Highlights of the February 1 Meeting of the USTHS 68 Ruby Reunion Organizing Committee

Highlights of the February 1 Meeting of the USTHS 68 Ruby Reunion Organizing Committee

Logo - The body was informed that the logo on the T-shirt will not be exactly what it looks like on paper. The Ruby used for the number zero will look different. The printer suggested using a yellow color in the middle. To address this problem, Liway offered to get red stones which can be attached to the T-shirt.

Another logo prepared by a batch mate, Mulong Yambao, was presented to the group. It was agreed that this design which shows the faces of all the USTHS '68 graduates will be printed on t-shirts which will be sold. In addition to donating the artwork to the Batch, Mulong is also donating P5,000 as seed capital for the making of the T-shirts. It was estimated that the t-shirts and the printing will cost P100/shirt. It was agreed that 100 shirts will be made and that these would be sold at P200 each during the reunion.

Financial Report/Projected Expenses - Baby de Guzman reported that the batch has so far solicited a total of P332,550.00.

Payments made so far include:

50% downpayment for band P 32,500

50% deposit for the venue P 6,250

Downpayment for the printing of the Souvenir Program 40,000

50 tickets for the UST grand Alumni Homecoming 25,000

Downpayment for Batch Tshirt 20,000

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Total P 123,750

On the other hand, we still have the following payables:

Full payment for the band P 32,500

Full payment for the venue 6,250

Balance for the batch tshirt 11,000

Full payment for the printing of the Souvenir Program 40,000

Caterer for Day 1 98,400

Decorations for day 1 and 3 25,000

Other estimated expenses for day 3

(breakdown in the highlights of the Jan11 meeting) 67,000

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Total P280,150

With other pledges coming in, it is expected that we will be able to raise enough to cover all the costs.

Batch donation to the USTHS – It was reiterated that as of now, we pledge to give P40,000 to the USTHS. This is not earmarked for scholarships or the glee club. We will leave it up to the USTHS Management to decide the use of the donation.

Program for the 3 day event - The updated program remains the same. On the grand raffle prize, instead of giving a tour to HKG for 2, it was decided that a cash gift of US$500 be given instead. This will address the concern of those who either live abroad and have no use for the HKG trip or those who will find the extra expense of traveling to HKG (pocket money, etc.) burdensome.

Liway Pelayo who is in charge of the raffle prizes reminded everyone to bring raffle prizes in the next meeting so that we will know how many more we need to solicit..

Gurmel Singh mentioned that he brought about 10 pieces of portable blood pressure meters. He would like to make sure that our batch mates who need them most are the ones who get them. The group will help identify possible recipients.

Lorna Buenviaje reported that the courtesy call on the USTHS Principal has been confirmed. Ms. Eden Tolentino, the principal will not actually be there since she is also a silver jubilarian for the UST College of Education. She is only free after 5:00pm which is too late given the fact that we need to join the GAH mass at 6pm. Ms. Tolentino will ask the other USTHS officials and staff to welcome us.

The courtesy call on the Fr. Rector at 4:45pm has also been confirmed.

Sketches to all the venues will be posted on our website and also given out to all attendees via email, fax and hard copy on Day 1.

In addition to the drinks, the chair informed the group that draft beer will also be made available.

Veritas Reprint/Souvenir - 200 copies of the Veritas Reprint/souvenir program will cost P90,000. However, Jimmy tan reported that they were able to get an xdeal with the printer and we will thus only have to pay P80,000. Ad spaces sold total P140,000. These include:

½ page ads for the following:

Prudential Life c/o Tessa Sierra St. Cinnamon c/o Baby

Hotshots c/o Baby Wilson Lim

Tisha Reyes Nixon Ed Alimagno

Javier Omana Davis Paint and D. N. Steel c/o Peter So

Renee delos Reyes Nolasco Albert Sy

Evelyn Laurel Liway Pelayo

Cherrie Mijares Emma Ruivivar

Jojo Panganiban Rod Cantiveros

Rockbuilt Zeta

Star Paper (x-deal)

Full page ads for Don Mejia, Jun Tantoco, Gurmel Singh, Johnny and Anthony Dee, and

Andring Maranan

Monica Gonzales - ¼ page; PRA -P1000; Boy Gabriel - P1000

The request of the golf team of John Tan to have a ½ page ad was accommodated.

The mock up of the Veritas reprint and the Souvenir Program were presented to the body.

One side will feature the Veritas reprint while the other side will serve as the Souvenir.

The recent pictures of the batch mates together (4 pages for Philippine based activities and 4 pages for foreign-based activities) with the ads will be in the Souvenir Program portion. What were added were the messages from the Batch President and the Chair of the Ruby Reunion Organizing Committee.

Instead of individually acknowledging those who helped and run the risk of forgetting someone, the body agreed that there will just be a general acknowledgment portion.

The list of those who have passed on to new life (in the “Obituary”) was verified to make sure that we do not mistakenly include anyone. It was also agreed that this page will just be entitled “Transitions” consistent with what we have in our website.

Logistical arrangements

For Day 1 - To ferry people from EDSA to the Corinthian clubhouse, 3 vans will be stationed near the EDSA entrance. Odette agreed to assign her driver, Primo, to take charge of trafficking these vans to and from the venue.

For Day 2 - The batch will meet before 4pm at the UST High School itself which is in front of the Dapitan gate of the UST campus.

For Day 3 – The body agreed that there will be two meeting places. In Manila, it will be in Ricky Yatco’s house at 9am. (132 Mayon St. beside Sta. Teresita Church, not far from QC rotonda). Then the group will proceed to the Shell Station in Magallanes Village, Makati since there is a lot of parking spaces there for those who will leave their cars behind. Departure from Magallanes will be at 10am going straight to Eucalyptus Resort.

7. Promotions and outreach - Announcements about the reunion have been aired on radio and TV and have also been written about. It was agreed that we should continue this public promotions to reach out to as many batchmates as possible.

It was also agreed to place streamers about the reunion along the walls of the UST campus and also on the walls of Corinthian fronting EDSA. Peter So who is in charge of the Logistics Committee will take charge of having the streamers made and coordinating with UST for the actual placement. Baby de Guzman will handle the coordination with Corinthian Gardens.

Those who were already able to contact some batch mates reported some confirmations as well as some who really cannot make it. Everyone was encouraged to continue to reach out to others.

Accommodations - Everyone was asked to find out who need accommodations so that arrangements can be made with Linden Suites.

For out of town trips:

9.1 For the trip to Bohol, only JV Omana and wife and Andring Maranan have signified interest to go to Bohol. Arrangements are already being made.

9.2 For the trip to Bangkok – Cory Gillera and Celia Ramos will go for 4D 3N. Others who originally planning to go to Bohol will go with Baby de Guzman to Phuket.

Other Matters

10.1 Jimmy Tan raised the concern of some batch mates that the cost of the band was too high. He said that some batch mates were saying that since there are anonymous donors who are willing to cover the cost of the Band if the funds we raise are inadequate, then why don’t they just pay for the band completely. This will allow the batch to donate more to the USTHS.

After some heated discussion, it was reiterated and agreed upon that:

the decision to get a good band was discussed openly and agreed upon by all, not just the girls. This is duly recorded in the Highlights of our meeting. This is the reason why efforts have been exerted to raise funds;
those who are willing to cover any shortfall are actually already covering the cost of many other expenses which are not being charged to the batch Funds.

Given these, it was agreed to proceed with the original plan and cover the cost of the band from the Funds raised by the batch mates.

10.2 Volunteers were sought to man the registration tables during the Feb 15 affair.

103. The service provider for the photography and video coverage of the 3 day event was chosen by the body. This will cost us P35,000. Each one will get a CD of the pictures and video taken.

There being no other matters to take up, the meeting adjourned at around 10:30pm.