The UP Beta Sigma Fraternity Alumni Assn., Southern California Chapter held its 11^th Induction of Officers and Fraternity Ball at Hyatt Valencia in Valencia, California during the Labor Day weekend September 2-4, 2006, Saturday-Monday.  The 3-day affair, preceded the night before by the Willie Nep “All of Me” show in Hollywood, was a resounding success with brods all over North America and the Philippines in attendance.

The first day started with the Hospitality Night and the second Betan memorial mass (the first was the “Celebrate the Life of Tito de Santos” given by the De Santos family on August 26, 2006 in Marina del Rey) offered for Brod Tito, UPD’63 at GP Sonny Pagador’s residence in Newhall.  Fr. Brod Bing de la Cruz was the celebrant priest. Tito’s family – wife Viching, daughter Tanya and son Noel – and Betans gathered to commemorate Tito’s life and achievements.  Pres. Brod Vic Ramos of the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity Alumni Association of the Philippines, GP Dominador Ramos of UP Beta Sigma of Northern California, the Grand Princeps of the Federation of North American Chapters, as well as UP California brods especially close to Tito – Frank Mamaril, Jun Valenzuela, Johnny Singh, Winston Acevedo - spoke in honor of Brod Tito. 

After the Hospitality Night fiesta, the musical and entertainment portion followed.  Ike Araneta and Eileen Guerrero did a reprise of their Jobim songs at the Nepo show.  Ike jammed with Babes Ignacio and Joe Lalas on the guitars and Kiko Delmendo on the sax. Willie Nepo and Pet Grajo of Folkways fame played the guitar singing favorite oldies. Mercy Villegas and Mayanne Ignacio, the Bay Area chanteuses, serenaded the crowd as well.  But wait.  Not to be outdone was the Southern California auxiliary, “The Extremes” – Eva Romero, Ivy Bautista, Cherry Bituin and Laureen Escobar – who put the Motown dance queens to shame.

Brods and ladies singing and jamming the night away

The second day was the golf tournament at Knollwood Country Club in nearby Granada Hills Sunday morning with Brods Rolly Balingit with a score of 77 winning the Overall Low Gross, Art Martin the Class A Low Net, and Eddie Cornelia the Class C Low Net. The formal Induction of Officers and Fraternity Ball followed Sunday night at the Grand Ballroom in Hyatt Valencia.  A Powerpoint presentation of the “Alay sa Bayan” 2006 Philippine Medical Missions led by Tito de Santos and Frank Mamaril in Davao plus a slide show of Tito’s life in UP South were shown during dinner.  UPBSFAAI Pres. Vic Ramos reported on the fraternity’s state of affairs in the Philippines.  GP Sonny Pagador handed Viching a special service award and a recognition award to Vic Ramos.  Vice GP Frank Mamaril announced the creation of the “Tito de Santos Humanitarian Award” with Art de Vera, UPLB’64 of the Toronto, Canada Chapter as the first recipient.  Joe Lalas’ new band, Heart and Soul, provided the music till past midnight with the Betan families dancing across the ballroom in a long conga line at the finale.

The third day was the farewell lunch at GP Sonny’s where the brods took their last feast before traveling back to their homes.  And with it, hopefully they carried fun times and wonderful memories of their brotherly visit to the City of Angels.