Stayin’ Alive! Stayin’ Alive!

The 1976-77 officers of the Aggie Chapter. From left: Aris, Philip, Tess DB, Pola, Ems (deceased), Jojo, Elboy, Tess HB, Jesse, and Nars (as adviser).

Come Christmas or other holidays the creative Varron was never idle. We had our Kris Kringle that went on for a week or two. (I was just recently informed that I still owe a Sis a gift from about 30 years ago). We also used to sell for fund-raising those hand-made cards showing our artistic creativity. I particularly remember Sis Judith just coming out spontaneously with those wonderful quotes to scribble on the cards. And who would forget the Robert’s Rules of Order and quorum (50% +1) needed during Varrons’ meetings? Vrod Aris was an outstanding leader way ahead of his time, and could implement a meeting order and quorum to a T. Even now some 30 years later his leadership and steadfast beliefs are as strong as they were then. My hats off to you Vrod!

Ubu my King Ubu! With a cast of less-than-amateur thespians the Varrons from both Aggie and Forestry could tackle anything. Pouring out all our talents and emotions, the UPLB auditorium was but a stage for our beliefs in political equity, our snide attacks on the powers-that-be and caricatures of the hunger and appetite for power a la Mama Ubu and Papa Ubu (who could those be in the 70’s?). It was political surrealism at the Varrons’ best.

Music had always been part of our lives, both on stage and off-stage. God forbid how many times Vrods had sung “You light up my life” to our beloved Sis (and how much our dear Sis put up with it!). And that didn’t even include “Impossible Dream.” Whenever or wherever the Varrons congregate (at the dorms, initiations or the tambayans) somebody always had a guitar. Sis Olah’s glorious voice always gave me chills, and I’d had some private audience with other singers like Ricky M. And I wondered if Vrod Jun P ever made it home (he was very fond of bellowing out “Take Me Home Country Road”). For most other singers (including me) – let’s just say they required more like bribed audience to bear it. And those dance moves? We had our own in-house choreographer in the person of Sis Len A. Talk about one patient teacher for danseur-wannabe’s like Mario G, Psyche R and Philip S and the rest of Crystal ’77 and FQS ’78! The Year-Ender had always been a wonderful fixture, as well as the Christmas Carolings – and what better and fun ways to cap each year off!

A bunch of other campus issues were also prominent, notably the dire shortage of campus housing (we ended up having a middle bed for the 5th occupant at the dorms). This despite the addition of Coop housing and sharing part of the Men’s Dorm with the ladies (not at all unwelcome for the gents). There was also the issue of the inadequacy of GIA funds – the Iskolar ng Bayan funds. Most prominently one Xmas day was the sudden demise of the UPLB Chancellor in 1978 (a personal loss for me). Within the Aggie member initiations, to paddle or not to paddle still haunted everybody and made for heated discussions at the time. Some expulsions issues of “inactive” members also split the group in two camps. But like always we all survived, may be not all unscathed.

Looking back now at our individual achievements as parents, civic and community leaders, scientists, professionals and mentors – I can say that the Varrons and their dreams of “ad astra per aspera” will remain forever. With our quest for humane life for everyone and where humanity abounds the Varrons will be there. I myself can attest to this – that wherever I roam in this world personally or professionally I first and foremost look at the human elements – the people, their culture, their language, their beliefs. I can appreciate the differences we all have because no matter what and where we are – we all strive for a humane life. Varrons in the 70’s had achieved to make a difference in other people’s lives, specifically locally where we lived. Basing of everybody’s individual achievements for the past 45 years every Varron will continue such endeavor in forthcoming years, much more so globally with the empowering economy, and in the modern-day adage of the virtual or electronic world. I look forward to reminiscing the 21st century.

*Editorial notes: The following are the full names of Varrons mentioned in this article (in alphabetical order with batch name in parenthesis): Evelyn “Len” Amit-Corado (Crystal ’77), Narceo “Nars” Bajet (Batch ’68), Emmanuel “Ems” Bautista (Interaksyon ’75), Melissa “Lissa” Bengullo-Morales (Batch ’82), Manuel “Doc” Bonita (Magnificent Seven ’67), Marideth “Dix” Bravo (DST ’77), Jocelyn “Joyce” Camero-Espanto (DST ’77), Laura “Lau” del Castillo-Sarmiento (First Quarter Storm ’78), Flora “Pola” Credo-de Guzman (Interaksyon ’75), Constancio “Tanz” de Guzman (Humane Batch ’74), Marites “Tess” Dejelo-Bernardo (Monosomic ’76), Gabriel “Elboy” Enabore (Monosomic ’76), Jessie Espanto (Survivor ’77), Mario Granados (DST ’77), Teresita “Tess” Harina-Borromeo (Rodeo ’74), Marilyn “Mayen” Monte-Villanueva (Octopus ’73), Ricardo “Ricky” Morales (Reparian ’79), Julio “Jojo” Narag (Lone Ranger ’75), Bienvenido “Jun” Perez Jr. (Monosomic ’76), Rhodora “Olah” Romero-Aldemita (DST ’77), Psyche Roxas-Mendoza (Crystal ’77), Rosario “Rose” Salapare (First Quarter Storm ’78), Roberto “Obets” Santos (Crystal ’77), Aristides “Aris” Sarmiento (Humane Batch ’74), Marilou “Malou” Torrizo-Santos (Repertory ’76), Judith Uy-Sumatra (Monosomic ’76), Rodolfo “Boboy” Villanueva (Batch ’72)

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Philip is currently based in Portland, Oregon doing part-time network consulting. In 1976-77, he was the Editor of the UPLB Perspective, the student-run campus newspaper in UP at Los Banos. He was the Grand Varron of the Aggie Chapter in 1977-78. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture (Plant Breeding) in 1978, and did graduate work till 1981. After about 20 years travelling all over the world (primarily US, Australia, Europe and Latin America) as a research scientist for an ag-biotech company in Monterey, CA he retired from the Aggie industry after the events of 9/11. Unabashedly Californian he is enjoying the verdant Oregon environs where he temporarily lives a more sedate life as a network engineer, while pursuing his love of travel for scuba diving, underwater photography, triathlon training and literary writing.