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