BOSS - " VII - IRONMAN CHALLENGE MARATHON"

By Roberto Saenz

group photo label- left to right- Bert Saenz, Dougie Marcaida, Inaki Saenz,
Raymond Nunez, Ray John Garces, Joey del Rosario, Ryan Tongson,
Marvin del Rosario

What is the BOSS - "VII - Ironman Challenge Marathon?".It was the 7th running of a Motorcycle Marathon started by the BOSS - BMW Owners Society of Saferiders (A BMW owners club) to determine if they had the stamina to complete a long distance marathon within a 24 hour period. The distance to be travelled is 1,200 kilometers and to be considered to have finished the run, you have to complete it within EXACTLY 24 hours at the maximum ! To give you an idea of how strict this rule is enforced,at the VIth run in 2011 (one Ducati team-they fielded 2 teams-retired w/out finishing the run) the second Ducati team arrived at 3am and the BOSS team arrived at 4am (both had flagged off around midnight of Saturday) so their runs were 27 and 28 hours roughly, both teams were DNF. It is not a race, and finishers who complete the run in 13- 15- 20- 24 hours are listed in alphabetical order, not by time they reach the finish line.

The run covers Balintawak Home Depot (in EDSA) thru NLEX -Sta Rita exit (it is the only portion where you can run on the expressway)-Bulacan - Nueva Ecija - Nueva Viscaya - Isabela - Cagayan (to Aparri at the Northern tip of Luzon)- Ilocos Norte - Ilocos Sur - La Union - up to Baguio - Marcos Highway- Rosario, La Union - Pangasinan - Tarlac - Pampanga (to finish line at Stotsenburg Hotel inside Clark Field). The run covers 85 towns and cities. At the exit at Sta Rita - you had to drop a card with your name and number (to ensure you didn't take a shortcut) Checkpoints were at 1) Flying V -Baloc, Nueve Ecija, 2)Flying V in Tuguegarao, Cagayan 3)Flying V Bantay, Ilocos Sur 4) Prince Plaza Hotel - Legarda road in Baguio 5) Flying V Pugo. La Union (at the bottom of Marcos Highway) 6) Flying V Clark Pampanga. Participants are all obliged to stop at the checkpoints, so Marshalls could stamp your ID's to certify you had passed the checkpoint. Anyone arriving at Clark with even one checkpoint stamp missing is considered DNF. It is the PRESTIGE marathon motorcycle run in this country!

Let us now consider the level of DIFFICULTY of the run. 1200 kilometers....at a slow cruise speed of 60 KPH should have one at the finish line in 20 hours (with 4 hours left over for refuel/rest/bathroom/meals etc) right ? WRONG ! You all go up to Baguio regularly and leaving at 2 or 3 am you can run it in 4 to 4.5 hours. Leave Manila at 5 or 6 am and it takes you 5, 6 or even 7 hours to get there. The run is 250 kilometers only of which 125 kilometers is NLEX - SCTEX where you run at 100-130 KPH. You probably only make 1 stop enroute.....so why 5 or 6 hours? Even going at your low average, the marathon is 5 times the distance so it should take us 25 hours for the run.....thats the reality of it. In your cars, you're comfortably seated in air conditioned environment and often use only 1 hand to steer and one foot for the accelerator. On a motorcycle - left hand to depress the clutch lever - right hand for throttle and for front brake- left foot to shift gears - right foot for rear brakes. Motorcycle saddles are comfortable enough but not beyond 10 hour runs. No windshield wipers, so when it rains, you run soaked. head winds and crosswinds buffet you around when strong....and most of all....when you hit the FAMOUS potholes in Philippine Highways....you guys get jarred in your cars when you hit a pothole at over 100kph.....SH_T ! When we can't avoid them.....we have to check that the "family jewels" are still whole. The best validation of the difficulty of the Ironman is this.....there are 10's of thousands of "Big Bikes" in this country (bikes 400cc and above).....but only around 250 -275 men take up the Challenge. Dougie Marcaida, my son Inaki and I belong to LERAP (Law Enforcer Riders' Association of the Philippines) with a membership of over 1,300 members. Only the 3 of us and 1 other member joined the Ironman this year. This is the second year the three of us ran the Marathon, we already ran it in January 0f 2011.

We were supposed to run the marathon as a group of 7.... friends, Joey del Rosario (1200 BMW) Ryan Tongson (850 BMW) Raymond Nunez (850 BMW) Ray John Garces (800 Ducati) Douglas Marcaida (Honda Super 4) Inaki Saenz (Honda Nighthawk 750) Bert Saenz (R65ls BMW). As you can see I was badly outclassed by everyone in our team ! The R-65 was the oldest motorcycle in the marathon- being a 1984 model classsic (shucks...pareho pa kaming 65...ha ha ha). We met at the office of Sinangag Express in BF Paranaque which is owned by Joey and Ryan (that was where our "Group Photo" was taken) and at 7pm motored to Balintawak Home Depot to get signed in. The short 39 kilometer run thru C5 took us 2 hours to run....what an auspicious begining to a marathon ! Friday night traffic ! The marathon was scheduled to flagoff starting Midnight Saturday morning.....so hopefully we would all meet in Clark within 24 hours (early Sunday 15th Jan). so much for the great start. As if that wasn't enough....as soon as we signed in and picked up our kits...Ray John Garces gets a call from his office and was informed he had to report for work Saturday....so our team was down to 6 men.

The marathon was more organized this year and cars and suv's were all flagged off before midnight, leaving lots of space for the motorcycles. They flagged off the 2 teams (20 men teams) BOSS and PK (only 2 teams this year compared to 5 or 6 teams last year) then groups then individuals. We were off on our Great Adventure !!!

Dougie, who drives like fighter pilot, took over as "pointman" when our group was flagged off with the rest following. We raced thru the 40 kms to Sta Rita, enjoying the only portion of the run that was obstruction free and then entered the REAL WORLD. The road to Baloc, the 1st checkpoint was flat and relatively straight, but no street lighting and an uneven road caused by heavy cargo trucks restricted speed to around 90 kph. The road thru Nueva Ecija remained the same till the end of Munoz when we started to cross the Caraballo mountains, between Nueva Ecija and Sta Fe, Nueva Viscaya....when we started climbing the zigzag roads the road turned bad....lots of potholes and in a lot of areas...no shoulder as it is being repaired. Raymond "Tarzan" Nunez took over "point" a big man (body builder) on a tall 850 BMW with super bright lights and hazard lights flashing....he waved aside 10 wheeler trucks we were passing aside as well as trucks coming our way. Most of the road was so bad it was mostly one lane but with Raymond waving them aside (and they thinking he was a cop) we didn't do too poorly but the road took a serious toll on both our bikes and our bodies. Crossing into Sta Fe Nueva Viscaya....HEAVEN!!!! The roads were not only paved they were CEMENTED ! Lots of twisties thru Nueva Viscaya but beautiful roads....we were starting to enjoy our ride. As we entered Isabela there were more straight roads and we did good time till Cauayan, Isabella where we stopped to refuel. It was daylight by this time and we enjoyed the beautiful countryside since around the end of Nueve Viscaya (cattle country) thru Cauayan. Here we also took a CR break, quick sandwich breakfast, smoked and stretched. After 20 minutes we were back on the road.

After we left Cauayan, Raymond and Ryan who were like race horses "straining at the bit" picked up their pace and raced on ahead of the group. Dougie also picked up his pace and followed them, leaving Joey, Inaki and me at the rear. Full daylight now and we had a chance to appreciate the beauty of the Cagayan Valley...so aptly named coz there are rice fields galore and mountains in the background,,,,oh so green and lush....and the people so friendly. They would straighten up from working the fields just to wave. Between dodging dogs, chickens, carabaos, tricycles, goats and people (and the perenial traffic in the towns and cities) we were getting an eyeful of our beautiful country ! Pity....most of us have seen so many parts of the world yet so little of our own country. Around 6 kilometers before the next check point in Tuguegarao, a problem came up...Joey got hit by a bad case of leg cramps and had to stop. Took about 30 minutes for the cramps to pass and for him to walk around, before we could proceed. We hit Tuguegarao and did not take a road we took last year when we got lost. Hello ! Next thing I know the welcome sign says Iguig, Cagayan ! I overtake both Inaki and Joey and motion them to the side of the road. "Hey Joey...we've overshot Tuguegarao....didn't your P 30,000.00 GPS show you the way to the checkpoint?" I asked. "Oh sh_t !" replied Joey, "I wasn't looking at it. I thought we were on the right road" We turn back and after about 3 or 4 kilometers encounter Dougie chasing us ! He pulls over to the side of the road and mouths "Conio ! Turn back !" does an angry U turn and takes us to the check point. The check point was empty except for us but the Marshalls were very friendly and offered us food and drink. We shared a 1.5 liter bottle of Gatorade...forcing Joey to drink most of it. Explained to Joey that cramps - hand, leg and foot cramps were my perenial problem when biking before, till Joey Almeda, a friend and neighbor of my Dad in Urdaneta Village (and the MASTER of the marathon- took it the first year in 15 hrs 53 minutes on a broken leg in a cast- and in 12 hrs 30 mins the second year) taught me, "Drink no water, Bert, only Gatorade ! and you wont suffer cramps !" How true ! Gatorade contains enough potassium and sodium to keep cramps from bothering you.....I found that out last year. We were at the checkpoint for over 30 mins waiting for Raymond and Ryan who had not yet checked in. We finally contact them by phone ,to find out they had overshot even further. Raymond had also suffered a flat tire and they were running back and forth to a vulcanizing shop to get the tire fixed! After 45 minutes we decide to push on....the two would return to the check point after tire repair and just catch up with us. We run into them about 10 kms down the road, stop to give them directions and sped away....with Dougie going like a bat out of hell !

By this time, Joey and Ryan are totally disgusted with their P30k "pieces of fu_kin sh_t Gartim GPS units...though in retrospect they admit it was also lack of familiarity with the equipment. Raymond is upset with his tire and Dougie is pissed off at our delay. His leg is hurting like hell.....so he is flying down the highway, in order to leave the pain behind !

Joey, Inaki and I pick up our pace.....while still enjoying the scenery and catch up with Dougie in Aparri, where there is a loop in the road to tke you across a long bridge toward Ilocos Norte.....Dougie picks up speed again and this time I am behind him. After about 15 minutes I am starting to wonder what happened to Joey and Inaki, so I slow down a bit to give them time to catch up. At Sta Praxedes I come across Dougie parked at a fuel station at a curve so I pull over. It is now 12:30 noon and 12 hours since our takeoff in Balintawak. Coincidentally we are also at 50 kilometers past the halfway point of the run. 20 minutes later Joey and Inaki appear and explain that Joey got hit by another bout of cramps after the loop in Aparri. We take our sandwich lunch break at the fuel station, CR, smoke, rest and stretch. Dougie who discovered he has Diabetes in early December has to take a shot in the stomach (he needs it twice a day) and has to eat within 15 minutes.....is hurting even more by now! Joey is biting the bullet and just keeps going as well. The pain be DAMNED ! Lets get the "show on the road"....and while there is no sign of Raymond or Ryan we push on.

Around 10 kms from our stop we cross a bridge that was under repair. Dougie, Joey, Inaki then me, and we are going quite fast. As I pass the section being repaired, my rear starts to wobble....FLAT TIRE... Lost about 2 hours plus to get tire vulcanized....and we are lagging behind Dougie n Joey....so we race off after them. At Claveria town, we stop to refuel and go.

We hit the Claveria pass....one of the most beautiful and scenic areas of the whole route. High mountains on the left with lush forest, the road (with retaining steel railing) then cliffs and the sea...with wild waves crashing against the sheer stone cliffs on the right, about 250 feet below. Absolutely breath taking spectacle.....that twisting roadway. We then enter the twisties as we approach Pagudpud again lots of twisties till you get to Bangui were you are met with the sight of the majestic windmill fields....with their huge propellers generating megawatts of electric power. We are speeding to make use of the last of the days light before we reach Laoag. We make Laoag at 6pm ......take a rest,CR, fuel, drink stop. We depart Laoag at 6:35pm and head for the Vigan checkpoint.

We are still chasing the two ahead of us. Half way thru the 80 kilometers to Vigan my eyes start to see double....DISASTER ! Pull over to the shoulder at a fruit stand and find out we are still 40 kms to Vigan, and its a bit past 7pm. Drink 3 cups of black coffee, 1 Red Bull and 1 Impulse...rest for 15 and try to wake up. Inaki calls the guys and all 4 of them are already in Vigan. Raymond and Ryan had caught up with them while we were taking a break in Laoag. Still very groggy I asked Inaki to take the lead so I could hide behind him from glare of oncoming vehicles as I was determined to continue....even at a crawl...20-30kph...so in case I passed out I wouldn't do too much damage to myself or my motorcycle. Made Vigan at 9:30pm ! Requested the Marshalls to inform Baguio that we were arriving so someone would wait for us at the Baguio Checkpoint.

Joey, who had suffered another couple of bouts of leg cramps decided to retire in Vigan (890kms fm start)...and Ryan stayed to keep him company. Inaki n I get our ID's stamped, take 3 cups of coffee and head for Baguio. We reached Baguio at 2am (25.5 hours after takeoff). We call Dougie and are informed that him and Raymond were at Pugo, La Union (at 5th checkpoint- n that the Flying V station was already closed)but they were pushing on to Clark.

Inaki and I decide to have a hot meal so we go to the restaurant of Mount Peak Hotel on Legarda Road. Taking our meal I decided...enough...time to call it a day. We checked into Mount Peak to get some sleep......for the second year in a row...we retired in Baguio....having run 1,050 kms of the 1,200km run.

We call Dougie n Raymond before going to the room and find out they ate in Urdaneta,Pangasinan taking a break...exhausted.

Awakening at 10am...I open my phone ande see a message from Raymond "Tarzan" Nunez...sent around 5:30am..it read "Tangina! Just got home to Las Pinas. I have never done anything so difficult in my life ! Left Dougie who checked in when we got to Tarlac, Tarlac. Raymond had run almost 1,400 kms straight ! A couple of days later we hold a post ride "campfire" and listen to the litany of Conio from Dougie...directed at the jerk who had told him in Tarlac that he was still 3 hours away from Clark. He was 40 kilometers to the finish line!

The consensus of the group ? HELL...Lets do it again next year....only a bit faster! IT IS A BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE RIDE!


See slide show for more photos.

Melo Part 2

Under Philippine tradition, the last night of a wake is the big night among all the wake nights. For Melo’s wake, Batch63 came out in force to memorialize Melo’s final night on Wednesday before his burial. The guys who came were Tonichi Grey, Mari Duarte, Doug Marcaida, Boy Nazareno, Joe Assad, Bert Saenz, George Cunanan, Joey Estagle, Polding Arnaiz, Steve Hontiveros, Raffy Villarreal, Oni Mayo, Boy Carlos, Ramon Arnaiz, Jacky Arellano, Ed Oleta, Tony Estonina, Vince Misa, Bambi Goco, Lito Quiogue and Lito Domantay.

In recognition of Melo’s indomitable DLS friends, the Prats family allowed the Batch to conduct the final night program. Joey Estagle took to task being the emcee for the show. Tonichi, Douglas and Melo’s two boys went front and center one after the other to speak about snippets of memories they shared with the fallen Melo. And then after all the eulogy that , it was sing-along time to celebrate Melo’s life!

During healthier times, a continuing interest of Melo was playing the guitar and singing Elvis. Because of this, Joey E enjoined the audience to sing some Elvis one last time for Melo. Joey E and Vince Misa led the singing with gusto. After the Elvis, Batch63's “Hail One La Salle” song was performed where a funny thing happened. Joey E and Vince sang the song better than its composer Oni Mayo who bungled the song lines at the end of the song. Alz?

Melo was cremated and buried in the resting place of his parents in Manila Memorial Park Thursday morning.

See slide show for more photos.

Carmelo Prats

In the last few years, I had the opportunity of hanging out a few times with Carmelo Prats (Melo) in his house in Singalong. The Singalong events were either to celebrate his birthday or to welcome the arrival of certain Balikbayan Batch63 friends who were also Melo’s close friends. Otherwise, there wasn’t much chance to see him since Melo isn’t active at the Kapihan and other Batch gatherings.

As far as I know, Melo’s cup of tea in entertainment consists of imbibing in hard drinks, continuously blowing cigarette smoke and feasting on pulutan. This is why his close friends are the likes of Conio boys Tonichi Grey, Polding Arnaiz, Doug Marcaida, Bert Saenz and old neighborhood Pasaway guys like Ed Oleta and Tony Estonina. Birds of the same feather? Last week, Melo had a heart attack and was brought to the hospital On early Monday morning, Batch 63 got word from Bert Saenz that Melo had finally succumbed.

Melo left behind a wife (Karen), eight children and grandchildren. The first night of the wake featured all of Melo’s family, relatives and some friends. The Batch63 scouting party at the wake were: Mari Duarte, Tonichi Grey, Doug Marcaida, Gem Yabut, Quito Moras, Bert Saenz and Oni Mayo. The Batch63 table outside the wake viewing room typically displayed Johnny Walker Black courtesy of Tonichi. The Batch was joined at their table by Gusi Barrios (Melo’s brother in law) and briefly by Melo’s sons (Mark and MJ Jr.). Karen and Melo’s sister Gigi also approached the Batch and acknowledged their presence at the wake (see photos).

As we know Melo is an artist. He creates “collage relief” paintings of European scenes. Fittingly, his art works gets to be displayed on the walls of houses in Europe ( brought there by European buyers). Melo's artistic technique is undeniably laborious to do. He could take months and even years (for some frames) to complete a piece. Looking at one of Melo’s huge framed art work displayed at the wake (a colorful Bavarian scene), one can appreciate the work patience, craftsmanship and eye for beauty of this talented Batch63 man. In closing this story, Batch63 thus fondly bids Melo good bye. Adios y reposo tranquilo, amigo.

See slide show for more photos.

The Boys of Aquarius

The Main Draw
The January Grand Kapihan (joint birthdays event) opened 2012 with a bang for the Batch63 gang. The January birthday celebrants who hosted the breakfast treat at Cameron Forbes (Polo Club) were Ed Oleta; Ramon Arnaiz; Tony Estonina; Mandy Ilustre; Tito Lucero; and Oni Mayo. The “faithful” who came to the party were: Ed Lim; Quito Moras; Mari Duarte; Polding Arnaiz; Steve Hontiveros; Joey Ingles; Eboy Cosme; Gary Salcedo; Joey Estagle; Lito Quiogue; Bert Saenz; George Cunanan; Gabby Valdes; Tonichi Grey; Jackie Arellano; Doug Marcaida; Boy Carlos; and Vince Misa. Cameron Forbes resto showed its cooperation by introducing a ham carving station in addition to their regular fare. As many of us know, the Polo kitchen is managed by Viki Clemente - a Batch63 friend whose brother Boy Tinio is also a La Salle alum. (For those interested, Viki runs a gourmet dining place in Baquio.)

















The Celebrants
Today, Tony Estonina remains as busy as ever. This civil engineer is a successful developer of urban townhouses – an infilling approach to housing. His formula for success includes a practical understanding of his niche market and what makes for a good location. Interestingly, he has acquired inventory sites (large lots in the Singalong area) that used to belong to the family of his classmates Lito Quiogue and Ed Lim. Even with several ongoing projects in the pipeline, he hopes to develop four more sites for this year.

Tito Lucero is operating from home nowadays. Nope, he’s not into his old entertainment business. Rather he sells pricey Nautica watches in Ebay today. Per Tito this is a part time activity that helps him sustain his passions. (Would you believe a seven figure gross revenue output from Ebay in a given year?). Apparently there are people who outbid themselves in Ebay (even starting at a lowly price of P90 per watch). And what of Tito’s current leisure activity . . . among other things, he goes to HK for R&R now and then. Naturally he's accompanied by his caregiver.

One would not believe that Ed Oleta is living on borrowed time (in his own words). Ed is afflicted by the Big C (prostate stage 4) and he is currently being treated for it. Despite the chemo and surgery that he had undergone, Ed remains the vision of a strong man – sharp, erect, hale and hearty. Ed is the type who will not forgo all the pleasures of life on the basis of doctors’ advise. He quips: “If I followed all the regimen and diet recommended for me, my life will be s_ _ _. Doing what I do, I’m finding out that I remain in a condition that’s the same as what I’d be in had I done what they recommend!” To that I can only admit it’s typical Batch63 attitude . . so amen!

One haciendero in our midst is Mandy Ilustre. Mandy is a picture of stability nowadays. Happly married and semi-retired, Mandy busies himself attending to his properties in Batangas (Lemery and Tuy). Mandy’s businesses include agricultural plantations (sugar cane) as well as commercial properties in Batangas. Time and again, the congenial but quiet Mandy is one person that the Batch can always call on for support when it is required.

Ramon Arnaiz left the Kapihan early and I was unable to interview him. However, I spoke with those who know him well (Quito and Polding) and elicited information on what Ramon may have to say about himself. Recently, Ramon had divested himself from the ATK firm that he helped found. The aggressively expanding Maybank group (a Malaysian bank) bought ATK. From that transaction, I understand that Ramon can now live in leisure for the rest of his life. Per Quito, the maneuver is a sweet deal for Ramon since he gets to stay on with the company for a period of three years still (from sale) complete with financial benefits.

Finally, Oni Mayo is your humble Blog writer for the better cohesion of Batch63. When he is not writing blogs he attends to CONCEP (his design and planning office) which remains active to this day. With the advent of Green architecture and Climate change disaster risk planning, Oni feels that he will never be done being a student of his craft. His hobbies include sports and music. After 45 years of doing it on the courts, he thinks he has finally got the handle on his tennis serve. If you have heard the “Hail One La Salle” song (check out YouTube), then you know that he also dabbles in songwriting. His other passions include Heritage conservation advocacy and going out to questionable bars in Manila with Vince Misa, Bert Saenz and Ed Oleta.

If you must now, Batch63 interest is not all about business, fun and games. Behind the wordly façade of many Batch63 guys, their DLS virtues comes through especially when it comes to nationalistic affairs. During the Kapihan thus, a poll of the celebrants regarding the current socio-political situation of the country was made. The issue of the day is accountability within the government and specifically the ongoing prosecution trials of Renato Corona (Supreme Court Chief Justice) and GMA (past Ex-President). Probably based on the previous sacking of the PAGASA director (for inadvertence in making storm warnings), the Ombudsman (for blatant bias in support of GMA) and recently the NBI chief (for fostering kidnapping and other crimes), the fearless forecast of the celebrants is that Corona and GMA will likely be found guilty as charged. One qualified that GMA will be found guilty but Corona will be acquitted (technicalities will be exploited by the defense). Overall, everyone agreed that the recent developments foster transparency in governance and are good for the country.

Special Bulletin
As we know, our Batchmate Melo Prats is on the final stages of the Big C (throat). Yes this once robust DLS athlete is now sickly and has been in and out of the hospital since December. From those who were in touch with him, we were made to understand that Melo expressed that he would be appreciative in seeing his friends one last time. Hence, the group planned out and went on a mass visit to Melo’s house right after the Grand Kapihan. Even as the Batch’s entourage of 5 cars arrived at Melo’s house and were parking, the person there advised them that Melo was not in.

At 4AM in the early morning, Melo suffered a heart attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. He is presently comatose and is on life support system. According to the family, Melo knew beforehand that Batch63 was coming and was clearly excited about it. This reunion was not to be. At this point, the faithful is requested to say a little prayer for the embattled Melo and his family.


See slide show for more photos

I TURNED 65 AND I WENT TO SPAIN…TO WATCH A BULLFIGHT AND…TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL.

By Jaime C. González

For several years I was contemplating on what I would do when I turned 65.Retirement was obviously one option which many of my friends were talking about. But I kept thinking of the message in a book that I read when I turned 50 which talked about our Second Adulthood1. Essentially, it says that “The old demarcation points we may still carry around – an adulthood that begins at 21 and ends at 65 – are hopelessly out-of-date”. How many times have we heard a friend say that “I am 60 years old but I feel like I am 45”! With the advancement of

medical science, many of us will have a second adulthood lasting as long as, if not longer, than our first adulthood. And since we have had the lessons learned from our experiences,we should be wiser and more productive during our second adulthood. The trick though is to be physically and mentally prepared for the next 30 years so we can enjoy ourselves and be
productive members of society.

Although I did feel like 45 when I turned 60, I also felt severe aches and pains whenever I played tennis or when I was seated for long periods of time. I was taking glucosamine pills for my joints but these were not working as these should have. I developed scoliosis and I was having problems walking long distances. I had frequent sessions with the chiropractor and the physical therapist, but this just gave me temporary relief. The doctors told me that at my age, there was no cure for scoliosis. This was not what my Second Adulthood was supposed to be!

I decided to take the bull by its horn (no pun intended).

I signed up for pilates classes, taking these one-on-one twice a week for two hours per session. I learned that the key to alleviating the pain caused by my scoliosis was to strengthen my core and back muscles. I no longer have the severe pain in my back. I also signed up for swimming lessons. For an hour and a half twice a week, my coach has been teaching me the “total immersion” technique of swimming. This is a skill and an exercise routine that I can continue way beyond my tennis playing days. For the other three days of the week, I continue to play tennis with the pro for two hours each session. I am now in better shape that I have ever been before and I do feel like I am 45!

Now what do all of these have to do with bullfights in Spain?

Taking care of my body was not sufficient. I also needed to take care of my brain. I decided that I needed to go back to school and to learn something that would stimulate both my logical and intuitive parts of my brain. There were many choices and I decided to study a new language. Although I knew some Spanish from my mother and from the obligatory Spanish subject in school, I never really took it seriously and I certainly was not fluent. My objectives were to speak it fluently, read books (I have had El amor en los tiempos del cólera by Gabriel García Márquez waiting to be read in my bookshelf for over a year), and to listen to the noticias in TVE. So I decided to enroll in a ten week super-intensive course in Spanish, consisting of 6 hours per day, five days a week.

The preparation was not so easy but it was fun. I had to decide when to go, which school to go to, where to go to, and more importantly how would I handle my different businesses when I was away for 3 months. This was a sabbatical (which was a short one since in other cases this can last for a year) but unfortunately it is a concept not so popularly known or accepted in the Philippines.

Six months before my scheduled sabbatical, I started my clase particular (one-on-one
tutorials) with my profesora from the Instituto Cervantes. I set aside two lunch breaks a weeks for these sessions which lasted two hours each session. This process was akin to preparing before you started your sessions in a fancy health club. You have to look good before you start your sessions. The Instituto Cervantes is a great institute; the staff are all very friendly and helpful and the professors are excellent.

With the help of the then director of the Instituto Cervantes, I narrowed down the options and selected a centro privado with classes in several cities, including our choice of venues, Salamanca and Madrid. While I was in London for my regular bimonthly board meetings a few weeks before my classes started, I took a 3 day detour to both cities. I was a rarity, a 65 year old businessman wanting to take 6 hours of classes every day. Anyway, I signed up and paid for my matriculación. I also visited more than a dozen hotels and apartahoteles, fully aware that my wife had to be comfortable while I was slaving away in my class.

As it turned out, we decided to stay in Salamanca for the entire duration of my course. I enrolled for four hours of clase particular, one hour of súper intensivo (an integrating session which turned out to be also one-on-one) and one hour of cultura (which I found to be very interesting). During the hora de cultura, we learned about la corrida, los toros, y las faenas; we learned about the Tunas and their songs (which we also sing in Manila like Clavelitos and Cielito Lindo but at least I now know what the lyrics mean or stand for); we spoke about the sad period in Spain’s past, the Guerra Civil; and many other themes.

My wife and I supplemented this with activities during our private time. We discovered that the founder of the oldest university in the Philippines, the University of Santo Tomás, came from the Dominicans based in Salamanca and the museum in their Iglesia de San Esteban featured some of the most exquisite crucifixes made in the early 17th century and identified as Hispanofilipino.We visited nearby cities and pueblos. We had a whole afternoon being shown how they make jamón ibérico in Guijuelo, we had a cata (wine tasting) in Peñafiel in Ribera de Duero, we feasted on las yemas de Santa Teresa in Avila, and we went to the bullfight. The pictures which appeared in three local dailies in Salamanca show my wife and I seated in the barrera ocho (which are the preferred seats being on the first row). I soon discovered that these seats are normally held by families involved in the world of toros and the people seating here normally know each other. In the next barrera siete was the Duquesa de Alba and her then novio. Indeed, learning the culture is an important aspect in learning the language.

It was a tough 10 weeks. Apart from my classes, I also had about 3 hours of deberes
(homework) every night. Every morning before my classes started at 9 am, I would be on the telephone with my staff in Manila for two hours to enable me to stay on top of what was going on. Although they said they missed me, it looks like my colleagues did rather well without me around.

My course was tough but it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot although it is never as much as one would like to but it was certainly enough to get me along the process of learning. I am now back to my twice weekly clase particular with my profesora from the Instituto Cervantes. This was one of the best decisions I have ever taken. I feel refreshed. I have a new skill that I continue to work on. I am getting ready for the next 30 years!

Everybody should take a sabbatical at 65!

Merry Christmas!

General

The December 14 event was really suppose to fete only the joint birthday celebrants (Grand Kapihan). In the days leading to the event however, the event evolved to become a Batch Christmas celebration as well since it’s the Christmas month. The December birthday celebrants who hosted the party were Jimmie Gonzales, Eboy Cosme, Babes Alvarez, Manolo Cristobal and Stephen Ty. Actually, Babes, Manolo and Stephen were unable to join the celebration in Polo Club but they made good on what’s required from them to see the production through. From us Batch63 guys, Happy Birthday December guys – thanks for the breakfast feast!

Outside of the contribution of the celebrants, other generous souls contributed delicacy food to make the event even more special. George Cunanan provided Maricel’s famous ensaymada, queso de bola and cans of walnut delights (his daughter’s product). Gabby Valdes brought sinfully delicious Chinese ham. Jack Arellano brought genuine edam cheese. I understand part of the Batch63 Fun Fund (the Story of Us surplus in the care of Bert Saenz) was also tapped to support the expenses.

Apart from the celebrants who came and the specialty food donors mentioned above, the other Batch guys who came to the Christmas party were: Jimmy Ortigas, Bert Saenz, Gary Salcedo, Mari Duarte, Ernest Cuyegkeng, Bambi Goco, Joey Ingles, Steve Hontiveros, Ed Lim, Boy Carlos, Onie Mayo, Boy Tungpalan, Joey Estagle, Tony Estonina, Ed Oleta, Lito Quiogue, Doug Marcaida, Francis Horn, and Vince Misa. The Cameron Hall table arrangement had to take on an awkward L-shape setting again to accommodate everyone.






The Special Personalities
Since Jimmy Gonzales and Eboy Cosme were the birthday boys present, they became the recipient of everyone’s greetings. Eboy had just come from a major medical procedure in the USA (robotic surgery to remove a tumor and fix a heart valve). He is looking none the worse from his medical experience. He was his usual low-keyed self explaining his new real estate ventures in Makati. Jimmy Gonzales is likewise in real estate today in a big way. Jimmy heads the Artha Land high rise luxury residential condominium project at the Fort. The Artha Land project broke ground some months ago and is now competing head-on saleswise with giants such as Ayala Land, Century Properties and Megaworld.

When asked to give their opinion on the ongoing political situation in the country, the two celebrants gamely complied. Eboy is more concerned about the state of the infrastructure in the country. This AIM graduate says that in his opinion, infrastructure development is the key to progress, Thus other political initiatives should mainly target this requirement as an end goal. Meanwhile, Jimmy speaks on the current issue now gripping the nation – the trial of GMA and the impeachment of the Chief Justice for cause. US-educated Jimmy is fearful that the ongoing political activities will lead to destabilization that will scare away investors. Jimmy feels that the conduct of the proceedings with too many grandstanding lawyers (and legal-types) are making matters worse.

In the course of the party, some of the guys received a text from Dendi Abdon. As we know, Dendi had wanted to join this Grand Kapihan. Instead, he got confined once more in the hospital. Dendi greeted the Batch and expressed his thanks anew for their support. The call was timely since more Batch guys had recently sent in their contributions for Dendi. After the party, Oni Mayo went to the hospital and delivered to Dendi the accumulated latent contributions of Ram Salcedo (US based), Patrick Go (Cebu-based) and Francis Horn. On another matter, Dendi is currently in need of Type O positive blood. He is willing to pay for it but the right donors are not readily available. It seems that people who had history of specific illnesses or even with tattoos are not acceptable donors. (This makes 99 % of the Batch unacceptable donors). If anyone knows some young clean people with Type O positive blood and willing to give blood, please contact Dendi or Helen.



More
Here are some developments regarding the gang and the school: Bert Saenz has joined the iron man competition; Tony Estonina just had a tumor removed from his neck; Dong Guinto died from a freak accident. That’s all folks!



See slide show for more photos.

The Family Response

by Kristina Abdon

Hi Tito Oni. I finally checked my email after a long time...sorry for writing just now. Thank you so much for visiting Daddy when he was in the hospital. I told you it means a lot to him to see his friends somehow in spite of his condition. Daddy is deeply touched by his friends' love for him and their generosity in his time of need...and so are we (Mommy, Anna and myself)...it is actually overwhelming we do not know how to THANK YOU ALL donors from De La Salle High School BATCH '63. No words could express entirely how grateful, happy and comforted we are in the knowledge that Daddy is loved and treasured by his friends. He is truly blessed.



Our special THANK YOU to Tito Joey for making all this happen and for personally handing out BATCH 63's love offerings to Daddy. Thank you too to Tito Jackie, Tito Boy and Tito Bert for being there and lifting up further Daddy's spirits. Tito Oni, please pass on our sincerest gratitude to all of the donors of BATCH '63 that they may know how much Daddy and his family appreciate their generous and loving gesture. Be rest assured that Daddy will now not only battle his illness for his family but also for his friends that you may still be gladdened and enjoy each other's company for a good long time...all in His time and by His will. Again, from the four of us, THANK YOU VERY MUCH BATCH '63 donors and dear friends

Tina

P.S. No wonder Daddy always looks forward to and is always excited about your weekly Wednesday breakfast meetings...he even demands to be brought there by hook or by crook whenever it is physically possible for him...no wonder he would postpone his doctor's appointments to Wednesday afternoons...we never understood it until recently...we could not fathom the depth of your friendship and brotherhood until it was revealed to us...YOU, his friends, are the reason why...and so now we know...God bless your group always De La Salle High School Batch 63...you are truly inspirational!!!

Dendi

Dendi Abdon is presently confined at the Makati Med hospital. He is undergoing a series of radiation treatment to fight the big C (rectal cancer). The present treatment will be over soon and he may be able to go home in a week's time. Batch63 wishes Dendi improved health in the coming weeks.

At the hospital, Dendi is being fully supported by his family. On Friday afternoon, Oni Mayo went to visit Dendi in Room 762. When Oni arrived, Dendi was still in the radiation room undergoing his session and so he took the opportunity to chat first with Tina (Dendi's eldest daughter) and Tito (younger brother of Dendi). Apparently, this is Dendi's second hospital confinement in a month's time. Dendi suffered an infection some days ago that required his being confined again.

Dendi was finally wheeled from the treatment room even as his wife Helen arrived from her work. Dendi is visibly in high spirits and spiritedly conversed with Oni. The topic of conversation? Batch63 shenanigans off course. Dendi loves Batch63 and he remembers all his good times with the Batch. His open diatribe with Oni was spirited and which became an amusement for Dendi's family there. Dendi promises to get well in the next few weeks so that he can join the next Batch63 Grand Kapihan in December.

For Dendi, this arduous episode in his life has been going on for 5 years. When he was first diagnosed with the disease, Dendi first tried out alternative medicine for a few years. Today, he has accepted that he needs chemotherapy treatment and mainstream medicine. We all now that this is a very expensive process and is a hardship for most any family. Dendi is touched with the advise of some Batch63 friends (Joey Estagle was first to know), who greatly raised his spirits due to their offer of support. (Bert Saenz and Mari Duarte are today rallying La Salle friends to the cause of Dendi).

Dendi is frail today - a far cry from his high school days when he played varsity track and field (discuss throw and shot put) for good old DLS. True to his Batangueno heritage, it is not easy to put down this strong man. Even with his diminished frame, you can see the fire in his eyes when he talks about his passions. We know that Dendi is also a musician being the drummer for the erstwhile Royal Lancers combo. While Dendi has constrained movements specially when his system acts up, his spirit continues to rock and roll. Way to go, Dendi. See you at the Grand Kapihan next month.

For those who wish to communicate with Dendi, his address is 126 Caliraya Drive, Marian Lake View Park, Paranaque. His mobile is 0917 536 2375.

Batch63 Green Hat

In recent months, Batch63 came to hear about the plight of two embattled classmates One was in need of an emergency eye operation and another had lost everything during the onslaught of Typhoon Pedring last September. In support of its own, Batch63 came through for the two cases.

Case No. 1
Joey Alonso did not have many friends in Grade School. He was the quintessential school bully. He was actually kicked out in the fourth grade for fighting. True to form he lived the wild life all his life and is lucky he survived unscathed through all his escapades. He emerged a few years ago and reconnected with the Batch. He is now a Senior citizen who is affiliated with a Christian group. He calls everyone Brother and it was amazing how he could remember Batch63 guys - full names and all - even after 50 years.

Some months ago, he came requesting for help for his impending eye operation. He had managed to find sponsors in Makati Medical Center but it was not a totally free offer. He finally settled for another hospital (East Avenue Hospital) that was more affordable. One Kapihan day, the group passed the hat and came out with part of his financial requirement. Mari Duarte - ironically Joey's grade school foe - was tasked by the group to ensure the proper disposition of the funds. Mari attended to the matter with dispatch and coordinated with the social worker on the case. Mari finally handed the fund (P12K) last week to the social worker who guaranteed that the fund will be exclusively used for Joey's medical requirement.


Case No. 2
In the 50s, Boy Tungpalan's family owned the famous Roadside Cafe restaurant near the corner of Vito Cruz and Taft Avenue. With it's arresting neon signage, the Cafe was a landmark then. It had both famous and notorious people as its regular patrons. In those times, many of Boy's classmates would go to his house after school and where they partook of delicious hamburger sandwich from the Cafe. That was the equivalent of the McDonald treat at that time.

Today, Boy has fallen onto hard times. He lives in a small house in Navotas that was totally demolished by Typhoon Pedring. While Boy ekes out a living doing minor construction jobs (he took up architecture) and managing a little eatery with his wife, he lost everything in the storm. Led by Lito Quiogue, friends of Boy rallied to his cause and the hat was passed around during the Grand Kapihan today. The large attendance at the Kapihan was timely and who contributed an amount of more than P24K for Boy. Special mention is warranted for the long distance donation of Manolo Relova (who is an American resident). Boy was a picture of gratefulness as he received the token and said that the gift would go a long way. He was teary eyed as he thanked each and everyone in the Batch.

November Grand Kapihan

Roll Call

I believe that the Grand Kapihan feting the birthday boys of November is one of the largest assembled this year. Organizer Vince Misa was not there this time but the joint birthday event’s administrative chore (at Cameron Forbes room in Polo Club) was aptly handled by instant substitute Lito Quiogue. The November birthday celebrants are: Gabby Valdez, Steve Hontiveros, Douglas Marcaida, Jimmy Estrella and Bambi Goco. As usual, Batch63 sincerely wish the celebrants Un felix compleanos and muchas gracias for the hearty breakfast fare!

The rare birds observed at the event were: Eboy Cosme, Vic Corpuz, Ramon Arnaiz, Richard Tilman, Boy Tungpalan, Benny Ang and Lito Domantay. In addition (and apart from the celebrants), the others who came were: Babes Angeles, Jack Arellano, Ed Lim, Mari Duarte, Raffy Villareal, Gary Salcedo, Joey Ingles, George Cunanan, Polding Arnaiz, Joey Estagle, Boy Palanca, Bert Saenz, Boy Carlos, Oni Mayo, Francis Horn, Ed Oleta, Tony Estonina and of course, the facilitator today – Lito Quiogue. Thirty strong, the group was so big that the usual L-shaped table arrangement allocated for Grand Kapihans at Cameron Hall was not enough to accommodate everyone.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Celebrants

Steve Hontiveros is kept busy nowadays by his involvement in the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC). Steve is the Secretary General of the institution and he has to attend to its many functions all over the World. By this week, Steve - together with the 700-strong Philippine delegation - is slated to be in Indonesia for the Southeast Asian Games. If you guys can time your visit to POC affairs (and meet up with Steve at the venue), Steve promises to provide official passes for any visiting Batch63 guy.

Being connected with the Government in a way, Steve believes that the Government is on the right track with its institutional reform programs. He is however impatient with the improvement of the peace and order situation. Steve must be alluding to the many recent sensational crime incidents in the papers today.

Jimmy Estrella as we know conducts business in his bailiwick in Rosales, Pangasinan. Today, he is involved in commercial organic farming. This project is now operational and Jim is expecting initial harvests. Apart from cash-crop vegetables, another interesting product being developed by Jimmy is rice seeds. Jim informed that rice production tend to decline when the same type seed is planted every time. High quality seeds that Jimmy will supply can improve the harvest of rice growers.

Jimmy is a scion of the powerful Estrella political clan of Pangasinan. Bred in this environment, Jimmy has some interesting views on the plight of the country’s socio-economic situation today. While he acknowledges the sincere effort of the present administration to instill reform, he feels that to be effective, it should be more pro-active in approach. He feels that having been vested with a popular mandate to lead, the President should not be conservative for the sake of image. Too much caution (on government development spending) is not good when it stifles initiatives and the opportunity is lost. Not grabbing the bull by the horns when one can, was a mistake of the President’s mother - Cory Aquino.

Durable Doug Marcaida remains physically hale who continues to be effective in his job within the tough cargo handling industry. Doug’s experience with law-enforcement in America is really serving him in good stead today. Apart from his regular cargo handling interest, Doug is developing his property in Baras, Rizal as a resort place in the area. When he gets the zipline installed, I wonder how many Batch63 guys can still be nimble enough take the ride if only to prove they are still young.


Doug is optimistic about the future. He believes that the President is trying his best and the people’s hopes are at an all-time high. Admittedly, there’s still a lot to be done if the country is to progress but Doug remains practical and knows that it will take some time to do all that’s needed to be done. Looking around, Doug sees many first time improvements in the government system that he feels is a good sign.

Bambi Goco has always been identified with his brokerage business. Over the years, Bambi had done other works, but his bread-and-butter remains brokerage. Together with wife Kang, the couple attends to the facilitation of the release of imported cargo for dealers and distributors. With globalization, the Brokerage industry can only grow. We know that manufacturing of basic and luxury consumer goods (and raw material) are done in many foreign places which in turn ship out these produce to the Philippines. Clearly, Bambi and Kang seem far off from thinking about enjoying full retirement benefits.

Bambi is focused on the nuances of his trade that require timely personal service effort. Per Bambi, the industry situation and practices today remain the same. This is probably the reason why he believes that there really is not much difference between the Government we have now and before. The reforms are much too slow in coming where some feel that the changes may not be in place before the President’s term is over. If true, innovative people like Bambi will continue to be needed by his industry if only to meet the requirement of traders and investors who seek to validly contribute to the progress of Philippine commerce.

Today, Gabby Valdez is on second career mode. Having been involved early on with the family management accounting and auditing business (previously one of the largest in the country) Gabby is now retired from that. However, the businessman in Gabby remains. Today, he attends to family investments that may need upgrading and retooling to address new global conditions. Outside of business, Gabby indulges in mundane avocations such as: vintage auto collection; golf; vacation houses; travel (he just came from Singapore with wife Pam); and gourmet cuisine stuff.

Like Jimmy Estrella, Gabby agrees with the reform direction taken by the new Noynoy Government in general. He however senses that the people are eager for faster more meaningful development in the country. As a Filipino, Gabby would like to do his share in this regard. He hopes to soon establish with Batch63 friends some novel socio-economic project that will have a positive impact on the country. If any of you have some ideas on this, do call up Gabby.


See slide show for more photos.