The Ilonggo Adventure

Finally, the much-expected CAFA trip to the Visayas happened. Dinky and Milu Einsiedel played hosts to the CAFA group that stayed four days to experience wonderful Negros and Iloilo. Aside from Dinky and Milu, the CAFAs who went were Nore and Didi Lim, Pearl and Vic Ortega, Oni and Bili Mayo, Emi Mercado, Mina Hernandez and Cecil Ascalon. The fun started even at the Manila airport where the girls just had to do some shopping. Emi started it when she spotted the “Sale” sign at an airport shop and bought herself branded Flip-flop sandals. Soon most everyone followed suit. The girls had fun comparing their sandals of choice as they flip-flopped their way along the long airport corridors.

Milu’s hometown Silay had interesting ancestral houses to view. The Hofilena vintage house was practically a museum where art works of masters and artifacts were displayed. Our guide, 78 year old Ramon Hofilena, was not only eloquent in explaining the house but is an artist himself. In his prime, he engaged in theater and hobnobbed with famous art personalities. He explained that he was handsome and muscular once (a swimmer and actor) and who even posed in the nude for artists. Every time the eager-beaver CAFAs (particularly Emi and Bili) disturbed his spiel to make comments, Ramon gets so distracted that he berated the CAFAs for doing so. The group finally learned to keep their mouths shut after that especially when Ramon threatened to remove all his clothes (to be like the past model he was) if he was distracted again.

The other ancestral houses in Silay were the Gaston mansion and off course, the Locsin house. The Locsin house is Milu's ancestral house where the CAFAs were treated by Milu’s family to a special Silay-type lunch course. The first day in Negros saw the CAFAs head for Victorias to see the Church of the Angry Christ and the Wheels Chapel. Dinner was at Bacolod’s famous Manukan strip where all kinds of Inasal recipes abound for the public. The next day, the group headed for the Bacolod harbor to take the ferry to Iloilo City. For this stage of the trip, the tour guide role was assumed by CAFAs Cecil Ascalon. The Ferry ride turned out to be pleasant where Emi enjoyed the John Lloyd movie (complete with tears) during the one hour trip.

In Iloilo, the Ferry docked at Iloilo’s famous Looney Muele port. According to Cecil, Mr. Looney was a Brit who was responsible for building the Iloilo old port along the river mouth. The group then visited the Jaro and Molo church that contained specialized statues of saints. Cecil was an interesting tour guide. When queried for more details about Looney harbor and the churches, Cecil said she wouldn’t know since the info is not described in Wikipedia. If we accept what Cecil says, all vintage structures in Iloilo would be 200 years old and all locations would be just “five minutes away”. How about that for mathematical efficiency?

Lunch time in Iloilo was at Tatoy’s (an eatery place traditionally known for its native Ilongo cuisine). At Tatoy’s, the group was joined by another CAFA - Iloilo native and born comedian Megs Ortigas. Driving his new BMW, sporting sunglasses and wearing a nifty decal-laden jacket, Oni asked Megs if he was trying to impress the CAFAs with his get-up. Picking up on the cue, Megs said that he actually needs to go at 3PM since he has to return the rented car he is using to impress us! Known for his raunchy repartee, Megs also made an offer to take the boys out for massage service in lieu of Cecil’s suggestion to visit more traditional tourist places.

The final phase of the trip was not so convenient for some in the group. Mina, Cecil and later on Emi, fell ill. We were made to understand that it was a combination of vertigo attack and stomach problems; The fatigue and oysters, maybe? (But nothing serious, really.) In addition, Bili also had a vertigo problem (the night before the trip) while Didi is still recovering from flu (which he had prior to the trip). This situation led the group to consider the next outing to probably be best held in Dagupan. It seems that not only does Alex Villaflor partly own a beach resort there but also a hospital!

See slide show for more photos.

CAFA Birthdays

This February month is birthday month for several CAFAs. The guys who are now a year older are Nore Lim, Alex Villaflor and Milu Einsiedel. Coincidentally, a lot of US CAFAs happened to also be in Manila now. This was an opportunity to have that "Getogetha" – as Dinky would put it. A Getogetha was quickly planned out resulting in a pot luck party in Oni’s house on February 4, Saturday.

In the party, the guests of honor were the celebrants mentioned above. Meanwhile, the balikbayans are Tong Salgado, Rita Salgado and Tito Valbuena. Including celebrants Alex and Milu, the CAFA locals were: Dinky Einsiedel, Oni and Bili Mayo, Pearl and Vic Ortega, and Cynthia Henson. Nore Lim, Didi Lim and Emi Masigan are also in town but unfortunately, they couldn’t make the CAFA party for important reasons.

As the CAFAs were enjoying the party, the door bell rang. It was late-comer Tito V who strode in with a surprise guest in tow. The guest is Lydia Cruz - a retired MD and a balikbayan (out of Texas). Lydia was a HS classmate of Tito (Mapa High) so it should have been nothing extraordinary since the two came from their reunion. The CAFAs are always nice to extended friends of CAFAs. The CAFAs were however stunned when the beaming Tito introduced Lydia as his “kasintahan”. Ayos.

The party was lively from start to finish, and had a Part 2. The Part 1 plan was to take dinner in Oni’s house. The Part 2 would be to proceed to Chef and Brewer Music Bar after dinner (Dero and his Rockin’ 60s group). By 9:30 PM, Dinky, Alex, Tito and Lydia proceeded to music bar so as not to lose the reservation. The others however were not planning to go the show and decided to stay a while for coffee. Being the hosts, Oni and Bili stayed on. As expected the guys who remained behind immediately made intriguing chika about those who just left.

Everyone had a laugh when Tong admitted that their ‘sundo’ was there for some time now but they dared not leave for fear of being talked about. To resolve the issue everyone agreed to leave at the same time - the visitors back to their homes and Oni and Bili to Chef and Brewer to join the CAFAs there. The time was already nearing 11 PM and Dinky had been frantically texting for us to already join them since Dero had been wanting to put the CAFAs on stage.

At Chef and Brewer it was another kind of night life fun. The place was packed and the Rockin’ 60s were doing their thing. Old friends Titus and Botchi Santiago were there. Bili spotted her high school classmates from St. Theresa. (Nancy Reyes of the Rockin’ 60s is Bili’s school mate). At the CAFA table, Dinky and Alex were found finishing a bottle of wine. Through all these, Tito and Lydia, seeing the show for the first time, were enjoying not only the show but each other..

And then the CAFAs - boldly introduced by Dero as Pilita’s mainstays in the 60s - were called on stage. Objectively, I thought that the CAFA rendition was pretty good that night. The Boomer crowd was particularly familiar with “Summer Song” and “If I Fell”. And so it came to pass that the CAFAs came through once again. They ended each number to the applause of an appreciative audience considering the impromptu performance. One guy in the audience even approached the CAFA table afterwards to express his delight at hearing the memorable numbers once again. Ah, another night, another song.

See slide show for more photos.

New Jose Gallery Opening

Remember Alice Alfonso from Fine Arts? Alice then was the CAFA muse who sat in the middle of the CAFA flower-float during the Lantern Parade competition. And yes, CAFA won first place for that float thanks to the design and construction effort of Nik Ricio and the Fine Arts gang. Today Alice is Alice Jose, married to Eddie Jose, a very successful businessman. On her own, Alice is founder and owner of the famous "Jose" stores (leather accessories, shoes and bags) found in the major malls of Manila. Not only that, Alice today is also the proprietor of the Jose Art Gallery.

Originally, the gallery was established in the Jose’s old place in Pasig. Alice moved the gallery last year to their new commercial building in Marikina. Today, the Jose’s built another mixed-use building in Pasig and so the gallery is now housed there. The new building is a low rise residential apartment building with commercial areas in the ground floor. It is located in the Shaw Blvd area where the Shangrila Mall is located. The building’s apartments are for rent, but Alice and her husband retained the penthouse which not only contains a scenic open deck (wonderful view of the Shaw area high rise buildings at night) but which also contains her personal studio.

All this effort to provide a venue for the artistic works of friends just shows Alice’s love for the arts. As we know, Alice is a pillar of the UP Artists 60s group. This group is composed of the CAFASingers’ friends from the College of Fine Arts then. The CAFAs who were at the gallery soft opening night last Feb. 6 were: Nore Lim, Cynthia Henson, Pearl Ortega, Cat Belo and non-Fine Arts Architect Oni Mayo.

On hand to view the displayed (expensive?) works of reknowned artists like Cabating, Joya, et al were other guests of Alice such as Celestine Baretto, Angelian Pac Amado, Rose Tacorda, May Cruz and a Japanese couple – Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki. The group broke up at around 9PM but not until after partaking of the nice cocktail food (and laced drinks care of Cynthia), and a quick tour of the new building by Alice.

See slide show for more photos.

Alma

Alma Samonte Conty is in Manila for the moment to show support for an ailing sister. Before she arrived from Washington we had talked about about her meeting up with the CAFAs for old time's sake. Far forward in her visit however, the busy schedule of Alma was not permitting that considering her short stay in Manila.

Close to her departure date, a break in her schedule suddenly came. We agreed to meet for lunch. Unfortunately Dinky had just left for Silay to attend to his personal businesses and thus will not be able to join. (We know that Dinky stays in Silay for a week every time he goes.) Yesterday, I finally had a chance to see Alma again after what, 40 years? Alma's last visit to Manila was 5 years ago where she did not touched base with CAFAs then.

Feisty as ever, Alma talked some about her activities in Washington where she is an official of the Fil-Am political group there. She is on talking terms with Washington politicians (at least some of them) and is quite savvy on state of the nation affairs. Otherwise, Alma is retired (from the WB) and kept busy by her UP network as well as family affairs.

Alma is clearly a born organizer. Apart from the defining and catalytic roles she has with her social and political networks, Alma is an emerging matriarch for her brood. She cannot help but be a doting wife to hubby Jun (who needs all kinds of medication and appointments for his sugar and spine problems) and Nanay to her 4 children (one married). Because of this Alma says she has little time for other activities.

One of the things that interest her though is CONCEP's professional activities in heritage conservation. It seems that heritage issues in her hometown of Pagsanjan as well as Jun's hometown in Tiaong are important to her. In this trip, Alma had gone to Laguna and Quezon provinces to see old friends as well as attend to family interests there as well.

Before leaving, Alma showed me a copy of the CAFASingers in practice in one of their sessions a long time ago. (for Alma to take the photo, it must have been one of her rare appearance in a CAFASinger session). We thus welcome Alma again into the CAFA fold which we hope can be sustained after this. Bess, Alma said she has an appointment with you when she gets back next week.



See slide show for more photos.

Small CAFA Get Together in Manila

The indefatigable globe-trotting Nore Lim is back in town for the umpteenth time this year. As far as Nore is concerned, Asia is just a suburb of NY. This time, she was invited by Citigroup Singapore and Manila to deliver a talk to officials of the bank. This is an effort to widen the field of knowledge and awareness of employees. It is part of a new approach to management adapted by some big companies.

Nore is in Manila for only a few days but Oni managed to convinced her to forego a dinner with family for an hour's CAFA chat with him. It was a sudden thing with not enough time to gather CAFAs. The two had dinner instead at a Japanese restaurant in AVenue - a new place along Makati Avenue. So what's to talk to about having just come from the PMS CAFA reunion? The next reunion of course!

It's inspiring to hear Gerry Idol offering his home State for the next big one. Of course, just like the venue for the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup, other CAFA friends who would like to have a chance to host are welcome to contest Gerry's offer (though Milwaukee really sounds good). How about it - East Coast or San Francisco guys? This is your chance to bug Gerry about how much greater is your home state compared to his. I recommend past hosts and organizers Ely, Sara and Dinky to be members of the official CAFA Committee for Reunion Sites.

While Nore is leaving Phl tomorrow for the US, she will be back in November and December. Nore is setting up for another exhibit with her new powerpack artist group. This group is the AIAE consisting of BenCab and Orlina among some other notable guys. AIAE stands for the Asian International Art Exhibition. This is a rolling exhibit that was last held in Korea this year. (Nore almost missed the PMS reunion on account of her commitment to AIAE.) During the Christmas holidays, I understand she will be spending time with Claire's family in Bali.


See slide show for more photos.

Still Great Buddies (at the Finish Line)

Whew and Wow! It’s done. The hardy CAFAs did it again. The CAFA Californians did a whale of a job in putting the 4th CAFA grand reunion together. Let’s see . . first it was Getting Ahead in Hilton Head, then it was Flaunt It in Vermont, then it was Happy Togetha’ in Manila and just now – Da Mania in California!


For three memorable days in September, CAFAs and their family and friends came from far and wide to attend the group’s 2011 reunion in Pala Mesa Resort, Fallbrook California. Sarah and Charlie Calley came from Vermont. Eileen Robins, Rody Picar, Tong and Rita Salgado and Nore and Didi Lim came from Manhattan. Tito Valbuena came from New Jersey. Romy and Rory Ballesteros came from Texas. Alice Rancap, Ben Tuason and Tess, Dynn and Mynna Hernandez and their cousin came from San Francisco. Bess Canlas and Darrel Silva came from LA, Joey and Lina Abalos came from Virginia. Gerry and Jojo Ramos came from Milwaukee. Ely Tuason came from Chicago. Emi Masigan came from Boston. Gail Blattenberger came from Utah. Dinky and Milou Einsiedel and Oni and Billie Mayo came from Metro Manila.

And that’s not all. Friends came to participate in the CAFAs Saturday Buffet, Raffle and Mini Show. These include: Alice’s relatives from LA; Dinky’s daughter Tycel (now enrolled in a San Francisco school) and a friend from her dorm she brought with her; US-based friends of Dinky from UP High days and his Human Settlements office; and US-based La Salle HS chums of Oni, As a matter of fact, Oni’s friends (Art Sicat and Joey Zamora) registered in Pala Mesa resort together with the CAFAs in order to also play golf with the CAFA Tigers. Hope I did not miss out on anyone. It was so much fun with most everyone participating in the singing and dancing.

The successful show would not be possible without Bess’ Band from LA led by Kuya Ed aka Louis Armstrong. Given a few hours rehearsal with the performers, the band made “stars of the night” out of Alice, Tong and Sarah who rendered fully accompanied preliminary numbers. The band’s worth was really appreciated when the singing was done and the party switched on to dance mode.

A major part of the program is the CAFASingers at center stage anew. Just like old times, they dished out standards such as Cherish, Up Up and Away, Man Come into Egypt, Tennessee Babe, If I Fell, A Summer Song and Stasera. The description of the event would not be complete without mentioning the other highlights of the show. Oni and Didi who dabble in songwriting introduced their original OPM songs to the CAFAs that night. Ely with Dinky on guitar titillated (shocked?) the audience with their never-ending ribald tagalog chit-chiritsit song. Joey Abalos and Joey Zamora alternated on stage and competed for the Elvis Presley of Pala Mesa title. And the surprise of the night was the spontaneous stand up comedy show of Ely and Romy. Their typical Pinoy jokes were funny enough to warrant the Americans in the audience to be curious and ask for a translation.

Behind the Scenes
Just as much fun were the side lights of the event. These were the dinner in the old town, the chit-chat at the resort veranda, the stroll to the cottages, the golf, the song rehearsals, the swimming and sun bathing, the food trips and the final night hang out at Tambayan Restaurant. Tambayan resto is a Pinoy owned resto that was discovered by the group as they drove their rented cars around Fallbrook the area.

Tambayan is actually a Karaoke Bar in Fallbrook ran by a happy faced Pinoy proprietor. He would take over the singing chores whenever there is a lull in the audience participation. The chubby proprietor sings with gusto (complete with carcass-shaking tremolo passages) and more so when his female chef and the waitress suddenly appear to become his back up singers and dancers! The proprietor was however pleasantly surprised when Kuya Ed stood up and provided him with mean duet support for his retro “Unchain My Heart” number.

Through all this, beer and wine flowed and the orders for US style Chicharon Bulaklak, Lechon Kawali, Pork BBQ, Crispy Squid and other sinful stuff abounded. After a long night of indulging on forbidden menu, the waitress still asked the group if they want to order some more. A queasy Romy then replied: Yes we would like to order Lipitor!

Will there be a next grand reunion? Hopefully. For sure there is a mini reunion a-brewing in February in Manila. CAFAs can’t seem to get too much of each other, can they? See slide show below for more photos of the 2011 Reunion Na! event.

Slide show

Rody in Manila

It’s good to see Rody Picar hale and hearty again. Rody is back in town and attending to the development of his assets in the Philippines. He is completing the interior of a new condo in Pasig and installing landscaping for a beach place in La Union.

On Wednesday night, The CAFAs tendered him with a get together affair at Travel Café in Ayala’s posh Greenbelt 5 shopping center. The trendy Travel Café restaurant had new fare starting July that the group partook of with relish. I found the Gisgis (pork with spinach, chili and coconut sauce) quite exotic and tasty.

Aside from Rody, the guys who came were Dinky, Cecille, Cynthia, Alex, Hector, Francis, Dero and Oni. Nore came directly from the airport. Nore is the doting Grandma who was just in Singapore helping Claire and Alex settle into their new home there.

Rody was particularly interested in finding out the plans of Dero and Alex for the Pala Mesa CAFA reunion. Squirming, Alex said he is still seeking that light at the end of the tunnel – whatever that means! In a way, he hints that it has something to do with the miscoordination he is having with his family (ex and kids) there in the USA. Correct ba, Alex?

Da Dero is still hemming and hawing about his participation and enigmatic as ever. Arriving late, he said he overslept having been engrossed with composing the hymn theme for the forthcoming Asean congress. I suggested that he comes up with a CD of all of his musical compositions for inclusion in CAFA’s proposed ‘Festival of CAFA Arts’ during the reunion.

The bonding was good as usual and the CAFAs overstayed at the Café. In other words, napagsarhan na naman! By gulay, reunion na!


See slideshow for more photos.