Terencio “Terry” Sarigumba (Magnificent Seven ’67) is the first Grand Varron of the Forestry Chapter. Terry used to work at Georgia Pacific Co. (now defunct). He is retired and enjoying life with his wife Nattie, also a Varron (honorary member), in Georgia, USA. They have three children and two grandchildren.

Dominique Terry and Nattie Mitchell

The holiday portrait of Terry Sarigumba with his wife Nattie (from their home in Georgia, USA) is flanked by pictures of their grandkids, Dominic (left), who is 23 months old and Mitchell, just 3 months young.

You are one of the seven members of the Magnificent Seven, the founding members of the College of Forestry Chapter of the UP Varrons. Why did you call yourselves as the Magnificent Seven?
In 1960, there was a very popular movied entitled “The Magnificent Seven” starring Yul Bryner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaugh, Eli Wallach and Brad Dexter. I had not seen the movie but I heard it talked about a lot, especially that the stars were true giants in the acting profession. In terms of stature and reputation, we were pigmies compared to them but naming ourselves “The Magnificent Seven” was a way of aiming high and dreaming big. Based on what we had started, the UPVL Forestry Chapter, I believe our aiming and dreaming were well justified.

How did the original seven members meet? Did you know each other before joining together as a group?
Before the Varrons, we were very close friends, getting together lots of time. After Manny Bonita, Mat Saagundo and I became Varrons with the Aggie Chapter in 1966, we convinced Bert Arano, Vic Guyot, Billy Mangaya-ay and Abe Saguid to join with us in forming the Forestry Chapter. Because we were good friends, agreeing to do that in 1967 was an easy thing to do.

You are the first Grand Varron of the Forestry Chapter. Do you remember the first thing that you did when you assume the office of a GV?
The first thing we did was to discuss how to coexist with the more established and much bigger fraternity groups in the campus. To coexist and compete, we had to grow and to grow, we had to recruit and to recruit we had to make our group known as a viable organization worthwhile joining. In academics, we had a big edge with Vrod Manny Bonita as #1 in the class and yours truly as #2. I was also a managing editor of the Forestry Leaves and I regularly wrote a column “From the Barber Shop”. This further enhanced our identity. Then there was a skit contest sponsored by the SBO (Student Body Organization). I wrote and directed the skit in which Vic Guyot performed as a waiter in a restaurant serving three demanding customers who wanted to have chicken. Vic asked them “how do you want your chicken, dressed or undressed?” and then found out that he was running out of food to serve except a single egg. The three customers debated whether to divide the egg or only one of them would eat it. They agreed that only one of them would do it but they had to have a contest first: recite the best Biblical passage. The first customer said “In the beginning, there was no light and God said, let there be light and there was light.” The second customer contended: “Blessed are those who give for in the end they will receive.” Now, how to judge which passage was the best was something to be settled but then the third customer, Bert Arano, rendered the question irrelevant as he picked up the egg, peeled it and said “Enter thou into my kingdom” and ate the egg. The skit ended with the other customers chasing Bert out of the stage. The skit won first place. During the first year of our existence as a chapter, we had a big recruitment group, 21 of them all, garnering the cream of the academic crop led by Jerry Canonizado, Lino Blanche, Vicky Tamolang, Enya De Leon, Fe Bayta and others. I cannot name them all (sorry) but if you look at the batch’s list of members, you’ll see that all of them have become outstanding professionals. In 1968, we recruited the Gil Puyat scholar, Heidi Manabat, who later became Mrs. Pascual. During the year, the SBO had a speech contest. All frat groups sent their contestants. The Varrons, of course competed with Heidi as our representative. As her speech coach, I remember some of the passages of her speech. She began “Once upon a time, the Philippines was green from the seashores to far inland, with stately trees waving proud and mighty in the wind and the forest floor teeming with vegetation.” Heidi continued recounting the beauty and bounty of the Philippine forests but later bewailed how the treasure had disappeared, giving way to greed and logging irresponsibility. And she offered ways of healing the plundered paradise, concluding “If we do what we have to do as responsible citizens, the Philippines will be green.” The term “green again” was a variant of the phrase popularized by Ferdinand Marcos’ “This nation will great again.” Heidi won first place. We sure had a very active start as a group.

How do you “look” at the UP Varrons now?
Everywhere you look in the Philippines and in foreign lands, you’ll see Varrons holding very high and important positions. It’s no longer the Magnificent Seven, it’s the Magnificent Multitude. These Varrons men and women make us proud we are Varrons.

Last Updated on October 12, 2016 by Tudla_Admin