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Thursday, May 7, 2015
Boy and Girlie's Bedazzling Despedida Party
If I have to pick a word to describe the despedida (farewell) party for our Class '65 tendered by the generous, thoughtful and caring couple, our classmate Ramon (Boy) Garcia and his wife Girlie, it would be bedazzling. This was held at the beautiful home of their son, Raymond, located in Caloocan City. This party marked the last activity that the hardworking reunion organizers scheduled for our two week reunion held February 15 to 27, 2015 to celebrate our Golden Jubilee as St. James Academy High School Class '65.
The wonderful host and hostess of the bedazzling despedida party, Ramon (Boy) and Girlie Garcia. Thank you. Gracias. Salamat.
Boy and Girlie still live in Malabon City where Boy works as a consignacion or fish broker. Their daughter, Maricris and her husband Michael de Guzman have their consignacion in the adjoining city, Navotas. For the readers who are not familiar with these three aforementioned cities, Malabon, Navotas and Caloocan, below are two maps that show how they are related geographically to each other and to known places like Manila and Quezon City. One would observe, in the maps, the close proximity of Navotas and Malabon to the Manila Bay. It is of no surprise that residents of Navotas and Malabon are known to be engaged in the fishing industry. Aside from Boy, two other classmates, Silvano Santos and Rufino Tiangco, are also involved in the fishing business.
If Boy had already been an adult during the time my late father, Benjamin Lucas Sr., was involved in their family business of making patis, my Tatay (father), would be whispering to Boy's ears to get the best price or deal for the anchovies that he needed for making this fish sauce. This whispering is the unique method used in this business of buying fish in Malabon and Navotas. I have also memories of my father, donning his bakya (wooden clogs) when he left early in the morning for Navotas so he could walk through its muddy grounds to deal with consignaciones. like Boy and his son-in-law. He would come home smelling of the fish that he picked through.
Boy is very successful in his business and he had humbly shared the gifts that God has generously showered on him in many big and small ways. When I came back to the Philippines for a professional meeting, (PAASE) in 2011, I emailed Paeng that I was interested in joining our classmates at a party to be held at Danny's. This occasion was to welcome Bishop Rolly from New Guinea as he came to celebrate his consecration as a bishop of Papua, New Guinea. Lo and behold, at the end of a day long meeting at the UP science building, there was Paeng and Lory picking me up in a jeep that Boy provided together with his driver for us to use even though Boy himself was out of town and could not make it to the party. Later that weekend, he provided gallons of ice cream at the actual consecration mass and celebration which he requested and instructed Paeng and Lory to bring for him.
Boy and Girlie's attention to details was evident in the food extravaganza, the entertainment, the decorations and other aspects of this perfect party. They have two wonderful daughters, Maricris and Nina, who helped them set up the sumptuous buffet table and the beautifully coordinated table and chair covers. They also oversaw that the buffet table was continuously filled with the awesome, mouth watering dishes.
Boy and Girlie's gorgeous daughters, Maricris and Nina, who graciously helped their parents with the details of the perfect party. Thank you, ladies. Wonderful job.
Boy also exhibited a gift for listening. He and I discussed during the ride to Dr. Ron and Vilma Guzman's house during our Tuguegarao trip what Boy was thinking of serving for the merienda part of the merienda/dinner despedida party for Class '65. He mentioned he was not serving Pancit Malabon (Noodle dish indigenous to Malabon). But come despedida time, surprise, surprise he did.
Two days before, I told Linda that Vida, our classmate, was dying to taste authentic Pancit Malabon. (Vida was staying in Makati during the two week reunion). Linda promised to tell Boy. If that was what made him changed his mind, I do not know for sure but we from the United States attending the reunion were very grateful.
Nothing like Pancit Malabon from Malabon or in this case Navotas. Note that two of the three most popular Pancit Malabon restaurants nowadays in that area, Auring's and Norma's Restaurants, are in Navotas. Nanay's Pancit Malabon, the third one is located in Malabon. Boy's choice to serve at the party was Auring's which is famous for including deep fried squid (pusit) as one of the toppings which consist of shrimp, pork, eggs, cabbage, crumbled chicharon or pork rind among other things. The fried squid formed the black circle in the topping of the Pancit Malabon from Auring's shown below.
Auring's Pancit Malabon
Segment 1 - Chichiria at the kitchen/dining area of the house
I consider the party to consist of three segments. The first one was held inside the spacious kitchen/ dining area of the house. We had chichiria (nibblers) while waiting for people to arrive. Green mangoes with bagoong (anchovies) and kaimitoes both of which were picked from the backyard tree in the lot next to Raymond's house), chicharon (pork rind), grapes, several types of suman (rice cakes), chips and many more. Outstanding array.
Pictures above show the Class '65 eating and laughing and just excited to be together again.
These goodies were eaten amidst a lot of batian (greetings of newcomers) kuwentuhan (storytelling), and halakhakan (loud laughter). Definitely happiness could be felt in the room and to think most of the people there were together at Tuguegarao just two days before. Excitement was specially shown when classmates who we were seeing for the first time during the two week reunion arrived, like Myrna Saguindan Ventus, Ricky Aquino, Nanding Camus, and Mary Maronilla.
Ossie Cruz, Boy Garcia, Raquel Sioson Huliganga, Ricky Aquino, Boy Bautista and Vida Rivera Isip pose during the arrival of Ricky.
During this first segment of the party, we also had a wonderful treat, namely, watching the pictures and videos of the two week reunion activities taken by Jun Salumbides, Malou Santos Salumbides' husband. He was one of the wonderful and hardworking unofficial photographers during the reunion, together with Rudy, Ben and Sani. All of them are husbands of Class '65 members, ZenyM, Vida and Esther respectively from the West Coast of the United States.
Two pictures above show the reaction of Class '65 as they view for the first time Jun's photos and videos of the reunion activities.
The group pose during Segment 1 of the party. Seated from left: Myrna Saguindan Ventus, Elvie Roque Lagrimas, Norma Santiago, Malou Santos Salumbides, Lulu Gutierrez Yambao. Standing from left: Girlie Garcia, Ben Isip, Ossie Cruz, Vida Rivera Isip, Rudy Parayo, Florie Cruz, Charito Lazcano Lazaro, Norma Yanga Miranda, Zeny Mendoza Parayo, Myrna Ibaviosa Guzman, Susana Magcalas, Jun Salumbides, Flor Vivandor Ongkengko, Lita Garcia Tangonan, Ondes Lucas Herold, Gloria Camus Orlina, Renato Co and Ramon (Boy) Garcia.
Segment 2 - The merienda at the garden about mid-afternoon
I was pleasantly surprised that there was a second segment prior to dinner, namely, the merienda itself, especially after we just ate so much chichirias. Here are the mouth watering mostly sweet kakanin or native delicacies served plus the savory Pancit Malabon.
Below are pictures taken of Class '65 and their guests during the merienda.
Foreground: from left, Ricky, Renato, Boy Bautista, Charito, and Fernando Camus
From left: Malou, Norma, Lita, Elvie, Beth Pacifico, Myrna.
Antonio Pacifico, Manny Quimson, Esther, Sani, Rudy and Zeny
Vida, Raquel and Raquel's husband, Ted.
Ondes, Lulu, Flor, Myrna, Nora, Paeng and Raquel's husband, Ted.
BFF's from left: Boy, Girlie, Florie and Ossie
One of the busiest persons at the party was Myrna Saguindan Ventus. She generously gave each one of us at the party the picture of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart of Mary and also the invitation to sign up our families to be consecrated to the devotion of the twin hearts of Jesus and Mary. See pictures below of Myrna circulating during the merienda.
Boy Bautista shared an interesting story that he was one of four from the boys section in our Class '65 who were handpicked by Sr. Marie Lorraine during our senior year in high school to stay for a week at a seminary to figure out if they have a priestly vocation. I think one of the four was Bishop Rolly Blas. Boy Bautista immediately knew it was not for him and left before the week was up. He does not remember who the other two were. Note that Bishop Rolly Santos entered the seminary after 8th grade, a move that Sr. Marie Lorraine commented to Bishop Rolly Santos' sister, Caring, to be too soon.
The curious observation I have was that Sr. Marie Lorraine, as far as I know, did not extend any invitation to anybody in the girls' section to visit their convent or consider entering the nunnery. I wonder why or should I not wonder (ha, ha). But Sr. Marie Lorraine will be happy to know that Myrna Saguindan is now a member of the Third Order of a certain congregation and was the one who took over Bishop Rolly Santos' place to give the important spiritual tone to our Despedida Party. Indeed we are blessed once more.
Original members of the Class '65 band, the Elite. From left, Mary Maronilla (drums), Lulu Gutierrez Yambao (rhythm) and Susie Magcalas (base). The late Eva Lazaro (lead) completed the girl band.
Danny Reyes and Julie Cruz
Segment 3. Splendid Dinner at around 5 pm
This was the buffet awaiting us.
But first we said the grace before the meals. Our class president, Paeng, led us in the prayer consecrating ourselves to the twin hearts of Jesus and Mary, provided by Myrna Saguindan Ventus. See pictures below.
When my sister, Bebeng, asked me who hosted the despedida party, immediately she guessed that the menu would be full of seafood dishes since she knew Boy was a consignacion or fish broker. The menu did feature a lot of amazing seafood dishes but it also had lechon and crispy pata. See the mouth watering pictures. My mouth was drooling especially when it came to the talaba (oysters) and adobong pusit (squid). The chicharon bulaklak was brought by Cecilia Desiderio Dela Cruz.
Oysters or talaba, my new seafod favorite.
Prawns or sugpo
Adobong Pusit or Squid
Sinigang na Bangus (Milkfish) in Bayabas (Guava)
Crabs
Grilled or Roasted Bangus Stuffed with Tomato and Onions (my all time favorite)
Irresistible divine so good it is so bad for you, crispy pata. OMG
Lechon Kawali, Roasted Pig Belly with Crispy Skin and all
Liver Sauce for the lechone
Chicharon Bulaklak
But that was not all. There was the dessert table featuring all kinds of Filipino desserts and fresh native fruit to cap the awesome dinner. Not shown below are leche flan and brazo de mercedes. Also dirty ice cream was served including ube ice cream and cheese ice cream.
Saging na saba. Syrupy plantain
Add caption
Fresh Mango Slices
Fresh Papaya slices
Fresh Pakwan (watermelon) slices.
The one standing is Rey Syjuco who made an admirable effort to meet everyone and try to recognize them after all these years.
Linda Paez Calixto made an effort to come even if she was late. Her husband had an elevated high blood pressure that night and she had to stay with him till it went down to a safe level. Still she was generous to offer to bring Flor, Lulu and me in her van to the party. Thanks Linda.
Linda welcomes her cousin Cecilia Desiderio Dela Cruz
From left: Linda, Cecilia, Mr. Dela Cruz, Cecilia's husband, Julie and Boy
From left: Danny, Myrna, Nora, Flor, Cecilia and Glory
From left: Zenaida Gutierrez, Linda and Ricky
From left: Lulu, Danny, Myrna, Nora, Flor, Cecilia, Glory and Julie
Dulce Aquino Quimson and Manny Quimson, our Golden couple of Class '65.
Lory Sevilla and Nanding Camus (btw Nanding has 6 children! perhaps the most among Class '65, I think)
The day of the party was Elvie's birthday. This picture shows the happiness she felt. Elvie bravely joined all the activities of the reunion despite having arthritic knees. She was actually using a cane throughout the trip. Beth Pacifico, Tony's wife, mentioned during her short but heartwarming speech, that she was very impressed of the care and love that our classmates gave Elvie throughout the different activities. For Beth, it showed how caring our Class '65 is.
Malou signs the giant tarp that was the same one that greeted us in Tuguegarao.
And let me not forget to mention the amazing entertainment of the night, complete with a band and professional singers plus our very own pool of talents from Class '65. We would like to thank our wonderful and generous classmate Rey Syjuco whop provided the band and the professional singers plus his beautiful talent singing that night. Thanks Rey, the entertainment made the night truly bedazzling!
The wonderful guitarist and beautiful singer who entertained us with songs from the sixties.
The Silhouttes sing Sealed with a Kiss and Where have all the Flowers Gone complete with beautiful harmony. Listen to the group below singing Sealed with a Kiss.
This is a picture of the Silhouttes, the Class '65 singing group. Seated: from left: Eva Lazaro, Malou Santos Salumbides and Tessie Borromeo. Standing from left: Ondes Lucas Herold, Lulu Gutierrez Yambao, Nilda Lorenzo Tuazon, Julie Cruz, Josie Reyes Almassy, Vida Rivera Isip and Amanda Agustin.
Our favorite emcee, Danny Reyes, would not let the night go without speeches from almost everyone. Almost everyone gave a speech. I decided to show one of different groups.
Ben Isip representing the husbands who came with their wives from the United States, Sani, Rudy, Jun and also wife, Florie with her husband Ossie.
Girlie, the very gracious and wonderful hostess, representing her family.
Danny with Julie Cruz, representing all of us.
My heart was too full to say anything. For the first time I was lost for words. I did not cry either which everybody thought I would do after how I cried at Tuguegarao. I just felt very happy especially after being brought back to my high school years with the songs the girls singing group sang. I felt so young again. (Naks, drama again).
Malou poses with the memento from the reunion like she just won the Oscars or Famas award.
Thank you Boy and Girlie for the wonderful ending to the two week reunion. Thank you also to your two daughters, Maricris and Nina. It was really bedazzling party. Salamat, salamat, salamat for your thoughtfulness. Thanks also to Rey Syjuco for the band and singers that made the bedazzling affair complete. I for one was giddy with happiness for days after hearing the songs that Rey, Paeng, Ricky, the professional singers and the Silhouttes sang that night.
Thanks also to the hardworking organizers of the reunion, Paeng Robles, Linda Paez Calixto, Boy Garcia, Lory Sevilla and Danny Reyes. We also appreciate the generosity of the other hosts, Dulce and Manny Quimson (Tagaytay and Dencio's at Baguio), Myrna and Bob Guzman (Tuguegarao), Ron and Vilma Guzman (Tuguegarao), and Vida and Ben Isip (Tuguegarao). Thanks also to the SJAAA members who organized the homecoming at St. James auditorium. We are also grateful to Bishop Rolly Santos and Myrna Saguindan Ventus for leading us in prayers. Thanks to the photographers and videographers, Basilio Bautista, Jun Salumbides, Rudy Parayo, Nilda Lorenzo Tuazon, Florie Cruz and Glory Camus Orlina who provided photos and videos for the blogposts on our two week reunion.
Let me just end with a couple of reflections. Everytime a reunion invitation comes to anyone, there is always the fear of how we look or what we have become. In this two week reunion, I found out it did not matter how many pounds we gained or the wrinkles we have acquired. As the Velveteen Rabbit says in the poster below, all those fears do not matter for those that are real since they are never ugly or fat or whatever unless to those who do not understand. Through the years, what is essential is what is inside us, and that has not changed.
One more thing,
Thank you to all the Real people in our Class '65. We, all of us, those who were there and even those who could not make it, have been truly blessed throughout the two weeks of the grand reunion and the past 50 years since we graduated from high school. Thanks be to God for all the boundless blessings we received and the love we have for each other and Mabuhay Class '65.
The background is the photo of the kaimito tree in Boy Garcia's son's backyard.
Note:
Our Class '65 Reunion Committee planned multiple events to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of our graduation from St. James Academy, Malabon City, Philippines. I have written about them in past blogposts:
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