Betans at the Helm in Northern California

Dr Fred Aquino, Batch '56, will be inducted President of the Northern California Filipino Veterinarians Association this coming December. (As usual, brods are requested to extend support to Fred.) He was featured during the last issue of The UP Betan as one of the "Great Vet Brods of Greater Sacramento," and a most ubiquitous guy around - officer or member of this and that organization. (He's so busy he didn't even submit his photo.) He is also an officer of the US reserved force. The fact remains that this is still the very same guy mentioned the last time.

What is not so visible to the human eye, however, are the small victories he has been gaining in his battles towards a higher level of spirituality. And he has a superb spiritual adviser in the person of Brod Johnny Regadio. It may be remembered that Fred's enlightenment came when he almost joined his Creator a few years ago due to a heart ailment.

Fred's hyperactive life dates back to college (or even earlier!) and was, among others, president of UP Veterinary Medicine Student Council.

Dr Sitong Cabaluna, DVM, Batch '59 has recently been inducted as President of the UP Alumni Association of San Francisco. A visionary Betan and a born leader, Sitong (or Chito to others) is the founding GP of Northern California. A respected Veterinarian, Sitong is very much into successful practice.

He took oath last September 19 in a grand induction ball held at Park Plaza Hotel in Burlingame, California, and in a typical show of Betan support and affection, several UP Brods came to witness Sitong's induction, which is also the organization's 24th Annual Homecoming. Among them are the Chapter's grand old man Dr Narcing Lapus and Grand Princep Ike Araneta. Narcing was given a surprise award being the eldest UP graduate that evening.

Sitong (Batch '59) is one of the great vet brods of the UP Beta Sigma Northern California Chapter, and is married to Imelda for 33 years. They are blessed with 3 children - Christine, Luisito, Jr and Jose. He is a proud grand daddy of two - Alex (5) and Amanda (4).

Sitong has been very active in both civic and religious organizations, and is now currently president of St. Augustine Catholic Parish Pastoral Council in South San Francisco. To name a few of his past involvements, he was past president of the Northern California Association of Filipino Veterinarians and past president of San Mateo Kiwanis.

Msgr Johnny Regadio, Batch '66, is currently the Northern California Chapter's First Vice Grand Princep. Johnny is a "young", serene-looking and still handsome widower with 6 children, and has decided to get married again - to the former Beth Aguiling. Both of them have dedicate themselves to the service of the Lord. He is President of the Pilipino Pastoral Council of the large diocese of Sacramento (covering Vallejo and Fairfield up to South Lake Tahoe), but he insists that he would rather be called a simple servant. "Except for my beloved UP Beta Sigma and the School Board, all my involvements are with church organizations. And I intend to keep it that way," he declares.

It was only a few years back when Johnny would say this when asked if he might marry again, "This is my girlfriend," he declared while showing a picture safely tucked in his wallet. Johnny is a respected leader of many church organizations such as the Emmaus Community, several church choirs, Eucharistic Ministry and Sacramento Charismatic Prayer Group.

He presently occupies a very respectable post at the Department of Medical Systems of Sacramento County and has been a great asset to the Chapter in ways more than one.

Brod Johnny Quijano, Batch '52, U.P. Los Banos President, U.P. Alumni Association of Central California (1997-1998)

The brods will miss the presence of Brod Johnny Quijano during our three-day festivities. But he has a valid reason for his absence. He flew back to the Philippines recently in order to receive a Service Award from U.P. for his exemplified loyalty, dedication, and distinguished service to the UP Alumni Association.

Brod Johnny is a founding member of the UPAA of Central California in 1982. As its President (1996-1998), he initiated an ongoing scholarship program, which was first established in 1987. He has since supported (and graduated) at least seven deserving UP students who obtained their chosen degrees. He has been the publisher and editor of the UPAACC Newsletter.

He actively assisted in the implementation of an exchange program between UP and California State University, Fresno. So far a UP Scholar has already taken advantage of this excellent program.

He strongly supported and assisted the UPAACC book donation project, enabling the association to donate books in excess of 4,000 volumes to various UP campuses. He initiated the UPAACC annual donation of address "labels" used for mailing the Carillion.

The recent successes and vitality of the UPAACC is mostly due to his dedication, and with his recent appointment as the Chapter's Area Coordinator for Central Valley, we can be assured of a vibrant U.P. Beta Sigma group in this part of the State.

Brod Levy Perez, Batch '58, U.P. Los Banos President, Mabuhay Club (Filipino professionals in Stanislaus County and Vicinity)

Brod Levy, a full-blooded Betan, e-mailed me a few weeks ago to say that he is coming on July 4 to join his second family - the UP Betan family.

He excused himself from attending a recent activity though because he was receiving, for the second consecutive year, an Award from the California Parks and Recreation Society (CPRS) which he has served as Parks Operations Dist V representative for 2 terms.

Last February, he was elected to the California State Board as a Director for the North Region (from Eureka down to Gilroy and the Central Valley from Sacramento to Merced). "This is another challenge to the Betan leadership in the field of Parks Operations."

He has been recipient of many other awards which include: City of Modesto - Circle of Excellence, Outstanding Community Service and Bonus Award for Development and Implementation of Youth Training and Employment Program, and Best Technical Site Report, International Conference of Computerized Irrigation Users, Rainbird Maxicom, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

On his college frat life, Brod Levy recalls: The wildest fun was my assignment as in-charge of the "Duty Above All" party's campaign banners and streamers. It involved production and the demolition of the other party's so we can hang ours in strategic locations to Baker Hall... Bottom line was, we dominated the student body organization during our time!

SuperAchiever Frank Mamaril, Ph.D., Batch '56, founding President of the newly created UP Los Banos Alumni Association is about to end his two-year term. Brod Frank is undoubtedly one of the prized jewels of the Chapter. A scientist by profession (Doctorate in Biochemistry, Kansas State University), Frank has performed research in protein chemistry and enzymology for 15 years while completing his doctoral and post-doctoral program (University of Minnesota) at the world renowned Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City. He has so far published 27 scientific articles in various journals. He has been in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries for 24 years and is an expert in pharmaceutical products, vaccines, novel bio-technology drugs and various medical in-vitro devices. (Does this sound Greek enough to you?)

Frank is among the few highly technical people who also possesses vast managerial skills. Prior to his present position as Vice President of American Peptide Company, he has behind him 20 years of managerial experience in the field of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. In this company, he takes primary responsibility for all quality assurance activities.

Needy Filipino children have a special place in his heart. Frank loves to raise scholarship funds for these children in various Filipino-American community programs.

Very much a family man, Frank is married to Rory Pizana, and their marriage is blessed with a son (David) and a daughter (Christine).