Dateline LIBACAO
BY ALEX E. DIONELA

An Affair to Remember

(The Inspirational Message of Mrs. Editha Sia-Seraspi during the Reunion and Installation of Officers of the NVCnians, Incorporated held on July 16, 2011 at Saylo Restaurant, Kalibo, Aklan)

To my good friend whom I have not seen for a long time, Shirley Arrieta Regalado, my fellow NVCnians and former students, good afternoon.

When Araceli Magno Macalalag and Merlyn Solidum Mabasa informed me barely a month ago that they, together with some former classmates, were planning to hold a reunion of NVCnians, I told them it was a splendid idea. When they invited me to join you, I did not hesitate to accept the invitation because the occasion would afford me the chance to see my former students again, and this reunion would not only be a reunion of former classmates, former NVCnians but also my reunion with my former students whom I have not seen for a long time and whose lives, I would like to believe, I have touched.

I am very happy, really I am. Seeing you all again bring fond memories of those days when you were in my classes, listening to me, jotting down notes, perhaps getting nervous and jittery each time I shuffled the class cards and called your names to answer a question.

Alma Manzanares, did I make you and your classmates feel bored or hungry in the 11-12 A.M. class? Did I make you feel sleepy in the one o’clock class? I hope I did not because if I did, that means I was a boring teacher just like that boring college professor of mine in history. Perhaps some of you prayed hard that you would pass my subject, maybe some called to their favorite saints to intercede for them. But you were all good students, even bright. Some of you graduated cum laude and most graduated with honors or with distinction.

And look at you now. You are successful in your fields of endeavor, contributing to the progress of your communities as educators, public servants and businessmen, and contributing to the building of our nation just like what Rizal envisioned of the future Filipinos more than a hundred years ago. You are achievers. Gentlemen, each of you is a picture of a man of confidence and in control of himself – one who is on top of his own world. Ladies, each one of you exudes the pulchritude of a happy and fulfilled woman – the Filipina of the 21st century. NVC should be proud of you.

It has been thirty or forty years, but I still remember Teresita Balino, Al Garcia, Manuel Pelayo, Sammy Sarabia, Merrylaine Templonuevo and Minerva Patron in a stage play for our college festival, memorizing their lines, rehearsing at the NVC Skyhall until ten or eleven o’clock every night for one moth just to give a good and creditable performance. The stage play proved to be very meaningful and unforgettable to both Tessie and Tawi because their romance blossomed during the rehearsals and ended at the altar.

Ida Inocencio graduated cum laude. As a student, she was never lacking in talent. As NVC’s bet in the Spanish Declamation Contest to the APRISAA, she was unbeatable. With the lines, “Quieres dinero, mucho dinero?”, she bested all the contestants and as Aklan’s bet to the West Visayas PRISAA, delivering the same piece she brought home the bronze medal and honor to her Alma Mater and to our province.

I still remember the grade of 1.0 I gave to Virgilita Yacub in Psychology 1.

I still feel amused each time I remember how Alex Dionela untiringly, incessantly and with the determination of the conquerors of Mt. Everest pursued the pretty and demure Rizalita Zapatos, the girl of his dreams. I am sure Alex serenaded Lelith because he has a good voice.

How can I forget Nena Relente, the dusky, curvaceous and voluptuous beauty from Banga, who is Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida rolled into one?

And the Maribojo siblings? Georgyn must have been elated and made her father proud of her with remark “excellent” which I used to write on her whitebook after every periodic examination because I could not find any mistake in her answers. I was fault-finder. I would read and reread her answers. I wanted to find even a single error -- a misused preposition, perhaps or a dangling modifier or a wrong tense, but I could not find any. Georgyn’s examination were always perfect whether in grammar or in essays. Selmar too, was an excellent student, a good campus writer and a gold medalist in oratorical and extemporaneous speech contests. Elvin is a Maribojo. Need I say more about her? You can read between the lines. I have been informed that she is now a public school principal. Congratulations, Elvin. I am proud of you.

George Quimpo and the Lim sisters succeeded in getting my support for the campus paper they put up as alternative to the Student’s Forum.

Is Grace Castillo still singing? She used to delight and entertain NVC with her beautiful voice. Her renditions of the kundimans did justice to the compositions of our Filipino composers.
How can I forget the initiations of the Sinag-Tala Sorority? It was a riot of fun. Ludmilla was asked to catch a dozen of Kamamangi in Buswang Beach. For her initiation Nema Inocencio dressed like a beggar and begged for alms in front of St. John the Baptist Cathedral while another aspirant cleaned the men’s room. On the night of the sorority ball Lorcine Cunanan was in a quandary whether to attend the ball or not because she had no escort.

I have a treasury of fond memories of you – memories I will forever cherish and will relate to my children and grandchildren. I am sorry if I cannot mention everything or mention all your names now because it will take me until midnight to reminisce. But this I would like to tell you: I feel so privileged to have been your teacher.

I am thankful that I am still respected and appreciated. What could be more rewarding to a teacher like me than to hear from her former students that they learned from her and cannot forget her? I am very proud of you. If only I could write like a journalist, I would write my memoirs with you as my subjects. Do you think it will become a bestseller with each one of you buying a copy? Promise me that.

Thank you, Merlyn and Araceli. Thank you, everyone, for inviting me to this wonderful affair. I am very happy to be in your midst. I am so glad to see you all again. I feel young. I feel I am only twenty – the age I started teaching. Thank you, my dear students. I will never forget this date. Should I be able to write my memoirs, I will surely include this reunion of ours as a vignette to those memorable days. Indeed, this is an affair to remember.