batch project

In case you didn't know, it is a tradition of SUHS graduates to have a "batch project". This is an activity or an endeavor which the batch deems worthy of time, effort and finances. Through the years (31 and counting) since we graduated from SUHS in 1978, we have had different projects like donating appliances and tents to our alma mater. The latest project has been the sponsorship of one poor but deserving student through four years of high school education.

Our batch is currently in deep and lively discussions as to what our next project would be because our high school scholar will hopefully graduate this coming March 2010. As is natural in a democratic country, everyone has their own opinion and everyone is encouraged to express these and at the same time listen to and respect the opinion of others. That is why up until this time, we still have not come up with a decision as to what our next project is going to be.

There is one project though that the batch seems unanimous about, and this has been an "ongoing-project" for years now, but for one reason or another it has not come to fruition. Yet.

View these photos and see how Batch '78 exerts time, effort and enthusiasm in bringing about the success of project: Ang Pag-iisang Dibdib ni T and Z. ;-)

::hapon sa hardin::

Bong R. ever the persuasive choreographer

Diri, diri lagi


Alagbay pud

'Peace' daw ingon si T


::pagka-gabii dayun::


Ang sweet naman... ng dessert ba. (ug tan-awa ang nawong ni Joey)


Ito na naman si Bong. New choreography



Diri ng kamot ba


Fitting the ring?


Hay, kasadya baya


::under the table scene::


Matud pa ni Joey: "Your honor, based on the angles and shadows in the image, I can prove in court that there exists an _______________ relationship between the the owners of these lower extremities!' (Ay, amew!)

post parade photos

some of my SUMS students
CW: Pia, EJ, KringKring, Francis, Kian

with my friend-since-elem-days, now Manila-based reconstructive and cosmetic surgeon, Radi V. A.

reunion

::blogbreak::

::masyadong hectic ang araw na ito. di nakayanan ng powers ko ang mag-blog.::

Parada Sillimaniana 2009

The official color of the medical school: green for life and neon for modernity.
Go SUMS!

Pretty ladies, the corps of sponsors

Sillimanian cycling enthusiasts join the parade.
Stay healthy, Dumaguete!

I'm not a member of the SUFA (SU Faculty Association) but I like their banner.

The SU Medical Center contingent led by Admin Bert Montebon on the front row.


(Thank you Budoy Lim for sharing the pics.)

booth browsing

Made booth rounds tonight and I could see why the booth gathering is aptly called "Hibalag" as I did meet there a lot of friends and acquaintances that I haven't seen in a long while. The both area is more brightly lit this time compared to previous founder's days and I like it this way, it seems a less likely place for hanky-panky.

The highlight of the booth rounds, of course, would be going to the Horror Booth, the runaway blockbuster of all booths every year. The Psychology Society is in charge of transforming the Katipunan Hall into a haunted house during the founder's week and bringing shrieks and delight to the multitude of students and other guests who patiently line-up for almost an hour along the candle-lit pathway just to enter the horror chambers and see if blood and monsters made by the psych majors are scary enough to elicit surprise and screams from the willing adventurers.

It was no Val Helsing Horror House but I had such fun walking through the monster-filled rooms because I was with dear friends Karen and Pam. And now we are about to begin a late-night all-night talking session, to see how many topics we can cover and until what time we can stay awake. :-)

Ciao!

new address, new technology, new directions

Today's been a flurry of activities, inaugurations and dedications all over the university. At the Medical Center we had the blessing and dedication of the Palmore Circle, the rotunda in front of the main hospital, in honor of mission workers James and Mimi Palmore. The Medical Arts Building has a new address, it's now at 1 Palmore Circle, Silliman University, while the main hospital building is at 2 Palmore Center and the SUMS is at 3 Palmore Circle.

The new digital imaging system of the Medical Center was also launched with radiologist Dr. Chiu giving us a demonstration of the state of the art capabilities of the new x-ray system.

Then there was the thanksgiving and turnover ceremony of a numerous medical equipment donated by SU Alumni in North America; so numerous that it filled up one huge container van and took several days for the hospital staff to sort and ready for distribution to various communities in the province.

And on Saturday, the New Medical Arts Building will be the dedication and blessing of the New Medical Arts Building, which is now fully operational.

We're moving up,Dumaguete!

Mr. and Ms. Medicine

WINNERS ALL!

(l-r) Dev Montenegro, Jeni Bomediano, Muneer AbuRumman, Gagay Dinampo, Paolo Tabaloc, Chrystal Centeno, Charles Moncal, TJ Merecido

the way we were

Lolo Cente, Lola Agre and all of us!

Tita Mary recently arrived from a three-month vacation in America and she brought back with her this precious photograph from Tita Gloria's album. This was taken circa 1975 during one of Tita Gloria's visits.

SU Founder's Week 2009

The Silliman Founder's Week Celebration began yesterday with a Torch Parade and the opening of the booths. My bff Karen Christine is here, after twelve grueling hours of traveling from Iligan City in Mindanao. So not much blogging as it is time for morning-the-night talk story.

Happy Founder's Week, SU!

And Congratulations to my high school classmate, Mark Rendal, who got married today in Davao!! WootWoot!

iamninoy

Remembering Ninoy Aquino whose death at the airport tarmac 26 years ago today changed the course of Philippine history.

new MDs

kick ass kick

Swimming has been agonizing for me these past two weeks, thanks to Coach Meriam who noticed that though I could swim many, many laps in the Olympic-length pool, I was doing it the wrong way.

"Kapoy kaayo ng imong style, Doc," she said one evening a fortnight ago. "Your hips and legs are way too low in the water, your body is almost at a 45 degree angle." I wanted to protest, "No, it's not kapoy, in fact, I'm so used to it already. The reason my legs are down is that I'm too lazy to kick harder, which I'm pretty sure is really tiring."

But Ma'am Meriam is not the coach of the NegOr Swim Team for nothing, she does know her stuff. So I gulped down my retort and meekly asked, "Unsaon man na, Coach?" secretly thrilled that for the first time in my heretofore non-athletic life, I now had a 'coach'.

Thus began my acquaintance with a floatation device called a kickboard, which I hold on to while practicing the kick ass kick which is actually a fluttery churning of the water's surface. "You have to hear your feet making little splashes on the water. If you hear the splashes, that means your feet are breaking the surface, therefore, they're not way down low."

My first go at the kickboard was utter torment. Keeping my chin above water was difficult, my neck, shoulders and arms were tense; and so were my hips, legs and feet. I could not finish one 50 meter lap without making five to six stops midpool to pant/gasp/bubble up/catch my breath. Now on the second week, I'm down to three rests per lap.

Coach has a lot of instructions for me: Relax. Butt up, legs up. Don't bend your knees. Point your toes. Raise that left elbow. Tilt your head at such an angle. Don't stop kicking when you breath. Relax, relax, relax.

Not yet there, but I am so looking forward to the time when I could finish one lap without a pause and in perfect form.

"Glimpse"

Twentyone year old Ileana Renee Verdun Lanes, will hold her first solo exhibit of her acrylic paintings on August 29 to September 29 at the Casablanca Restaurant, along Cervantes St., Dumaguete City.

Come and get more than a 'Glimpse' of this young artist's craft and persona.

Dr. MAS' clinic

Doctors' clinics at the SU-MAB

Dr. VTR's

Dr. BPF's

Dr. AES's

Dr. RMTO's

Dr. EBQ's

Dr. DVO's

Dr. STF and Dr. SLF's

Dr. LEFT's

Dr. DMA and Dr. RGA's

Dr. KGK's

Dr. MSB's

Dr. EPK's clinic


________________________________


Dr. MAS' clinic


med-surg in acrylic



half-of-the-clinic

busy sunday

::It's my mother's 78th birthday today so we've been busy with food and stories, food and stories, food and stories...::

lolo and lola

We had dinner tonight at the Monkey Grill near the boulevard. Lolo Vito scanned the menu and declared, "I want to try the Monkey Grill Iced Tea!" curious as to what jungle delights it could bring.

But when the drinks came, there was nothing reminiscent of a monkey or a grill in them. Oh, well. Lolo and Lola are the easiest people to please. They happily sipped away anyway.

zzzzzzz

::fell asleep::

still checking!

and checking and rechecking for the nth time.

not yet finished.

checking

::i am excited to check the exam papers now, see how the students fared, if they understood (and remembered) our lessons.::

taking the test

::now taking my own exam, to see if i can answer it without looking at the book or my notes.::

also to edit concept and grammar: a poorly worded question can add to the student's confusion and panic.

the result:

tsk tsk. quite a difficult exam. perhaps not passable without some serious study time.

shhhh!

::making test questions::

studyyyy!

August 10 to 14 is the Midterm Exam Week in Silliman. At the medical school we call it the Bi-Monthly exam. Whatever the name, the coverage is the same: from the beginning!!

tony wuz here

Batch '78 is at it again...

We had a dinner tapok at Rummel's place last Wednesday to plan for our upcoming Founder's Day activities and also to plan for our next batch project as our high school scholar is already in her senior year and hopefully will graduate this coming March. As perfect timing would have it, Tony N., was in Dumaguete, on vacation with his wife, Miloy, and their youngest daughter who is on her summer break from school in California. So we had a most scrumptious lechon, salamat, Ton!

Abbe and Tony

bountiful harvest

Lots of rambutan fruits from our rambutan tree!

Well, technically it's our neighbor's tree. But since our neighbor is Tita Mary and the fruit-laden branches lean heavily over our yard, then it's practically our tree as well. Heheheh.

red rambutan

open and ready to eat rambutan

green gloves

Post-grad intern Julie and nurse Windy, both in their early twenties, flash the peace and Laban signs, hand symbols of sorts for the peaceful People Power Revolution that happened around the time of their births.

Honoring Cory

**Leah Salonga sings 'Bayan Ko' at funeral mass





**Jose Mari Chan sings the poem Ninoy wrote for Cory



**Kris Aquino's account of her Mom's last days

yellow fever

It's Cory Aquino all over the television stations. And I don't mind. Nobody minds at all. I am discovering more and more what an incredibly extraordinary yet simple woman she was. She is my idol now!

During the necrological service tonight at the Manila Cathedral, several people gave eulogies. As eulogies go, only good things are said about the dear departed. But these eulogies were quite moving because, instead of the usual political beatifications, most of them were very personal accounts of the exceptional kindness, integrity and character of our past president, as related by close family and friends.

Particularly touching was the simple and heartfelt thank you of Insp Mel Mamaril, the former president's close-in security for the last 23 years, who remembers Cory as the boss who personally prepared a bowl of noodles for him when they arrived at their Time's Street home after a trip and the house cook was not yet around.

He said he was brought closer to God not only by Ma'am Cory's life of faith and prayer but also by her life of genuine concern for other people, "whether they are big or small."

Even when she was in pain, she would always ask if we, her security detail, had eaten already. "Nahihirapan na nga siya, naiisip pa niya kami." Youngest daughter, Kris, was crying unabashedly all throughout Mamaril's eulogy and the congregation applauded as he saluted his former boss' casket on his way down from the lectern.

What brought smiles and laughter amidst all the crying was the eulogy given by Maur Aquino-Lichauco, Ninoy's sister, who called Cory her BFF (best friends forever) and even as her voice cracked, managed to crack a joke by saying "I am looking forward to seeing you again someday... but hopefully not too soon."

Among the others who gave their eulogies were: Teddy Locsin, Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr., Dr. Alex Ayco, Mrs. Gina de Venecia and Condrado de Quiros.

The live coverage of the wake is still ongoing, with frequent replays of the eulogies as well as real time images of the thousands of people who have lined up to pay their last respects to the former president in spite of the heavy rains.

yellow rain

Yellow confetti and ribbons rained down from buildings along EDSA and the streets of Makati, as thousands of people came to view the funeral convoy of President Corazon Aquino as her remains were brought from La Salle Greenhills to the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, where hundreds lined up to pay their last respects to our beloved former leader.

Meanwhile, story after story keep pouring in, for us to read and remember what an extraordinary person in extraordinary circumstances Cory Aquino was.

Here are some of those stories:

120,000 show up for Cory

She was a gutsy lady

Coup leaders admire Cory's bravery

Satur: NDF has a lot to thank Cory for

What we lost

August 5 burial day declared special holiday

In lieu of flowers

remembering EDSA I

HANDOG NG PILIPINO SA MUNDO

'Di na 'ko papayag mawala ka muli.
'Di na 'ko papayag na muli mabawi,
Ating kalayaan kay tagal natin mithi.
'Di na papayagang mabawi muli.

Magkakapit-bisig libo-libong tao.
Kay sarap palang maging Pilipino.
Sama-sama iisa ang adhikain.
Kelan man 'di na paalipin.

Ref:
Handog ng Pilipino sa mundo,
Mapayapang paraang pagbabago.
Katotohanan, kalayaan, katarungan
Ay kayang makamit na walang dahas.
Basta't magkaisa tayong lahat.

Masdan ang nagaganap sa aming bayan.
Nagkasama ng mahirap at mayaman.
Kapit-bisig madre, pari, at sundalo.
Naging Langit itong bahagi ng mundo.

Huwag muling payagang umiral ang dilim.
Tinig ng bawat tao'y bigyan ng pansin.
Magkakapatid lahat sa Panginoon.
Ito'y lagi nating tatandaan.
(repeat refrain two times)

Coda:
Mapayapang paraang pagbabago.
Katotohanan, kalayaan, katarungan.
Ay kayang makamit na walang dahas.
Basta't magkaisa tayong lahat!

last Laban

Cory, in signature yellow,
flashes the L for Laban (Lakas ng Bayan) sign

I was a medical student, deeply immersed in Pathology and Pharmacology, and only vaguely aware of the political turmoil going on in my country, when Philippine history took a dramatic turn with the cold blooded assassination of opposition leader Sen. Ninoy Aquino in 1983 and the unexpected rise to the presidency of his widow, Corazon Aquino, in 1986.

At dawn today, well-loved President Cory Aquino succumbed to cancer. As the country mourns her demise, we wonder if we will ever have another president as honest and gracious as Cory, or a hero as charismatic and dynamic as Ninoy.

Cory, 76, dies - Inquirer

People Power's Philippine Saint - Time

No pomp for democracy icon - ABS-CBN

People power heroine - Reuters

Cory's life in photos - Time

guns and roses

IS it really possible to have a bloodless revolution, as demonstrated by EDSA I People's Power when military muscles and munitions came face to face with roses and rosaries?

This was, of course, after Ninoy's blood was spilled at the airport tarmac.