espaleklek - the beginning

IN RETROSPECT

As you know, I said that I would like to write a history of our organization and this is a first step toward that end. I would like to present my recollection of the founding of the espaleklek. I also would like to trace how many older members came to join the organization. This is not an attempt to highlight differences among members, but to explain how our group evolved from its early days.

Although the official birthday of our group is February 03, 1970, in my mind the espaleklek was formally established from perhaps May to July 1970. During this period, the members got organized and elected its first set of officers. Certainly, many of the original members were friends and hung out together even before February 1970; many of them had the common bond of being UP Rural High School graduates, and the others were their college classmates. All were drawn to the others because of shared interests such basketball, church activities (many of the original members were regular churchgoers and sang in the church choir), love for music, the desire to appeal to girls, etc. This group enjoyed each other and had lots of fun together and decided to create a formal organization.

I was still in high school in February 1970 and so I don’t know the details about how the organization was formally established. My guess is that an application to the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) was filed on February 03, or the application was approved on that date. I started hanging out with the other espaleklek members in summer of 1970.

Basketball again was the magnet that brought us together. There was a basketball league at Los Baños at that time and some of us played for the Anos-based EYC team, and those who were not on the team came to watch and cheer. After the games, all of us would go drinking but we spent a lot of time together even during days when we did not play.

I could recall that some talked about the things that we wanted to do in the coming academic year. We were proud of who we were and I believe that there was a desire to let the rest of the campus know about this new organization. One might say that the espaleklek’s coming out party was the first day of classes of First Semester 1970. All (or perhaps, most) espaleklek members wore a bright yellow T-shirt with the group’s name written twice, one on top of the other, in the front and back of the shirt. Man! We stood out from the rest of the world that day. I remember one guy, obviously a freshman just like I was, looking with envy at my shirt and finally asking me where he could buy one. (I believe that the shirt was designed by Toti Laforteza). And so this is my criterion for a founding member. If you wore the yellow shirt or had one that you could have worn that day, then you’re a founding member.

These are the names of the founding members that I can remember (this list may or may not be right; I need help from Glenn, Vic, Ando, Agot, Emmy, Oca Diongco, Boy Manoto, Toti, Felino and the others on this). The founding members are Ding Almoro, Ando Aquino, Ric Bartolome, Ernie Carpio, Ed Casas, Boy Catalla, Regie Cortez, Oca Diongco, Fernando Dizon, Vic Feliciano, Turbek Juliano, Agot Lansigan, Felino Lansigan, Marce Lantican, Priv Lantican, Marce Lazaro, Dempo Maligalig, Doo Maligalig, Abet Manalo, Rey Manoto, Joe Olivar, Glenn Paje, Beda Priela, File Palis, Andoy Rola, Wally Rola, Emmy Serrano, Paulet Umali, Toti Umali, Rene Vega, Osnof Vidal, Bert Villa, and Gene Villareal.

Early in the first semester of 1970, we elected our first set of officers with Glenn Paje as eSPRAKEN (President). The titles of the other officers are eNHANS (Vice-President), eSPIKEN (Public Relations Officer) and eSNATS (Treasurer). I can’t remember the title for Secretary (although my recollection is Oca Diongco was the first secretary). In case you’re wondering, the position/titles came from a TV show that was popular at the time – Super Laff-In, which occasionally featured skits with Ramon Zamora acting as a German Nazi officer saying “German-sounding” words. What sounded like “espraken” was a word that could be easily made out from the string of gibberish that Ramon Zamora let loose in those TV episodes. By the way, “sprechen” is the German word for “speak”.

We also wrote the espaleklek constitution early that semester, and I recall that we spent several long nights at the Student Union debating about provisions in the constitution. The motivation for all these works was to have the espaleklek officially recognized as a bona fide student organization at UPLB. Official recognition came with certain privileges, like for example, being able to use SU for parties, sponsor activities such as concerts, etc. This was the reason a decision was made to make the espaleklek a formal organization.

Because many of us loved to play basketball, we tended to congregate in or near Baker Hall, especially in the afternoon when classes were over. We would shoot baskets or play pick-up games inside, or just sit and talk on the benches of the little Coop store just outside Baker Hall. That place was also the hang out of friends such as Boy Villareal, Oskie Fajardo, Nilo Icalla, etc. We knew and were close to them because we shared the same background and interests such as basketball. (Boy and Oskie graduated from UP Rural High, Nilo Icalla lived at that time with the Maligaligs, whose house we used to frequent. Boy was a standout player for the UP varsity team and was the first from Los Baños to play in the MICAA, the precursor to the PBA. Nilo and later Oskie, refereed basketball games at the UPLB). These guys were slightly older than we, but we had great rapport with them and many of us spent more time with them than with the other espaleklek members. I forgot the details but at one point these guys formed a basketball team called the Kickbackers, and the team included Ray Bader, Porong Laude, Kiko Balmaceda, Afin Garcia, Ange (I’m not sure of the last name. David comes to mind; he lived at the YMCA), and they also started doing things with us, drinking in particular.

Eventually, the Kickbackers name just faded out and many of their members became espaleklek members through osmosis. I would say that by the time Martial Law was declared in 1972, the distinction between Kickbackers and espaleklek had disappeared. There was no initiation or formal induction, it was never mentioned by any one but nevertheless understood by everyone that these guys and we belonged to the same organization. This is how Ray Bader, Oskie Fajardo, Boy Villareal and Nilo Icalla became espaleklek. I’m not sure if Kiko Balmaceda or Afin Garcia considered themselves as espaleklek members, I hope they do. Some of the other members were sort of absorbed in a similar way. There were many points of connection between them and the other members of the group and after a while, they found themselves espaleklek members. Consider my compadre, Camilo Opeña as an example. He was in the Ag. Econ. Department with Ando and Marce Lazaro, who is a fraternity brother of his. Later he and Vic Feliciano became faculty members in the Agribusiness program. We then became colleagues when I was hired as an instructor in the program. The point is before he became a member, he was interacting socially quite a bit with many of us and so it only was natural for him to be officially recognized as a member.

In those early days, some espaleklek members were also members of other fraternities: Rene Vega joined Upsilon Sigma Phi; Glenn, Ric and Joe were brothers with the Beta Sigma; and Marce Lazaro was a member of Gamma Sigma. It didn’t bother the rest of us and it didn’t affect their standing with the espaleklek. We understood when they couldn’t be with us and we did not treat them any different when we all got together. The key point here, I believe, is that we were all friends even before the espaleklek was formalized or before they joined the fraternities. Likewise, we harbored no ill feelings when members dropped out. Fernando Dizon for example, did not participate in any activity after opening day 1970; and Archie Brion, Ernie Carpio and Ed Casas, after a while, also went their separate ways, and it was fine with us. We understood and respected their decisions. I guess the philosophy is, once you’re an espaleklek member, you’re one as long as you want to be one.

Now back to the original group. One of the first recruits was a guy named Rollie (I forgot his last name) who was originally from Olangapo and lived with Bert Villa at Gapud’s. Then through the basketball connection we got Heracleo Alto, Jr., whose nickname at the time was Jon or Jhon. (I can’t recall how he got the nickname Bangaw). He became a member of the UPLB varsity basketball team and that’s how he started hanging out with us. Through Bangaw we met Archie Macatangay. They both lived in the Men’s Dorm; Archie also played a lot of basketball. The practice of giving recruits nicknames started with Archie Macatangay and Archie Brion (he was batch 1970 also maybe we had classes with him, found him to be a nice guy and invited him to join). We had two Archies and so to make a distinction between the two of them, we called one Akong and the other Cadio. As far as I know, both of them hated their nicknames but Archie Macatangay at least endured it pleasantly. Maybe that’s why his nickname stuck. Rupert Diaz, another early recruit, had the worst nickname, however (it’s the Filipino word for the female genitalia).

In Academic Year 1970-71, word about espaleklek, especially among the girls, spread around campus. Two activities, I believe, helped establish the group’s reputation as a “cool” organization. First was a party at the SU organized by Oca Diongco and others. They invited the popular girls at UPLB and we had great music, plenty of food and the other ingredients of a really memorable event. I remember that Oca had an ice-breaker kind of activity or game that involved people doing funny or silly things and this game relaxed everyone. After this party, there was positive buzz about the espaleklek.

Second, many of the musically-inclined members serenaded the girls living at the Women’s Dorm several nights during the year. Our group had been blessed with people with musical talent and they sang very well together. Girls at the Dorm would open their windows and sit and listen, almost mesmerized, as the group sang one love song after another in beautiful harmony. I’ll end my reminiscence for now and though I’m pretty confident that most of my recollection is correct, I won’t claim that I am right on every detail. Time, and perhaps the alcohol I drank at UPLB have caught up to me and dimmed my memory quite a bit. And so I appeal to the older members in particular, to share with us what they remember.

I encourage the Philippine-based alumni to come “home” to Los Baños on Loyalty Day and try to relive the good times. Think back and tell your stories to one another, it’s a good way of keeping our past alive. We’ll try to do the same in Las Vegas. And let’s try to say a prayer for our brothers who have passed on: Nilo Icalla, Boyet Aquino, and Rupert Diaz. Mylene, thanks for connecting us to your Uncle Archie. Take care everyone and keep the spirit alive.

Abet Manalo