St. Dominic Academy General Alumni Association - REDUX

Eva & I attended the SDA General Alumni Association meeting held immediately the day after our very own April 18th meeting. It was a very interesting one as it answered a lot of questions that was heatedly discussed in my earlier posting about it, if you can still recall. ;-)

Clearly, there has been a lot of miscommunication with regards to the present standing of the association. In particular is the question whether they have current elected officers. Apparently, again from what I've pieced together from the meeting, there are existing set of officers with Ms. Digna Rueda being the actual elected President, I believe voted soon after the passing of Atty. Alto, who was then the current President.

Obviously, it was a total surprise to many of us who were present in the meeting. All this time we all thought they were no current set of officers, except for Ms. Rueda acting as the interim President.

Oh well, you learn something new everyday...isn't that nice? ;-)

The names of all the current officers will be posted here soon or in another future website I volunteered to create for the Association. I suggested during the meeting to develop a simple website to raise awareness of the Association's existence, and to open door for all alumni members anywhere in the world to be an active member and help support its primary goal to unite all batches into one common goal.

As agreed during the meeting, current officers will start working on towards drafting its own bylaws and eventually SEC-registered the organization. Even before the meeting was held, our very own Eva took the initial step of reserving the name "St Dominic Academy General Alumni Association" thru the online SEC registration. And they were sure very appreciative of her effort.

I'm really glad Eva & I were able to attend that meeting otherwise, a lot of those questions raised in my previous posting will remain un-answered.

Well, now we know! :-)

Results of April 18th Meeting

By-laws was discussed and all present during the meeting agreed to push thru with drafting a final version of the document. This is a step forward into registering our group name thru SEC and an eventual opening of a new bank account under our registered name. Details of all these will follow so hold on to your wallet just yet until we get the full account information...hehehe. I just want to give you all a heads up that we made some great progress towards reaching our ultimate goal. Eva is working hard to get everything in order, document-wise.

Also, I had a chance to talk to Sister Wilma and she eloquently decribed to me the Night School Program, one of the many outreach programs our Alma Mater is involved in. According to her, the current immediate needs of the program is the school uniforms to incoming freshmen, approximately 30 new students. Miscellaneous expenses, including snacks for all students are already being funded by other groups/individuals.

From what I have pieced together of my conversation with Sister Wilma, the 3000 pesos per student coming from ABC Foundation is being used to cover stipends to teachers of the night school program. Technically, teachers don't receive salaries, only stipends. Any amount not completely funded is being subsidize by SDA.

Also, there is no tution fee being paid. What is required of each students when they are enrolled to the program is a measly 62.50peso monthly tuition fee(IF THEY CAN AFFORD IT- if not, then the fee is waived). She showed me the full accounting computation but given that I was still dizzy from the flight and the Batad/Sagada adventure, I wasn't able to fully grasped all the numbers but let me assure you, when it comes to numbers, I scrutinize them to the nearest cents, eventually! ;-)

Anyway, I will be more than happy to answer any and all of your questions regarding the program. You can post them here or if you prefer, email me directly. But please be patient as I am still trying to enjoy my sabbatical leave here....hehehe.

Thanks to all who attended the meeting and for their inputs. And of course, thanks to Bart N for providing the sumptous dinner at the local LeeFoo Chinese Restaurant. I took some pics of the attendees but unfortunately, I am techonology-deprived that I can not upload them here.

Lots of pics will come later...I promised!

Batad & Sagada Survivor

Yes, we survived Batad & Sagada...here are some of the pictures from the thousands I took...

Gone Spelunking!

Please plan to attend our next meeting on April 18th, 2009 at 3:00PM (Bart's Place).

I will definitely be attending so hope to see you all there!

In the meantime....your's truly is...

Hello, Mr. President!

Over the weekend, daughter & I had a chance to visit Ronald Reagan's Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Here are some of the pics I took while strolling down memory lane on the life of Mr. President, Ronald "Jelly Beans" Reagan. Did you know Mr. Reagan's favorite jelly bean color is black?


Such a nice place to visit and look back on the life of one of the most respected President in US history. The place is amazing filled with historical events caught on camera...


...of course, the highlight for me is getting inside the Air Force One, the plane that took Mr. President to meet with dignitaries all over the world and bring peace & unity, most notably, helped breaking down the Berlin Wall.


Ladies and gentlemen, meet the future first female President of the United States of America...