Back on the Hill: AGS 1983 40th Anniversary Celebration

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The Ateneo Grade School class of 1982 - 1983 held their 40th Anniversary celebration at the Singson Hall at the Ateneo Grade School last December 16, 2023.

The event started at 6:00 pm with a mass.

More than a hundred and ten arrived for the event with more than 20 guests enjoying this one of a kind event.

Ateneo UAAP courtside reporter Rocio Trillo and Ms. World Philippines 2022 title holder Gwen Fourniol hosted the event.

The Ateneo Grade School class of 1982 - 1983 SPM President Dan Soliven welcomed everyone to the event.

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Rufi Parpan talked about the Men for others Program of AGS 1983.

One of the event's highlight was the tribute to our former AGS teachers. Ricky Bello reads the letter sent by their former moderator Mr. Walter Salonga.

Joey Bernardino talks about how Mr. Walter Salonga impacted his stay at the AGS.

Bong Berbano, together with their Grade 1 class moderator Mrs. Annabelle Quiazon.

The Men and Women who made us who we are today

Fun time with 80's music

My Ateneo Brothers

AGS 1983 Singing the Song for Mary.

Come Fly Home Ateneo Homecoming

This year's hosts, yours truly, Ateneo Courtside reporter 

Laura Lehman, 

Ateneo Blue Eagles shooter 

Von Pessumal 

and Former Ateneo Lady Booter Tata Garcia - Long.

 Hail the Silver Jubilarians

Cara Manglapus, Granddaughter of Raul Manglapus leads the singing of
Blue Eagle the King. 

The turnover of AHS 1989 to AHS 1990

 The Singing of 

the Ateneo Alma Mater Song

Thank you for Flying Home

See you again Next year

SINTA 2014

Back at Dulaang Sibol

“Alalahanin, Gunitain...nang puso nati’y wala pang galos, pangarap nati’y wala pang gapos!” Those are just one of the few lines that Mr. Onofre Pagsanghan has embedded in my mind. SINTA, Mr. Pagsi’s adaptation from the Broadway play “The Fantastics” opened in 1975 and has run for hundreds of performances with most of the nights Mr. Pagsanghan’s daughter Stella playing the lead role adn Jimmy Hofileña playing Narding and Fred Ortiz as Matanglawin. As a matter of fact, the play was put into the big screen with Ariosto Reyes playing Narding.

Joji Quintos and Jocot de Dios as

Mang Anding and Mang Pedring

SINTA eventually recasted in the 90’s wherein the lead roles had Cholo Mallilin and Johnny Bondoc alternating as Matanglawin and Jimmy Bondoc playing Narding.  This year, the old and new members of the cast members of Sinta converge once again not only to reprise their roles but also to help out the Sibol Hesus School Foundation Inc. which was also founded by Mr. Pagsi. Sibol Hesus School Foundation Inc will be sponsoring scholars to the Ateneo de Manila High School and as Tito Lopez said in his speech before the play started, Scholarships don’t come cheap since the tuition fees of the Ateneo is now at P 150,000 a year while Miriam College runs at P 135,000.00 so if you do the math just having a scholar study for six years in the Ateneo will equal lots of money.

One of my favorite scenes

The February 7 and 8 playdates of SINTA had notable Dulaang Sibol Alumni take on most of the "age appropriate roles" with Joey Hofileña playing Matanglawin, Dr. Joji Quinto as Mang Anding, Atty. Jocot de Dios as Mang Pedring, Ali Figueroa as Redentor dela Rosa and Dave Ingles as Tibo. Veteran musicians took over the music of SINTA with Kedy Sanchez and Poch Ambrosio taking on the guitars. This was the February 8 playdate which I watched. The two remaining playdates will be on February 14 and 15, 2014 respectively. Tickets are included with each P 250.00 donation for the February 7th and 15th shows while P 500.00 for the February 8th show and P 1,000.00 for the February 14th Valentines day show. Donations outside of these are encouraged and will be warmly received.

Ali Figueroa as Redentor and Dave Ingles as Tibo

If ever there is a chance you want to help out and donate to the Sibol Hesus School Foundation Inc. directly you can contact either Dr. Jojo Mendoza (jojomendoza@yahoo.com) Dr. James Simpas (jbsimpas@ateneo.edu) and Tito Lopez (czlopez@gmail.com).   Donations can come even anytime since six years in high school will definitely need lots of money and the time to solicit money from family and friends will be harder since a lot of us have already given to various projects related to the Yolanda tragedy. A friend of mine once said that one thing nice about the Ateneo is that Ateneans take care of themselves and this is something definitely very "Sibol like" and definitely very "Atenean like!"   I am just lucky to be associated with Mr. Pagsi and the Dulaang Sibol family because it has helped me become a man for others.  So to my friends reading on, be the miracle and hope you can contribute to this cause.

 The music crew

Note from Dr. Jojo Mendoza (2/14/14): Due to the public's demand of SINTA, the show will be extending its 2014 run with new shows on February 21,22,28 and March 1, 2014 at 7:00 pm at the Tanghalang Onofre Pagsanghan (Dulaang Sibol). For ticket reservations, you may contact Mrs. Sylvia Aldana at the Ateneo High School English Department, Cholo Mallillin at the Ateneo College Office of Student Affairs, Atty Tito Lopez at crzlopez@syciplaw.com or through Dr. Jojo Mendoza 0915-7871899. 

Blunited for Others - Ateneo Alumni Homecoming 2013

Singing the Alma Mater Song

The Ateneo High School Batch 1988 set high targets for this year's annual Ateneo Homecoming and their goal is to raise 8.8 Million Pesos to give back to the Ateneo. Ateneo de Manila University President Fr. Jett Villarin told their batch "Are you crazy?" Eventually come December 7, Fr. Jett, with a big smile on his face told AHS 1988 "Thank You for being Crazy!" The Ateneo High School batch 1988 was excited for this year's homecoming because they not only reached their goal but helped a lot in the process.  

The check posted by Caloy Coronel in his FB account

Ateneo High School Batch 1988 homecoming head, Alejandro "AL" Neri thanked his wonderful batch mates as he said " That however good your leaders are, if your followers do not cooperate you wont reach your goal!" This statement is a testament to the batch's resiliency as they eventually donated that amount together with other batches that donated millions to the Ateneo. Their beneficiaries include the Tulong-Dunong perpetuity fund which will help TD Scholars with their miscellaneous expenses, the P.A.G.S.I Ateneo HS Teacher's fund for the development and assistance of AHS teachers past and present that they may continue to learn, educate and inspire generations of Ateneans, the Jesuit Aged and infirm fund to help our beloved Jesuits in their twilight years and the Yolanda victims.

Al Neri thanking his batchmates

BLUNITED for others. This year's homecoming was all about coming back to the place where it all started for most of us. For starters the entrance fee was very affordable at P 88.00! As Al Neri said it they wanted their homecoming to be intrusive rather than exclusive as the venue was packed not only by Batch 88 but by other Jubilarians and non-Jubilarians as well. The event was presented by the San Miguel Corporation while lots of other sponsors pitched in to help out the event.

And the winner is....

The event had so many highlights. Besides the bountiful donations, there were so many raffle items for grabs.  Imagine winning either and HTC or Lenovo phone. At the same time, would you want to own one of the three Beer Below Zero Freezers that were up for grabs. The highlight of the raffle was the Toyota GT-86 which at first was the centerpiece of the One Big Shot but unfortunately the 20 guys who got picked to take the shot never got the shot in. Eventually someone was picked at the end of the event to win the other Toyota GT-86.

Another highlight of the night were the entertainers that performed. Ateneo High School Batch 1963 took us to the music of the 60's with Titus Santiago leading his group. Next in line was the 70's music of AHS 1973 which was led by popular singer and songwriter Joey Ayala. These two bands rocked the crowd which was eventually mellowed down by the sentimental number of College 73 Jubilarians Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo who sang the Awit ng Barkada song together with their original Apo Hiking Society barkada.  Then came the guest bands, the new Freestyle band that sang cover songs,  the SIDE A band and the night was capped off by the energetic 80's performance of Juan Miguel Salvador.

Noli Lorenzana said to Joey G. 

"Tell Me!"

For me, being asked to be one of the hosts of the Homecoming is again an honor. Joining me were ABS-CBN Umagang Kay Ganda host Andrei Felix, Ateneo courtside reporter  Selina Dagdag and former Lady Booter and now a budding ABS-CBN Talent, Tata Garcia-Long.  It was a blast being a part of this year's homecoming. I am just proud of the accomplishments of Batch 1988 and I hope that there will be more blessings to come Ateneo's way. Blunited was really a great way to come back home to the Ateneo.

Selina Dagdag, Andrei Felix, Tata Garcia-Long

and yours truly - BLUNITED as one!

BLUNITED: ATENEO 2013 HOMECOMING

BLUNITED

If there is one thing I thank my parents for is sending me to the Ateneo de Manila University.   The things i have learned in that institution are priceless and the teachers i met helped become who I am now. If the Ateneo is community is my second home, the people are wonderful. I might agree growing up was difficult considering you have to always be at your best and more importantly not left out. As they say there is no room for mediocrity here. I survived a bit, picked up the pieces and is now content with what I have. The great thing there is that through out my journey, it was my friends from the Ateneo who helped me out in many different ways.

THE RAFFLE TICKET

Last year went fast as me and my High school batchmates celebrated our 25th year Silver jubillee. I must admit seeing most of my batchmates and other Ateneans from other batches was a blast and the stories on what we used to do in HS kept pouring on while the laughter was enough to make someone get a heart attack.  It was also nice to note that most of my batchmates are succesful in their own feild and have their own kids studying in the Ateneo Grade School and others in the Ateneo High school.  The Ateneo Alumni Homecoming is really a great venue to renew ties with people we have not seen for a long and more importantly it is a way to come home to where everything started.

READY TO COME HOME?

This year, the Ateneo High School 1988 play hosts to this year’s event which is entitled BLUENITED! True enough, coming home once again to the Hill is something a lot of Ateneans look forward to more importantly if the event is to eat, drink and be merry with fellow Ateneans.  This year, ticket prices are at P 88.00 only and everyone is invited to join the raffle with a chance to win a Toyota 86, Beer Below Zero Freezers, gadgets and various other prizes.  Imagine that, an evening to recount memories with sumptous food from Mercato outlets, booze courtesy of San Miguel and a chance to win raffle items. What more can you ask.

EVENT POSTER OF BLUNITED

Lastly, a true trademark of an Ateneo event is to where the proceeds will go to. In a way I am quite happy that Batch 88 has continued to support the Jesuit Infirmary and the Tulong dunong perpetuity fund. At the same time they added other beneficiaries as they included the Ateneo HS Teacher’s fund and the P.A.G.S.I Fund.  For tickets or more information kindly call the Office of Alumni Relations, Ateneo Loyola Heights Campus. The OAR is located at the 2/F Faber Hall, beside Xavier Hall. You can contact them through 426-6001 local 4088. You can also look up their Facebook page of the event at this url: https://www.facebook.com/blunitedahs88. 

See you guys, prepare for the One Big Shot and the One Big Night!!! See you guys and Congrats in advance to AHS Batch 1988. 

Blue Eagles nail first win!

Confidence and grace under pressure was what the Ateneo Blue Eagles displayed as the Katipunan based five time defending champions beat the host school Adamson Falcons with plenty to spare 70 – 58.   It was the first win of the Blue Eagles in Season 76 and just like that the Blue and white became contenders once again enroute to their fifth defense of the UAAP basketball crown.  Just like my previous posts, let’s liken some famous movies with what happened in this game.

1.      THE SIXTH SENSE” INGRID SEWA “I see dead people!” That is what he feels whenever he takes free throws. A lot people are saying that shooting free throws is all mental and you need to have focus for the task at hand.  In this game, Sewa missed all his 7 free throws and it felt like he was seeing dead people on the basket. Sewa will most probably pray that every trip to line can someday become a resurrection.

2.      APOLLO 13, - JERICHO CRUZ ”Houston we have a problem!” The only bright spot for the Falcons was the spirited effort of Jericho Cruz who literally carried his team but hardly had enough help from his team mates. Cruz lit up his stats by scoring 21 points, getting 7 rebounds, issuing 3 assists, getting 2 steals and even swatting 2 shots. He was the only one who was able to drive a dagger to the heart of the Blue Eagle’s defense.

3.      STAR WARS - JP ERRAM – “May the force be with you!” Poy was the big difference in this game and the driving force of the Blue Eagles. Erram scored 10 third quarter points with most of them from offensive rebounds.  Erram gave the Blue Eagles the inside presence it sorely needed in the three loses that they had and together with Golla outscored the Adamson big men.  His statline 12 points, 12 rebounds and one block shot.

4.      TOP GUN JUAMI TIONGSON - “I feel the need, the need for speed” I just like the way Juami paced his scoring and did a lot of quarterbacking.  The Blue Eagle Top Gun also pulled down 8 rebounds and shot relatively well as he sank 2 of 4 from beyond the arc and 3 of 5 from the 2 point zone which translates to 55.5 % shooting. The most important difference in Juami’s play is how timely his shots came and this time he was not forcing it.  

    5.      “LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING” KIEFER RAVENA “This will be the end of Gondor as we know it. Here the hammer-stroke will fall hardest.” The return of the King Eagle has the whole Ateneo community excited. Imagine your best player playing for only 11 minutes, scoring only four points and your team winning by a mile. Coach Bo did a good job in breaking in Kiefer and letting him feel his first legit game first and hopefully the King will do more wonders in the coming games. 

     6. “STEP UP 3 “- RYAN BUENAFE –“Single Single, Double Double!”  Ryan is still learning that dance step but is already putting up those numbers. Here is his stat line – 1 steal, 9 Assists, 11 points, 12 rebounds! So just like the patented dance step he had a single, single and a double, double.  A near triple double shows that Ryan has been stepping up and improving his game and more importantly his defense. He has added that occasional three pointer as he has shot at least one in the last four games. The fun thing is that Ryan will most probably Step up more in the coming games. 

    

   7.    THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - CHRIS NEWSOME  “ A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.”  Chris is a silent worker, he is a good defender and is versatile as he sometimes brings down the ball, rebounds relentlessly and scores when needed. The Dark Knight was let loose in the third quarter as he patiently waited for his time to come by teaming up with Ryan on the post. 

     8.      A FEW GOOD MEN – BLUE EAGLE BENCH “…You can’t handle the truth" – Gwynne Capacio, Von Pessumal, Isaac Lim,  Ivan Enriquez, Vince Tolentino – for the past three games our bench was outgunned by the opposing teams which leads us to conclude that they cannot handle the second team chores. A little adjustment by Coach Bo and finally our bench came out scoring clearer than a crystal.  This time around we had better numbers 44 - 27 against the Falcons. Here's hoping to better minutes and better numbers to the second team.

    

   9.      THE GODFATHER – FRANK GOLLA “Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer!” By sticking close to the muscular 6’8 behemoth Ingrid Sewa, Frank was able to box him out, contain him and even outscore him. No one can question the heart of Frank as he never let down in shoving the beast visibly bigger and stronger than him.

  10.  40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN – COACH BO PERASOL – The first WIN is usually the hardest to get especially when you are on a losing spell. Coach Bo had the right formula in the past three games but was unfortunately undermanned. Now that the team is 95 % complete (G-Boy Babilonia is out for the season) expect better results from the team.  Coach Bo extended his rotation by giving Isaac Lim and Ivan Enriquez adequate time to play and hopefully by the second round the Blue Machine is a mean team.

The Scores:

ATENEO (71)

Tiongson 15, Erram 12, Buenafe 11, Newsome 10, Golla 6, Ravena 4, Capacio 4, Pessumal 3, Tolentino 2, Lim 2, Elorde 2, Enriquez 1

ADAMSON (59) Cruz 21, Cabrera 14, Brondial 8, Sewa 4, Inigo 3, Agustin 3, Rios 2, Monteclaro 2,

Abrigo 2, Trollano 0, Petilos 0, Julkipli 0

Quarter scores: 13-16, 32-28, 57-47, 71-59

Ateneo High School 1987 launches plans for homecoming

AHS Batch 1987

The Ateneo de Manila Homecoming is one of the biggest alumni event of the Ateneo. My first exposure to the Ateneo Alumni Homecoming was twenty five years ago when me and good friend Jeffrey Tan introduced the 1987 UAAP Champion Ateneo Blue Eagles to the Ateneo crowd. I have visited the homecoming the past few years and this year is our time to be host of this prestigious Alumni event.

Yours truly with Given Torres and Jed Montero

March 27 was the official launch of Ateneo High School 1987 as the hosts of this year’s homecoming. Although still premature, the batch laid out some plans for the December 8, 2012 event and ambitiously targetted Five million pesos as the target money that the our batch should raise in order for the event to be a success. Most of the money will be going to the main beneficiary of the batch which is the Tulong Dunong foundation.

Batchmates having fun 

One of the more important things that were laid down were the immediate projects of the batch and sponsors who have signed in. Although I think we will be adding more events in the next few months, the important events that we have lined up is the play Rock of Ages in June, a Basketball event featuring the Ateneo Blue Eagles in July and the Ateneo Golf Tournament in September.

Ferdie Ordoveza won the LED TV raffle

courtesy of Duty Free Philippines

It will be a long road to meet our goal but with the rest of the batch putting our minds together we believe that the goal will be reached. Our event sponsors as of now include Smart Communications, San Miguel Corporation, Philippine Airlines, Coca- Cola, Jobs DB, the Stratford Residences, Johnny Rockets, and Buddha Bar and Duty Free Philippines. So let the fundraising begin.