Jaime Villanueva, 1945 – 2010

According to his friend Jojo de Jesus, Jaime Villanueva’s hobby is playing golf. He also used to indulge in sabong derbies to the extent that he had his own stable of fighting cocks. Part of the good life for Jaime was also enjoyment of patis and bagoong with his food. This may have been Jaime’s undoing since it ultimately affected his kidneys. He was on dialysis for 7.5 years until his death on September 10.

After a one year stint in UP, Jaime eventually took up and finished his law degree in Siliman University. While in the University, Jaime met and married Elsa Melocoton from Davao who was also studying in the University. Jaime and Elsa have three boys and twin girls (Paul, Francis, Jaime, Mimi and Gigi). At the wake where his children and grandchildren were in force, Jaime had truly a very close knit family.











When Jaime was growing up in La Salle, he lived in Singalong Manila like many other La Salle guys (Richard Tilman, Boy Tungpalan, Nilo Villanueva, Melo Prats and others who were not Batch63). The Villanueva Singalong family house was retained and so Jaime’s family continues to live there. Jaime’s parents were in the transportation business (like their cousins – the Saulogs of Cavite). They used to own the San Antonio Bus Company and they also ran a fleet of taxis. The family recalls that their taxi company was the first to use Mercedes Benz taxis in the country. For a brief while Jaime was involved in the family business. Jaime however found his calling as a career official for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. When he retired from the service, Jaime was Revenue District Officer of the Bureau.

Batch63 came to the Trinity Memorial Chapel yesterday to condole with the family and pay their last respects to a fallen classmate. Taking the cue from Bert Saenz’s group text advise, the Batch63 guys who grouped together at the wake on Wednesday night were Bert Saenz, Douglas Marcaida, Steve Hontiveros, Bambi Goco, Boy Tungpalan (Jaime’s best friend), Richard Tilman (Jaime’s balae), Boy Charles, Quito Moras, Ed Oleta, Tony Estonina, Lito Quiogue and Oni Mayo.

April Celebration

A big crowd turned up at Polo Club for the April joint birthday blowout of Bert Saenz, Gary Salcedo, Boy Palanca and Mari Duarte. I was told that another celebrant who didn't quite make it today but who sent in his share of the blowout expense anyway is Ernest Cuyegkeng. These guys don't come all the time to the Kapihan but when it's their turn at bat, they are there swinging. To these handsome guys, thank you for sharing your resources with the gang.


For more than a year now, the combined birthday bash has proven to be a successful affair everytime. As it is, the usual weekly Batch63 Kapihan crowd turns up 7 to 8 hard core guys each time. A joint birthday bash day would however bring on guys that is more than double that number.

After years of meeting weekly, many of the guys have clearly mastered the art of pointless conversation, meaningless posturing, irrelevant tirades, twisted logic and simultaneous jabber. Everyone is now so at home and into the act that the Willow Root long table has become one long panel of discourse for different topics. In my case today, I was engrossed with George Cunanan at one end of the table. I was complaining about technical difficulties with my Ipod (Apple product) and George was exasperated at how I could be so mistaken (stupid?) with regards to the capabilities of this wonderful device. Since I was on the defensive trying to convince George that I'm not really stupid, it was not possible to pick up on the passing conversational gems that Batch63 is dishing out then and there. I wish the other guys would write about these gems.

At least one gem of a statement came through for me that day. One group had started up a thread concerning sexual prowess. At this, Boy Charles perked up and declared that he has mastered the 'doggie' style. Asked by Gabby Valdez how so, Boy said: "Gab, at the moment of climax, you bark . . woof woof! Believe me, the girls really dig it!" And Boy was dead serious when he said that. A topic of interest was also regarding the motorcade that took five of the guys up north and back over three days a couple of weekends ago. This motoring group spearheaded by Jack Arellano and Gabby Valdez is now very active and is inviting others to join them. I believe their next trip is either to Tanay or Tagaytay. You can join them if you have a vintage car, can sit up behind the wheel the whole day, tolerate the lame jokes of Batch63 comedians and you don't mind stopping every hour or so to allow your aging friends to find time to 'piss on earth'.










The buffet in Willow Root was not to my liking today, so I settled for a meat tapa breakfast. Yes Virginia, there is a choice. Earlier, I came from two sets of tennis and the tasty breakfast (with the stimulation from George) really energized me again. Lest I forget, I'd like to thank Joey Estagle and Lito Quiogue for contributing some of the creative photos in this blog. Until next time here's a toast to the April birthday boys: Happy Birthday from Batch63. Thanks for the breakfast treat and may you keep your hair and teeth a little while longer. Remember, ang tumatanda lang ay kalabaw!

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