“My First UPLB Loyalty Day”

I graduated from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos in 1978.  That made me a Jubilarian this year. Yes, it was 30 years ago! So, I made it a point to take a leave from my work last October 10. Least you forget, October 10 (DOUBLE 10) is UPLB LOYALTY DAY! It is synonymous  to the Alumni Homecoming of other institutions, a time to pay respect to dear alma mater!

I had great expectations weeks and days before 10-10. You see, for the past 30 years I had never attended a Loyalty Day! No, do not get me wrong on this! I love UPLB, no doubt about it. It is just simply that I did not have the time to or let me put it this way, it so happened that the past twenty nine  October 10s, either my work did not allow me to take a leave to be able to attend this annual event or because of other pressing tasks, I had not remembered it was Loyalty Day.

I expected some sort of  euphoric moments, time where I would be misty eyed meeting old classmates, friends even enemies! So, off I went to UPLB for my first ever Loyalty Day last October 10!

I was already negotiating the still under construction South Luzon Expressway at 7:00 a.m.  when strong monsoon rain started to fall. I knew it would be raining the whole day because the entire horizon was covered with thick dark nimbus clouds. It was as if  there was a solar eclipse so I turned on my headlights because of the darkness. It made driving on the unfinished South Luzon Expressway more dangerous!

I remembered two years ago, the 2006 Loyalty was cancelled because of a strong typhoon  named “Melenyo” hit UPLB a few days earlier. If left UPLB in ruins similar to the aftermath of World War II. I prayed hard while driving under the heavy downpour, that the rain would soon stop and that it will not spoil my first UPLB Loyalty Day! However, it was still raining after an hour as I slowly edged my way to the final  exit of the expressway.

Two weeks ago, it was already announced that The Loyalty Parade, traditionally held during the first hours in the morning was set at 3:00 p.m. for this year’s Double 10. I told myself it should be enough allowance for the monsoon rain to stop.

It looked like an ordinary rainy school day as I entered the UPLB campus. Students wearing jackets and short pants with umbrellas to cover themselves from the heavy downpour were walking on the sidewalks.

The rain continued as I parked inside the Dairy Training and Research Institute (DTRI). The first activity of the day was the meeting of the Board of Directors of the frat which was held inside Gawad Kalinga’s Upsilon Village.

I  gazed at   a familiar figure wearing rain boots from afar. He was my tatang, Brod Artemio Salazar ’70 who is working with brod Ruben Villareal ’57 who is spearheading the Gawad Kalinga Upsilon Village Project. I asked my tatang for directions in going to the Upsilon Village.

The Upsilon Village is a living testimony of the Upsilonians’ way  to be of greater service to our fellowmen.  Already, as brod Ruben reported, many brods who by the way preferred to remain anonymous have donated large amount of cash and in kind to for the construction of modest houses for the less fortunate.

We held our frat alumni board meeting in the Upsilon Village after a simple turn over ceremony of another housing unit. A simple lunch with the family of the beneficiaries was shared by the brods.

It continued to rain even during the meeting. I was discussing with my co-batch Arris Rabajante on the possibility that the Loyalty Parade would be cancelled because of the bad weather.

The board meeting ended a few minutes before 3:00 p.m The brods left the Upsilon Village and headed for the Administration Building near the entrance gate. The usual assembly point of the brods and sisters for the Loyalty Parade is UPLB Map which was donated by the frat to guide freshmen and other first timers in the Campus. It is located near the Administration Building.

A tent was temporarily  installed in front of the UPLB Map to protect the brods and sisters from the rain. The brods and sisters started to arrive in the tent. My co-batch Tony Zuniga was with us in the tent.  The brods and sisters shared puto and dinuguan for our merienda. It was still drizzling when we got the latest advisory that the Loyalty Parade  was cancelled.

With the announcement, the brods decided to go ahead with our own march! We decided to march towards the UPLB Auditorium where we learned that a program was on-going. When we reached the portion near the UPLB Cooperative Store and Canteen, group of men belonging to another fraternity had put up a big parachute. The brods were chanting a favorite cheer to well make our presence felt by the men under the parachute.

The intention of our march was to show our support to Brod Rey Velasco ’74 whose re-appointment as UPLB Chancellor was recently announced by the Board of Regents. He was attending the Program. When Chancellor Rey saw the marching brods and sisters bearing tarpaulin placards with  UPSILON SIGMA PHI on it, he immediately joined the group.

I was in a huddle with Chancellor Rey and my cobatch Tony Zuniga. Chancellor Rey told me that our class 1978 who are Jubilarians were gathered at the other side of the auditorium earlier. I told him that I never got an invitation from the UPLB College of Agriculture Alumni Association on the details of the activities of the Loyalty Day Celebration. My co batch Tony who is also a class 1978 confided that the College of Agriculture Alumni in charge is not very effective. Tony suggested that next year during the foundation year of the College of Agriculture, we will help in making the Loyalty Day well organized with good attendance.

Our Frat’s LB Alumni Association Chairman Arbie Bisenio ’85 and President Titus Arce ’86 brod  Edwin Sarmenta ’88, Val Aguilar ’93, few other brods and myself decided to walk down memory lane. We went to the Student Union Building.

There was a tiangge. We stopped at the Paparazzi stall of Brod Ding Navasero ’70. He was promoting a vest with the UP Centennial design. As we passed by the area near the comfort room of SU, I recalled that it was where we had our frat’s bulletin board. It was no longer there. I asked Arbie and the younger brods about it, they told me, they had moved it out of SU.

We bought drinks from the stall in SU and walked out to the open garden at the SU’s frontage. There were tiangge stalls. But, what we were interested in was the multi level concrete layers which can be used as a stage for a program.

We were toying the idea of using the space as the venue for our Frat’s General Membership Meeting this November. If we will be allowed to drink beer in that area, we might have the GMM there.

We then proceeded to Anest Tower, the building owned by brod Andrew Nocon beside the Los Banos General Hospital. It was the venue for our fellowship that night. We had dinner and of course lots of beer! There was no structured program. Brods Ding Navasero and Romy Escudero ’69  were alternately doing MC jobs.

Brod Ruben Villareal had a short talk on the Gawad  Kalinga project. He encouraged the alumni Sigma Deltans to pledge donations for perhaps a Sigma Deltans Village.

Popo Chichico’78, a talented composer, guitarist and singer provided the entertainment that night.

Brod Bong Manlulu ‘85  led some brods in the poker table.

I must admit. The rains must have succeeded in canceling the Loyalty Parade, dampened our enthusiasm to celebrate, but definitely, the fellowship we had in the evening had compensated what we missed during the rainy daytime.