USC-BHS class 66 celebrates 50th Anniversary

Because of the stunning success of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress and because there were many people who could not register and attend that historic week-long event or did not have the time to watch the various talks that were shown live on EWTN or CCTN, MyTV Channel 30 will be doing an IEC Marathon of all the events that the MyTV crew covered from all the various events and speeches of our foreign guests and finally the procession last Friday and the Holy Mass or “Statio Orbis” this coming Sunday February 7, 2016 from 12:00 noon to 10:00PM. This is MyTV’s way of following up with the role of Cebu to help evangelize the world and it starts with evangelizing ourselves so we can become better Catholics.

Here’s the MyTV schedule for Sunday Feb. 7th.

12:00 NN-1:00 PM - Opening Mass

1:00 PM-2:00- Catechizes with Rev. Miguel Cabrejos

2:00-3:00- Most Rev. Robert Barron, Testimony by: Ms. Marianne Servaas

4:00 - 5:00 - Most Rev. Thomas Menamparampil, Testimony by: Mr. Paul Ponce and Family

6:00-7:00- His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle

7:00-8:00 His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyeken

8:00-9:00 His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan

9:00-10:00 Procession and the Statio Orbis on Sunday

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Today is a red-letter day for me and my classmates at the University of San Carlos Boys High School (USC-BHS) Class ‘66 as today is the start of our 50th Golden Anniversary reunion that is happening this weekend and we came up with our theme for our reunion “Fifty Fabulous Years of Friendship.” This afternoon, at least 50 to 60 of our classmates who graduated in USC-BHS in 1966 will be going to our Alma Mater. Yes we still call it USC-BHS, but they call it now the North Campus.

You may want to know what has happened to our classmates in the last 50-years. Frankly speaking, there are many of our classmates who made it to their respective careers and live simple and quiet lives, while there are those who didn’t make it at all and cannot even afford to attend our reunion. However we have reached out to them for many of our generous classmates would take care of their expenses because what is important to us is their attendance. But there are also the exceptional classmates who made it to the top and they too are attending this Golden Anniversary.

There will be a Holy Mass officiated by Fr. Valentine Darunday at 3:00PM in the North Campus, then after a short visit to the old campus, we motor to the Lanipao Mountain Resort of our classmate Dick Cabucos up in Busay Hills a 10-minute ride behind the Guadalupe Church. Then on Saturday, we ride to Tuburan to the Apalan Private Resort of our classmate Enrique “Quito” Fararrons and stay there the whole day for fun, reminisce the past 50-years, and renew our old friendships.

Incidentally, we had a classmate who was a Rotary Exchange scholar with the Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother) Mr. Geoffrey Davis. He is an Australian who works as a Naval Engineer in Canberra. For the first time in 50-years he has returned to Cebu and I asked him to speak at our Rotary Club meeting at the Waterfront Hotel yesterday. He was part of USC-BHS Class 66 and stayed with the family of Dr. Merito and Suga Yuvienco, Dr. Nestor Canoy, Oscar Jereza, Sr. The Paulin family and the Avila family rotated every three months. His father was a Rotary Governor in Australia and he has returned to a very different Cebu. He arrived and left Cebu at the old Lahug Airport, so you would get a perspective of how things have changed.

One of our classmates who helped in organizing our 50th Golden Reunion is retired Senior Superintendent Manuel Cabigon who told me that way back in 1966 we were 145 classmates and he expects that around 50 to 60 classmates would be attending our reunion. Of this number, 29 of our classmates already left this world, but we will honor them during the weekend.

Our final and formal night will be held at the Casino Español this Sunday evening and we hope to meet not only with our classmates, but with their wives or families as well.

It was a year-long planning for this grand reunion of USC-BHS Class 66 and there are many people to thank for always attending the many meeting that we did. Notably, Manuel Cabigon, Bill Uybengkee, Alfonso Santos, Caloy Colmenares, Loloy Dublados, Felipe Cabrera, my brother Bing Avila, Richard “Dick” Cabucos and Enrique “Quito” Fararrons. Many other classmates attended some of the meetings and we all thank them for their contributions and above all their attending the meetings. Welcome also to my High School buddy, Tony “Ton Ton” Rizarri, Manuel and Ramon Picornell who flew in from the US to join our 50th Golden anniversary.

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