Dear Manong Conrad and other UCNHSAAians (Uksayans),
Before going to your issues and concerns, let me
first introduce myself for those who do not know me
yet.
My name is Jesus Agacita Fajardo from Barrio San
Jose, a 1973 graduate of UCHS (Susie Daligdig, Alma
Tabayoyong, Yvonne San Juan, Carmencita Wong, Venus
Pagulayan and Rossana Fontanilla were the
"celebrities" during our high school days). I entered
the military as a cadet of the Philippine Military
Academy on April 1, 1974 and graduated four years
later. I joined the Phil Air Force, took up
undergraduate pilot training at the PAF Flying School
and became a pilot in 1979. I am a combat helicopter
pilot, having been deployed from Aparri in the north
to Jolo in the south. At present, as a Colonel of the
AFP, I'm the Executive Officer at the Office of the
Asst Chief of Air Staff for Plans, A5.
Going to your issues and concerns, our Association
was founded in 1995 with Atty Mario Bravo UCHS 65 as
the first President. During the general assembly last
November 2003, which was hosted by UCHS Class of 53 as
the Golden Jubilarians, 11 alumni (Marivic
Sipin-Soliven 75, Lea Cruz-Sobejana 78, Juliana
Perez-Pascua 53, Concepcion Ignacio-Maminta 57, Val
Crescencia 81, Nenita Pabaira-Intendencia 70, Rosario
Fabia 56, Alicia Arquero-Soria 76, Ric Arellaga 77,
Adonis Magno 95 and yours truly 73) were elected to
the Board of Directors. For the record, your Board of
Directors has just taken the baton of leadership for
Association Year 2004, after we were inducted by Mayor
Perez during the 59th Foundation Day last January this
year.
I don't know Atty Bravo personally. I met him once
during the alumni homecoming last November 2002. In
fact, it was the first time in 29 years that I
attended an alumni homecoming. Given his stature
though, I personally believe that his group won't go
to the extent of soliciting funds from the US for
their own interest. Remember, we are talking here
about our Association. By the way, do you have the
names of the solicitors? We can always invite them to
shed light on your comment. Definitely, your comment
will have a varying degree of reactions from all
alumni and we welcome this as one of our challenges.
Your issue is now being tabled for discussion during
the next Board meeting.
Regarding the alumni hall, this project was
initiated by the previous Board. Due to lack of funds,
the project was not completed. During the term of Mrs
San Juan as Principal, she requested all the Batches
to chip in PHP 45T each in order to finish the
project. She retired last December without realizing
her dream. In one of the previous Board meetings, we
invited the contractor and informed us that we still
need PHP1.6M to complete the project. At present we
only have PHP157,500.00 coming from Batches 53,73, 79
and 75. Batch 75 had paid PHP22,500.00 as its first
installment. Mayor Perez had assured us to help in the
construction of the alumni hall. In his statement
during the 59th Foundation Day, Mayor Perez delivered
his remarks and I quote, "umpisahan niyo at tatapusin
ko". Congressman Cojuangco for his part pledged to
donate 100 bags of cement. If we can only realize 50%
of the amount, we can resume the project. The alumni
hall, once completed is a multi purpose and self
generating. The second floor will be used as apartel,
where alumni from abroad and outside Urdaneta can
avail at lower rate compared to hotels in Urdaneta.
The first floor will be used as function rooms and
offices of the Secretariat.
Manong Conrad and other fellow Uksayans, your
Board of Directors are doing this, not for our own
vested interest but as our way of paying back to our
alma mater.
I hope I was able to answer your issues and
concerns. I assure you, your Board will be very
transparent.
Your Association President,
Jess Fajardo 73
PS
You might be wondering where I got your email
addresses. From the registrants page of Manong
Conrad's website, I randomly selected one graduate per
batch. As our "selected coordinator", please
disseminate this to your batchmates. Batches that were
not "CCed" are 52, 56, 60, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 56,
60 and 01. If you have email addresses of their Batch,
kindly forward this letter to them for their
information. Diyos ti agngina!

--- conrad t del castillo wrote:
> Hi, Jess!
>
> I am Conrad from Long Beach, California. I belong
> to Class '64. I have read all your letters regarding
> the UCHS-UNHS alumni association. Here are my
> concerns:
>
> Most of the alumni in the US are quite apprehensive
> to do any donation because they fear that such money
> will only go to others' pockets. This has been an
> experience in the past.
>
> Your project is a noble one(personally, I like it)
> but you will need a lot of money to realize your
> dream. Granting 30

Address: Villamor Air Base, Pasay City, Philippines

UCNHS Batch/Section: UCHS 73 (Section 1)

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