Coming home
The month of July has become a reunion month allowing those based outside the country to come home bringing their families. This allows the homecoming to run from three days to one week with the first day going back to their alma mater, the second day having dinner with their former teachers and the third day an outing in the beach with their families. But some reunions have sets of jubilarians to present to the attending alumni while others have only the silver jubilarians of the year as the host.
Last July 9, the UP Cebu High School Class ’86, this year’s silver jubilarians, held a unique homecoming dinner with their teachers. “Unique” because the class chose the Rizal Memorial Library and Museum building as the venue instead of having the dinner at a five-star hotel. When I got the call from Chuchay Streegan and Sal Malto, I asked whose idea is it to hold a homecoming in the Rizal Memorial Library. The answer I got was that it is the 150th anniversary of Rizal’s birth. But I really congratulate the class for the choice of venue and the hilarious flow of the program with Billy Sienes as the master of ceremonies. Attendance was very good, thanks to the online social network. Five years ago the class held their 20th anniversary in preparation for their 25th anniversary. Many of those who could not make it in 2006 made sure they would attend this time. I just realized that Class ’86 has several doctors some of them prominently doing well here in Cebu (one of them is Dr. Jayson Villegas, my anesthesiologist when I had a total abdominal hysterectomy last year), while the others are doing very well abroad. Class ’86 is memorable to me because it was my Edsa class and it was their class that presented NUKLEYAR as the culminating activity of the Asian Festival of my social studies class in 1986.
The next day was another homecoming in St. Catherine’s School in Carcar now known as St. Catherine’s College. This time I attended as an alumna together with batchmate Becbec Abellana and two golden jubilarians, Mena Abellana-Boltron and Paz Virtucio-Cabatingan. It was held at the quadrangle of the school and this time the celebration started at four in the afternoon with a Mass officiated by an alumnus priest who suggested that the alumni invite all alumni priests to concelebrate in every homecoming. After dinner, the most awaited portion of the homecoming, the presentations of the different jubilarian groups with raffles in between parts started. This time the golden jubilarians volunteered to be the first and it was the most fitting opening number. Mena prepared a beautiful reflection of what it is to be a Catherinian with everyone holding a lighted candle. The reflection was a reminder of those attending the meaning of the Catherinians coming together. Then the rest of the jubilarian groups presented whatever gimmick they could muster for the moment. The younger jubilarians presented dance numbers with the silver jubilarians doing a Ziegfield Follies-like dance production, which ended with a fireworks display. It was the first time I witnessed a fireworks display at a very close range but it was safe. It started with a lighted candle and ended with a fireworks display.
It’s always refreshing to attend homecomings because you get to recall and evaluate what you did with a particular class. You get surprises and mostly good news about their careers and their personal lives.
While many come home to join their classmates and schoolmates and fellow alumni, someone has not come home after twenty-six years of disappearance. The day after attending two homecomings, I attended the Mass for Fr. Rudy Romano, CSsR, who has been missing since 1985. I remember very well Fr. Romano whom I asked to give a recollection to Class ’80 and Class ’81 of UP Cebu High School when I was in charge of the graduation. He even officiated the graduation Mass of Class ’81 at the then Multi-purpose Hall, which has been replaced by the unfinished Sugbo Cultural Center. My most vivid picture of Fr. Romano was at the Fuente Osmeña where he was seized by the military with Fr. Josol negotiating, one Sunday afternoon after saying Mass during a rally by the urban poor.
