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Quo vadis? (Latin for "Whither goest thou?" or "Where are you going?") profiles of two young UP Betan professionals making their mark, though walking in different paths
Jerry Bongco, UPD'94 -- sales marketing manager for Microsoft, Inc. in the Philippines
Cheers time at Pogs' backyard (l-r): Pogs Gaspay, Cyrus Fagar, Gene Samson, Jerry Bongco and Ike Araneta
**Pogs Gaspay reporting.... A few weeks ago, Brod Jerry Bongco spent quality time with some older brods here in the San Francisco Bay area. Jerry was visiting as the last leg of his trip to attend the marketing kick-off of Microsoft in Atlanta. He is a sales marketing manager for Microsoft in the Phil. and is part of batch 1994 in Diliman and a member of the OBBF. Brods Pogs Gaspay, Ike Araneta, Gene Samson and Cyrus Fagar (batches 66 to 71) shared one of Jerry’s evenings over beer and wine and daing na bangus at the backyard of Pogs, reminiscing about their frat days and comparing it with Jerry's campus decade .
Ike (a Google manager) also toured Jerry at the Google campus where Jerry sampled the cuisine served to the employees at company cost. He had earlier toured the Stanford campus with Brod Pogs. Pogs was especially pleased to see Jerry who used to live some three floors below his condo in Makati when he was still based at AIM from 1993-2000, find success in his professional development and become settled down with a wife and two young kids.
Pogs remembers Jerry as a newly-minted brod when he used to visit the Diliman campus in the early 1990s. Jerry is part of the frat's campus revival crop in the 1990s mentored by Raffy Hidalgo and the rest of the 80s and a few other alumni during that time.
Jerry informed the SF brods how many of his contemporaries are doing well as professionals - such as Lyle Sacris in the film industry, Jay Ruiz who is a news TV anchor, Rupert Ambil who is a manager at ABS-CBN, Jigs Reyes at Cisco, Neil Hidalgo and Berns Palang at Accenture. The SF brods are happy to know that the frat legacy is alive and well and being passed on by the OBBF brods, now led by Jason Justo (batch 92), to the residents.
**Some lines from Jerry Bongco himself.... Brod Pogs gave me a quickie tour of the vintage and surreal Stanford University campus.
Then we had the rare privilege and honor to be Brod Ike's guest at the world-famous Google campus (ahem, ahem) :) in my opinion, more famous for their company-subsidized massages and impressive international cuisine served all day (for free!) than being synonymous to search today :) Sarap ng ribs and burger. Brod Ike, sakto ang Google souvenir shirt! Sokpanini!
What better way to cap the day than to spend time with brods reminiscing campus and frat stories across Betan generations over beer, wine and pulutan brought by Brod Gene. Saan ka pa!
I continue to be awed myself with how the SF brods can vividly remember each detail of their Betan Tambayan escapades without any hint of guilt or remorse :)
Pogs and Jerry at Stanford
Jerry and Ike at Google
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June Arthur Banagodos, UPV'95 -- volunteer worker for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Malawi
From: June Arthur Banagodos <junebanagodos@yahoo.com> Subject: Solo shot To: Norman.Bituin@sce.com Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 11:17 AM
Got this pix only. Taken last year in a game reserve here
south of Malawi. Hope this will do brother. .............................................................................................
From: Norman.Bituin@sce.com
Brod June at a game reserve south of Malawi
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From: June Arthur Banagodos <junebanagodos@yahoo.com>
Here's a simple article in celebration of the 20th Chapter anniversary of the U.P. Beta Sigma Fraternity, U.P. in the Visayas Chapter, Miag-ao, Iloilo. I organized a small gathering of Malawian kids around my community and shared with them "mandasi" or local donuts. These are commonly sold by women in the market or at bus stations to earn a little extra income. Celebrated with them our Chapter anniversary. Attached also are pictures taken during the said activity.
Happy 20th Chapter Anniversary to the U.P. Beta Sigma Fraternity U.P in the Visayas, Miag-ao, Iloilo, August 27, 2009
We have UPLB Brods from Nigeria. Could some of these kids be the future Betans from Malawi?!!
Staying and living in Malawi for almost 14 months now has been a life changing experience for me. I would say I gained more lessons personally yet it also offered fresh ideas professionally. It has been a real test of character living in a foreign country, the loneliness and isolation living in a tiny, rustic atmosphere and very simple lifestyle, the everyday challenges I encounter especially during the early months such as understanding the language, culture, local and foreign people.
Malawi is a land-locked country surrounded by Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. I have learned to be tolerant of other people, to listen first to their nuggets of wisdom, advice or anything they wanted to say from the local people before expressing my views, and I have come to know about myself -- my creativity and ingenuity both at work and life outside work. If I have not been a Beta Sigman, having that volunteerism spirit, I have not known aspects of myself and some interests that I wanted to pursue.
I felt that being a Beta Sigman, and now a volunteer is a big blessing and a wonderful opportunity to know and learn other culture and to be part of their lives even for such a short period of time.
All that is good and noble in man…
June Arthur P. Banagodos, UPV 95C
VSO Volunteer,
Thyolo District,
Malawi
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Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:16:57 -0700 Brod,
Sending you some
pictures of Malawi. Mostly sa field ito where I work. Eto yung pinaka
ofc ko, sa field. I work with local staff doing agri extension services.
Empowering and strengthening farmer organizations in the country. Background info:
I belong to the Secure Livelihoods program of VSO (Voluntary Service
Overseas): www.vsobahaginan.org.
Mabuhay ang Kapatirang Beta Sigma.
June Arthur P. Banagodos, UPV 95C
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VSO in Malawi
VSO’s programme is
concentrating on HIV & AIDS, health and social well-being, secure
livelihoods (food security) and education in eight rural and remote
districts. The districts were chosen due to their excessive poverty
levels, high prevalence of HIV & AIDS and low involvement of other
international charities.
Brod June, a BA Community Development graduate, at work
Volunteers are working with organizations that are campaigning to raise awareness and combat stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, support prevention and increase the availability of treatment, care and support for those infected and affected by the HIV & AIDS epidemic. Volunteers working in this area include business professionals who are improving management functions of community based organizations, medical staff who are supporting the roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment and community rehabilitation therapists offering advice on care, treatment and counseling.
In health, and as part of a joint initiative with the Malawi government, the UK Department for International Development and United Nations Volunteers, VSO is recruiting an increased number of skilled and experienced volunteer doctors and nurse trainers to boost the skills of health professionals in the country as part of a human resources for health policy reform plan.
Secure Livelihoods activity works to ensure people with the smallest plots of land, particularly female-headed households and people living with HIV and AIDS, can feed their families and earn a living by making the best use of their land. There is a focus on training people to use the most productive agricultural techniques to grow high value crops that will make the most income. Agricultural experts are working with local community based organizations to improve farming methods, while business volunteers are developing the skills of local colleagues in areas such as business management and marketing.
Although primary education in Malawi is now free, there is a severe shortage of qualified teachers, which results in inferior quality teaching. Just 51% of classroom teachers are qualified. Although there are three million children registered at primary school, only 18% enter secondary school and less than 5% will ever receive tertiary education, which has the potential to severely impact Malawi’s future. Additionally, although 52% of the population is female less than half of primary school children are girls and just 5% of those completing tertiary education are young women.
"Blessed are the children"
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