the Sandalo clan “REUNIONS… REUNIONS… ARE YOU REGULARLY ATTENDING?” Aside from being the month of fiestas, the month of May is also considered as the month of reunions. The reason is that most of the students are on summer vacation and therefore have the time to go home to the provinces to attend reunions whether these are clan reunions, school reunions or organization reunions. Last 31st of May 2009, I attended our clan reunion in Butuan City. I arrived Bancasi Airport in Butuan City a day earlier. On board the service vehicle of our town Mayor Fidel Garcia (a godson of my father) who offered to have me fetched by his driver, I noticed several streamers announcing the dates and venues of several clan reunions hanged along the highway. This is a common sight in a province when even a daughter’s passing of the nursing board exam is likewise being publicly announced through streamers hanged along the highway! However, unlike the other clan reunions, for security reasons, my relatives deliberately opted not to publicly announce our clan reunion. By the way, a few weeks before our clan reunion, relatives from my grandfather side texted me that the Mission clan will also have a reunion on the 30th of May. So, since I was already there, I decided to proceed to the Cabadbaran City Gym where the Mission Clan reunion was held. It was scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. only. Since my PAL flight arrived at 12:00 pm when I reached the venue, my relatives were already going home! Only a handful stayed at 2:30 pm! Now, back to the reason of my latest visit to my home province of Agusan del Norte: our Clan Reunion – the Ong Oh-Libre Clan. To say that it was a big event is definitely an understatement! We trace our roots to Jose Ong Oh – a Chinese from mainland China who was the second husband of our grandmother Telesfora Libre – a beautiful lady with Spanish blood from Toledo City. Lola Telesfora’s first husband Ricardo Mission died a few years after my mother Purita was born. My mother Purita who married my Papa David Sandalo had eight half brothers and sisters from the second marriage of lola Telesfora Libre and Jose Ong Oh. They are: Concepcion who married Joaquin Chu Te, Thelma who married Teodoro Ong Yiu, Trinidad who married Gonzalo Go, Miriam who married Ismael Andaya, Teresita (Babe) who married William Lim, Johnny married Victoria Tiangco, Jose, Jr (a.k.a. Joker) who married Dionesia Almendra, and Arthur who married Amparo Gosotto. Now, with those names I am giving you hint why my relatives deliberately opted not to publicly announce our clan reunion! The Ong Yiu Family was this year’s reunion host. Venue was the Butuan City’s Almont Inland Resort function rooms (actually three adjoining function rooms were converted into one large function room to accommodate us). Our host, the Ong Yiu family showed what it means to be being very generous: they made it a free registration for all of us who attended the reunion! They paid for everything: from the rent of the venue to the catered food, to the fees of the entertainers, everything! Our family, the Sandalo family enjoyed an additional freebee: our stay in our cousin Yazmin Ong Yiu-Burgos’ Royal Plaza Hotel was for free! You see, since the reunion lasted till the late evening, it would be very risky to travel from Butuan City to the municipality of Tubay where our ancestral house is located. The reunion started at 9:00 a.m. with the registration. The biggest delegation was of course from the host Ong Yiu family. The second largest delegation was the Andaya Family followed by the Chu Te family. We, from the Sandalo came the fourth largest with 10 family members. The family of uncle Joker (Jose, Jr.), uncle Johnny, auntie Babe, auntie Trining and uncle Arthur came with less number of members such that during the parlor games portion, they had to combine together to form one team. The idea to have a non-clan member to be the reunion facilitator/emcee was a brilliant one: it prevented the danger of one family monopolizing the use of the microphone or even for someone to be hugging the limelight for longer period. There was the usual opening formality. The families were introduced. Then the rest of the morning was spent with parlor games where the relatives had fun and enjoyed bonding moments through friendly competitive games. The buffet lunch prepared by the caterer hired by the Ong Yiu family was very delicious capped with crunchy native lechon. After the great lunch, we continued with the parlor games. Winners received valuable prizes prepared by the Ong Yiu family. There was a raffle drawn with a cash prize courtesy of the host family. After the last parlor game at 4:00 p.m., a free time was declared. We assembled again at 6:00 p.m. The sons of auntie Babe Lim made a powerpoint presentation on their latest research works. Watching the gentlemen doing their piece made us realize that our clan indeed has a superior bloodline! Their detailed presentation about their DNA studies was very interesting, although a lot of us were expecting that a specific DNA thread for the Ong Oh –Libre Clan will be presented! The dinner was again overflowing with sumptuous food in two buffet tables. After the dinner, we had ballroom dancing complete with Dance Instructors and karaoke singing which lasted till 10:00 p.m. With the majority of the participants in their late 50’s, the younger generation did not have a choice but to join the older relatives in queuing for the exit door. Next reunion’s host will be our family, the Sandalos. The challenge to have it at par if not better than this year’s Ong Yiu-hosted reunion is enormous! This early, we invite all the members of our clan to join us in Butuan City and enjoy each other’s company! See you!