Today is Friday, January 14, 2011. As practiced over the years, the Friday before the Fiesta is the day when former and current members of the Visayanian, official student publication of the University of the Visayas, gather and meet for their once-a-year reunion.
As usual, the reunion will be at noon at the Ecotech Center in Lahug. And because it is at noon, lunch will naturally be served, courtesy of the Visayanian Alumni Association perpetual president, lawyer Eddie Barrita, whose only decree ever issued is that we pay for what we eat.
So, if you are a current or former member of the Visayanian and would want to attend the reunion but do not have the money to pay for the lunch, just make sure you come with a member who has, like lawyer Pachico Seares, for instance, or lawyers Francisco Malilong and Elias Espinoza.
Do not come with Jesse Bacon of the Daily Tribune because he has no money. Jesse comes home to Cebu at around this time, allegedly to attend the annual Visayanian reunion but God knows whatever else. It is for this “whatever else” that he spends the money he earns in Manila on.
As a little bit of trivia, Jesse traces his roots to Cabadiangan, a barangay that straddles the Cotcot River separating Liloan and Compostela. In the process, Cabadiangan got split into two. One is part of Liloan while the other is part of Compostela.
Cabadiangan has since become the cradle of some of Cebu’s most “illustrious” mediamen (ha ha ha) that even non-Cabadianganons such as Cheking Seares (of Sibonga) and Bobby Nalzaro (of Dipolog) had to beg Eddie to make them adopted sons of his side of the Cotcot River.
Eddie is from the Cabadiangan on the Liloan side. As a child he had to swim daily across the Cotcot River to get his early education from the school in Cabadiangan on the Compostela side. I know because my father was from there and my father’s sister was his Grade One teacher.
Other Cabadianganons currently in media are retired Judge Lorenzo Paradiang Jr., who writes a column in this paper, and DYLA station manager Zosimo Tagalog Jr. As you may suspect from our being from the same place, Loring is my uncle and Jun my cousin.
Loring and Jun, however, are not members of the Visayanian Alumni Association and will not be joining our reunion. Loring studied in UV and contributed to the Visayanian but was never a staff member. Jun is a product of the University of San Jose Recoletos.
I joined the Visayanian when Ellie Espinoza was the editor-in-chief, a position I took over when Ellie graduated. What years were those are not important. What is important is that after all these years we still love to be with each other.
I do recall we had a colleague at the time by the name of Danilo Lihaylihay. I don’t know if he is the same Danilo Lihaylihay who recently sued the government for collection of millions and millions of pesos in commissions from informing the BIR about tax cheats.
If he is the same Danilo Lihaylihay and he happens to be in Cebu and decides to attend the Visayanian reunion, he should be the person you should come with and ask to pay for your lunch. Danny, by the way, is from Masbate, just like Frank Malilong.
I don’t know if Ellie Espinoza has learned to forgive Danny. Danny used to sit behind the editor-in-chief’s desk at the Visayanian office whenever Ellie is away and never corrected the impression the girls got that he was the editor. Wherever he goes, the girls would say Hi, Ellie!
I am very proud to have been part of the Visayanian and thankful for the friendships and great camaraderie that continue to exist even today among its many members and former members, most of whom went on to excel in their chosen careers.
No wonder Eddie Barrita is very happy and content where he is, as perpetual president of the Visayanian Alumni Association. He has no problems with his members. They can pay for their lunch, and he gets enough credit to stay on for another year. This serves as a nomination.