PostHeaderIcon The Calm Before The Storm: A UP Ibalon Saga

12/01/2008 | Posted by myty555 | Edit Post
by Mighty Baylon


I always fancied UP students to be bright. And as bright persons I thought they will be able to sift truth from facts. After all, UP was strong in empirical research.

I was hoping the queer incident I mentioned in my last article ["One Stormy Night In August 1995: A UP Ibalon Saga", 12/01/08] will blow away after the contentious UP Student Council election. I thought that with the founders and senior members still around and being UP students they will not be brazen enough to change UP Ibalon's history while we are still alive (but later it turned out that I was wrong in this).

It is with hope that I reminisced that though UP Paglaom was torn asunder by the CONCOMSA (Consultative Committee on Student Affairs, a predecessor organization before the full-pledged restoration of the UP Student Council) elections in 1974, it survived in the form of UP Ibalon [See my article, "The Formation And Legacy Of UP Ibalon: A Testimony", 11/14/08]. And UP Ibalon lived to be the organization and home of the Bicolanos in UP Diliman and this is Ibalon's legacy.

There were no other recognized UP Bicolano organizations at that time except for UP Lawod, the organization of students coming from Masbate [See my article, "A Multitude Of Bicolano Organizations In UP Diliman: The Present Problem And The Lessons Of The Past", 11/15/08], which I didn't really mind because Masbateno is considered a separate language and only a minority speaks Bicol in Masbate. But my initial impression of UP Ibalon is it is a small and troubled organization (a membership roll of 23 and with debts to pay). With a UP Diliman Bicolano population estimated to be 700 I can surmise that the situation is volatile.

We were asked by the President of UP Ibalon, Gerlin Catangui, to help in their upcoming traditional high school students' contest, the Padunungan, which will be held in Legazpi City during the semestral break. It was Gerlin's wish that the project earn enough so that all UP Ibalon debts will be paid and all unpublished souvenir programs of the previous years will be printed and distributed. She feels it was the shame of UP Ibalon that it cannot live to its commitment and promise to the donors and sponsors.

Flushed with the success of the premier of the movie "Congo", I tapped my UPIAA Treasurer, Dan Daz, to help them out and teach them how to launch projects with enough sponsorship. Through Dan, UP Ibalon was able to tap former sponsors in "Congo". We also tapped and the Ibalon alumni in Albay was enthusiastic in helping them on other logistical concerns. In my recollection of the project, the Ibalon couple Kulas and Lea Sala, Mac Pavia, Dean Jun Perdigon and the late George Evangelio comes to mind as the most active of its supporters.

The project achieved its highest goal and UP Ibalon's debts were paid and all the souvenir program backlogs were erased. I thought it would usher a new era of mutually beneficial cooperation between the resident and alumni organizations of UP Ibalon. In my analysis of the "Congo" premiere, it was obvious that the UPIAA (UP Ibalon alumni Association) needs the warm bodies the UP Ibalon can provide and UPIAA can help the resident organization in a lot of ways.

It is thus with hope and enthusiasm that the resident and alumni organizations jointly prepared for the December 1, 1995 anniversary celebrations.

But illusions were soon shattered and this just turned out to be the proverbial calm before the storm.
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