I was president of our batch for four decades at least. I was glad I was able to wiggle out of the presidency. I tried many times before to resign but they wouldn’t let me. But after being absent in so many activities, parties, gatherings, they finally felt my absence. Travel to Binangonan used to take 45 minutes only on weekends. Now it’s two hours going and a good three hours coming back to Manila.
I have more things to attend to and I travel more often lately. In the past two years, I spent half of my time away from Manila. When I explained to them the reasons why it would be better to elect someone who lives in Binangonan, their minds opened to my suggestion. So for the past year, with a new set of officers all based in our town, they enjoyed more parties and gatherings together.
On December 10, although I was supposed to go to Tagaytay with Edmund, I went to our town for the Christmas lunch. I didn’t have time to buy raffle prizes so before I left the house, I just grabbed 12 empty envelopes. Cash na lang i-pa-raffle ko. Oyen also bought one big cake from Goldilocks Bakeshop for Binangonan.
They all had lunch already when I arrived at 1:30 pm but there were still lots of food.
They collected P100 per person as contribution for the food. Luming collected P150 from section IV-B classmates including me, as share in the cost of the relyenong bangus she brought.
I got 4 pieces of lumpiang shanghai, one fresh lumpia sa ubod, rice, menudo and relyenong bangus.
When I was still president, I never got any raffle gift because they removed my name. Or if ever they picked my name, they gave the price to someone else. In the first few years, most of the raffle prizes came from me, a few from those living abroad. But these past few years, marami nang nagbibigay, lalo na yung mga nasa abroad, like Thony Luluquisin, Julieto Basa, Alice Maaba, etc.
Eden and Dea
(far left) Delia was the one in charge of the games. Delia is a retired elementary school principal.
My doctor advised me to take up dance classes as a form of exercise.
Next year. I’ll try. I will. Promise.
She’s patient in teaching dance steps. Nasanay pagturo ng sayaw sa mga pupils nya.
I won in the “Bring Me” contest. Bring a wedding ring daw. I walked to the front and gave Delia my solitaire ring. I won this gift plus P20 cash. Masarap pala ang feeling pagnanalo sa raffle or game.
One of the things I appreciate is that they never forget that I love sopas.
I had two small cups of hot-steaming sopas. Iba ang sopas-Binangonan, kahit katitik lang yung sahog na manok, basta nakikita yung hotdog at mainit, bagong luto, masarap na rin.
Yumayaman na itong mga kababayan ko, ang daming raffle prizes. I won this pack of beauty products but accidentally left it behind. Malou messaged me, it’s with her daw. Yours na lang Malou. Thank you.
Butch Ojeda was the one who called a week prior to remind me to attend this Christmas party. He was also inviting me and Edmund to visit his farm in Binangonan. Marami daw syang tanim.
One of the things that freaked me out before was the karaoke. I would always tone down the volume while someone was singing. I was their president for 4 decades and they exercised a lot of patience trying to relate to me. Daming bawal. Ayaw ko mga nag-lalasing, amoy alak, mga durog (high). I also banned smoking while we were having a party. They could leave and smoke outside the room. Dati kasi they were smoking inside the room. And ayaw ko din maingay from too much karaoke singing. The very first time I called for a meeting to plan for our silver jubilee celebration, I had a whole buffet prepared by a caterer from Manila. Some liked the food, some took it negatively, parang ostentatious daw. After that, I just let them prepare and order the food. The food they are familiar with and like. I think it’s for the better that I am no longer their president.
Butch has a very good voice pero ngayon tila kinakalawang na at kulang sa practice.
I left before 4 pm because I still have a party to attend. I also went to the cemetery for a few minutes to visit my Kuya Ben. I also dropped off some Christmas gifts.
Going home I saw this old house, sayang hindi na inaalagaan. I like old Spanish houses. This one is probably circa 1950s.
The old wooden houses are gradually disappearing and being replaced with more modern structures.
