Monday, September 17, 2007

Lead Presidents' Fellowship at SLLP

At first, it was a suggestion by classmate Joey Lina to me last month that we Lead Presidents (LPs) should have a fellowship sometime in September, since we never had one since our term ended in June 30 this year. Then I posted in our ygroups Joey’s suggestion, then classmate Rose Acoba began a survey by text, of preferred date and place of LPs for the get-together. Then a place and date was chosen, another survey by Rose of who are coming for the headcount. And voila! A number of LPs, some with their spouses and guests, joined Gov. Butch Francisco and wife Maling, last Saturday, September 15, at the PAGCOR-San Lazaro Leisure Park (SLLP) in Carmona, Cavite. Buffet lunch was free, courtesy of SLLP.

And what a fellowship it was – lots of group pictures (as posted by classmate beauteous-vivacious Lilibeth de la Cruz), lots of kwentuhan, lots of laughter, lots of food, and more specifically, lots of horses and horce racing to see! Aside from free entertainment by 2 singers on stage, we also got a crash course for free, how betting in a horse racing game is made, what the numbers and statistics in those tv monitors mean.

But a fellowship is about us, our classmates, our Gov, and our clubs, right? Since 2 or 3 months ago that I have seen many of our classmates, some changes did happen to some of them. Much like climate change. In particular, I have thought that Hamas and the Palestinian militants have already won and Israel’s days are numbered in that part of the world. Why, oh why, you ask? Because the unthinkable has happened! Ces Singzon showed up with a rather clean face, meaning very little moustache! When he arrived, some of us asked him from what club he’s from because we hardly recognized him! Hehehehe.

Then a lady from a southern club came, with complexion much whiter than her previous white… Patty Naoe looked so bright to me, her face and skin and teeth (hehehe). I asked her, is it because as an IPP, she now has to go out less often on community projects and hence, have little exposure to direct sunlight? She shook her head in disagreement. She said that she has changed her bath soap, from bleaching soap to Tide and Mr. Clean! Subukan ko kaya ito, para pumuti din ako na parang bagong laba ang aking balat????

Yolly Tan came with a young pretty lady that looks like a model for shampoo or toothpaste. Turned out it was her youngest daughter! Yasin Badr came with his wife and a luscious-shapely-pretty young mestiza. I thought that this young lady is Yasin’s daughter, I was wrong. She’s the youth exchange lady from Brazil! Doris Yu came with her usual doorish-smileys face.

Other classmates who came were bubbly Techie de la Cruz, medically-legally-smiley Tess Sanchez, sheepish-smiley Letty Rellera, conspiratorial-smiley Palmy Layug, secret service-smiley Teofy Sanglay, playboy-loverboy smiley Raffy Tuvera, RTV-smiley Tyrone Paynor, balut-Pateros smiley Jun Alimpuyo, mucho-dinero-banker smiley Boboy Intal, tax-me-not smiley Lorenz Tato.

You notice I wore red t-shirt in the picture, right? Because my dynamic and friendly co-Red teammates were there. Likeveteran-traveler smiley Luz Reyes, cookie-culinary smiley Julie Rabie, and ballader-ktv smiley Noy Indonto. Other classmates are in the trivia, below.

A fellowship can never be complete without the presence and inspirational talk by our Governor. So Gov. Butch expressed his gladness that he saw once again the cheerful, spirited and good-looking LPs during his term, the never-ending challenge of service to others for the Rotarians, update about the Rotary TV (RTV) and… ta-dah, the book, our rotary book, “(A)Musings in the life of a Rotarian”, the only initiative ever done in Philippine Rotary, and possibly in the world – will be officially launched next month! And no less than the RIPE will be there to witness the event, yehey! So, Kudos to those who contributed to that first volume.

I say “first volume” because Gov. Butch’s plan is to come up with more books from more contributors from our District, and possibly from other District too. So for those who were shy to contribute their short story, despair not because you will have another chance to write your story too. Remember, this book is for circulation around the country, around the world!

Just when Gov. Butch was saying these things, spouse Maling was reminding her that the 1st race for that afternoon at 2pm, is about to start in a minute or two! So he gamely obliged and wrapped up his speech, in time before the horses were lining up in the starting grid. Maling cheerfully applauded, while DS Marycris Oh-pleas my-sis was looking and smiling too. Raffy and I bet a modest amount on the same number, 3-1 (or 1-3). And it was a great guess – our horses were 1st and 2nd, to the last! Hu-hu-hu-hu.

After the race, and after those who won among us have collected their winnings, we were toured to some housing projects by Canyon Ranche. Nice houses, nice interiors, nice view from a hill. Then we passed by the stables of horses, Eeehhh-eehhhhh-eehhhhhh!

The tour ended at 3pm, many of us bid goodbye, for now. As we will be seeing each other again on Oct. 16 for the book launch at Fort Bonifacio, our club’s turf, hehehe.

O sige, heto na ang…..Trivia!
(these classmates were also at our fellowship).

1) Who’s the lady who would sometimes look up in the sky and ask herself if the one being called is “Ako ba? Di kaya sila?” (Clue: her name is a famous flower).

2) Who’s the lady who, before she decides on something, thinks not only once, not twice, but more? (Clue: her family name is about thinking, pondering)

3) Who’s the guy who, when he was younger, would write his family name as “Magpor”? (Clue: his name’s first letter is as famous as Victory)

Answers to trivia:

1) Rose Acoba (hindi “sila ba” hehehe)
2) Amore Isip (hindi lang nag-dalawang isip, more thinking pa, hahaha)
3) Vince Magtoto (to + to = por, kaya “Magpor”. Hehehe, joke lang Vince)

Meanwhile, to other classmates who missed that event, kindly follow after me:

“I hereby resolve, as it is hereby resolved,
that I __________ (state your name),
will definitely join the next LPs fellowships.
This I say without any mental reservation,
So help me God.”

Olrayt!