If I missed out on any occasion, please let me know A.S.A.P. so I can include them on the list.

Ahhh! CBC Batch '84. . . After graduation, we vowed then to get together every year. Unfortunately, the reality of life's uncertainty barred us from doing so. But after 14 years, those of us lucky enough to find the time and make the effort finally did on October 3 and 4, 1998!

Through those years from graduation, a lot of things have happened to each and every one of us, some happy, some sad, a few even tragic. We moved on to college, some completed . . . others didn't, nevertheless, we moved on, and even some, to overseas. Others got married, had kids....others divorced...and then some, widowed . . . even some still single. But when you stop for a moment to cherish the memories, it would seem not to long ago that we were together in high school.

Surely each one of us, at a certain time, has wondered . . . "Where could my classmates be now?" Our friends we grew up with . . . those we loved . . . those we hated . . . those "cream of the crop" and the class clowns. . . the annoying people and K.S.P.s . . . those "tahimik kuno" and the "Maria Clara's" and the bookworms . . . No matter who they are and what they were to each of us, in the back of our minds and deep in our hearts, we all miss each other.

I hope everyone agree that our batch shared a special bond. We all stuck together through thick and thin, inspite of things that "they " said about our batch. We were all more than just friends, sometimes even better than sisters.

With the recent international reunion, we now yearn to gather together more often. A lot of time and effort were spent to make that reunion a reality. I hope that laid the foundation for a better and longer lasting bond among us.

Although we are all over the world (scattered in different countries) we have always looked forward to a great day of gathering. Call it crazy, call it nuts . . . whatever you want to call it, I'm glad we all had the hunger for a reunion and the will to make it happen. Thanks to the technological wonder of the Internet and the help of our classmates who still have contact with our other classmates, the reunion was a SUCCESS. Would you ever imagine, a simultaneous reunion in 2 different parts of the world ever happening to a bunch of people like our batch? Bet, nobody would have thought about that!

It all started many, many sleepless nights ago, as I was surfing the Internet, I came across this alumni website, www.alumni.net . Surprisingly, Colegio del Buen Consejo had a listing, and so I registered, although feeling lonely because I was the only one from our batch registered from among a handful of mostly older batch. Then one day, a fellow classmate registered Edith de la Paz. I was so happy to find this out and we exchanged e-mail messages right away. Another night of insomnia attack prompted me to take out our Yearbook and got this wild idea of searching the World Wide Web with all its promise of power, to search for our classmates, one by one. I got lucky and was able to trace some of those who are single & those who are married but retained their maiden name. I sent them e-mail messages, others I called up over the phone, and then the network started growing.

Others we know they're here in the US but still can't trace them. Happy to know that there's a lot of us here in the US. Some are in different countries, imagine we're now all over the world. Before, the only places we know to go to are in Pasig, Greenhills, Makati & Quezon City. We came a long way.

I had managed to contact some of our classmates here in the U.S. We started setting up the dates and places to meet until we agreed on Oct. 3 in San Jose. Another wild idea popped up into my mind. I e-mailed Edith dlP. and asked her to contact Weng D. & other classmates whose whereabouts we know to gather together on October 4 in order to have a simultaneous reunion with a phone conference (maybe next time we can do video conferencing). With all the excitement and effort spent, the reunion was a blast. For sure, everyone can't wait for the next one. Philippine chapter sure didn't waste any time planning for the next happening. They're setting up their Christmas party on Dec. 13. 1998.

I wish I could tell you all the details of the reunion. A whole page wouldn't be enough. One thing was visible. We all missed each other...A LOT! Super sabik talaga with one another, that even those of us who had to take a long trip to San Jose didn't notice being tired. We stayed up until dawn just chatting away, trying to get the latest "scoops", reminiscing the good, old, happy go lucky, worry-free days of our high school life. Walang sinabi ang " Bagets" movie sa storya ng high school days natin. If only the "back to the future time machine" was real, for sure everyone of us will probably consider going back, even for a short visit.

Last Nov. 14 we had a mini- reunion celebrating Kit Sanchez' birthday. It was perfect timing for visiting Meaian Austria as she joined as from Dubai where she is based. Soraya Victoria drove up from Virginia with her husband. Others who made it to this celebration were Daisy Cruz from New York City, Jopay Amponin from Chicago, Dominique DeAguirre with her husband from SF Bay Area, Techie Yu from the Philadelphia area and Analyn Mauricio, who also resides in New Jersey.

Our next reunion is in the works, so keep in touch to get the latest. For all of you who helped in making the reunion a success, Thanks a whole bunch! This is just the beginning, we're all looking forward to a bigger, better & happier reunion.

To all our classmates in the Philippines, we all miss you. We hope you can join us here in the US on our next reunion. We're all planning to join you in the Philippines in the year 2000.

 

The reunion was held at Nipa Hut Restaurant in Pasig City. Roselyn Zara picked me up at 11:30 AM and sabay na kami pumunta doon.

When we arrived,ang ingay-ingay na. Everytime may darating, nagsisigawan at nagtatawanan.Yung iba medyo teary-eyed. Everybody really missed each other a lot! Syempre may iba na mahina na ang memory at hindi na nila makilala yung iba. You'll hear a lot of "Sino yan? Sino yan?" or "S'ya ba yan? Talaga!!! Hindi ko matandaan." with matching panlalaki ng mata.

Imagine that was the first ever get-together after 14 years! There were some kasi na ang laki-laki ng pinagbago. Yung magugulo, magulo pa rin. Si Helen, Meleen, Mamag, Lina and in addition, si Romana Martin. She really surprised everybody. Ibang-iba nasiya, from Maria Clara to a very liberated and talkative woman and, yup, she got an award for that. Meleen and Helen showed us their walang kamatayang 'Swing' . May mga buntis pa nga, coincidence dahil parehong Jinky ang buntis, Jinky Herce and Jinky Esguerra. Teresa Tanael and Carmina Vargasalso surprised everybody with their 'Salamat po, Doktor!' looks. Eto pa, Jojo Javier, babae na siya! Naka-skirt pa siya when she came.

The affair started at 12 noon with a prayer led by Mamag San Juan. After that nag-welcome remarks si Weng Daquiz-Poblete. Then, kainan na. There were lots of foods. Halos nakapag-take home lahat. After eating, everybody was given a chance to talk in front para sabihin ang buhay-buhay nila ngayon, if they're married or still single, ilan ang anak, ilan ang asawa (ooopss!!!),and pinaka-importante, ang mga raket nila. Cynthia Mangila, Jeazel Fontanilla and Tonette Mariano hosted the affair.

We also elected officers so there would be a body that will be in-charge of organizing the succeeding get-togethers. All together, there were 52 of us in attendance. We said our good-byes at 4:30 PM but others still went to Weng's house, mostly the officers, to discuss the future activities. I hope next time, we can hold it in a bigger and nicer but not so expensive place. The purpose of our next reunion is to increase the number of attendees by locating more of our batchmates. I know there are some who were not really informed of the reunion or not really aware that there was one. I hope the next one will be more exciting and successful.

When I came back to work, I already received some calls from our batchmates. Most of them are already asking for the directories while others are giving their views and insights about the reunion. It was quite touching to see everybody and how they had changed. Anyway, to sum it all, it was successful and everybody had sooooo MUCH FUN!!!

I really have to thank Agnes and the rest of our batchmates for making the affair possible. To our batchmates...let's hope and pray that we'll have more get-togethers like this. See you all in our next reunion.

 

Saturday, October 3, 1998. CBC Batch '84's first U.S. Reunion was held in San Jose, California. It was a long wait for all of us, but at that moment, we all knew it was well worth waiting for.

It all started when Agnes Quejada had the idea of having a reunion here in the US. She had the courage to track down some of us that she thought might be somewhere in the 50 States. Somehow she managed to do just that. The date was set (October 3, 1998) and soon enough everyone was counting down the months, then the weeks, and finally, the days.

On my way to San Jose that Saturday from Las Vegas, Nevada where I live now, I can't help but think of my classmates whom most of them I have not seen in 14 years. What could they possibly look like now? Would they still remember me . . .. would I still remember them . . . would everything be the same? I bet everybody was thinking of the same questions. I arrived that morning and was met at the airport by Cecil Candaza. From there we went straight to our "home base", Thelma Talavera's residence in San Jose where Agnes, Kit Sanchez, Analyn Mauricio, Judy Fernandez and Thelma were waiting. Beso-beso here and beso-beso there. . . a hug here and a hug there at umpisa na ang walang katapusan na kuwento. It was totally dejavu, as if we all went back to high school, except of course, everyone had matured, physically, emotionally and intellectually. We even had a test of who remembers what section we all were in, starting from Grade 1 to our Senior year. Let me throw this one story, because to me this may very well be a classic. Kit asked me, "Ime, anong section mo nu'ng Grade 6? I think we were classmates." I said, "I don't remember." Then she said, "Section GAY! . . .GAY ka talaga!" and we all started laughing.

That afternoon, we all went to the Marriott Hotel where the reunion is taking place while we all waited anxiously for everyone to arrive. We were all concerned that we were going to make so much noise and merriment that we might get kicked out of the hotel. Nevertheless, nobody cared about it (and what's new about that). I guess no one can stop us from having fun, daldalan dito, daldalan doon, tawanan dito, tawanan doon, even if it would mean for us going to jail (he-he-he!)

Fortunately, nothing drastic happened. The food and drinks were all set up promptly. We even had a banner provided by Dominique DeAguirre and Malou Viray that said, "WELCOME CBC, CLASS OF '84" in big white letters against a blue background, which reflects our school colors.

A lot of cameras clicked and a couple of video cameras rolled to capture the moment, hanggang mangalay na ang mga panga namin sa ka-ka-smile, pero tuloy pa rin. We had dinner and drinks briefly and then started catching up with each other until the time arrived to make the connection over the phone with our classmates in the Philippines who also gathered simultaneously. Clearly everyone was having a good time. It showed in everyone's face and in the sound of our laughter. Tears of joy were shed by a few among us who saw friends' pictures from yesteryears. A Yearbook was passed around for everybody to view while we all tried to remember our classmates and teachers, hanggang sa nagka-luray-luray na yung Yearbook.

Like all good things, that night must come to an end. I guess everyone was aware of it. Nagiging serious na ang usapan, some of us were probably thinking that for about 6-8 hours we forgot our problems, we reminisced our younger years, remembered our old classmates and teachers. After that night it's back to reality for all of us. We are not teenagers anymore, we have real life responsibilities, . . . kayod na naman for some, taking care of the family for the others, and for some, still waiting for the right person. Even for a short time, we felt "bagets" again. We've come together to look back on our life then and realize that who and what we are today could not have been possible without our past. We owe it to ourselves, our principals, teachers, classmates, best friends, barkadas, enemies and most especially our parents.

To CBC BATCH OF 1984 . . . Thank you for the memories . . . With this reunion, I hope we can make more new ones . . .

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