ALUMNI

XS '79: SO MANY STARS

Rodolfo P. Ang (XS '79)

Posted Wednesday, 17-Nov-2004 1:38 PM

Xavier School Class of 1979 is celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year.   They have had a yearlong list of activities which will culminate with the 2004 Grand Alumni Homecoming on November 27, 2004.

     Most visitors to Xavier School in Greenhills, San Juan , come in through the newly-renovated Administration building, and are greeted by a huge sign that proclaims that Xavier is trying to form ‘men for others--- fully alive, endowed with a passion for justice and the skills for development .’ Very familiar words: I graduated from Xavier School 25 years ago, and these same words still ring in my ears. They were beaten into my brain so many times while I was in school that I can recite them from memory, more accurately than the Panatang Makabayan which we used to recite every Monday morning.

     Twenty-five years after graduation, the question that I mull over, of course, is how well Xavier has actually done this job of turning us, its students, into “men for others”.

     Well, the only real way to gauge this is by looking at the results. Not all Xavier alumni will turn out the way the school would have liked, of course (some of us have turned into real crooks!). But are there enough “men for others” out there for us to say with confidence that it is doing its job right?

     Let’s just take a look at Xavier High School Batch ’79 (my batch!)

     The first names that come to mind are those of our “stars”, of course. They were outstanding, even in high school, and are unsurprisingly still outstanding today.

     At the very top of our list: Fr. Johnny Go , of the Society of Jesus. The second of only four Xavier graduates to become a Jesuit. The only priest in our batch. First alumnus to serve as Director of Xavier School. How symbolic for the school that one of its most outstanding alumni should now take over the task of formation that he has himself been the product of.

     Jake Yap . Spent the better part of his adult life working with Christ’s Youth in Action. Now teaching full-time at the Loyola School of Theology after finishing a doctoral degree in Theology at Oxford University . Fred Tiu , Eucharistic minister of Mary the Queen Parish. Gave up his job at Citibank to render a “year of service” (which has now stretched to two years, maybe three) as Treasurer of Xavier School. Abraham Go , recipient of Xavier School ’s Luceat Lux award for over 20 years of volunteer service through the Days with the Lord. Congressman Edmundo Reyes II of the lone district of Marinduque. Spokesman of the prosecution panel at the Estrada impeachment trial. Isaac Belmonte , Former undersecretary, Department of Transportation and Communication. Worked on the Municipal Telephone Project that tried to put a telephone in every town in the Philippines . Timmy Tan , noted ophtalmologist. Mainstay of Ligaya ng Panginoon . Dr. Owen Loh , plastic surgeon. Invited to be Xavier High School commencement speaker in recognition of his volunteer work with Operation Smile. Bob Yulo . Over twenty years of volunteer work with the music crew of the Days with the Lord. Eros Kaw. Former President of the Manila Jaycees. Alex Lichaytoo . Also served as President of the Manila Jaycees. Eventually served as a Director of the JCI World Congress. John Tan. Established his own charitable foundation, the Fides Foundation. Among its many regular beneficiaries is the Lualhati ng Maynila Home for the Aged.

     Seven members of our batch served as faculty members of Xavier School right after graduating from college: Owen Loh, Johnny Go, Baldous Lee , Gary Garcia, Beewee Perez (now an investment banker in New York), Charlie Yu (now President of Empire East), and this writer. We were the first big group of alumni to do so, sending the message that a teaching job at our alma mater is a realistic and even attractive option for Xavier alumni, setting the example for many others who followed.

     The many noteworthy achievements of my above-mentioned batchmates would make it easy for me to conclude that Xavier has done a great job, indeed, of creating men of principle, men of courage, men for others.

     The problem with all of these outstanding classmates is that they have all made such striking acts of self-sacrifice that while it is easy for us to be moved by their example and to understand WHY they should be admired, it is more difficult for us to see in what way our one hundred and forty other batchmates can also be, and are, men for others.

     How about classmates who became engineers, lawyers, architects, businessmen? Are they less worthy of admiration because they chose such typical careers or because they enjoy lives of relative comfort? Must we all be priests or doctors or devote our lives to volunteer work in order to be Men for Others?

     I certainly hope not! There are many ways that we can show our spirit of service for others even as we pursue our simpler and in many ways much less spectacular lives: by being faithful husbands, by being loving fathers, by paying our workers just wages, by producing quality products, by treating all of our customers with courtesy and respect, by sharing with those who have less the many fruits of our labors.

     We remember the “stars”, of course. And our community will always continue to honor the “stars” because of the shining examples that they provide us all. But we cannot ALL be stars, and we cannot hope to change the world by producing a few outstanding “stars”.

     These last six months of working on Xavier’s Homecoming Committee have given me ample proof that there are more than just a few Men for Others in my batch. I am in awe of the wonders that Xavier School has wrought in us, its students and alumni, that it should be able to get so many of us to lovingly labor on its behalf, 25 years after we thought we had walked through its gates for the last time. I am humbled by the generosity of spirit that I have encountered in classmate after classmate, friend after friend that we have approached for help in putting our Homecoming together, and raising enough money to make a substantial contribution to Xavier’s Grant-in-Aid scholarship program. Generosity with their financial resources of course, but especially generosity with their time, their creativity, their talent, their emotional support.

     As I experienced this generosity, I realized that many of us truly have imbibed not just a love for our school, but the values that it has tried to instill in us. What else could have gotten us up so early on a Friday morning to squeeze in a golf committee or homecoming committee meeting over breakfast before rushing off to work? Why else would we have opened up our checkbooks so willingly and so generously in support of Xavier’s Grant-in-Aid program? What else could have pushed us to make all those phone calls to get others to pledge their support for our projects? So many breakfast meetings. So many long nights of planning. So many phone calls. So many opportunities for me to witness and to experience Men for Others at work for others.

     Truly, not just the “stars” that are so prominent, so obvious, so easy to notice--- so many quiet members of our batch have ‘shone’ for me this year.

     And so, 25 years after graduation, having mulled over the question of how effective Xavier has been in achieving its objective, I can come to only one conclusion: Xavier must be doing something right. I am determined, as a concerned alumnus, to do my share to help Xavier School go about its work. Having been a beneficiary myself of Xavier’s Grant-in-Aid program, it is a special blessing for me to be involved in this fundraising effort on its behalf.

     All these years, like most other Xavier alumni, I have proudly proclaimed at every occasion that I am a product of Xavier School . 25 years after graduation, perhaps the more important question that my classmates and I should reflect on would be whether or not we have lived our lives in such a way as to make Xavier School proud of us. Reflecting on my experiences of these last few months, and looking back at what I know of the lives of many of my classmates, I would like to think that we have.

     I would like to invite all Xavier School alumni to attend XStreme , this year’s Grand Alumni Homecoming, to be held at our Greenhills campus on Saturday, November 27, 2004. Join us in celebrating the many blessings we have received at the Homecoming Mass at 6:00 pm . The Homecoming proper begins at 7:00 pm . Our special guest performers include Ruffa Mae Quinto, Chinggay Andrada, and the Rage band. Our grand raffle prize is a 3.0 liter V6 Mazda Tribute SUV. Major sponsors include The Philippine Star, Alaxan, Enervon, Lee Jeans, Boysen Paints, Smart Infinity, Motorola, Exo Armoring, Cemex, TaylorMade, Tagaytay Highlands Golf Club, Pepsi, Asia Brewery, and Mazda Alabang.

     Rudy Ang, immediate Past President of the Alumni Association of Xavier School and Chairman of this year's Grand Alumni Homecoming, is currently the Dean of Ateneo de Manila's John Gokongwei School of Management.

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