New Venue
It’s another Grand Kapihan day (pooled birthdays) at Manila Polo Club. The venue is however no longer in Willow Root where the Batch have a lot of fond memories. The new Club concessionaire now is from the Cravings Restaurant group and they saw fit to move the breakfast buffet service to Cameron Forbes in the immediate floor below. Cameron Forbes is just as good a place as Willow Root and even closer to the Club swimming pool (and the toilets – convenient for some of the guys).
The April celebrants hosting the Kapihan are Mari Duarte, Gary Salcedo, Boy Palanca and Bert Saenz. Art Alvendia and Ernie Cuyegkeng are the other celebrants who missed the event but who conformed with Batch63 tradition by sending in their share of the hosting fee. In behalf of the Batch, we wish you April guys a collective happy birthday and muchas gracias for the fine breakfast. The Cravings people were certainly trying to please patrons with a buffet assortment that was new (if not interesting) to the hungry guys.
The Celebrants
Mari Duarte is not a regular at the Kapihan but he comes when it’s a major event like today. After La Salle days, Mari joined SMC where he had a fulfilling and successful career. Having reached Director level with that humongous firm, Mari was hard-pressed to pin down exactly what his professional forte/ expertise was. After thinking a while, he bit his lip and decided that he was really best at ‘sex’. Mari was a hunk in high school where some likened him to a “Greek God” due to his athletic mestizo looks. With his thinning hair and pronounced jowls today, he admits that he probably is more like a “God-damn ancient Greek” now!
Boy Palanca has always been an executive with expertise in business development and management audit. He was connected for a long time with the Lucio Tan/ Allied Bank group. Boy is the picture of the successful Batch63 guy complete with an ideal family. Bless with 7 children who are professionals (except one special child who Boy claims keeps the family together better), Boy counts his blessings today with his wife Norma. Like Boy, another Batch63 guy with a comfortable life is Gary Salcedo. Gary is a retired executive (VP for audit) of the notable Kraft Corp. and is now living in his upscale condo in Manila. This Balikbayan is an empty nester (his children are professionals in America) who holds a typical weekly routine in the Philippines consisting of:
As we all know, Bert Saenz is Batch63’s version of Easy Rider. He is a biker in real life who goes out on tour sorties all over Luzon. When he is not on tour or fiddling around with his many esoteric business deals, he claims he likes to stay home and be with his children and apos. I know Bert likes young people but his reputation makes it hard for me to completely accept that Bert’s kind of young people are mainly his brood. By the way, Bert is into Karaoke today. Check this out: karaokeplay.com: Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire and listen to Bert’s version of
Of late, Art Alvendia had not been going to the Kapihan. Rumor has it that he is busy working on some mining and agri ventures in Butuan, Mindanao. Meanwhile Ernie Cuyegkeng is still an executive with Anscor and someone that the Batch can count on when it needs that extra support from its members.
The Talks
Vince Misa recorded the long list of attendees for citing in this Blog. Apart from Vince, myself and the four celebrants, the guys who came were: Joey Ingles, Francis Horn, Joey Estagle, Boy Carlos, Steve Hontiveros, Gabby Valdes, Ed Lim, Polding Arnaiz, Ed Oleta, Joey Angeles, Quito Moras, Tony Estonina, Doug Marcaida, and Lito Quiogue. A most welcome guest visiting from out of Edmonton, Canada is Rami Salcedo. Rami is retired from PPG Co. (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) in Canada and is now involved in “Ethnocultural Services” – a community function that he involves himself with mainly for Canadian Pinoys.
As usual, the group formed themselves into different clusters with their different topics and conversations. It was time to once again ventilate experiences, attainments, frustrations, joys, disappointments, and other human feelings. Over the years and mainly due to the regular Kapihan initiative, Batch63 guys have grown to be one close family where most everyone is comfortable with one another, with few secrets between them, and who support each other in many ways. (No s _ _ t.)
A strategic caucus that emerged on this day was due to a call for order by Baby Angeles and Vince Misa in behalf of the sentiments of some Kapihan guys. Apparently, some felt that a consolidation of outstanding Batch63 funds (though it is not that large a fund) is practical. As we know, there are two funds: The Silver Anniversary Fund (in the care of Quito Moras) and the Yearbook Project Fund (in the care of Bert Saenz). The idea is to pool the moneys for projects interesting (and timely) to the majority. Right now, the moneys are effectively dormant funds due to the absence of
Hasta la vista, muchachos. Until next time, boys!
See slide show for more photos.
