Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Echaves: The grand reunion By Lelani P. Echaves Thinking Aloud
WE ALL went through high school and we seemed to enjoy it more than our college years. So explained UP president Emerlinda Roman upon seeing the huge crowd that swelled out of the Waterfront Hotel ballroom last Saturday.
The occasion was the grand reunion of all high school batches that ever stepped on (“tunob”) UP College Cebu (UPCC) soil. And so the “tunobers” came from all corners of the world, many purposely here just for the grand reunion of batches 1974 to 2008.
To our great surprise, however, we learned that when UPCC opened a high school department in 1972 (yup, martial law year!), that was actually a re-opening. The school had had a high school department much earlier than any document in the school library ever acknowledged. To prove this were such high school graduates as Prof. Liendy Morell, class 1948, columnist Godofredo Roperos (’49) and Dr. Araceli Almase (’50). What a pleasant discovery!
The night pulsated with emotions as well. As I saw grownups in all their finery or smart casual attire approach me from afar, I found myself juxtaposing the adult look against the teenager he or she used to be, reciting in my English classes or sauntering all over the campus during co-curricular programs.
I felt my heart grow robust with pride as I saw, in the crowd, two ladies, Editha and Josabeth. Still so unassuming, both are now multi-awarded filmmakers. “Hi, Josabeth,” I said. A teaching colleague said, “She’s Joji now.” “Bahala na, she’ll always be Josabeth for me,” I answered.
Of course, I’ve long known that Josabeth is now a lawyer, MLR Films producer and legal counsel of the Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council. Her latest film “Kubrador” was a 2006 masterpiece and was admitted for competition in the 28th Moscow International Film Festival. Her next project is “Parangal,” a gay-themed movie about a gay artist.
In the film industry, Editha is “Ditsy” Carolino the documentary filmmaker whose more recent awards include the 2003 Cinemanila Best Documentary for “Riles,” and the 28th Gawad Urian for “Bunso” as Best Short Film.
A young man said, “Ma’am, I’m Raymond.” “How can I forget you, Raymond Rodis?” I said. He was among my brilliant students, you see, though he wasn’t obsessed with grades. As neither were other brilliant guys like Caesar “Johnny Kawa” Ditan, now the sales and marketing director for the International Academy for Film and Television, and now-Congressman Pablo John Garcia.
Some sad revelations came with the evening, though. One of the more popular disc jockeys, for instance, publicly confessed that he had forged five signatures during his student days, mine among them. The laughter was more nervous than amused, though. Obviously, one lesson was never learned: Good communication skills also mean knowing what NOT to say.
The organizing committee did an awe-inspiring job, what with zero capital when the work started 15 months ago. To Dionisio “Jun” Auza, Marnun Redelosa-Vivar, Fe Flores-Golez, May Christine Bugash, Atty. Ian Sapayan, Dennis Montera, Joseph Alquisola, Annabelle Gilla-Maglasang and Leizl Rances, thank you all so very much for the very successful and beautiful reunion!
