Bert's kabatch, BE '51: l-r: Jolly, Danny, Jabby, Chito, Nick

Frannie, Bert's widow, looks at a framed photo of Bert, a gift from Beta Epsilon given to her at the parangal

Email of Ojie '74

Sept. 13, 2008

Brods,

Under the leadership of BEAI prexy Vic Ahorro, we had a very warmly received and well conducted Necro Service for our departed brother Bert Morillo Jr 51; emailed messages of condolences were also read to the family.

Those who attended:

1. Ojie Alzona 74
2. Jabby Jazmines 51 (read prayers, testimonial speaker)
3. Ambo Gaspar 55 (testimonial speaker)
4. Vic Ahorro 80
5. Danny Lopez 81 (guitarist)
6. Rey Bautista 58

7. Ben Aquino 52
8. Cesar Yniguez 65fo
9. Mon Ramirez 63
10. Chito Recto 51
11. Pol Abis 52

12. MEB Lito Mortella
13. EB JC (emceed the necro, as Brother Chaplain)
14. resident Aerson (read a definiton of a gentlemen by John Henry Cardinal Newman)
15. resident King Palattao
16. Nick Pena 51 (testimonial speaker)

17. Danny Bicomong 53
18. Jolly Dycaico 50
19. Jojo Malolos 82
20. Oscar Cruz 51

Also present were Betanettes Selene Ahorro, Mrs. Recto, Mrs. Pena, Mrs. Bicomong, Divi Malolos, Mrs. Dycaico, Mrs. Gaerlan, Mrs. Gaspar, and Mrs. Corpus, and Mrs. Abis.
 

Others who visited on another date:

21. Rey Salazar 67
2.2 Mike Villanueva 59
23. Rollo Mauricio 69
24. Lino Angeles 66

Per Ambo Gaspar..."This is the 1st time I have seen many of the batch 51 brods together in a long time".... (5 including Bert)

FYI.

Ojie 74

PS. Mon Ramirez will post the pics later.
__._,_.___

Brod Jolly, the brod they call the Pope, sprinkles holy water

Email of Lito Manahan '58

Sept. 14, 2008

BRODS,

Here are some events and observations that transpired during the necro
for BERT MORILLO last night.

1) The memorial chapel in Angeles City is huge with ample free parking
space and guarded for security. Even better than some memorial chapels
in MetroManila.
 

2) When we entered the hall with lighted candles to start the necro, we
were greeted by the booming voice of DANNY LOPEZ and his guitar singing
the entrance song. The acoustics made the voice of DANNY sound so nice
that even the non-betan audience were enticed to sing along.
 

3) The roll call was made by the Brother Chaplain from the youngest brod
to the most senior. When the name of BERT MORILLO batch 51 was called
syempre walang sasagot. Second call dapat wala pa ring sasagot. Third
call dapat may sumagot na. Kaya lang wala pa ring sumasagot. Excena ito
ni AMBO GASPAR kasi siya ang first speaker. So time passed at wala pa
ring sagot. Buti na lang nandoon ako sa likod ni AMBO at sinabi ko,
"AMBO ikaw na". Good that he got it immediately and went forward to say,
"Let me answer for our brod BERT. He left something in my heart and
allow me to share it with you". Then AMBO's speech began.
 

4) AMBO's opening remark was that someone advised him to talk in
english. He said he will not follow this advise because he remembers
BERT when he, BERT, gave his speech during the necro for TONY GAERLAN.
Si BERT lang among the speakers who spoke in tagalog. He will follow the
footsteps of BERT and will also deliver his speech in tagalog. Hindi
nasunod. Somewhere in the middle and towards the end nahaluan din ng
english. But no matter, it was a good speech.
 

5) NICK PENA was the second speaker. A few days ago, NICK narrated that
he received a cel phone call from BERT out of the blue. Matagal na rin
silang hindi nagkakausap. Wala lang. Kamustahan tapos goodbye and "lel's
have lunch one of these days". In a weeks time, BERT was gone. Parang
nagpaalam lang.
 

6) JABBY JAZMINES was the third speaker. He also narrated an incident
which happened just recently. His cel phone showed a missed call from
BERT. Hindi sila nagkausap. He did not return the call kasi ma
cha-charge siya (tawanan). Hintayin na lang niya ang call uli ni BERT.
No call came. BERT died without them talking to each other. Parang
nagpaalam din.
 

7) Dapat after singing the BE Anthem tapos na ang necro. Hindi pa pala.
May bonus package pa si "reverend" JABBY. He gave prayers for the dead
with sprinking of holy water on the coffin of BERT. Hindi ko alam kung
nagusap si JABBY at si "direk" OJIE. Wala namang kumibo and we just all
went along with it.
 

8) FRANNIE was very appreciative of the gesture of the brods. While she
did not mention it, the fact that most of the brods are Manila based and
really took an effort to go to Angeles City to give our last respects
for BERT shows the bond and closeness that we have for one another.
 

9) The brods present spanned six decades from the early 50's to the
early 2000.
 

10) Unitl the next necro. Kanino kaya? Ha! Ha! Ha!

ENJOY LIFE. IT IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK.

LITO MANAHAN

----------------------
Dear SONNY and EMMA,

As I promised to do for you at the necro for brod BERT MORILLO, I told
FRANNIE at the end of the ceremonies that you are extending your and
EMMA's condolence to her and the family. When I mentioned your name, the
face of FRANNIE lit up so apparently you are a very familiar betan to
her. In turn, she told me to thank you and hope that you and EMMA are
doing well.

This was one of the better necros for a departed brod that I attended.
The speakers narrated incidents between them and BERT which are not
familiar to some of us younger brods. At times when the incidents were
funny events, the audience did not pull back their laughter. In the
order of their appearance, the speakers were AMBO GASPAR, NICK PENA and
JABBY JAZMINES. Other brods present whose names, I am sure, are familiar
to your are: CHITO RECTO, DANNY BICOMONG, POL ABIS,

BEN AQUINO. OSCAR  CRUZ, and JOLLY DYCIACO.

Although a son gave the response of the family at the end of the necro,
FRANNIE did not hesitate to get the mike and gave her narration of her
days with the BE FRATERNITY. At one instance she menitoned that she
cannot forget the time during initiations when LOUIE MARAMBA (he was not
even there and I hope his health has improved) was kneeling in front of
her offering a rose. Come to think of it, she did not mention who gave
her the rose. Si BERT kaya? Siguro naman.

If you were present, I am sure you would have a grand time which I saw
in the faces of our senior brods from the early 50's.

Regards.

LITO MANAHAN

PS - The others need not be concerned. OJIE ALZONA read all the names of
betans and betannettes who sent their condolence by email and text
message.

EB JC, Parangal MC

Speaker: Ambo Gaspar

Download video of Ambo's tribute

Speaker: Nick Peña

Resident Brod Earson reads Cardinal Newman's defintion of a genleman

Speaker: Jabby Jazmines

Download Video of Jabby's tribute

Raffy, Bert's son, makes a response for the family

Ojie Alzona reads the notes of condolence from brods

Download Video of Ojie's tribute

Frannie, Bert's widow,makes a response

The parangal should have ended with the responses of the family but Bert's kabatch thought Bert deserved a special prayer so he led us to a prayer and Bible quoation taht lasted exactly 5 minutes (by my camera recorded timestamp)..

Making their last salutes to Brod Bert:

(clockwise)

1. MEB Lito Mortella  and BEAI president Vic Ahorro

2. Bert's kabatch Nick Peña

3. Bert's kabatch Jabby Jazminez

4. Bert's favorite contractor Rey Bautista '58

5. Bert's parangal guitarist Danny Lopez '81

If you sign the registry, you will probably notice the flowers sent by Beta Epsilon because it is right beside it.

Ben Aquino and Oscar Cruz sign the registry.

Jabby Jazmines chose to text his signature. In his tribute to Brod Bert, he recalled that a few days before our brod had his stroke, he got a missed call from Bert; but he did not return the call. So he made up for it by texting his signature instead of affixing it to the registry.  Brod, okay yang pauso mo. Baka pickupin ng anak mong nagtatrabaho sa SMART.

Sarsi, what was he thinking about?

◄ Left: last minute tune-up of the Rites of Parangal

Blast from the Past:

Brod Bert Morillo, Jr. Memorabilla, taken from Betan publications

Our brod waa a very enthusiastic and determined propagandist for Beta Epsilon and he used his connections with the Philippine Star to have items on Beta Epsilon published.

The last time was in January 2008. For the launch of the UP Centennial, we visited him at his office and asked his assistance for the publication of our article and photo on the frat's participation in the important event, the sponsorship of the fireworks. He directed me to an official of the paper. Two days later we saw our item published in full. During the BE@75 celebration  and earlier events he had done the same assistance to us.

Thank you, Brod Bert. Now let your Betan brods return the favor in our own website (see items below). Post script: Your widow Frannie was my English I teacher at UP in 1961. If there are errors in grammar and syntax here, it is not her fault -- I was just  an ordinary English I promdi student in awe of the students in the English honors class where Brod Egbert was. Your late father-in-law, Luis Flores, BE '29, was my boss at Central Engineering at San Miguel Corporation. There was no internet/websites then in the late 60s so he would not know if there are errors in the technical aspect of this webpage. And thank you very much for the assistance to my son in his business. You will live forever in the hearts of your Betan brods, family and friends.