First Folsom Lake Gathering Marks "Bagong Sigwa" in Northern California
by Ike Araneta, Grand Princep 1997-1999

The coming of spring ushered in a celebration of April birthday celebrants for the chapter. Like coming out of the winter hibernation, the brods and their families were only too eager to find a reason get together once more.

The gathering was held at Folsom lake where the north and south forks of the American river, north of Sacramento, run into. The morning mist had hardly begun to evaporate when the first brods started arriving. Ding De Guzman, from Fresno, Johnny Quijano, from Modesto, and Cecilio Felix, from Salinas were the early birds.

It was especially significant for Brod Cecilio Felix, because the occasion was also to celebrate his retirement. A new beginning.

Then as the morning wore on, to our surprise, brods whose faces we had not seen in years showed up. Bong Beredo, with wife, Eileen and their daughter made it from Stockton. He was greeted with a big Betan hug. Then there were the brods that are always there for chapter activities: Gilbert Basbas, with wife Eileen and their three boys. By the way, Eileen Basbas and Eileen Beredo were part of the ladies corps in Diliman during the '70s. They had some "interesting " stories about those years. They seemed to remember who the characters were.

Brod Johnny Regadio came with his four boys together with sweetheart Beth Aguiling. I brought in my extended family, and so did Tatang. Tatang got in the Roseville association leadership to join us. Eric Punzalan, Ding de Guzman, and Billy Monteagudo came with their families, too. Ric Velasco, who was one of the birthday celebrants, came all the way from Santa Clara with two ladies. Ironically, most brods who came in solo are from Sacramento: Fred Aquino, Narcing Lapus and Joe Halog. Except for Brod Kiko Delmendo, the other brods from Vallejo were unusually absent.

Two lechons didn't last very long, an indication of how big the group was. My count was about seventy people.

A significant milestone of this affair was our reunion with the Central Valley brods. Their attendance gave all of us, who are able to attend chapter activities on a fairly regular basis, a sense of completeness. It also brought about the realization that the chapter really covers a wide area. Fortunately, the information super highway has made those distances disappear. Of course, wanting to be with fellow UP Betans helps. But for those who showed up, they were able to savor the best jokes that came from Ding Cavestany, Eric Punzalan, Ding de Guzman and Johnny Quijano, although nobody could beat the "Fakayu Indian" joke of Joe Halog. Joe's joke really floored everyone.

A surprise number came from Brod Fred Aquino. He called in each one of us to a snap meeting. It appeared that he was keeping a little secret these past years. It was no little secret, indeed. He passed on to me, in my capacity as Grand Princep, a Malmon - Oblation statue, a rare souvenir that came from Brod Boy Morales several years back. Immediately after, I passed on this new symbol of authority to our Incoming Grand Princep, Willie "Tatang" Vergara.

It was indeed an affair to remember. It invigorated the coming of spring- bagong sigwa, bagong UP North!