Menagerie Invitation

An Invitation to a Birthday Party
It’s a typical Wednesday Kapihan at Willow Root today but the guys have agreed that we should have a special Menagerie issue for it. The reason is because one of the guys has invited Batch63 to his forthcoming 66th birthday celebration. Mandy Ilustre rarely comes to the Kapihan but this time he came if only to advise the guys who were there today (Jackie Arellano, Lito Quiogue, Gabby Valdes, Oni Mayo, Vince Misa, Joey Ingles and Mari Duarte) to help him spread his invitation to the guys.

The details of the party are:

When: January 14, 2011 (Friday 6PM)

Place: 25 Flicker St., Greenmeadows, QC

Mandy plans to cater out the event and is requesting for an RSVP from the guys. Mandy’s mobile number is 0917 521 1625. A grand party in January – what a great way to start the year!

Miscellany
When the Kapihan numbers are smaller, that is the time that group discussions usually become more focus and introspective. One of today’s fare consisted of political talk particularly regarding the recent outrageous and controversial pronouncements of two Government institutions of justice - the Supreme Court and the Sandigan Bayan. The Supreme Court voted to quash the Truth Commission initiative and in another case shortly thereafter, it reversed the results of the Vizconde massacre case. The Sandigan Bayan in turn was accused of extorting money from the Luneta massacre hostage-taker and today, it just whitewashed the AFP money laundering case.

These in-your-face affront to public sensibilities by institutions tasked to promote justice is really disheartening and just confirms their increasingly questionable reputation. On record, it is actually the GMA appointees (who were entitled to tenure and could not be replaced by the new President) who are seemingly the bandidos. These guys appear to be traditional Government post appointees out to improve their plight by consistently voting as a biased bloc on controversial issues. In a weak republic, democracy just seems too easy to distort. The majority rule is abused where it is clearly a case of tyranny of numbers. Before leaving the topic, the discussants sarcastically posed a scenario where even the pending Maguindanao Massacre case will likely also be swept under the rug based on technicality. The impression is still that "money talks" in this society.

From serious talk, he Kapihan conversation moved on to everyday stuff. Mandy asked Jackie if he knew Joey Estagle’s mobile number and if he would share it with him. Instead of obliging, Jackie complicated the situation as usual. He told Mandy, “. . and why in the world would you, or anyone else, like to talk to a character like Joey?”

Christmas Season Birthday Celebrants

Attendance
The December 15 Grand Kapihan at Manila Polo was not only the traditional Batch63 birthday celebration of four celebrants but because of the high attendance, it seemingly also became the Christmas get-together of the Batch. The four December birthday celebrants who hosted the Grand Kapihan were Jimmy Gonzales, Eboy Cosme, Manolo Cristobal and Babes Alvarez. As the celebrants come to appear at the Willow Root venue, they received the usual warm abrazzos and greetings from friends. Celebrant Babes Alvarez (based in Bacolod) couldn’t make it that day but he gamely sent in his share of the financial requirement for the party anyway.

Apart from the four celebrants, the 24-strong other guys in the big party consisted of: Joey Angeles, Ed Oleta, Tony Estonina, Oni Mayo, Jack Arellano, Quito Moras, Ed Lim, Gary Salcedo, Polding Arnaiz, Francis Horn, Raffy Villarreal, Joey Ingles, Dendi Abdon, George Cunanan, Linggoy Araneta, Doug Marcaida, Gabby Valdez, Boy Carlos, Bert Saenz, Vince Misa, Richard Sycip, Lito Quiogue, Patrick Go and Joey Estagle. In behalf of Batch63, here’s wishing the December celebrants a very happy birthday and thanks for the usual fine breakfast! (The Willow Root buffet offered crispy tawilis, corned beef, cheeses, fruits and yogurt snacks this Wednesday)

Celebrants’ profile
Jim Gonzales has not slowed down a bit. He manages to swipe tennis balls at the Manila Polo courts between attending to his many business enterprises. (Recently, he has added swimming to his regimen and which he methodically does at least twice a week.) A major business undertaking of Jim today is the Arthaland condominium project at the Fort. On top of that, he still engages in Investment Banking activities (AO Capital Partners) that regularly take him to Hong Kong, Singapore and India. While he recently sold his commercial bank (Export Bank) to Henry Sy’s BDO, he has added three publicly-listed profitable gaming companies (IPVG Co.) where he is founder and Chairman and which his son is managing director.

Real estate developer Eboy Cosme has just completed his four storey building project in Makati. As of today, Eboy’s building enjoys a high 90% rental occupancy rate. One tenant in Eboy’s building is Sandy’s Pizza - the pizza parlor newcomer owned by Jack Arellano and his daughter Sandy. (With two other branches in San Juan and Cubao, Jack and Sandy have apparently decided to expand in Makati.) While Eboy appears physically hale, he was recently diagnosed with a tumor in his heart. He plans to have cutting edge robotic surgery for it in the US sometime soon. Typical of Eboy, he seems to be ever confronting affairs of the heart. Levity aside, we wish Eboy all the best in the future.

Manolo Cristobal is happily enjoying retirement with his family at the University of Perpetual Help compound in Binan, Laguna. As we know, the notable UPH institution that had its origins in the South of Manila, belongs to the family of Manolo. Manolo himself owns apartments in the compound that he is renting out mainly to students. (A neighbor in the compound is Ed Oleta who is married to Manolo’s cousin.) Manolo and his partner Marissa (25 years younger?) have been together for 12 years and are raising two children who are still in grade school. Manolo’s hobby includes pistol shooting that complements his being a reservist in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

I did not have the opportunity to interview Babes Alvarez, but we know that he is a dynamic rural banker from Bacolod. He is also into industrial ventures (the manufacture and supply of building materials) when he is not dabbling in local politics.

Miscellany
Congratulations to Gabby and Pam Valdez. Eldest daughter Beatrice became a TOYM awardee in ceremonies held in Malacanang. Beatrice (or Bea) designs bags and fashion accessories that she distributes in high fashion stores in the USA. She received the award recently for distinguished work in the category of fashion design and entrepreneurship.

Joey Estagle is the Batch’s controversial lover boy who retains the physical looks for living up to the reputation. Naturally, he is typically conscious about how he comes on to pretty young things. Recently he was flattered when one young girl addressed him as “Thunder”. Joey thought it had something to do with the awesome image of “thunder and lightning”. Poor Joey was deflated when he later found out that “Thunder” is street lingo for “Tanda”!

That’s all folks. For more photos of the event, klik on the link below.


http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd489/leonmayo1/Christmas%20Season%20Birthday%20Celebrants/?albumview=slideshow

November Gentlemen

The November Grand Kapihan celebrants featured a good cross section of the Batch63 group. The celebrants were a couple of TT, one Conyo and one Lan Tai in the persons of Bambi Goco, Gabby Valdes, Doug Marcaida and Steve Hontiveros. The party at Willow Root consisted of a record crowd of 25 people insofar as Grand Kapihan goes. Apart from the celebrants, the others who came were:

• Joey Ingles
• Tony Estonina
• Ed Lim
• Raffy Villareal
• Ben Ang
• Ed Oleta
• George Cunanan
• Boy Palanca
• Joey Estagle
• Francis Horn
• Quito Moras
• Joey Angeles
• Dendi Abdon
• Lito Quiogue
• Jack Arellano
• Polding Arnaiz
• Vic Corpus
• Bert Saenz
• Boy Carlos
• Vince Misa
• Oni Mayo











Celebrants’ Profile
The November celebrants are into interesting activities. Bambi Goco still maintains his Customs Brokerage business. With all his three children settled, he has time for Batch63 affairs (when he is not touring the world with wife Kang). Today, Bambi is the group’s enthusiastic advocate for more reunions – and soon. Gabby Valdes tends to his vacation houses in Tagaytay and Baguio when he is not fiddling around with his vintage cars. Gabby is not vocal about his present businesses, but I heard it from a reliable source that he is into managing the vast resources of his family.

Steve Hontiveros was actually in China as an official of the POC (Philippine Olympic Committee). According to him, he came home just to attend the Grand Kapihan of which he is a celebrant. He will have to go out again soon (Abu Dhabbi?) since he is also a director of the OCA (Olympic Committee for Asia). Work? Steve doesn’t work – he serves God and country! For those who don’t know yet, Steve is a lay minister where he serves two churches daily in QC. Meanwhile, Douglas Marcaida continues to be chief operating officer of the cargo handling division of ISLOFF Lighterage Co. He is busy raising his young son and trying to develop his real estate project in Novaliches.

Herbal Anyone?
The big gathering revealed many noteworthy interests for group members. As it turned out, more and more of Batch63 are into alternative (if not herbal) medicine regimen. The original Batch63 herbal guy is of course Joey Ingles. Dendi Abdon is a believer today in herbal treatment. It was good to see Dendi again and who is looking fine after his recent operation. A new advocate to herbal stuff is now Douglas Marcaida, one of the November celebrants.










Douglas today swears by the Barley pill as a cure-all. Citing testimonies of Barley believers, Douglas convinced the guys who eventually asked where they could get the pills. As chance would have it, Douglas conveniently had the product with him which he could share with the guys. Joey Ingles was so impressed with the successful marketing outcome of Douglas. I understand he is now trying to recruit Douglas to do the same for his own products.











Batch Future Events
Because of the many attendees in the Kapihan, many thought it timely to talk about next projects for Batch63. Since the ‘Stars of Yesteryears’ project some years ago, Batch63 has not really had a major reunion project. Bambi Goco proposed several get-together projects that the group could do leading to the centennial homecoming (2011) and Batch63’s golden homecoming year (2013). Bambi is thinking of reactivating the Class Coordinator set up to plan out the details and promote these projects. The guys visibly supporting Bambi on this are Vince, Bert, Jackie, Oni and two Joey’s (Angeles and Estagle). Batch63 is advised to await the emerging details of the projects. Prior to that, suggestions and recommendations for fun projects are welcome.











Animo La Salle!

Life in the Mid-60s

It’s the October Grand Kapihan party at Willow Root for Batch63 birthday celebrants (September / October). Of the six celebrants, only four managed to make it. These were Lito Domantay, Francis Horn, Ned Bulatao, and Boy Carlos. I understand that Vic Corpus and Joey Estagle sent in their blowout contribution (and their by-your-leave) and so they were there in spirit - as Vince Misa would say.

The Batch63 guys came in force to avail of the free breakfast. As we know, DLS Taft guys (tough guys?) consist of 3 main groupings: The Spanish-speaking; the Tagalog-speaking; and the Chinese-speaking. In the spirit of fun, we can actually give these group names. Thus, at the Grand breakfast, the first group are the Conyos (due to their propensity to abuse this interesting Spanish word). The Conyos are: Polding Arnaiz, Bert Saenz, Linggoy Araneta, Raffy Villareal and Douglas Marcaida. They mostly sat at their usual end of the long table where they engaged in high decibel Castillian banter!














The next group is the TTs (Tagalog-talking?). The TTs are: Vince Misa, Tony Estonina, Joey Ingles, Gabby Valdez, Baby Angeles, Bambi Goco and Oni Mayo. Of course this group includes three of the celebrants in addition. Concentrating on their free breakfast, they were scattered all over the place. The final group can be called LTs (lan tiaw – check it out). The LTs are: Benny Ang and Ed Lim together with celebrant Francis Horn. Clearly LTs are serious guys compared to the usual Batch63 impertinentes. (It’s a good thing Steve Hontiveros wasn’t there otherwise he would spoil the decent reputation of LT guys!) And then, there’s Jackie Arellano. I don’t know how to exactly classify Jack since he claims to be the highest of blue blood, head and shoulders above the hoi polloi.

Birthday celebrant Lito Domantay was in high spirits despite the fact that he had just closed down his 7th Note Music Bar – the memorable DLS hangout in Malugay Street. According to Lito, it was a business decision on his part. The place was taken over by a younger group of DLS guys and will now be called Charlies Jazz Bar & Resto. Lito’s Vision Express continues to do well with a new branch he recently established in Hawaii. In his personal life, Lito is dutifully tending to his young son and his common law partner (mother to his son) in a condo that he had provided them. This led Vince Misa to say that if any pretty chick ever aspires for a place in Manila, they may try contacting LD.














Francis Horn is still involved in the financial packaging business. Apart from work, he and his wife Alma are committed to parish work and I’m sure guiding along their two grown-up productive children. Francis is scheduled to be in the USA next week for a business trip. Ned Bulatao’s four children are also grown up so he is now an empty nester. Empty nest is a very real term for Ned since we know that he lost wife Irene years ago. Since his retirement from the Ayala Group (and getting over his great loss of Irene), Ned has allowed himself to be left behind by the digital revolution. However today, he is bouncing back (unlike his mail). He is now seeking help on how to remove from his computer those MSWord pop-up critters (that asks how it may help you write an essay). Ned is exasperated since it gets in the way of his writing. Soon maybe, Ned will eventually have an Email and cellphone like everybody else.

And let’s not forget our last celebrant, Boy Charles. What can I say about Boy Charles? He is still living with his dog and with no wife in his house in Paranaque. He had three dogs but he lost two due to their old age. Per Bert Saenz, Boy may not be interested in women anymore. I’m told that Boy already has old time friend Mary Palmer with whom he has gotten inured to.














Mis amigos, otro dia otro cuento. I beg the indulgence of the celebrants and the readers if I had been too candid and loose with descriptions of my Batch63 friends. Likewise for the toilet shot (after breakfast) of the unsuspecting foursome. But this is the no-holds barred Menagerie and at this age as they say, what is there to lose? What is important is that we’re having fun. What is important is that we love these guys despite everything. And so from Batch63 to the celebrants: feliz compleanos al nuestro carinos hombres! Thanks for the wonderful breakfast and camaraderie today. Mabuhay tayo!