37th ng Batch '73 2010 Reunion Date Poll

Hello, Kabatch!

During the homecoming dinner hosted by Odette Dinopol, the Gensan-based Kabatch decided to hold our 37th reunion in 2010 on ANY of the following dates:

December 27 - Monday, Rizal Day (holiday)
December 28 - Tuesday
December 29 - Wednesday

Just like our 35th reunion, the 37th will feature a Holy Mass in the morning followed by a community outreach project and Dinner/Reunion program in the evening.

Please vote for your preferred date in the new poll at the right portion of our blog. Thanks!

Sing-Along! Dedicated to the One I Love

I'm sure this song brings back a lot of memories for many of us, Kabatch!

While I'm far away from you my baby
I know it's hard for you my baby
Because it's hard for me my baby
And the darkest hour is just before dawn

Each night before you go to bed my baby
Whisper a little prayer for me my baby
And tell all the stars above
This is dedicated to the one I love

(life can never be exactly like we want it to be)
I could be satisfied knowing you love me
(but there's one thing I want you to do especially for me)
And it's something that everybody needs

While I'm far away from you my baby
Whisper a little prayer for me my baby
Because it's hard for me my baby
And the darkest hour is just before dawn

If there's one thing I want you to do especially for me
And it's something that everybody needs

Each night before you go to bed my baby
Whisper a little prayer for me my baby
And tell all the stars above
This is dedicated to the one I love

This is dedicated to the one I love
This is dedicated to the one I love
This is dedicated to the one I love
(this is dedicated)

Sing-along! Softly as I leave You

Softly, I will leave you softly
For my heart would break if you should wake and see me go
So I leave you softly, long before you miss me
Long before your arms can beg me stay
For one more hour or one more day
After all the years, I can't bear the tears to fall
So, softly as I leave you there

(Softly, long before you kiss me)
(Long before your arms can beg me stay)
(For one more hour) or one more day
After all the years, I can't bear the tears to fall
So, softly as I leave you there
As I leave I you there
As I leave I you there

Sing-along! One Day in Your Life - Michael Jackson (RIP)

Praying for Tita Cory - Reprint

Praying for Tita Cory NEW BEGINNINGS By Bum D. Tenorio, Jr. Updated July 05, 2009 12:00 AM

Photo by Manny Marcelo

They say the most potent prayer for someone who is unwell is said by a person who is also sick. If that is the case, God must be awed as to how my father prays for you. My hypertensive 74-year-old father is in the hospital, too, as he is being treated because he stopped eating for three days. When he learned from me that there would be a novena of healing Masses for you, my father said he would also pray for you.

My father is just one of the millions who are storming the gates of heaven now for you. My family, friends and I have formed a positive house of prayer for your wellbeing. In fact, since end of June, my Facebook status reads: “There will be a novena of healing Masses for former President Cory Aquino from July 1 to July 9 at 12:15 p.m. at the Greenbelt Chapel, Makati City. Let’s pray for Tita Cory. Thanks.”

Truth is, I have always been praying for your welfare ever since I learned about your cancer. Like a real Cory fanatic, I cried when your children Noynoy and Kris confirmed on nationwide TV on March 24, 2008 about your cancer of the colon.

Why do people cry for someone they don’t even know personally? I cried because I felt for the icon of my political awakening –– you were the mother who, by virtue of what you did for our country, taught me to understand what democracy was all about. Even without us knowing each other personally –– and I ask for your understanding with my temerity in calling you Tita –– I have always regarded you as my mother in more ways than one. And here’s a son saying a prayer for you. And like the million others who do the same, I have this fervent belief that God acts fast on our pleas.

I was only 10 months old when martial law was declared; 11 years old when your husband Ninoy was assassinated; and 14 when the late strongman called for a snap election. If only I could vote then, I would surely have written your name on my ballot. But my parents and my other relatives did.

Life in my little and sleepy barrio in Laguna went on with the heat of the presidential campaign slightly felt. We had no TV yet then but our transistor radio was always on. It was the same radio that my parents would bring to the rice field. (I remember having to place two big Eveready batteries under the sun hoping that doing so would charge them longer). In the farm, my parents would wear identical yellow long-sleeved shirts made of polyester with “Sobra na, Tama na, Palitan na” slogan. Those shirts of theirs would naturally be smudged with mud at the end of the day but mother would always find time washing them. At least twice a week I would see my parents wear those shirts to the field. By the time those yellow shirts faded to white with constant washing and the slogan almost wiped out, the tenant in Malacañang was also expunged like the dirt in my parents’ shirts after a hard day’s work in the field.

It was at the height of the presidential campaign that I understood brilliantly the meaning of charisma. All I had to do was to watch you in our neighbor’s television and you would simply become charisma personified—with the mammoth crowd surrounding you, listening intently to whatever you would say. That gave birth to my being drawn to what they called then the Cory magic.

When People Power ended on Feb. 25, 1986, my parents declared a holiday from working in the field. I felt I also won. Indeed we all won!

Since then, I have become a silent fan. The rallies, marches and demonstrations against Marcos from 1983 to 1986 that I heard or saw in the news escorted me on my way to being politically aware. You were at the center of this awakening. And I feel, I owed it all to you.

You were installed into power via a bloodless revolt that the rest of the world will remember. And for the democracy you restored for me and the rest of the Filipino people –– a prayer every day, anywhere, anytime is all that a stranger son like me can offer you.

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com or my.new.beginnings@gmail.com. Have a blessed Sunday!)

Kabatch Odette hosts Get-together; Sonia celebrates birthday

Lourdes Odette Dinopol came home and hosted a get-together with Batch '73 in Gensan. The get-together also served as the birthday celebration of Sonia Garcia. The get-together was held in the home of Cecil, Odette's sister. Helping Odette entertain Batch '73 were her son and daughter and palanggang apo Yanna. Odette had a grand time renewing friendships and ties with fellow JALLS Lorna Calderon and the rest of the kabatch based in Gensan.Standing from left Vickee Gonzaga, Susan Guatlo, Rabia Batuwa, Mariame Franco, Lorna Calderon, Edna Sunga, Sonia Garcia, Glyn Dumanig, Odette Dinopol, Gilda Bantawig and Violeta Lopez. Sitting are Judith Balajadia, Malou Dypiangco, Gilbert Tan, Ruben Cabradilla and Vir Lauzon.

Odette, Lorna, Susan, Malou and Gilbert enjoying the cake slices and drinks.
JALLS gals Odette and Lorna waving to kabarkadas Jasmin, Angelita, Susan

Sonia and kabatch for the candle-blowing.Posing muna bago slice-in ang cake

Odette and daughter

Odette shares the joys of Lola-hood with Gilda

Odette shows off her apo Yanna to kabatch

Gilbert, Ruben, Vir and ViolyEdna, Mariame, Lorna, Odette and CefOdette with birthday gal Sonia and Nelia de Guzman

Photos courtesy of Glyn and Gilda.

Shawn Andrew - palanggang apo of Lorna & Monching

Meet Shawn Andrew (Andot), palanggang apo of Kabatch Lorna Calderon & Monching Trespeces. Andot's parents are the kids of Lorna & Monching. He's a jolly friendly kid who loves puto. Lorna says Andot is fond of tinkering with the computer (he loves watching Youtube online) and other electronic thingies.

Photo courtesy of Glyn and Gilda.