch '62).  Derwin, a systems engineer at Epson Software Engineering Philippines in Cebu, has been assigned by the company to make a project presentation of a new software they created for Epson Canada. Derwin will leave for Richmond on Sept. 10. Likewise, soon to fly abroad is Ted Steven Tan, also a systems engineer at Epson Software Engineering Philippines in Cebu.  He will fly to Japan in the later part of September to attend a technical conference at Epson Japan.  Ted is the son of Cristina "Sio Hua" Vy-Tan (Batch '70).   Meanwhile, enjoying a vacation in Vancouver Island, Canada is Peter Dy (Batch '66).  Peter and family often spend their vacation in Vancouver Island to go prawning and crabbing.  In photo at left, Peter shows off the buckets of prawns that he caught during their recent Vancouver Island fishing expedition. He was able to catch no less than 500 prawns in just 3.5 hours using lines and prawn traps.  That's a big haul. Enough to treat his household to an ebi tempura party for an entire week.

FAMILY GATHERING. It was a family reunion for the Go family in Iligan City late last month.  Sisters Rosalinda Go (Batch '62), Tita Go (Batch '74), and Matilde Go came home to Iligan for the interment of their father who passed away at the age of 96.  Rosalinda came home from San Diego, U.S.A.; Tita flew in from Seattle, U.S.A., where she is a hospital administrator; and Matilde came home from Saudi Arabia, where she is a registered nurse.

ENGAGEMENT PARTY.  Sighted in Cebu City last Aug. 5 by our paparrazi on the prowl were past LCHS-AA president Andy "Siok An" Lee (Batch '56), in photo, and husband Henry Lee.  They, along with several other family members and relatives, were in Cebu to grace the engagement of a daughter of Lilian "Siok Hun" Ang (Batch '57).  The engagement ceremonies were held at Lilian's residence in Guadalupe, Cebu City.

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

They say that "Small minds talk about people. Average minds talk about events. Great minds talk about ideas." Now given the choice, which of the three would you love to talk about first and foremost? Would it be "ideas, people and events?" or is it "people, ideas and events?" If you are a people-person, then you would certainly love to talk about people first, then ideas or events. Being a people-person, you would prefer to read books about people - their biography, philosophy, principles, lifestyle, etc. because you believe that from them, you could and would learn a lot.

People watching is one pastime that people-persons love to do, where you watch and observe how people talk, walk, eat, laugh, run, jump, or text, all for free. Just as the eyes are the language of the soul, body movements convey a lot about the kind of person that one is. As a people-person you find pleasure in watching people of any kind, anytime, anywhere, that sometimes you would make a guessing game as to how old that woman sitting across the table in a resto is, or that man walking aimlessly in the mall, or that guy texting while walking, etc. Sometimes you would guess it right, other times you're wrong. Well, looks can be deceiving.

Day in and day out, we encounter different kinds of people. But everything boils down to one thing: All of us were kids once upon a time. What we are now, we owe it to our past (childhood history, family upbringing, past associations, the people we grew up with, the environment that we've been exposed to, etc.). Not a few of us would only see people as they are now, in the present tense. But how about putting them in the past tense? What were they like when they were kids themselves? Once upon a time, they too were young and innocent and carefree, just like anybody else. Life is a cycle, remember?

Today, I could see a reflection of my youth in the personalities of these younger people around. When I was young myself, I used to be very observant of how people acted, walked, dressed up, or talked. I used to be endlessly curious with just about anything under the sun, the moon, and the stars. I always had questions at the back of my mind. In due time I realized that all those were part of growing up, of being young and innocent, curious and inquisitive.

Our training back in medical school was such that we were to be observant at all times about the things that surround us, to have that scientific sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. We were encouraged to ask questions when in doubt, putting a question mark instead of outrightly accepting a statement with a period. In short, "dig deeper, go for details". So when we became doctors, true enough, being observant is one important aspect of being a medical man, especially when we take the clinical history or do a physical examination on our patients. We watch and observe and ask many questions relevant to the patient's symptomatology. So, afterall, my being a people-person who love people watching has worked to my advantage. In medicine, you treat the totality of a person and not just his headache or his hyperacidity. Again, dig deeper, go for details, as to the root cause of such malady. Consequently, you learn 101 things by watching people, by being a people-person.

If you're not yet a people-person, be one. If you are already one, continue to be one. As two beautiful songs about people would put it: "People, people who need people. I'm the luckiest people in the world ..." And yes, "In this world of ordinary people, of extraordinary people, I'm glad there is you ..."

Mr. Henry T. Siao
School Director
Lanao Chung Hua School
Iligan City

I voluntarily tender my resignation in this institution effective June 8, 2007.
Thank you for the years I had spent in this school.  More power!

(Sgd) William K. Payonan

June 9, 2007
Mr. Henry T. Siao
School Director
Lanao Chung Hua School
Iligan City

Sir:

This is anent the removal of the office of the School Principal.  May I respectfully register my vehement and vigorous protest against it, because such for all intent and purposes is a constructive removal and termination of my services without the benefit of due process of law amounting to Unfair Labor Practice.

May I underscore that I was not administratively charged and/or found guilty of any administrative charge or my name and records remains untarnished and clean.  In fine my termination was made without basis in fact and in law consequently it is illegal, void and without legal effect.

May I also clarify that my resignation letter supposedly effective June 8, 2007 is in respect to my appointment as Head of Physical Set-up because I came to realize that the same is a demotion upon my part from School Principal and such is an insult upon my person.  I reiterate my resignation from the position of Physical Set-up and such is irrevocable.

Finally in view of my illegal termination as School Principal I am asking payment of my separation/termination pay and other benefits within reasonable period from receipt hereof.

Thank you very much.

Respectfully yours,
(Sgd) William K. Payonan

Dear Sir:

This is in reply to your letter of June 9.

Let us revisit the events that probably had caused you to write the aforesaid letter.

On June 4, the Board of Trustees of the Lanao Chung Hua School (LCHS) and the Board of Directors of the Lanao Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (LFCCCI) held a joint meeting in the library of the LCHS.  In the meeting, a new administrative structure was approved.

You should be familiar with this new administrative structure because you were an observer to the whole meeting on June 4, and were taking some notes of the proceedings.  In the meeting it was brought out that the new structure will do away with the positions of School Principal, Assistant School Principal, and Prefect of Chinese Language Instructions.  Instead, the positions of Head - Physical Set-up, Head - English Department, and Head - Chinese Department will be created.  This new administrative set-up was approved by the attending LFCCCI directors and LCHS trustees, who duly affixed their signatures on the proposal.

On June 6, a meeting was called by the School Board, which is composed of the President of the LFCCCI, Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LCHS (in lieu of the Chairman, who is on leave and out of town), LCHS School Director, President of the LACHSPA, and the President of the LCHSAA.  Also present at the meeting were you, the newly appointed head of Physical Set-Up, Mrs. Veronica B. Uy, newly appointed head of English Department, and Mrs. Glenda Sy-Cabilan, newly appointed head of Chinese Department. The main purpose of the meeting was the signing of the appointment papers.  You signed on each and every page of your appointment paper as head of the Physical Set-Up, while Mrs. Uy and Mrs. Cabilan also signed their appointment papers.

On June 8, you met with the President of the LFCCCI, the Executive Vice Chairman of the LCHS Board of Trustees, and the School Director to present your letter of resignation.  Your letter, by the way, does not conform to the correct format of a letter, because you did not indicate the date of your letter.  You said "I voluntarily tender my resignation in this institution effective June 8, 2007. (Paragraph) Thank you for the years I had spent in this school. (Paragraph) More Power!"  By way of explanation, you told the aforesaid three persons that you have been appointed/designated by Taipan Lucio Tan as Vice President of the Executive Committee that oversees the yearly summer studies/tours of Philippine Chinese school students in Xiamen, China, so much so that you have to travel to Xiamen every summer, which you have been doing for the last three to four summer vacations, thereby nullifying your pledge to LCHS to stop going to China starting the summer of School Year 2007-08 and start attending to your functions as School Principal.  Therefore, you told us, you are left with no other choice, but to tender your resignation as School Principal of LCHS.

Then on June 9, the law office of Atty. Badelles Macaan brought your letter of complaint/demand dated June 9 to the School Director.

In reference to the above letter, we would like to make the following observations:

1) Your services were not terminated.  You will continue to draw the same salary as you were receiving before in your new position as Head of Physical Set-Up.

2) Likewise the services of the persons manning the abolished positions of Assistant Principal and Prefect of Chinese Instruction were not terminated.  Like you, they were laterally transferred to the newly created positions.

3) Your "clarification" that your resignation was in respect to your appointment as Head of Physical Set-Up has come too late in the hour of the day.  It would have been very simple for you to indicate in your resignation letter that you were resigning as Head of Physical Set-Up, but want to retain your position as School Principal.

4) In fact, the statement in your resignation letter "Thank you for the years I had spent in your school.", clearly indicates that you are severing your ties with the school.

5) Worse, your "clarification" does not jive with your declaration that you after all have to continue going to China, and leave your functions as School Principal again unattended.  Remember, the planning and formulation of a school's thrust and direction, of school policies and plans, and the manning of vacated teaching positions for the new school year are all done during the summer vacation, and should be the responsibility of a really performing School Principal.

6) It is a common knowledge in LCHS that many functions of the School Principal, especially those that involve concepts and use of the English language, are in fact and in truth performed not by you (italics theirs), but by someone else.

7) Since you or your colleagues were not terminated or demoted but were laterally transferred, and you had voluntarily tendered your resignation, it follows that your asking for payment of separation/termination pay has no basis in law.

I hope this letter will resolve any misunderstanding you may have with us.  Allow us to offer our best wishes to the success of your new endeavors.

Yours very truly,

(Sgd) Henry Siao, School Director
(Sgd) Robert Co, President, LFCCCI
(Sgd) Vy Beng Hong, Executive Vice Chairman, LCHS Board of Trustees

Igdono U. Caracho, Batch '66

It's always advisable to instill a strong spiritual foundation in children at an early age, such as learning to say a prayer before going to bed. Sometimes learning to do so can be tricky and requires rigid training and good upbringing -- especially for a dog. One wonders how this dog acquires such skill and patience to train a kid like this to pray like that. Good work, doggie. Arf!