A Ray Of Vision

Group picture of the Santo Tomas University Hospital
Residents - 1970 with Medical Director, Dr. S. Arellano,
Hospital Regent and Consultants

AEMM 2009 as I saw it by Roger Mondala

Conducted on Feb. 6, 2009, this medical mission was special to me for one reason: it was the first ever mission where I stayed from start to finish. I saw it with my own eyes how the ever present group of Carlito Sindaydiego, Ely Solis-Sangalang, Remy Quibal, Emong Mondala, Tony Frias, Johnny Dacanay & Lolit Gonzales-Garlitos (Did I miss anybody?) give their selfless devotion to the mission.This mission was requested by 59er Rudy Orduna who hails from this place. An added bonus given to patients in this mission were clothes (59er Carlito Sindaydiego is fitting one patient in a photo below) brought in by Fil & Josie Olegario from the U.S.

THE VISION

At around the time of the 1986 reunion in Mangatarem, Fil Olegario had a meeting one evening with six hometown 59ers at Arsing Gutierrez' house. The six were Turing Bautista, Tony Frias, Narsing Budol, the late Oscar Martinez, Mart Saura and Remy Quibal. After emptying two bottles of whisky, they decided it was not enough and Turing suggested that they move over to Inday Jazmin Guiang's house. Although it was already late into the night, Inday's husband Ramon was only willing to welcome them in and even joined them in their drinking binge.The "whiskey compact" (Sandugo, 59ers' version) that took place that night may have provided the rain and sunshine that urged the AEMM plant to germinate, but its seed has been sown years much earlier.(The original recorded Sandugo took place on March 16, 1565 between Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and Datu Sikatuna of Bohol. Done to seal lasting friendship between two groups of people as was the custom at the time, the ritual consisted of drawing a few drops of blood from a small incision in the arm of the leaders of the two groups, place them in separate cups containing wine and then each one drinking the "potion containing the blood of the other" in the presence of their followers. The Katipunan version of Sandugo required recruits to sign their names on the roster with their own blood.)As an EENT resident at University of Santo Tomas (UST), Manila (1968-1972), Fil got involved in summer mission work to places in the Philippines as remote as Surigao, Agusan, Leyte, Isabela, etc, using the vintage planes of the Philippine Air Force at the time.Shortly after his UST residency, Fil moved over to the U.S. and like most professional beginners in that country, he started his career the hard way. He had to combine work (as Physician Assistant at first and Staff Physician later) and study (for the required licensure exams. With luck and in due time, he got an Internship Program in New Jersey followed by a Residency training in Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Having finished his internship and residency in 1982, he settled down and began his private practice in Mitchell, South Dakota.

WHO ARE WE

We are the 13th batch of graduates from the Mangatarem High School (MHS) [now Mangatarem National High School (MNHS)] in Pangasinan, a province of the Philippines north of Manila. Having graduated in 1959, we chose to be called "The 59ers of MNHS."+++++
Where we wish to go
As one group, we commit ourselves to be true to the aims of secondary education instilled in our minds by our MNHS teachers, namely: 1) moral character - 1st year
2) personal discipline - 2nd year
3) civic conscience - 3rd year
4) vocational efficiency - 4th year .
Moreover, we believe that life is a journey and that where it is heading to, how one acted during the journey matters.+++++
What we wish to do
As one group, we undertake to:
1) Keep the font of nostalgia constantly flowing
2) Meet as often as possible to drink from that font
3) Do Annual Eye Medical Mission (AEMM) for the "needy in our town" of Mangatarem as our means of giving back what we took during our youth

Class '59 Annual Eye Medical Mission (AEMM)
One author said that "we are all, like swimmers in the sea." Aside from providing us (59ers) some kind of spiritual mooring in that sea called "life", we view our Class' medical mission activity as an expression of our "civic conscience."
In late 2001, 59er Felix Vince Cruz took the initiative of tracking down the addresses of class members who are residing in mainland USA and Canada and rallied them to hold a reunion which he billed as "Reunion In North America" or RINA. To date, there has been four RINA "babies". To see who helped Felix deliver the "babies"

Golden Reunion's quest: Aren't we there yet?
If our "vision-land" is represented by the four high school convocation themes mentioned earlier, one may ask "Aren't we there yet?" During the Golden Reunion in Mangatarem on Jan. 23-24, 2009, we invited one of our teachers, Mrs. Magdalena Alamillo-Santamaria, to speak on the topic "How close has Class '59 come to realizing their high school ideals?"From what we heard from her, we have arrived our destination.

THE VISION - part 2

In addition to having held the first reunion, 1986 is remembered by 59rs as the birth year of the AEMM "baby" after being delivered by the "whiskey compactors". It also marks Fil's joining force with Dr.Gil de Venencia who was doing his yearly medical mission in Casilagan District Hospital, Mangatarem.Managing the conduct of AEMM during its early years has not been easy. Fil found the need to "solicit used glasses, save all the eye drops that I can get from drug reps and also save some money for the next mission."In due time, stateside 59ers began turning in their yearly donations to AEMM while the leg work was provided by hometown 59ers through the coordination of the late Oscar Martinez. With Oscar's death, the coordination work passed on to Turing Bautista whose dedication always ensures a flawless operation.Other civic organizations got wind of AEMM and decided to pitch in their help in cash and in kind. Dr. Torio of AMOR International donated glasses to AEMM three years ago while Toronto (Canada) AMOR contributed glasses and $100 through Ming Villanueva two years ago. Also 59ers Betty Ferrer-Diaz and Bing Aviles started coordinating with the Mangatarem group in Chicago, Illinois for whatever assistance it could extend to AEMM.Today, AEMM is a big event in the lives not only of hometown and Manila 59ers but stateside 59ers as well. Each year a Manila 59er purposely drives to Mangatarem only to take part in AEMM and there is always a stateside 59er who arranges his/her vacation to the country just to participate in AEMM work.AEMM speaks of the passion of one 59er whose missionary zeal born out of experience at UST was "always at the back of my mind." Catalyzed by the effect of a "bottled spirit", Fil and seven other 59ers made on that fateful night a symbolic Sandugo to help the "needy in our town and in the country". What do they get in return? A "nice and gratifying experience" which they don't seem to get enough of it.To the Musketeers and the rest of Class '59 of MNHS, AEMM embodies a choice of living a life that will matter.

Slide shows of recent EMM activities

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WHO ARE WE

THE VISION - part 2