FALL UPDATE

There's not much activity for the past weeks or months. I only received three submissions lately. A warm welcome to:

• Aurora Umali-Robb, Class 1972
• Lizandro Gorom, Class 2001
• Vhelian Pardiqas, Class 2005

I hope more alumni will join and send me their individual or activity pictures. My plan to add more pages to the BCA Alumni website is on hold for lack of materials.

Will there be a grand reunion next year?

Hope I can get an update from anyone who knows something about any plan for a reunion.

August Update in September

Oops...it's September, the leaves are turning gold and summer is gone. Sorry folks, too busy to make an update in August.

First of all, my apologies to the following alumni whom I missed to acknowledge in my previous updates:

• Emmanuel Pons, Class 1961
• Venancio Atienza, Class 1974

There's not much activities last month but I received two submissions by the end of the month and one early this month. Please welcome the following BCA alumni:

• Tyrone Mar Abundo, Class 2005
• Gilbert Romaraog, Class 1993
• Roberto San Antonio, Class 1966

Bert San Antonio was our classmate up to third year in 1965. He recently reconnected with our fellow classmates by hosting a mini-reunion in his house last week.

Bert (standing, in red shirt) is shown here with fellow '66ers (seated from left) Anita Montejo, Naning Sonias, Aning Atienza (standing from left) Jose Septimo, Minda Moran and Ella Roldan.

Gilbert Romaraog also sent me his picture (left) .

Also last month, France Adan-Banzuela (third from left sent me the above picture with Manny and Rosarita Pons (second from left). Also in picture is Deity Avila, France's cousin.

I will give our website a facelifting soon. I will add more pages and more spaces for events and photo gallery. I hope more alumni will participate and provide me some suggestions on the content of our website.

Hope to hear from you all.

July Updates

July is Stampede Month in Calgary. This is the month where people gets to be cowboys. One week of wearing nothing but western in the office. Stampede is like a huge feria. Rodeo, agri-shows, rides, parades, nightly fireworks for ten days, free breakfasts and barbecues and a lot more. They advertise it us the greatest show on earth. Hmm....I don't know about that.

My apologies for not being prompt on my updates. Recently, I went back to work after a ten-month leave, so I am a little busy. Yes, that's a long absence but the office was still there with my name on the door, so I went back. I guess, the company still needs me. By the way if you have close relatives in Alberta, Canada, like brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or parents, you might be able to immigrate if you want and qualify. Check this site out:

http://www.albertacanada.com/immigration/immigrate/familystream.html

We received three submissions recently and I am hoping that, with your help, more will follow. Please welcome our new registrants:

• Vilma Selga-Sadullo, Class 66
• Efren Carinaga, Class 90
• Cristina San Esteban-Houy, Class 74

Please keep on telling your friends, classmates and fellow alumni about our BCA Alumni site and BCA Alumni Blog.

Thanks a lot.

Welcome to Our New Registrants

We received more submissions last week. Unfortunately, not all of them have email address so I can only provide you with their residence addresses if you will ask for them. Here are the BCA graduates who registered last week:

Fr. Noe Abejero Laganson - Class 1966
Gorgonio Abejero Aco - Class 1958
Alice Abejero Aco - Class 1967
Mercuria Abejero Aco - Class 1968
Dominga Abejero Aco - Class 1967
Ameurfina Curioso Silo - Class 1975
Anita Montejo de la Cruz - Class 1966

We hope that more BCA Alumni with register in our website.

Slowly but surely...

Our campaign to gather information from graduates of the BCA is slowly but surely gaining some momentum. So far, we have received twenty-one submissions. I have email addresses of the following graduates from Bicol Central Academy:

Eriberto Aco - 1966
Leovy Selga Aguila - 1964
Wilfredo Alvarez - 1971-72
Yane Peredo Amante - 1968
Francia Adan Banzuela - 1966
Adeloisa Sonias Bautista - 1966
Emmanuel Bautista - 1977
Eden Jane Roldan Intencion - 1969
Anita Atienza Orquina - 1966
Rodel Paloma - 1999
Raymundo Pendor - 1966
Glenn Peredo - 1974
Dewey Peredo - 1972
Teddy Peredo - 1966
Susan Hernandez Ronquillo - 1977
Henry Sonias - 1969
Menchie Peredo Sopeña - 1974
Adriano Tenorio - 1966
Marissa Bustamante Velarde - 1973
Zita Baron Vinluan - 1987
Norman Zaldua - 1980

These names are also posted in our Website http://bcaalumni.homestead.com/about.html.

REMEMBERING "EQUING"

Who can ever forget him? You either hated or loved him, but for sure you respected him. Mr. Gideon Enriquez made every student terrified, especially when they came to school unprepared or did not do their homework. Everyone in our class has a story to tell about their experiences with "Mr. Terror". Many of us experienced climbing the dreaded "veranda" of the main building for not doing our homework in biology or algebra.

There are some funny moments too. I still remember when he caught Domingo Sadullo coaching Hugo Margate (may he rest in peace) in one of our classes. He made Ingo took over teaching the class and of course Ingo complied...with some theatrics too. "Li-lin-tian kamo" Ingo started and "Equing" just smiled. Equing's favorite line when a student can not answer or does not have a homework : "Marhay pang magtanom-tanom ka na lang nin kamote. Pagmata mo igua ka nang ugbos na puede lasuman".

The best thing about him though, is that he will inspire you. Many of us had achieved our goals with some inspiration from the man. I for sure became who I am partly because of him. He made me study harder and learn math and algebra well. Those subjects were important in my further studies and are helpful in the practice of my profession.

The river of my memories

I'm pretty sure everyone of us has a story to tell related to the river. I, for one, have a long list of experiences since I grew up in Centro where our house was just a few steps from the river. I wonder if the river is still utilized to transport people and goods to the neighboring towns. Pawe, my father designed and pioneered the style of a boat with seats like that of a bus with an aisle for ease of reaching the back seats. Our motor launch was named ALIMAN (stands for Alice and Manuel, my parent's name).

My first vivid memory of the river was during my first grade or earlier. It looked vast and intimidating but attractive to little people who were always looking for adventures. It was in the river bank that we improvised, with some sands and cardboards, our first 'toboggan'. The cardboard ride was the best ever. The row of big boats (well, they looked big to us) tied to the posts of the river bank challenged our rowing skills. Looking back, we should have untied the boats and crossed to the other side of the river, that would have been more fun. On low tides, a small island grows in the middle of the river which was a pretty good source of 'BIBI' also known as tulya. Men.. those 'tulya' were really good. My mom would cook 'ginataang tulya' with 'lambo' and lots of 'kamias'. My favorite, though was 'crunchy bibi' but of course we needed tons of it because it shrinks down to half the size when deep fried. 'Basud' was our favorite get away. I always looked forward and tried to be nice all week, helping in the household chores so I can go with my brothers and sisters to our 'resort' in Basud. The swimming lessons were intense but I learned a few strokes after swallowing gallons of water (yuck!). And the bridge...let's not forget the awesome bridge. When the trains went by, the 'flying saucers' launched from the windows of the trains were plunging directly to the waters. Another yuck, remember the gallons of water swallowed and the appetizing 'BiBi' ? But anyway, I so love that bridge. When I went to high school in BCA, I had some classmates who lived across the river. I found out it was more fun crossing the bridge than attending the afternoon class. That bridge offered a lot of challenges. We ran and race to the other end but I tell you, avoiding those rotten slats was not easy. One day, as we were crossing the bridge the train came while we were just halfway. Oh boy, you should have seen how we clung to our dear life lying prostrate and hugging every possible slat that we can grab.

I'd say I had the best and most memorable experiences growing up in our little town, but I bet everyone would say the same. We left our town for different reasons but always come back having the same thoughts and ideas... RELIVE the past and ENJOY the present.

Project: Bicol Central Academy Alumni Association

Our Alma Mater, the Bicol Central Academy of Libmanan Camarines Sur Philippines has been in existence for over 50 years but there has been no real effort to organize the graduates into an alumni association.

We recognize that forming an association of people scattered all over the world would not be easy. Thanks to the Internet it is now a little easier to locate people for gathering and disseminating information.

We are hopeful that by creating a website, the task of getting our classmates and friends together in a single forum would be easier. We are expecting that the website and this blog site will jump start a renewed interest and enthusiasm among the graduates of Bicol Central Academy.

The front background of our website - the river, the bridge, and Mt. Isarog, has been a sight every Libmaneños has known and enjoyed since the beginning of time. Unlike the mountain that is firm and permanent, the river constantly flows with the tide and the people like the river’s tide, moves in and out on a steady stream. The BCA alumni association can hopefully become the bridge to close the ever widening gap created by the constant move of our fellow graduates.