The glamorous and beautiful Charing turned 82, and daughter Cherie Moreno, son-in-law Mickey and favorite grandson Miko had prepared a fun-filled birthday party for her. There were grandkids, nephews and nieces scattered at the three tables. Surrounding Charing (who has been visiting the Morenos since November and is homebound this month) were old friends, now residents of the Bay Area.
To her right was Chit Dalupan-Sebastian (daughter of University of the East president and founder Francisco Dalupan, and sister of famous basketball coach Baby Dalupan). To Charing’s left was former newshen and former Cultural Attache Nati Valentin-Roxas. Across were Mitos Santisteban of ABS-CBN, Jerry and Violet Galvan, Deacon Tony Faustino and his wife, Amado Villanueva and myself.
Conversation was pleasant, funny and nostalgic. Chit revealed that her wealth was her 10 grown children, nine of them living in and around San Francisco. Nati, who is also in her 80s, lives in San Lorenzo Ruiz Center in The City. She suffered a mild heart attack last April while on a shopping spree. Now fully recovered, Nati was her usual self, fashionably dressed and looking very chic and glamorous. Although retired and residing in Hercules, Jerry still writes for Philippine News, while Cherie is the publisher-editor of the paper.
The Morenos created an unforgettable night for an unforgettable mom. Cherie baked Charing’s favorite rum cake for dessert. Giveaways were handed out to the guests who also participated in a "How Well Do You Know Charing Querol?" game. Being an Evening News alumna myself, I naturally had an edge and won one of the prizes.
"Listening to your stories brought back the many years we shared at the Evening News, thus making me feel as young as then," Charing said.
There were only about 20 booths, most of them unique and worthy of a stopover. Among them were Bangus Grill (featuring Alex Alcantara’s Saranggani products), Reflections of Asia (based in Citrus Heights, featuring Philippine gifts and accessories), Veracom (the only Filipino-owned Mercedes Benz dealership and therefore, where most Filipinos buy their expensive wheels), and a stall occupied by a special lady, Crescencia Cespedes Gray of Visalia, who sold mango trees (yes, mango trees!) and scrapbooks of American newspaper clippings she saved before and during World War II when she was growing up in Virginia.
Mercie dela Cruz of Serra Imports and her associate Beth Robles were kept busy the whole day attending to the long line of lunch customers all wanting inihaw na bangus, itlog na maalat, acharra, kamatis at kanin. Crescencia regaled everyone who would listen to her story about the life of a Filipino in Guam and in Virginia during the war. Handsome Ben English (who owns Gilen English Merchandising with his Filipino wife Evangeline) shocked everyone with his perfect Tagalog. Ben was a missionary for two years in the Philippines, where he met Evangeline.
Credit for the success of the festival goes to hardworking former beauty queen Malou Camesa-Mariano, who snagged her close friend, Interior Secretary Joey Lina, to be the guest of honor.