Activism 102

Another breakthrough for the Batch 84 of Manuel A. Roxas High School.

Of the five monthly meetings conducted so far by the batch, this month’s (August 26, 2006) is the most highly-attended. It was almost the meet-up of the ‘regulars’ and ‘new old faces’ (as what I always tell folks). The first meeting was attended by 12; second, 15 (with four new faces); third, eight (with two new faces); fourth, nine; and fifth and latest, 21 (six new faces).

To match the number of participants at last night’s meeting, here are the 21 random things I learned and came to my mind while at the meeting:

1. Sol is fond of being taken pictures of, while one of her daughters (she brought along two during the meeting) was camera-shy.
2. Lina’s face is very familiar to me, but I’m sure she was not my classmate. I found out that it was because she was ‘barkada’ of Shirley. “Lagi kaming magkasama noon, di ba,” Lina asked rhetorically.
3. Boy commented (outside the meeting) that I spend much for texting many people regarding meetings. I thought yeah, but I wish ALL the people I text replied. Let’s say it’s just a form of courtesy on the part of the message recipient, more so if the message was formal.
4. Robert Donado’s face is very familiar to me. We were not classmates all through four years but it seemed I always related to him during that period. (Maybe in my past life? Ha ha.)
5. I can see that Ramil has been feeling the pressure of being the Secretary of the batch. (He was absent during the previous meeting and people elected him as the Secretary. A bit “unfair” right?) But he acted as Secretary during the meeting with flying colors. He’ll soon get used to the task.
6. Jing and I (interestingly both hailing from Marikina) were chatting when two men came. They did not approach us but I was sure that the pair was thinking the same way we did. “Ka-batch ba natin sila,” Jing asked. “Mukha, kasi ang asta ay parang thirty-something at familiar sa akin yung mukha ng isa,” I replied. After a short while, I initiated to ask the other pair. “Dadalo kayo sa meeting?” They replied positively and that started the kumustahan.
7. Ulysses is still the same person I knew of: bluntly straightforward. But his flair to mimic the high school mannerisms of several mates was really fun, and that compensates his being ‘takleso’. He and Sally, the Vice-Chair are showstoppers.
8. The next committees in charge of the food for the next meeting complained that they would spend much because of the possible high attendance of that meeting. The previous sponsoring committees expressed riddance. “Buti na lang konti yung dumating nung mga nauna!”
9. Shirley Rosal almost did not change. (I expressed my condolence to her for the passing away of her husband.) I wish I had more time to talk to her.
10. The husbands of Geraldine and Rozen are handsome. (I thought that my wife’s is handsome, too.) Well, I don’t mean that Geh and Zen don’t deserve their hubbies. They definitely do.
11. Speaking of husbands, Marvin joked that Sol’s daughters are very beautiful (they are, indeed). “Ang lakas talaga ng dugo ng asawa mo,” he shouted. The typical Sol we knew approached him and tried to give him a “kurot”.
12. I wish that Bong Guerra or Tony Aguilar (both now living in Canada) called us. Tony used to give us a ring in the past two meetings.
13. My notebook is cool. Everytime there’s a name I want to look up in the batch names database, I can find it in a millisecond. I’m sure folks are impressed.
14. Greg Catalan and Edwin Morales were more relaxed, compared to the first and second meetings (uncharacteristic of their high school days). In contrast, Jogil Avila has not seemed to be like the Jogil we knew of him. And Tommy Panganiban. Was he as shy during high school?
15. But Edwin’s brother, Rev. Edward, was still the person that he is: “Maka-Diyos pero tao lang.” He is used to cracking jokes occasionally. When I was taking a video last night, I asked to group to say anything. And the pastor shouted like the entire Roxas Village should hear him: “Anything!”
16. I wish that folks would volunteer their video-cams for the next meetings. I cannot guarantee to bring that of my office all the time. Likewise, my office’s video-cam sucks when used for night shots.
17. At least, folks decided to start raising funds for the future activities. It was decided that an attendee for each meeting will contribute a minimum of P50. It could have been P100 had one mate not argued that there were mates who earned much less than the better-off.
18. The feeling of facilitating the first and this month’s meetings were fairly similar: Nervous. I was a bit conscious about what the folks were thinking of me (perhaps comparing my face from that during the high school?). I was also cautious of what I was supposed to say and do.
19. Edwin Palacio’s face is familiar to me. Yes, because even he said that we were classmates during the second or third year. Compared to several men batch mates, he looks extroverted. I like his introducing himself like: “Nasa SM ako ngayon. Pero di namin pag-aari yon. Don lang ako nagtatrabaho.” His audience burst into laughter. Edwin is in a security agency contracted by SM in Taguig (?).
20. Ms. Aguirre did not show up to welcome us. Jesse had informed me that she’d committed to do so. I kidded (outside the meeting) that perhaps Ma’m Aguirre ran out of makeup to prep herself up, and she didn’t want to welcome us unprepared.
21. I wish that Jesse (who was at the meeting in UST), Albert (who seemed to have out of reach), and Jessica Belmonte (had fever) were at the meeting.