Back in 1997, I constructed a website for the 25th reunion of our class (UP High Class of 1973) without any knowledge if our class was doing anything for our silver anniversary. But knowing our class and the people who belong to it, sooner or later, something was going to happen, there was going to be a big celebration either in the Philippines or in the USA where I know many of us have emigrated, or both, it didn't matter. I just knew somewhere, somehow, someone was going to organize something.

I was not wrong. Within the next six months of building the website, people started to contact each other, at first, independent of the website. But, even then, with or without the website, even if we were old farts, the Internet was at our disposal and we were not loathe to use it as a tool. I got contacted by Susan Ceballos, a classmate who was based in San Francisco through a contact number that she found on the Internet. She was tasked to coordinate our reunion activities here in the US and she was able to find me through a search. I am not even sure if Google existed then. But she was able to find me.

At about the same time, Dudy Zaballero, a classmate in Manila, happened to get into a conversation with Dori Soler, a gallery owner who was vacationing in the Philippines. Dori happened to also have a gallery in Chicago where I usually purchased Filipino books and art. Somehow, my name was mentioned in their conversation. Before too long, the next time she saw me in her store in Chicago, Dori handed me an envelope with a card and instructions to contact classmates in the Philippines regarding the upcoming reunion.

Serendipity at its best.

As soon as I got these first contacts, it became easy to communicate and re-establish ties with other classmates, mostly through e-mail. I was surprised that a majority of us had e-mail addresses! The Internet came to the Philippines four years prior, and was quite slow in spreading to the madding crowd, especially to the 'older' generation that we are fast becoming to belong. But our batch was way ahead of the curve. Most of us, in the US and in the Philippines were connected to the information superhighway, the popular term used then!

At my end, I was able to gather materials for the website from classmates I have contacted. I even received copies of the yearbooks that served as major sources of pictures and texts through FedEx, overnight from Ed and Marlu Vencio in Manila.

The website then became a focal point of contact - we were able to leave messages through the message board and we were able to schedule chats between US- and Philippine-based classmates through the website. Soon, we began to have a mailing list and then an e-group (as it was known then) that kept us abreast of developments. Through the site, we were able to get in contact with Marinella Aberion who was based in Sacramento, CA, with Leonor Lorica who was based somewhere in the US, with Rex Villarosa who left a note in the guest book, Sonia Alfonso from Winnipeg, and many others.

Plans for the reunion were soon in place, meetings were conducted, committees were formed, and funds were solicited. Finally, the reunion was going to be held at UP High (now UPIS) at the end of the year in conjunction with the Grand Homecoming for that year. Since we were the silver jubilarians, tradition dictated that we would be the host of the reunion, especially to fete alumni who were celebrating their golden anniversary (it was even sweeter for Mo Ordonez whose dad was a golden jubilarian too). Fund raising was also fierce and furious because, as the host, we needed to donate funds to the school.

I wasn't able to attend this big kahuna, but I was able to go home later that month, just before the New Year, in time for a batch reunion held at Senator Villar's penthouse in Ortigas Center, courtesy of Ditas Magno, a classmate who was running his operations. During the party, a check for an untold amount was turned over by Pone Jimenez who happened to be the alumni association president, to Teret de Villa, the UPIS principal at that time and who was/is one of the closest teachers to our batch. A few other former teachers were in attendance (got to check the pictures, I don't remember who they were but I think Prof. Trinidad Flores was there).

I was vacationing on Boracay then. I took off a day from my vacation, flew to Manila to attend the party and flew back to Boracay the next day. Such is the life of a jetsetter. It was nice to see many batchmates again and to dance with the DIs that Ditas hired! Two of us flew in from abroad: Peewee Forbes from Bangkok and me from Chicago.

Fast forward to ten years later, to today. I am building this website again to jumpstart our 35th celebration. After the 1998 reunion, the website has become redundant. Much of our batchmates have now been in contact with each other, in fact, almost everyday. The e-group that has now become a Yahoo group (egroup.com was bought out by Yahoo!) was transformed to become the focal point of contact between us batchmates. The website was no longer needed although I still kept the domain name. I tried to build photo galleries in so many incarnations but they were not that effective. The Yahoo group serves the purpose it needs to serve - from sharing news, to sharing photos, to scheduling events and many others. In addition, we've held many other small and grand reunions, both virtual and actual. Aside from chats, we've done video conferencing, voip calls, webcasts and other forms of communications. In the Manila and elsewhere, mini-reunions have been held every time a classmate comes from out of town. Of course, all of these were coordinated through the Yahoo group.

Personally, I have gone home to the Philippines four times in the last ten years and except for the last time I visited, I usually made contact with any of my classmates back there. Usually, it was Ed Vencio. But I wasn't able to do that last January as he and Marlu moved to Pennsylvania the year before. Besides, I was traveling in the Visayas, then in Northern Luzon for a photographic assignment. I was only in Manila for less than a day, in transit between the two destinations and then when I had to catch a plane back to the US. But in January of 2006, we had a huge reunion in one of the restaurants at Eastwood City and then at Ed and Marlu's. A few days later, they flew to the US. When I came back the next month, I also saw Nicky Villasenor at my father's funeral.

Likewise, anywhere I go in the US, I make it a point to contact classmates who are residing in my destination. In the last three years or so of going to California every year, I have met with Ruby Agustin and Bobby Canseco (separately). A few years back, I had a reunion with Butch Ynchausti together with other UP Vet Med alums in the Anaheim area. I've seen Con Lota in New York but that was a looong time ago, when I was in grad school yet. Also, any classmates who happen to pass by Chicago are always feted with a gathering - there are at least four (maybe six) of us here in Chicago - Henry Echiverri, Ditas Magno, Edward Aragon, and me and perhaps, Teret Isabelo and Lorna Liza Estrada. The last two, I am not sure where they are now but they were here in 1998! We always make a point to see each other at least once a year, mostly during Christmas and when someone visits. In December last year, Henry turned the big Five Oh (like most of us) and had a big party at a posh hotel in the burbs - Edward and his wife, Lisa, also graced the occasion. Early this year, Ed Vencio was here from Pittsburgh for a conference - twice. We (Ditas and hubby - I always forget his name, together with Ron, my partner) took him out on separate occassions, to savor Chicago deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Due, and to taste noodles at Hon Kee on Argyle, the new Chinatown and then to a Thai restaurant on Hubbard St. as he doesn't get to taste that much Asian food in Pittsburgh.

And so it's that time again, to renew our connections in a grander scale, to reach out to people who we haven't seen and haven't heard from. There are still a lot of them out there, there are still a lot of stories to be discovered and to be told. And we want to hear those stories before we forget them.

Thus, this website is reborn.

Ken Ilio, DVM, PhD
Columbia College Chicago
Chicago, IL
3 October 2007