“ BABALIK KA RIN “

Part 2 of 2

I usually do a regular update on this class website, like I did on the 'Memories' series. It's been quite a while since I published Part 1. But these past few months, I have been occupied by a very important activity called a "job", which most of you are familiar with - a necessary chore that some of us hate to do, but brings food on the table and pays the bills. I had to show up at my office to work, go to meetings, meet people, be productive - and beat deadlines! Well, so much for the excuses, let's get on with the rest of the story. Huli man daw at magaling, maihahabol din!

Monday, January 22: Late in the morning, I got a call from Bibing Camungol that Melit Darvin wanted to have a copy of the group picture (taken at the reunion the day before) enlarged so it can be included in the Souvenir Program for the occasion. This day was also our deadline to give the printer every picture that we want published in the program. The back page for this Souvenir Program has been reserved for one of ex-President Joseph Estrada's son, JV, but Erap fell from power the previous Saturday so the plan for JV to have the full page ad didn't push through. Sayang! Instead of having the back page empty, Melit decided to have the reunion class photo in it, which was a really good idea. Several people took group pictures during the reunion, but Caloy Ilem had a nice camera, so I got his roll of film, had it developed in one hour and selected the nicest group picture to enlarge. Not too many places around town can do an 8" x 10" enlargement in an hour or two. I had to check every photo shop in the market place, go to ShoeMart (SM) in Bacoor, before finally finding one at Robinson's, a fairly new mall by the Aguinaldo Highway just south of the Imus Toll Bridge. Bibing and I finally delivered the enlarged photo to the printer's shop at SM Bacoor. The lady at the counter was Ruby, Bibing's cousin (and also Egay Sarroca's; wait a minute, she's also a relative of mine!) from Bayan Luma, whose house was one of our hangouts when we were growing up. I asked if she recognized me, she did, and even remembered my name. While proofreading the souvenir program's layout (we did find a lot of typos), Nora Camposagrado and Ricardo 'Bobong' Mañago came to check out on its progress. We finished late and I invited them to go to dinner at Island Cove in Binakayan, on what was known as 'Covelandia' decades ago. We went to one of their restaurants that boasted 'Korean' food, but tasted otherwise, at least on what I know as Korean food.

Saturday, January 27: After getting a few hours of sleep, I woke up early once again, took a shower and headed to the Imus Cathedral, where Catholic alumni will hear a thanksgiving mass. The night before at our final rehearsal, Bibing Camungol teasingly asked Greg Bermejo, a Jehovah's Witness what time he is going to church, to which Greg jokingly replied with his usual smile, "Niloloko mo naman yata ako eh!" My sister-in-law dropped me off at the church grounds for the supposedly early 6:00 am mass. A few alumni were already there by the front door, with some already inside. Nina Gabriel, who flew in from Los Angeles the night before, showed up before the service. Susie Samaniego came sleepy-eyed and looking tired, and mentioned that she and other classmates didn't get home until 1:00 in the morning, only a few hours before, because they did some last-minute preparation at the Imus Institute gym where the Alumni Homecoming will be held. Apparently, our scheduled mass was really at 6:30 am, and Melit Darvin just tricked us all into coming at 6:00 am so everybody will be on time! The population of Imus has increased tremendously in the past two decades and it was evident in the increase of Sunday masses and churchgoers. There were still the usual balloon, popcorn and candle vendors. Ms. Sylvia Abella still plays the organ. The mass was officiated by a very young priest who looked like in his mid-20s, and this made me feel old. I thought that it would have been fitting if Rev. Fr. Agustin Baas could officiate the mass, as he was also a member of our graduating class, or it could have been an ecumenical gathering somewhere so that alumni of all faiths can participate. I didn't understand the sermon very well (was there one?) because I was seated with Bibing and we were talking throughout the mass. I noticed that during the service, a guy with a camera and another holding a flood light were taking a video of the service. They were from Barbon's Studio, and after the mass, they also took still pictures of us with the priest in the altar. The scene was like after a wedding ceremony. More pictures were taken outside the church before all of us proceeded to the II gym to have our breakfast of "tapsi" and coffee. For the uninitiated, "tapsi" is "tapa at sinangag." It was all we had when I left the country many years ago. Nowadays, there are so many variations. "longsilog" for "longanisa, sinangag at itlog", "tapsilog" which is self-explanatory, and "dasilog" for "daing, sinangag at itlog." During breakfast, I met Grace Santera and Aniceta Monzon, they were my classmates during our freshman year. I had to introduce myself because they did not recognize me, no surprise because the last time we saw one another was almost twenty-five years ago. After breakfast, I saw a couple more new faces - Ernesto Medina, from Malagasang, and Nestor Rusit, a resident of Toronto, Canada. Nestor came looking very much like a tourist in his t-shirt and shorts, and toting a camera bag. Belet Samala and Nora Camposagrado distributed commemorative t-shirts (in 'formal' black) to be worn that day. They also distributed t-shirts (in less formal gray) during the reunion a week before. Larry Samudio started giving out banners, posters and balloons to be displayed outside vehicles joining the motorcade, which started around 10 in the morning. From Nueno Avenue, the motorcade took us around Poblacion, Medicion I, then II, Pag-asa, Alapan, Bukandala, Patindig-Araw, the national highway to Anabu, then the so-called 'Coastal Road' to Malagasang I, Bukandala, Bayan Luma and back to Nueno Avenue. I felt strange on our ride through Bayan Luma, where I was born and raised. It looked so different from the barrio I knew, the houses and their yards looked different, and I hardly recognized the people walking down the street. I must have been away too long. 'Coastal Road' is a fairly new road that connects the highway in Anabu with Malagasang I. It was built around the same time as the real Coastal Road from Parañaque to Bacoor, hence the road's nickname. Josie Camerino mentioned that at one time, they refer to that road as 'Salvage Road', because it was used to dump victims of 'salvage', a slang they use in the Philippines which means to summarily execute people. The motorcade ended before 11:00 am. Before everybody went home, we learned that Laida Arguelles will not be able to make it as one of the emcees in the late afternoon's homecoming program. Melit Darvin asked Nina Gabriel to fill in for Laida to which she willingly obliged. Melit and I stayed in the gym to wait for the guys who will provide the video projector and a giant 12' x 9' projection screen. This service was donated by another classmate, Cristina Reyes, who lives in Suisun City in northern California. She wasn't able to attend due to a scheduling conflict, but the video service more than made up for her absence. We were starting to panic when it was almost 1 pm and these video guys were nowhere in sight. The plan was to hook up a laptop on one projector and a pair of cameras on another projector. The laptop will run computer-generated presentations and the cameras will focus on the proceedings in the stage and the crowd, and the images will be projected on the big screen. The guys finally came at 1 pm, blaming heavy 'traffic' all the way from their office in Pasig. Traffic is an everyday problem in the Metro Manila area and vicinity. The road network just couldn't handle the volume of vehicles. After hooking up the equipment, the projector couldn't produce an image on the screen. The laptop wasn't compatible with the projector, we needed a desktop PC, luckily, there was one at my in-laws' house. Melit and I hurriedly left to get it, came back, and was able to make it work. But a new problem came up, all the files needed for the presentation were on the laptop and were too big to be transferred to the desktop PC via diskettes - and it was getting close to the starting time of 5:00 pm for the homecoming! By this time, Melit and I were in a super panic mode, extremely tense and sweating profusely. I guess it was our lucky day when we found a computer whiz who found a way to transfer those files. When he reassured us that he'd take care of the problem, only then did we decide to go home to take a shower and dress up.

It was around 4:30 pm when I finally came back to the school gym. Most of my classmates were there and alumni from other years were already coming in big numbers. I noticed the presence of a few classmates who were not at the reunion the previous Sunday - among them, Mario Malinis, Edilberto Bangalan, Gina Ibañez, Merliza Velazco and Lilibeth Sapida. I recognized Lilibeth but had to ask Edwin Igtiben for her name, we last saw each other in high school. Merliza, who lives in northern California, is the daughter of the store owner (next to MidSouth, the tailor) who sells handicraft supplies to II students. While doing last minute preparations for the program, I was approached by Josefino 'Ping' Gorospe. He was one of my late brother's best friends, and they were from the Class of 1965. Melchor Saique got the assignment of running the computer-generated presentation from a PC, and Caloy Ilem got one of two video cameras for the big screen projection. Tables were assigned to those classes with alumni in attendance. The fabulous stage design was done by Leonardo 'Nards' Nievera, an architect by profession. It was installed by people from his construction business. The platform that will hold the podium wasn't finished until minutes before the program. Guia Monzon, looking very professional with her Nikon SLR camera, took pictures of the proceedings all night long.

At 5:00 pm, the first part of the 2001 Imus Institute Grand Alumni Homecoming began. Hosts Marites Aquino and last minute substitute, Nina Gabriel started the occassion. I was in the dressing room behind the stage when Filipinas Pascasio led the singing of the national anthem and Wilfredo Cabrera gave an invocation. It was followed by a welcome address from our Class 1976 Alumni President, Melito Darvin. While waiting for my turn as the third host, I chatted with my classmates Lilibeth, Nenita Bantugan, Daisy Camaña and Nancy Jarin in our class' assigned space in front of the stage. Nancy commented that I was 'Rocco ang dating', referring to me looking very formal in my Barong Tagalog. I thought that he meant Bembol Rocco, the bald actor, but she really meant Raul Rocco, the senator. The first part of the program was speeches from II Alumni Association officers, among them our former teacher, Ms. Lolita Bilugan, Mrs. Corazon Sabater-Gerodias, Dr. Arlene Abella-Sauna, Mrs. Leticia Lacson-Ramos, Capt. Asisclo Castañeda and Atty. Manuel Paredes. Before proceeding to the main part of the Alumni Homecoming program, dinner was served to everybody in attendance. It came in the form of rice, barbecue and stewed beef in a styrofoam container. While I was eating, a good friend from the Class of 1978, Jovy Solis of Medicion, came over to greet me. He calls himself an honorary member of the Class of 1976 because he has a lot of friends from our class, and some have become his 'comadres' and 'compadres'. Catering was provided by alumnus Luisito Protacio. During dinner, a computer-generated presentation, created by Melit Darvin and Tess Aquino, was projected on the giant screen. It was a montage of pictures taken during high school, and reunion pictures from both the Philippines and the United States, with matching early '70s music. They elicited a few 'ahs' from the crowd especially the Class of 1976, those photos and music surely brought back plenty of high school memories. After an hour of dinner and intermission, I was introduced to the audience by my co-host for the evening, Marites Aquino. After the usual pleasantries, we carried on with the main program of the 2001 Alumni Homecoming. We acknowledged the Jubilarians (those celebrating their 5th, 10th, 15th, etc. anniversaries) in attendance, other classes with representatives, and the host of last year's event, the Class of 1975. Our apologies to the Class of 1980 with more than 20 alumni in attendance, whom we failed to acknowledge. Our Class of 1976 opened the presentation with a song and dance number, with alumni lip synching popular songs of the early '70s. There was Josefina Camerino, as Karen Carpenter, singing 'Top of the World'. Luisito Protacio, in a very impressive costume, moonwalked as Michael Jackson. 'Jeproks' Nestor Ilas, Ricardo Mañago and Reynando Mendoza gave a very convincing impersonation of the Juan de la Cruz Band. Egay Sarroca and Larry Samudio, who looked silly in their wigs but looked cool with their guitars, together with 'lead singer' Elmer Crisostomo as the group, Hotdogs, serenaded 'Miss Universe', Eleonor Montoya with the popular Manila Sound tune, 'Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko'. Eleonor, or 'Mariel' as she is more popularly known, looked fabulous in her evening gown, crown and bouquet of flowers. Annie Marie Siongco and Esmeraldo Ilem, singing 'Together Again', were perfect in their roles as 'Guy and Pip'. Annie's face was made up with a darker tone and a mole was added on her cheek, just like 'Ate Guy'. The very handsome Esmie had well-trimmed sideburns as 'Pip'. To close this opening number, most of the Class of 1976 alumni joined the performers on stage, danced to the Bee Gees' 'Night Fever' and finally raised Susie Samaniego high up in the air at the end of the song. Susie may be diminutive in size but a giant in popularity then and now. I am very proud to mention that it was no amateur presentation. It was directed by TV personality, a celebrity in his own right, and a native son of Imus, Cesar Cosme. I first met him during our class reunion the week before, and we met a few more times for some last minute rehearsals. Not only did he write the script for the emcees and the numbers for our class' presentations, but had some TV and movie stars (among them Bong Revilla, Jimmy Santos and Rosanna Roces) greet everyone by video tape, provided costumes and brought along his own production assistants. Other jubilarians' presentations included an Igorot dance, a chorale, and former teacher, Miss Lualhati Mendoza, in a duet. For the first time, an Imus Institute College alumnus participated in a homecoming with a song.

For our own class' presentation, 'Direk' Cesar Cosme had us do a pantomime comedy, which he himself wrote. It made the audience think about the scene. Titled 'Ang Bahay Ni Romy' at the last minute, it starred Romeo Marquez, a very funny guy in real-life. He is from Carsadang Bago and married to a Class of 1976 alumna, Elsie de la Cruz. The story was about Romy going through his house, with parts of his house played by actors in white t-shirts and with faces almost unrecognizable in heavy white makeup. As Romy, with his Charlie Chaplin mustache and walk, entered his house, Nards Nievera swung around as if he was the door. Tess Marcial, starting with clenched fists, opened them up when Romy flipped an imaginary switch on, she was the lights. Melchor Nas stood on a corner as the clothes rack. When Romy wanted music, Greg Bermejo started spinning his hand like a phonograph. Romy went to the bathroom and Grace Agapito was there in a sitting position with her right arm upright and the right hand in a horizontal position, she was the toilet. He then pretended to be disrobing, went in front of Tess Aquino who was the shower, raised both his hands chest-level towards Tess, and made a twisting motion as if he was turning the hot and cold knobs of a shower. After drying himself off, he checked himself out in front of Ricardo 'Bobong' Mañago, a mirror. Bobong and Romy were flawless in their mirrored body movement. He then stepped into probably his home office, sat on Nestor Ilas' back who was on all fours as the chair, and faced Eileen Purificacion who was a typewriter. At this point, both music and the actors shifted to a faster pace. Romy appeared to be slapping Eileen while she was moving her face sideways, mimicking the action of the carriage return on a typewriter. After finishing an imaginary page, he took it from the typewriter, pulled out Louie Protacio's bowed head upwards, dropped the paper in, and slammed his head back down. Louie was the trash can. That was the conclusion of the pantomime. It was well applauded.

Incoming host Class of 1977 gave a rousing dance number with the music of the group, 'Hagibis', performed by alumni and their spouses. On several occasions when I was not in the podium as emcee, I chatted with some members of their class as I know most of them, trading jokes or just exchanging well wishes. During the host turnover ceremony, the symbolic baton was passed on by Melito Darvin to the Class of 1977 representative, Renato Paredes. 'Enek' or 'Dexter' as he was called, was one of my childhood friends in Bayan Luma.

At around 10:00 pm, after five hours of festivities, our Class of 1976 performed our closing number. It was a song, but with choreography directed by 'OJ', a longtime friend of mine. It is called 'Babalik Ka Rin', and sung by popular singer, Gary Valenciano. It is a well-written song with a nice melody, and lyrics that are very appropriate for the occasion. Most of us who attended the rehearsals went up the stage and participated. At the conclusion of the song, we brought out a cake for our alumni president, Melit Darvin. It was also his birthday. As we were singing the universal birthday song, I thought that it was a very fitting tribute for him, he who spent countless hours organizing the event, sometimes doing chores by himself when he could have easily delegated it to somebody else. The 2001 Alumni Homecoming concluded with Atty. Manuel Paredes thanking us, the Class of 1976, for hosting the memorable event.

Hoping to see you all again sometime ....

Back to Part 1 of 2 ...

Two days later, I was on another plane on my flight back to the US, sad that I had to leave so soon but happy that I came back for the reunion. Ten days came by so quickly but enough to give me plenty of memories. I didn't sleep much during my stay but enjoyed every minute of it. In retrospect, it took a generation for most of us to see each other again, but it didn't matter, as high school days seem to have happened just yesterday.

August, 2001