UP Ibalon Bicol: What traces would mark them as Ibalons?

What traces would mark them as Ibalons?

2/27/2008 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

It was something very familiar that I couldn't figure when I watched the video of the steering commitee meeting on Saturday, February 23, 2008 in Naga City, until I thought about it.

The familiarity couldn't be Butch Robredo who sat attentively, listening to the tune of ideas that went with the pretty ladies around him. By his body language, I knew he was out to digest all what he was hearing, a reminder of his intensity on matters that's close to his heart. His memory must be astute as it had been. He had this forte of adaptation that I couldn't help, but admire.

Butch after all, had been a special Ibalon. Like Godz Lanuza , he was my classmate till the fading moments of my Diliman days. My funny pals since the time we used sticky pomade on our heads and walked on kiddie shorts in Naga Parochial School, they were my classmates, among the most enduring friends I got in my list.

Didn't you notice? Butch got the same shiny hairdo as Godz'---a plain egg-shaped calvarium with slippery slopes that itinerant beetles would avoid, for fear of fracture from a fall!

The video's familiarity couldn't be because I recalled the ancient Ibalonians who attended meetings with lunch boxes prepared for a day in Quezon City's Parks and Wildlife, the secluded place of secret communions which welded the group's unity through its raggedy beginnings. Nobody among those who attended the old meetings were present in the video.

Yet nonetheless, I saw young articulate ladies who smiled shyly as the camera roved like a quizzical microscope, trying to reveal what traces would mark them as true Ibalons. I finally got it! In a low-toned audio, I heard their divine goals. Helping others was tops in the plan!

Bearing the cries of the poor, what better team could we have in Annaliza Mariano? She posted a dreamlist for us to consider in our charity. Won't we be glad that Butch Robredo, Andy Gimpaya, Rose B. Nayve, and Dulce Bernardo were there to gel the whole plan?

In a lighter vein, did I see Analee Badiola, a legendary Ibalon beauty in the video, or was I fooled by a younger face of a clone? I thought if DNA testing were done, the genes would show a match of sisters! What do you think brother Totoy B?

TotieM