Daisy Barawidan
Lala David
Sherry David
Marita Legaspi
Cecile Lowlicht
Sol Oca
Mike Palileo
Emma Villa-Real

Rose Constantino
Gilda Fule-Prael
Sylvia C.Leonard
Salve Neelankavil
Ronie Nieva
Giocky Oca
Lulut Valte

Is it just our imagination or did it seem especially cold to you this January? Well, if perchance you were wondering whatever

December-January PERGOLA, the answer certainly is that it’s been too plain cold for yourP e rg o la editors—too cold to meet, too cold to think, too cold to venture outside! At last count the snowfall in Central Park averaged 20 inches, yet impossibly the forecast for this week’s temperature is the toasty mid-50s, reason enough, according to the CBS anchorman, to hug the weatherman!

To make up for lost time, we are including in this issue two belated articles from last December: a Christmas concert in Toronto, sponsored by alumni from San Beda and St Scholastica to benefit the Marilyn Bengzon-St. Pierre Commemorative Scholarship, and a Marian Day of Recollection, sponsored by SSAANA’s Spirituality Committee, and held on the eve of the Immaculate Conception in Manhattan.

Of course, we could not let February slip by without mentioning the Presidential Inauguration in Washington D.C., as witnessed by HS ‘65 alumnae Veronica Nieva Ettinger and Eleanor Topacio Long. Both contribute essays and photos to this issue. “Historic” and “memorable” are much overused terms to describe the Obama inaguration so we shall allow the photos to speak for themselves.

In the Cooking and Food section, Yvette Jarencio outdoes herself with a recipe for Americanized Philippine ham, obviously written with Christmas in mind. For the necessary “red and green” Christmas touch, Mike Palileo includes a recipe for Russian salad provided by her Russian friend Alla Kerzhner (not a Scholastican). Alla in fact provides two recipes: one for true Russian salad (not red), and one for fake Russian salad (red). So be advised: RUSSIAN SALAD IS NOT RED!

“Fusion Cuisine from Ilocos Sur,” a photo essay containing recent culinary discoveries he and Scholastican wife Marita Legaspi made during their travels to northern Philippines. “Tantalizing” is an understatement for those Ilokano concoctions that includeb a g n e t andp in a k b e t pizza dipped inb a g o o n g!

Finally,P e rg o la features a photo spread of Scholastican Bessie Badilla, Alumna Profile for February. In 2008 Bessie won a beauty contest as QUEEN of the Sao Paolo Carnaval in Brazil and was the featured cover of several international magazines.P ergola, too, takes pride in Scholastican pulchritude.

upbeat humor has taken her from the working class district of Tondo in Manila to the haute couture world of Paris where she was a Balenciaga model in the 1980s, to showbiz celebrity in the Philippines, to the suburbs of Connecticut, where she has lived for the past 16 years as a housewife and mother.

In February 2008 Bessie Badilla, an international model and TV personality, triumphed as the First Filipina ever to become Queen at the 2008 Sao Paulo Carnaval. Bessie represented Escola Vai Vai, which emerged as 2008 Champions in the two-day competition.

She danced for the moment. She danced in memory of times past and in glorious anticipation of those yet to come. She danced the dance of her life in celebration of the triumph of the human spirit.

Bessie's journey has been in turns exciting, colorful, fun-filled, and heartbreaking. Her story moves from Manila to Paris to Singapore to the US and finally to Brazil.

We were among the 2 million who came from all over the country and the world to witness the historic inauguration of President Obama. The Topacio sisters—Gloria, Eleanor, Cayan, Kathleen with their husbands and children—all made it to Washington, D.C. to celebrate, party, and witness history. On January 18, we attended the opening ceremony to the inauguration festivities called We Are One. It was the precise emotion felt by the sea of humanity already stretched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. What a memorable and fabulous concert it was to hear Bono, Beyonce and many other artists perform. When Obama came on stage, he was the super rock star and he drove the crowds wild! On January 19, we attended the Pearl Presidential Inaugural Gala co- chaired by my sister Gloria. I am really proud of Gloria who had the idea to plan this event. It was a huge success and everyone had a great time. It was a beautiful event honoring Asian Americans who are serving their country at the highest level of office. In attendance were General Shinseki, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs, and Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy. Other notables were Senator Inouye, Congressman Honda, Secretary Mineta and Maya Soetero Ng, President Obama’s sister, who is Indonesian American.

January 20 was both Inauguration Day and my mom’s 85th birthday. She chose not to travel to D.C. We started the day really early, leaving my sister Gloria’s home in Springfield, Virginia at 6:30 a.m. Our family was divided into 3 teams. Cayan and I and our husbands left from Virginia, while Gloria with her daughter and my daughters from a hotel in D.C., and Kathleen with her sons and Cayan’s son left from her home in Maryland.

We felt lucky that the metro stop in Springfield was the first stop, which meant we would find a seat and be sitting all the way to D.C. At 6:30 a.m. the metro station had already swelled to capacity. We literally inched our way to get to the train and to our seats. By the time we got to the Pentagon stop, we were told to get off as the train had broken down. What a disaster for us because we could not get back on the next few trains as they were all crowded. Our best alternative was to take the empty trains back to Virginia to the end of the line and start again. We did that and it worked well until we got off the train to transfer to the Red line and learned it was closed because a woman had fallen onto the tracks. We later found out that she was all right. This meant a longer walk. As it was, Dick was walking with crutches and we didn’t want to walk any longer than we had to. Fortunately, a pedicab came by and we rode the pedicab as close as we could get to the Capitol.

We found the Purple Ticket entrance! The line was as wide as a city block and several blocks long but the crowd was very calm, patient and friendly. It was a long wait but luckily we got through security check just as the ceremonies started. The Capitol building looked far away but I remembered Kathleen saying, “if you look behind you, there will be millions more so your place is good”. We were able to get closer by climbing a gate and then we were at the section directly behind the seating section.

I was at President Clinton’s second inauguration, but this was nothing like it. This inauguration was monumental; we were drawn to attend to bear witness to history. It was an emotional moment for everyone and a time for celebration. People were cheering, crying, dancing and hugging strangers. Everyone was so nice. Two million people and not one arrest that day!

There were 10 official balls on Inauguration evening. Our children went to the Youth Ball, Gloria and Kathleen to the Obama Home State Ball, and Cayan and I went to the Western Ball. We braved the frigid cold weather, walking many blocks because the streets were closed, we were in heels with no stockings to show off pedicures and not wearing a hat so as not to ruin our hairdo. At the official balls there were no chairs to sit on or tables to set the bland appetizers on. We lined up in long lines to buy drinks. Marc Anthony performed at the Western Ball and J. Lo sang one song with him. The music was very good. The President made a short appearance with the First Lady, he gave a short speech, they had a short dance, and they were off to the next ball. But it was enough to get everyone excited and to crowd to the stage to get a closer look. Oh, what a night!

Photo below: The writer Eleanor Topacio-Long (SSC HS 65) with her husband Dick Long at the Asian Pacific Pearl Inaugural Gala, co-chaired by her sister Gloria Topacio-Caoile and Francy Lim Youngeberg and held on January 19, 2009, the eve of President Barack Obama’s inauguration.