Vol. 13, No. 2, May 4, 2009

For a better appreciation of the proposed LCHS multi-purpose sport center, architect Peter Dy (Batch '66) recently sent in a 3-dimensional view of the project (in photo below).  The project is being proposed to replace the existing gym which was erected since 1987 using materials dismantled from the original gym built in 1968 at the previous campus on Roosevelt St. Ext.

When completed, the new structure will have a theater stage with dressing room, control & sound room, storage room, and provisions for lighting, equipment, and acoustics. It will also have a multi-purpose court for basketball, tennis, and badminton (4 inner courts), with amenities, like shower room with toilets and lockers; 1,000-capacity bleachers, small business office, kitchen, concessionaires' area, ticket booth, and lobby. The main floor will also serve as auditorium for school programs and as banquet hall for various social functions.

A 3-dimension view of the multi-purpose sport center designed by Peter Dy.

New attraction in Cebu

There's a new attraction current making waves in Cebu City.  It's the Sky Experience Adventure at the newly opened Crown Regency Hotel and Towers on Osmena Blvd.

The Sky Experience Adventure is a height defying amusement facility featuring the world's first Edge Coaster, a two-seater coaster ride around the edge of the 38th floor of the 40-storey building (in photo). The coaster can tilt up to 55 degrees to give the rider the closest feel of flying and runs for about 3 minutes per ride.  Fare is P600 per person, inclusive of buffet meal and certificate, on weekdays, and P800 on weekends, or P500 per ride for two persons without meal. Another attraction is the Skywalk, which allows one to walk the outer rim of the hotel's 37th on four-foot wide glass panel walk path with no hand rails. Each walker is hooked on an overhead safety harness system. Walkers are assisted by trained mountaineering and rescue teams to ensure their safety.

These two facilities are definite thrills for the adventurous but not for the faint-hearted. Crown Regency also features sky high bars and restaurants, gaming arcades and sky observatory.

Allen Co, 69

Allen Co (Batch '57), aka Co Hai Phing, passed away on April 7, 2009 in Iligan City. He was 69 years old and would have been 70 this September. He died of health complications from cancer of the liver. He was the brother of Co Chik King (deceased), Co Chik Bun (deceased), Co Chik Ham (deceased), Loreta Co (Batch '55), Anita Co (Batch '57), Alfred Co, Lucio Co (deceased), Francisco Co (Batch '61), Peter Co (Batch '64), Bonifacia Co (Batch '65), Robert Co (Batch '66) and Edwin Co (Batch '68).  We request our pious readers to pray for the eternal repose of his soul.

NEW LAWYER.  Another alumni daughter has joined the legal profession. Karen Leslie Militante (in photo) passed the 2008 Philippine Bar Examinations, results of which were released last April 3.  She was among the 1,310 who passed the bar exams out of a total of 6,533 aspirants. The daughter of Eng'r. Pete Militante and Dr. Alice Ngo-Militante (Batch '69), Karen  graduated cum laude in Bachelor of Laws last year at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City. She also finished at the top of her batch in B.S. Management Honors at the Ateneo de Manila University. Our congratulations to Atty. Karen Leslie Militante!

TRAVEL SEASON. Summer is travel season. And this summer as in years past, many alumni have strayed out of their nests to visit various places overseas.  Gone anew  on a travel swing across Southeast Asia for the nth time was alumni jetsetter Jesus "Hesing" Dy (Batch '62). Hesing and wife Melania traveled to Vietnam, Hongkong, Macau, and several cities in China, including Tzu Hai where they visited the old house of Sun Yat Sen. They flew back home to Edmonton, Canada on April 19. Last April 7, Santi Ong (Batch '70) joined a tour group from Cebu to visit Seoul, South Korea.  Together with him were Sheikding Booc (Batch '55) and his wife Bily, Helen Booc-Go (Batch '85) and her husband Benjamin Go (in photo hereunder). Arriving back in Cebu last April 12, a visibly exhilarated Santi says that going to South Korea is like going on a soul-searching trip.  A certified bachelor at large, Santi, however, didn't say if he has found his Seoul-mate during the trip. Meanwhile, another footloose alumnus Roderick Ngo (Batch '70) opted to spend his holidays within the country instead of going abroad this summer. Rod brought his family on a "Rod trip" across northern Luzon. They drove from Manila to various parts of Luzon, namely,  La Union, Vigan, Laoag, Pagudpud, and Currimao.  Their trip ended up in Baguio where they attended the 29th National Anniversary Celebration of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professional (BCBP) at the Baguio Country Club.

MOVING OUT.  Suniel "Boy" Lim (Batch '66) will soon be transfering his residence from Iligan to Cagayan de Oro City.  Earlier on, Boy and wife Corrie hied off to Baguio for a well-deserved vacation.  Boy retired from his job with Lian Hong Company last March 1.  He's moving out of Iligan by end of this April. He will surely be missed  by his friends and allies in Iligan. He joins many other alumni who have settled in CdO over the years, to mention a few: Salvador "Sheik Kian" Booc (Batch '66), Rene Tio ('70), Cristina "Tining" Lim ('63), Verna Sy ('62), Giovanni Co ('71), Sy Chu Eng ('58), and Florcita Tiu ('64), among others.

NEW VENTURE. Iligan business tycoon Stephen Sy (Batch '68) has embarked on another new business venture.  He recently launched the Focus Ventures, Inc., of which he is the President and CEO.  The new company, based in Mandaluyong, is the distributor of China-made compact cars and utility vehicles under the brand names of Chana and FAW. Stephen also heads Focus Global Inc., a marketing firm that distributes world-renowned brands of consumer products.

A dozen big cheers
From Leonardo Tan (Batch '66), Sydney, Australia, email: [email protected]
Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:27:32 +1000

To the editor and staff of LCHS Spectrum: A dozen big cheers! What a great achievement with the 12 years anniversary since the return of LCHS Spectrum on the Internet.  It is no joke nor an easy task maintaining such a high quality publication all these years with only a handful of dedicated writers and distributed free of charge to any cyber readers scattered in all corners of the globe.

Charles Sy's story about Mr. Tan Gih Hong brought back so many happy memories of my elementary years. That article was just so true to me in every aspect. I last met him by chance at Mactan Domestic Airport terminal may be some 30 years ago. I think he was bound for Tacloban that day.

Good to know that our former teacher Mr. Fidel Fuertes is still enjoying life and has constant contact with some of our active alumni.

Glad to see the return of Janiefer Lee with her initiation to golf. She always brought us to different angles and interesting aspect of what seems to be a boring subject such as hitting a small ball with a club.

Nice to hear that my buddy and batchmate Igdono Caracho had a great 60th birthday last month. My belated greetings to an old friend. May you have more and more birthdays to celebrate! Happy retirement to another batchmate and Pare Boy Lim.

To the latest bunch of high school graduates: What a great group of talented batch you are! You brought some great pride to so many of us. Congratulations and may you continue reaping more success in life.

To my batchmate Robert Co, I wish you all the best in this great undertaking of spearheading the construction of this new school gym. May this dream of many be realized into a beautiful edifice of steel and concrete designed by another batchmate and Pare Peter Dy. Isn't this the year of Batch '66? Most of us are celebrating our 60th birth anniversary this year!

Once again, kudos to Charles "Anlok" Sy for bringing us all these good tidings through his baby, the LCHS Spectrum! Without it, we will all be in the dark as to what is happening to our LCHS community. Happy 12th year anniversary! And may the Spectrum always bring us the news in the years to come. Big cheers!

Condolences
From Henry Yu (Batch '69), Cebu, Philippines; email: [email protected]
Wed, 8 Apr 2009 12:29:19 -0700 (PDT)

Our heartfelt condolence to the family of Allen Co. Our prayers for the eternal repose of his soul. God grant him eternal peace.

From Antonio Leo Te (Batch '69), Cebu, Philippines; email: [email protected]
Wed, 8 Apr 2009 20:35:13 -0700 (PDT)

Our heartfelt condolence to the family of Allen Co. Our prayers for the eternal repose of his soul. God grant him eternal peace. --Boy & Lorna Te and family.

From Alex Handumon Sy (Batch '68), Aurora, Illinois, U.S.A.; email: [email protected]
Thu, 9 Apr 2009 8:42:52 PM

We wish to extend our condolences to the Co family. You're in our thoughts and prayers. --Handumon-Sy family.

From Jesus Dy (Batch '62), Edmunton, Canada; email: [email protected]
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 6:53:24 AM

Our deepest sympathy to the Co family. --Hesing and Melania

From Mike Lee (Batch '66), Edmonton, Canada; email: [email protected]
Sat, 11 Apri 2009 3:51:53 AM

Our greatest sympathy to the Co family. --Mike and Nancy

From Peter Dy (Batch '66), Edmonton, Canada; email: [email protected]
Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:51:01 -0700 (PDT)

Our deepest sympathy to Co Hai Phing family.  I'm going to miss Hai Phing-hia, his kind words and smile. --Peter & Tita

Greetings from Japan
Sat, 25 April 2009
From Mar Pestano, Chiba-ken, Japan; email: [email protected]

Please send my warmest regards to the lady of Batch '71, Felicitas Sonia Clemen, for her success in life. Thanks.

Charles O. Sy, Batch '67

"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty," wrote British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham.

Music has a way of retaining itself in the inner chamber of our memory better than most other things.  This is particularly true with songs that we grew up with or those which we cherished at some points of our lives.

I grew up with the music of the Beatles.  The legendary Fab Four from Liverpool swept the music world in the early 60s when I, as a high school greenhorn, was starting to go nuts about pop music.  The Beatles first hit our shores in 1963 with their "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Boys." Since then I became an overnight fan gobbling up every 45-rpm record of the Beatles that followed thereafter.  Today each time I hear the early hits of the Beatles I am transported to my high school days at LCHS when tight water-repellent pants, black boots and mop hair were in vogue.

Even though my appreciation of popular music started with the Beatles in the 60s, many other songs that date farther back to the 50s still leave lingering echoes of nostalgia.  Harry Belafonte, Elvis Presley and Pat Boone were among the pop idols of the 50s.  Today whenever I hear Boone's "Bernadine," Presley's "King Creole," and Belafonte's "Day O," images of my days spent as a Grade-I pupil in Cebu immediately flash back in my mind.  My sister, Yok Eng, was a teenage college student then and she often played these songs on our vintage phonograph at home. The songs meant nothing to me then.  Yet they remain today securely etched in my memory.  In the few years that followed when we moved back to Iligan, my sister would play other great hits of the era on our new Caracas hi-fi phonograph.  From her I was introduced to such other immortal music as Paul Francis Webster & Sonny Burke's bouncy "Merry Christmas Polka," Johnny Mathis' "A Certain Smile," and Glenn Miller's balmy "Moonlight Serenade."

Later in my elementary years in Iligan in the late 50s and early 60s, Sue Thompson topped the music charts with her "Have a Good Time."  Around that same period, Neil Sedaka's "Oh Carol," Johnny Tillotson's "True True Happiness," Frankie Avalon's "Venus," and Teddy Randazzo's "One More Chance" and "Teenage Señorita" ruled the airlanes.  Today whenever I hear these songs, my memories automatically bring me back to the little restaurant by the city plaza called Kapit Bahay.  It was there where these songs were played repeatedly on its jukebox.  Having lived within earshot of Kapit Bahay, I could hear the same songs over and over from our house to the point where I could almost memorize their lyrics.

Near the Kapit Bahay was the 7-Up Studio in the vicinity of the city plaza.  Many other smash hits of the day were likewise played endlessly at this studio where a loud speaker was installed facing the park.  From it I soon became familiar with Brenda Lee's "All Alone Am I," Patti Page's "Tennessee Waltz," Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely," and Diomedes Maturan's "Rose Tattoo."  So were other great songs of the times like Patsy Cline's "Crazy," the McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely" and "Volare," the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley," the Four Aces' "Stranger in Paradise," and Connie Francis' "Stupid Cupid."

In many ways, the city plaza was my best and most inexpensive source of music.  Having lived nearby, I learned many immortal songs from the amateur singing contests staged by DXIC every Sunday evening at the park.  Among the standard fare of the contestants were Nat King Cole's "Stardust," Matt Monroe's "Walk Away," Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World," Timi Yuro's "Hurt," and Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera."

Not far away from our house on Quezon Avenue was the Queen Theater that also had a loud speaker installed outside to amplify its music before the start of a movie at noon.  From it I became accustomed to its entire repertoire because the theater played the same music in full blast practically everyday.  One of those songs was Connie Francis' "High Noon."  At about that same period when I was in Grade-VI, there was a transient student in the Grade-V class named Lucena Reyes.  Many boys in school were attracted to her by her beautiful brown eyes.  So was I.  She took part in the school's annual literary-musical contest where she sang "Dalagang Filipina."  And today whenever I hear the song, I think of this pretty dalaga from Kapatagan and wonder if she's still as pretty today as she was with her big brown eyes.

There was a time in our childhood when some manufacturing companies used to show free outdoor movies at the public plaza in the evening to promote their products.  One of them was Fighter Cigarette.  It was memorable because it made its announcement on a jeep that circled the town with its commercial jingle blaring from a loud speaker.  The jingle, I was to learn later, was adapted from the martial march entitled "Colonel Bogey March."  The whistling tune was made popular as the theme song of the movie "Bridge of the River Kwai."  Perhaps even more unforgettable is "The Longest Day" by Paul Anka, from the epic war movie of the same title. When the movie was shown at the Queen Theater in 1962 or thereabouts, the whole stretch of Quezon Avenue was undergoing major concreting works.  Today, each time I hear the song, I remember how I and the kids in the neighborhood would gather daily along the shoulder of the road to watch the men at work.  Now almost 50 years later, the song "The Longest Day" still reminds me of the time Quezon Avenue was reconstructed to become the longest major thoroughfare in the heart of the city today.

Music, according to English dramatist William Congreve, has charms that can soothe a savage beast.  Yet it too can provide lasting footnotes to some significant moments of our lives.  In many ways, old songs serve as the indelible bookmarks of our bygone fascinations -- all because, as our colleague, Marie Janiefer Lee, once wrote, "they leave footprints in our hearts."

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

The other day, I was browsing over some old black and white "faded photographs, covered now with lines and creases" and you bet, vivid memories of yesteryears came back right inside my study room like a song's sweet refrain.

Indeed, there's so much about our past that we would want to go back to again and again and again. A wonderful flashback. A beautiful rewind. A reminiscence of an era gone by. A return to where we once were. Oh, they are just simply unforgettable.

It's been forty years since we went our separate ways after our high school graduation in 1969. Oh, just how fast time really flies!

Wonder what has become of my classmates? Let me just make a roll call:

1. Bernardo, Betty (Jover)
2. Cayubit, Rodrigo (+)
3. Chiu, Apolonia
4. Chiu, Yolanda
5. Chow, Vinson
6. Dy, Chiok Hian (Wang)
7. Dy, Delia
8. Go, Mario
9. Kao Hok, Benny
10. Lagrosas, Leodegaria
11. Lee, Janet (Tan)
12. Lee, Using
13. Lim, Castor Ong
14. Lim, Jose
15. Lim, Josefina
16. Lim, Richard
17. Ling, Jimmy Wong (+)
18. Ngo, Alice (Militante)
19. Sia, Charita (Po) (+)
20. Siangco, Proserpina
21. Racines, Julius
22. Tan, Adelfa (Dy)
23. Tan, Edna Choa (Ramos)
24. Tan, Leopoldo (+)
25. Tan, Timestocles
26. Te, Antonio Leo
27. Velasco, Elson
28. Velasco, Segundino
29. Vy, Beng Hong
30. Yu, Rodolfo
31. Yu, Henry

We all sure remember this song, don't we? It's the one we used to sing to herald the start of the summer vacation. Oh, those were the days. Long gone by, but definitely not forgotten. How could we?

Igdono U. Caracho, Batch '66