A Message from Batch President Dean Macandog

Dear Batchmates ,

After our 20th year batch reunion, the Naga based group committed themselves to volunteer their time , efforts and resources to liven our group gathering activities. We figured that our traditional annual December reunion is just but a brief moment of interaction with friends and long lost buddies that after the merrymaking comes another 365 days of waiting. We will never know also if more will appear or our numbers will dwindle as the years past.

Our regular quarterly activities so far have encouraged participation and interests among our batchmates. Those who can't make their presence felt due to distance and work can now schedule their visit to Naga .

The 4th quarter activity will be hosted by LG 20. It will be held on the later part of October. We still have to firm up the date and venue. This year , LG's 17, 18 and 19 lived up with their commitment in hosting batch activities.

We are steadily increasing in numbers and encouraged by the surprise appearances of long dormant classmates. With each LG taking the lead role in the quarterly gatherings, various programs are taking shape and strengthening our bond and close camaraderie. Soon our batch can embark in projects outside its circle benefiting others.

For those in other places , domestic or international, rest assured that there will always be an active existence of Mighty 80 in Naga welcoming you back in our fold. Thank you all for making our batch active as ever...

Dean Macandog

Batch President

0917-792-5462

Batch event sponsored by LG19

Boys of batch '80

As I parked my car in front of Triboo Grill last Saturday night, I heard something like a faint thunder at the north eastern part of the city. After parking, I asked the attendant to bring me to the Mighty 80 venue and he pointed his lips towards the 2nd floor and said, “Duman po”.

The place has an open veranda for the welcome drinks. Sosyal! I signed my name at 10 minutes past 7 PM after exchanging handshakes and kurumustahan. It started to become windy and lightning is brewing up at the direction of Mt. Isarog. We are in for a heavy rain tonight.

I thought to myself, “There are 13 attendees so far. How can we increase it?” Dean Macoy and the rest of LG-19 are a little bit anxious while they serve the first bucket of SanMig lights to us. We all agreed that the boys will come. Dean, being an ever optimistic guy firmly said: "They will come. Baka si iba, nag huhugas pa nin plato o nagbababad pa nin mga nilabhan. Maarabot yan!"

Empty bottles of beer began to pile up on our table. No new registrant yet. Well, time to set up my laptop and the LCD projector. Luckily, the venue has a wifi. I excused myself while I set up my laptop. After setting up my computer, I went back to the veranda and this time I was delighted to discover that the list of attendees went up to 16.

“Time to eat now!”, Macoy commanded. My gosh, gulpihon baga nin chibog! papano ta uubuson ini? And we started to line up to get our food. Motos, a huge guy, commanded: "single file!" Then slowly, as we ate, the boys did arrive one by one until the hall was almost full. The heavy rains fell that night but it didn't overcome the laughter and the singing voices of the Mighty'80 boys.

The party has began. And as if to highten more the spirit, Mike Moll appeared with a bang. Everybody was ecstatic especially those of us with balding heads. Did he came straight from the 70's or what? Garo baga hippie iniho. Ivan was online and so the list went up to 34 and a half.

Congrats LG-19!

Please view the other pictures at Teody's flicker account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8731560@N04/

Life is hard--Pray Harder!

A good number of our batch mates started our formal education in the cramp classrooms of Naga Parochial School. From June 1969 through March 1976, we endured the long sermons of the late Monsignor Belleza during masses. Our religion teachers, including Fr. Pan, taught us how to pray to our Lord and seek His help.

When we all moved to Ateneo De Naga, Jesuit priests like Fr. Bob Hogan SJ, Fr. Jack Phelan SJ, Fr. Francisco Mallari SJ, Fr. Juan Bonafe SJ, Fr. Nemy Que SJ, Fr. Marasigan SJ, Fr. Millar SJ, Fr. Moran SJ, Fr. Clintworth SJ, Fr. Martinez SJ, Fr. Ibabao SJ, Fr. Natividad SJ, and Fr. Moreta SJ taught us the value of worship and prayer to our Creator. All of them pointed to our school motto, Premum Regnum Dei, as the three words that should serve as a guiding lighthouse to assist us in navigating through the unpredictable and sometimes treacherous routes of our lives

Twenty nine years after we sang our last Ateneo school song to bid farewell to our high school life, does the message of that song still resonate in our hearts? Did you guys know that Premum Regnum Dei (Seek ye first the kingdom of God) is a call to seek Christ and not carnality?

During our senior year in Ateneo, the fiery Jesuit, Fr. Juan Bonafe, pervaded his sermons with the urgent call to detach ourselves from the need to satisfy our selves with earthly things. Fr. Bonafe once asked, “What do you fervently seek in life? If it is something from this world then you are on the wrong road! If it is heaven that you seek then you are on the right road!”

In the movie E.T., the alien pointed to the evening sky and said, “E.T. Phone Home”. The alien knew that earth is not its home and yearns to join its kind living in a place galaxies away. As Ateneans, we had been taught that there is a place called Heaven and souls who dwell there rejoice with gladness. If you consider Heaven as your ultimate home, you should ask yourself this question—Do you phone home? Do you PRAY (phone) to God?

I remember back in February 1980, final exam was just a week away and I was trembling in fear. My best friend Rogel Valenzuela and I made it a daily ritual to go to Naga Cathedral every afternoon after school to pray and ask God to guide us through the last academic hurdle of high school. I always brought with me a small prayer booklet and one of my favorite prayer in it is the bible verse Luke 11:9-10 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” I remember looking up at the cathedral ceiling asking God to give me a sign that he is listening to my prayer and is willing to grant me my supplication. The stillness and silence of my surroundings did not give me any assurance that my prayer is being heard. The small chirping birds that once in a while would fly from window to window at the cathedral ceiling did not seem to qualify in my young mind as a credible sign from God. (Minsan dapat mag iling ako sa taas pag may gamgam ta tibaad tamaan ako ning ipot pag nagpapangaji ako. Idtong mga paniki sa laog kang simbahan ay mas matindi ta jingle ang matama saimo)

On the left side of the main altar was a candle rack. I dropped a 50-centavo coin in the alms box and lighted three 2-inch red candles and said a short prayer. The following day, I went back to the same candle rack and on the very same spots where I lighted my candles the previous day stood three lighted tall white candles. The candles looked like they have not been burning for a long time and so I looked around to find out who was the owner of the candles. The handful of people who were inside the cathedral that day were deep in their prayers and none looked at me.

Were the three candles placed there by God to assure me that He heard my prayers? Or was it just pure coincidence that a person lighted three candles on the same spot I lighted my candles the previous day? Whatever the case may be, I know that God heard me and Rogel because He answered both our prayers.

My fellow batch mates, I would like to ask all of us to pray for each other because our earthly life is not eternal. What lies beyond our last breath could be an abysmal place where tormented souls cry out in gut wrenching agony. Please do not fall into the notion that God will weigh the good things that we have done in life with our bad deeds and decide if we should go to heaven or be cast in total darkness. Please search the truth in the bible. Please find out why Jesus is called the Messiah.

Praying for our batch.

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by Prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.

Please view this youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewftBIgJ3GI

LG-19 Sponsor batch event.

Date: Saturday 29th of August

Venue: Triboo Grill, Mayon Avenue, Naga City

Time: 7:00 PM

Sponsor: LG-19

For those who will miss the event, don't worry. Just ready your laptops, backberries, i-phone and even dual sim china phones. Its gonna be a wi-fi irinuman and harambogan.

Chods

The venom of vices

During our high school days, the consumption of cervezas had been accepted as part and parcel of our transition from boyhood days to manhood years. I remember that the beer and cigarette sales of Ateneo Avenue store was kept up by the appetite of Ateneans whose demand for alcohol and nicotine seemed unquenchable.

Some of us had experimented on drinking beer or puffing cigarettes during our elementary days. This created an addiction that blossomed into total dependency.

Manhood is sometimes determined by the number of beers you consume on a drinking session. "Bilog", "Cuatro kantos", "Stainless", "Lapad", "S.P. Special Puro" and "Lambanog" are just a few alcoholic drinks that are considered as a poor man's choice of drinks. May mga Atenista na nagchachaga na muna kang mga ini until they get their next allowance.

I feel that it is safe for me to claim that all of us have had the experience of being wasted by alcohol during a drinking session. Some intentionally overfilled themselves with alcohol in an attempt to drown life's sorrows and disappointments.

Twenty nine years after our high school graduation, we all now realize that addiction towards alcohol and cigarettes has grave consequences. Liver failure, cancer and heart ailments are just three ailments from a long list of health problems that can happen to a person that drinks and smokes.

My dear batch mates, the recent deaths of two of our batch mates should open our eyes to the reality that drinking alcohol and puffing those death sticks will bring us closer to our graves.
When I spoke over the phone to the spouse of our departed batch mate, Edwin Luntok, she asked me to tell our whole batch to avoid alcohol because that poison kills not only the person but the father of a family.

My fellow batch mates, let us continue our lives free from these two deadly vices that has claimed some of our batch mates.

Let us do this for our family.

UUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

I woke up this morning after only 4 hours of sleep. Being an 8-hour sleeper, I felt that my body refused to respond to my command to get up and start the day. Doing my morning prayer is even harder because my mind is drawing a blank. I prayed to the Lord to guide me through the day with only half of my energy tank full.

I was about to drive out our driveway when I decided to check the oil level of my car. Pulling the dipstick, I discovered that the oil level is low. I filled it up then started the car. I saw the gas gauge and it showed that I was low on gas.

Heading to the office, I dropped by a cheap gas station and stopped in front of a gas pump. I opened my fuel tank cover then placed it on top of my car. I swiped my credit card on the gas pump and waited for instructions. The small monitor screen on the pump kept on saying “Processing Credit Card”. I waited….and waited…..Still processing. I impatiently looked at my watch and it was then that I know that I could potentially arrive late at work because of this delay. After what seemed to be an unreasonable period of time to process a credit card transaction, I then pressed the “Cancel” button on the gas pump. The transaction was cancelled and I jumped back to my car and drove off. I have driven about 15 meters from the gas station when I realized that I forgot to place back my gas tank cover. I pulled over and got out of the car and found out that the cup is no longer on top of my car. I got inside my car again and I tried to closed the door but the seat belt latch was on the way and it prevented the door from closing. UGH!

By that time I was beginning to become irate. I swung the car and drove back to the gas station to retrieve my gas tank cover. It was not there. I drove back to the road and found it laying on the side of the road. When I picked it up, I saw that it had been ran over by another car and part of it is crushed . UGH!

I checked my watch and I knew that I would be late for work. I then asked the Lord why this string of unfortunate events are occurring so early in the morning. When I arrived at work, my co-worker told me that bad things happen to people to make them stronger individuals. I guess I need to look at it on the positive side.

Should I start calling these events “String of Providential Events” because God allowed them to happen to strengthen our resolve to survive life?

I believe it is.

First appointments by presidential aspirant, Ricky S.

Philippine presidential aspirant, Ricky "Guitarman" Sadiosa, appoints Mighty 80 on July 27, 2009 meeting in Manila. This is the first batch of juicy cabinet and government appointment made in line with his anti-graft and corruption platform of government for his election bid for the year 2o1o.