Productive Las Vegas Reunion Results in Snap Election
Written by Willie “Tatang” Vergara, with photos taken by Eding Hizon and Tatang

 LAS VEGAS, NV. The 6-man UP Beta Sigma residents of this sleepless Sin City met for the very first time as a group in the afternoon of October 15, 2011, on the occasion of the visit of Californians Tatang Vergara (who was having a reunion with his grade school classmates) and Pogs Gaspay ’68 (who was visiting his newly transferred daughter and her family). For many of us, this event marked the very first time either to meet face-to-face, or to see each other again after four or more decades. It was a rare and wonderful occasion where “older”  legendary brothers Jesse “Jeje” de la Santa ‘61 D.V.M., Ben-Hur Aguila ’63, and Eding Hizon ’63,  got to know their younger brods Bubot Morata ‘73b (UP Padre Faura), Edwin Garrido ’78 (UP Cebu), and Pol Lara ’70 (UP Diliman).   We met at the lobby of South Point Casino, a huge gambling and hotel facility towards the south end of Las Vegas Blvd. going towards McCarran airport.
 
We all arrived at Jeje’s appointed venue within 15 minutes from each other, quite uncharacteristically prompt for a meeting among Betans. Four of the six Vegas brods brought their respective wives – Jeje (the event organizer) was with Nesca, Eding with Barbara (also called Baba), Ben-Hur with May, and Bubot with Beng. We all proceeded to the casino’s Garden Buffet for an early dinner.  

 Jeje & Nesca de la Santa

Jeje, Tatang Vergara & Pogs Gaspay
 

Ben & May Aguila, Nesca, Baba & Eding Hizon, Pogs & Jeje

Pogs, Bubut Morata, Pol Lara & Meng Morata

Pogs, Pol, Tatang, Edwin Garrido & Bubut

What was very evident was that the ladies, who were seated on the other end of the long table, had immediately broken the barriers of age as if they were Betans themselves, and instantly “clicked” and had lots of fun in each other’s company. May Gaspay joined them later in the evening. Before the end of the day, they were to be part of a plan to meet once a  month, going around each other’s homes, with Eding as host of the very first home meeting this coming November. 

Las Vegas Beauties: Nesca, Baba, May & Meng

Edwin Garrido, M.D. (a wartime front-liner during the late ‘70s) did not escape the Tambayan-type of banters. When Edwin volunteered to be the first host of the monthly meetings, Pogs Gaspay, Ph.D. cut in to say the reason why he wants the gathering in his home is that his wife wanted him to be always within her striking distance, and must have already transformed him from a lion into a mouse. (That was derived from Tatang’s fable about a lion that was turned into a mouse by his tigress-wife after their marriage.) 

 
There was talk about new immigrant Pol Lara, who just came back 2 weeks ago to Las Vegas to take up residency with his daughter. Pol, according to Pogs, joined the frat in ‘70 at a relatively late age that he must now be as old as Jeje ‘61, the most senior among us in terms of Batch Year. (So there, Brod Pol, that's the cost of leaving your Brods early to attend your NIA reunion at Excalibur!)… And when Bubot declared that his officemates would rather call him “Joe” because they find difficulty with his Filipino nickname, the ready advice was to change his name from "Bubot" to “Boobs” instead – certainly guaranteed for easy recall and correct pronounciation, except that this would not sit well with his vice-free and devoted born-again Christian image… Pogs admitted that, with regards to his six-year battle with colon cancer, “Nagsawa na ang mga brods sa kaka-paalam sa akin tuwing birthday ko.” … On the question of how the name of “Tatang” came to be, I volunteered Bobby Manansala’s theory that “Noong pinanganak si Tatang, Tatang na siya kaagad.” 
 

The highlight of the evening was a snap election that got Ben Hur Aguila to the position of Las Vegas GP, albeit in a non-traditional way. The new GP in Vegas not only means Grand Princep. It also means Grand Palaka, a monicker that has something to do with Ben Hur's storied and colorful past.

 
POSTCRIPT: Much gratitude to the Las Vegas brods for having come in full force, most especially to my frat sponsor Jeje de la Santa who organized the gathering. I feel so honored and humbled even as I fade into the background. This milestone occasion could be the start of many grand and noble events in this part of the world.

A toast to UP Beta Sigma "Sin City" Chapter !!

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