Is San Beda Transfering to the UAAP? Options

[bluebruiser90]

Actually Mav, we at Bene never had any problems with the Ateneo boys during my time. We usually compete with the AHS' unofficial Team C in the PRADA together with DLSZ and Southridge, whenever your school had a basketball team. I actually made a lot of acquaintances from that PRADA team who later became blockmates and good friends in college. We actually had a thing going with the Bengals having been two of the earliest big Catholic pirvate schools in the area. A lot of jeering and banter but nothing really serious. Well except during this one time when our volleyball teams had a free for all during senior year.

Animo: What's your batch? My entire family, siblings and cousins, practically went to Bene. There's a big chance you were classmates with one of my relations.

This post has been edited by bluebruiser90: Oct 27 2005, 10:31 PM

[atenean_blooded]

Animo Red,

This Ateneo-La Salle rivalry goes beyond marketing. This thing we have with La Salle has been going on long before anybody tried to make money off it and will still be going on even when non-Ateneans or non-La Sallites tire of it.

While it is true that the Ateneo-San Beda rivalry started earlier (in the late 20's and into the thirties), it wasn't a sustained one. I would say that it peaked in the fifties then was dormant until the mid-seventies during the championship clashes. Then, Ateneo bolted the NCAA and a period of dormancy ensued. The rivalry with La Salle, however, was more of a sustained one. It probably heated up in the thirties and remained hot ever since. If we were to take the San Beda example, when Ateneo bolted the NCAA, the La Salle rivalry should have become dormant too. But, that was not the case. Even when La Salle was in the wilderness in the early eighties, Ateneo would find ways to match up and beat La Salle.

A lot of factors could be pulled in to explain the ferocity of the rivalry: Ateneo and La Salle used to be neighbors in Manila (Padre Faura and Taft Avenue) whereas San Beda was in Mendiola (in a later era, Loyola Heights and Greenhills were also not too far apart as skrmishes in Virra Mall and Shoppesville will attest), Ateneo and La Salle were run by English speaking religious orders (American Jesuits and Irish Brothers) while San Beda had Spanish monks, Ateneans and La Sallites used to spar for the affections of Assumptionistas in Herran while Bedans had the girls from Holy Ghost, Centro Escolar and La Concordia all to themselves, and so on. Actually proof of the waning of the rivalry between Ateneo and San Beda was the fact that it was never transmitted to Benedictine Abbey where you studied. I would guess that even in the 80's students at La Salle South (what we called it before they seriously called themselves Zobel) knew that they could lose to any school except Ateneo.

Don't get me wrong. It would be great to have you guys in the same boat with us again. Most posters on these boards who remember being at an Ateneo-San Beda game that really mattered look foward to battling with your side again. It's been said a lot of times here: San Beda was always a worthy opponent. And with the way the boys from Taft have been running their program the past few years, your stock as worthy opponents and rivals just rose higher.

Cheers!

Interesting perspectives. I'm too young to have lived in those years, but what reading I've done in the archives has given me quite an interesting take too.

I've actually talked about this rivalry in a separate thread (in the Alumni forum, under the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry thread). You may want to check it out.

[animo_red]

Actually Mav, we at Bene never had any problems with the Ateneo boys during my time. We usually compete with the AHS' unofficial Team C in the PRADA together with DLSZ and Southridge, whenever your school had a basketball team. I actually made a lot of acquaintances from that PRADA team who later became blockmates and good friends in college. We actually had a thing going with the Bengals having been two of the earliest big Catholic pirvate schools in the area. A lot of jeering and banter but nothing really serious. Well except during this one time when our volleyball teams had a free for all during senior year.

Animo: What's your batch? My entire family, siblings and cousins, practically went to Bene. There's a big chance you were classmates with one of my relations.

97

[animo_red]

^ In reaction to Mav, yeah the La Salle-Ateneo rivalry has been around since the days of our grand dads. Why the San Beda-Ateneo rivalry never lasted compared to the latter? I really dunno. Perhaps someone here could answer that question.

In terms why we in Bene never really knew about it? It was because we were never really "under" the Benedictines to begin with. The monks who were in Alabang back then gave the lay admin almost complete authority in running the school. So we were more "secular" than religious, that explains why we lack the Benedictine identity. But that's another story.

[Maverick]

Bruiser,

Great observations. In our time (early to mid-80's), perhaps because the Alabang-based schools were too far away from the regular big schools elsewhere, there was no real choice but to start our own regional rivalries. Thus, you had this thing going with Zobel in basketball. On the other hand, as you correctly pointed out, Southridge was not a basketball school at all. The only time we had a basketball team was when some guys in the senior class decided that it was about time we had some sort of a team going. It was a football school and we looked forward to games against what were considered the southern football powers at that time -- San Agustin and Don Bosco (both Manila and Tondo). Zobel was not a football power at all. This was pre-Hans Smit and they were still in the process of getting their act together though they had very decent squads -- though I remember getting into off the field skirmishes with some of those Bengals/Zobelites.

I can totally understand Bene not having a rivalry with Ateneo. The geography was all wrong. Alabang was relatively isolated then and with enough schools around the area, you didn't need to have a cross town rival.

Pare, sorry for not replying yet to your PM. I'll get to that soon.


Animo Red,

Most religious schools in the country nowadays are run by seculars with a few monks/priests/brothers working in the background making sure that the Catholic values are intact. But, wasn't there a priory in Alabang? I remember that Fr. Maramba, OSB used to live there. Didn't the monks have a more active role in running the school?


Atenean blooded,

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. When Bluebruiser and I were in college, we spent some time researching for the 60th anniversary of the Guidon. The paper came out with an article on Ateneo's rivals and most of our material here is based on the clippings and articles we culled at that time.

[animo_red]

Animo Red,

Most religious schools in the country nowadays are run by seculars with a few monks/priests/brothers working in the background making sure that the Catholic values are intact. But, wasn't there a priory in Alabang? I remember that Fr. Maramba, OSB used to live there. Didn't the monks have a more active role in running the school?

Not really, Compared I guess to the Jesuits and the Benedictines in Mendiola who are very visible to the students. The monks in Alabang weren't that many. And the ones visible in running the school back then fully prioritized on academics and did not focus on (even for a bit) developing Benedictine/Bedan culture. These monks in question are now, you can say are "exciled."
And when I meant by full autonomy by the lay admin, they were free to do anything in running the school. And the monks did not have much control.

So in a way Benedictine Abbey was a "break away" republic from San Beda. So for a time, Alabang was indeed cut off from the rest of the Bedan community. People from the south were not aware that we were run by the Benedictines from San Beda, and I suppose people elsewhere (even for some here) did not even know San Beda has a sister school in the south. Just for the simple reason we called ourselves "taga-Bene" than Bedans was proof enough that there was something wrong.

Our rivalry with Zobel was just for the simple reason we are the two biggest schools in the south and people can't help compare the two.

This post has been edited by animo_red: Oct 29 2005, 02:07 PM

[bluebruiser90]

Animo Red,

Most religious schools in the country nowadays are run by seculars with a few monks/priests/brothers working in the background making sure that the Catholic values are intact. But, wasn't there a priory in Alabang? I remember that Fr. Maramba, OSB used to live there. Didn't the monks have a more active role in running the school?

Not really, Compared I guess to the Jesuits and the Benedictines in Mendiola who are very visible to the students. The monks in Alabang weren't that many. And the ones visible in running the school back then fully prioritized on academics and did not focus on (even for a bit) developing Benedictine/Bedan culture. These monks in question are now, you can say are "exciled."
And when I meant by full autonomy by the lay admin, they were free to do anything in running the school. And the monks did not have much control.

So in a way Benedictine Abbey was a "break away" republic from San Beda. So for a time, Alabang was indeed cut off from the rest of the Bedan community. People from the south were not aware that we were run by the Benedictines from San Beda, and I suppose people elsewhere (even for some here) did not even know San Beda has a sister school in the south. Just for the simple reason we called ourselves "taga-Bene" than Bedans was proof enough that there was something wrong.

Our rivalry with Zobel was just for the simple reason we are the two biggest schools in the south and people can't help compare the two.

I may have been from an earlier time (I'm 11 years ahead of Animo Red, HS '86), but as far as I can remember during my stay, the lay people ran the school against the backdrop of true Benedictine tradition. If I may add, I even believe that, at least in the formative years of Bene to the time I left, Bene wasn't only being run in the Benedictine spirit and tradition but also in the shadow of the main campus in Mendiola. And the impressions that the parents of my generation received was that the Alabang school was to be a worthy extension of San Beda in Manila. That's the reason I was deposited there instead of La Salle Greenhills. AHS was just too far. Alabang was like a province during the '70's.

The thrust of course was anchored on the religious. I remember all our religion classes had the underlying theme of Ora et Labora and highlighted the lives of St. Benedict and other saints of the order. We had all the religious ceremonies and celebrations practiced at Mendiola, from the feast day of St. Benedict in July, the Feast of Our Lady of Montserrat, the October rosary and the Feast of the Sto. Nino every January. Up to this day I, my siblings, my cousins, and I'm sure countless alumni from dear old Bene still mark our calendars of the annual devotion to the child Jesus. It was our Bedan version of the Ateneo devotion to the Virgin Mary during and the October Medal tradition.

There's also an argument against Bene being a separate republic from San Beda. Sure, the distance from Manila to Alabang during the '70's to the mid'80 was already a stretch but there was also a lot of interaction with the big brothers of San Beda. From the religious, to sports and other co-curricular activities.

Our batch was the very first from Bene that undertook the Peace retreat program and it was only the boys who were initially required to go. Each class was paired with another class from San Beda. I was part of the first group that included student leaders and athletes and my batch mates included Benjie Paras, who slept during the election of officers and was unanimously elected as batch president. Our facilitators, from Father Andy to the kuya's, were all from San Beda and the speakers were the same usual suspects that the organizers culled from previous San Beda sponsored Peace retreats.

Our sports programs were also ran in the traditional San Beda way. Our basketball teams had the fingerprints of Ato Badolato all over it down to resident tisoy/espanol descent coach (Pepe Sanchez) and the manic full court press. Our football program was not only patterned after the San Beda model, it was straight out of the monasteries in Spain as our resident coach in the early years, Fr. Ole (how Spanish can you get than that), who was also the resident grade school chaplain, was a Basque Spaniard who played football in the Juventud Barcelona system (..rumor has it that he played Division I..). San Beda even sent their fabled cheerleading squad (yes..with the little indian boys in tow) when Bene was to participate for the first time in an inter-school athletic tournament. We were introduced to the traditional San Beda cheers and were even given a gift in the form of our own Bedan cheer (SBCA cheer..extra points if anyone can dig up the words to this cheer).

Then there's the regular trek of student reps from both schools for various co-curricular activities from fairs (Palaro's during my time) to scouting (San Beda having a rich Boy Scout tradition as well with the bulk of the ill-fated RP contingent to the 11th World Jamboree in Greece coming from the San Beda Troop. And explaining the statue of the drum bearing boy scout in the middle of the San Beda campus).

We knew that we were part of the Benedictine system and we knew that we were part of San Beda. And our brothers at Mendiola knew this too.

But of course we cannot expect Bene to have the same Benedictine/Bedan tradition to the last letter as taught and practiced in Manila. For one, Animo Red was correct that we do not have the same number of monks in Alabang as in Manila. The Bedan experience was therefore not similar from the very start. Also, Bene was coed and thus the whole dynamics of running the school was different. Animo Red was also right that the monks seemed to be detached from the actual running of the academic programs which was probably due to necessity as they didn't have enough of them to go around. But I'm sure they still had more than just the pro forma guiding hand of a once-a-year-meeting Board of trustees in determining the direction of the academic programs. Also, regardless of the lack of manpower, Fr. Ole in the GS and the resident Fr. Rector in the HS (Fr. Balcruz and FR. Bellarmine during my time) were at least active in the religious and spiritual formation side of the students through our regular masses and sacraments, recollections and Peace retreats. Dear old Fr. Ole just has this way of explaining the gospels to kids ages 4-12. Like an OSB version of Uncle Bob (Problem was he had the same style with everyone which tested the patience of one to many parishioners to the Bene church with his hour long homilies).

Although during my last year in HS, San Beda sent us more than our normal allocation of Fathers and brothers who were also earmarked to help run the academic side of the school. We had, for the first time, a Benedictine monk acting as HS principal and Doms (brothers) in various school administrative and academic roles. I just don't know how things have progressed (or regressed, depending on your perspective..) from my time to Animo's time but I have also heard the stories about the "exiled" monks view.

Regardless of how my dear old Alma Matter has turned out, I would like to believe that we did develop the Benedictine spirit albeit with our own southern flavor even to the point that it may be viewed as being totally detached from the San Beda in Manila. And I guess there's nothing really wrong with that, being alike in the Benedictine spirit but still being distinctly different. In the same manner that all the other Ateneo schools embraced the Ignatian spirit but each having it's own separate identity from the Ateneo in Manila. We were different in character but bound together by a common thread. Maybe during my time it was just more pronounced since the school was just starting. Maybe during Animo's time, the administrators, both the Benedictine monks and the lay people felt that Bene was mature enough to trek its own path outside the shadow of its big brother explaining the autonomy of the school and the change of name (..for the record, I'm also against changing the name or losing the Bene tag altogether. It's part of our history already. I say, call it San Beda Alabang but retain the BAS name for the HS department. There's already a number of schools usurping the "Benedictine" and "Benedictine Abbey" name which leads to further confusion...).

Thanks Animo and Mav for this discussion, it brought back a lot of good memories.

[animo_red]

^ Wow... 1986... I was like only, prep that time. hehehe Well alot of things has changed since you left. At least during your time there was constant interaction with the "mother school" as Fr. Ed would term it. So you guys were definitely Benedictine. During my days it was all different already, way way different. I guess through the years, Bene somewhat detached itself from Mendiola.

Alabang had a soul (well in this case during your time), it got lost along the way (my time) and now she's getting it back. I remember Fr. Balcruz because of my mom, my parents are close to the monks. I remember i even accompanied her during the wake of Fr. Balcruz when I was four. Fr. Bellarmine was also a HS chaplain of ours before he died. He even became my dad's prof in San Beda. Quite funny, my dad relayed what Fr. Bellarmine said, "San Beda will only become coed over my dead body." Fr. Ole, he wasn't that visible with us, we only knew him as the tall Spanish priest. Didn't knew he played soccer and such, heck we didn't even know his name. Fr. Pio was the one who was quite visible during my gradeschool days since he was our chaplain.

Back to Bene, yes we too were taught about St. Benedict and the beginnings of the Order in school. The processions, the Sto. Niño celebration, though we weren't familair with Our Lady of Montserrat during those times. But these events felt that they were purely academics, there wasn't much heart when we were practicing them, unlike our GS and HS counterparts in Mendiola.

I have nothing against Alabang having a culture to ourselves, in fact I got the best out of both worlds. The Alabang's sophistication mixed with Mendiola's streets smart-ness, it's a bit cool actually. But I couldn't help compare the two, my days in Alabang, there was much conflict between people, talk about "inggitan." While in Mendiola, people get along, the upper classmen won't treat freshies as if they were dirt or something. Total opposites really. It was like Bene was the prodigal son.

I guess with your stories, we can bring back the Bene of your days. It's quite comforting to hear actually.

I believe Alabang will play a major role in making San Beda achieve her greatness again...

This post has been edited by animo_red: Oct 29 2005, 09:04 PM

[CPA_LLB]

We were introduced to the traditional San Beda cheers and were even given a gift in the form of our own Bedan cheer (SBCA cheer..extra points if anyone can dig up the words to this cheer).

just an excerpt of the cheer:

S....B....C....A....

S-B-C-A

San Beda.... Alabang!

Then there's the regular trek of student reps from both schools for various co-curricular activities from fairs (Palaro's during my time) to scouting (San Beda having a rich Boy Scout tradition as well with the bulk of the ill-fated RP contingent to the 11th World Jamboree in Greece coming from the San Beda Troop. And explaining the statue of the drum bearing boy scout in the middle of the San Beda campus).

The fair is still referred to as "Palaro" and the highlight of the week-long activity is the Sto Nino procession. In Mendiola, the fair is called "Frolics" and the procession in honor of the Sto Nino de Praga is the high point of the college-wide celebration/school fair.

This post has been edited by CPA_LLB: Oct 31 2005, 09:07 PM

[bluebruiser90]

We were introduced to the traditional San Beda cheers and were even given a gift in the form of our own Bedan cheer (SBCA cheer..extra points if anyone can dig up the words to this cheer).

just an excerpt of the cheer:

S....B....C....A....

S-B-C-A

San Beda.... Alabang!

Then there's the regular trek of student reps from both schools for various co-curricular activities from fairs (Palaro's during my time) to scouting (San Beda having a rich Boy Scout tradition as well with the bulk of the ill-fated RP contingent to the 11th World Jamboree in Greece coming from the San Beda Troop. And explaining the statue of the drum bearing boy scout in the middle of the San Beda campus).

The fair is still referred to as "Palaro" and the highlight of the week-long activity is the Sto Nino procession. In Mendiola, the fair is called "Frolics" and the procession in honor of the Sto Nino de Praga is the high point of the college-wide celebration/school fair.

Good one panero. Bene ka din ba? If you heard this cheer first hand, we were almost batchmates but I think you're a lot younger than me. It's great to know that somebody has archived this old cheer and still known to the younger batches. Is it being used again? During my time the cheer was done this way:

S S S S S S S S S,

B B B B B B B B B,

C C C C C C C C C,

A A A A A A A A A,

S-B-C-A

S-B-C-A

S-B-C-A

San Beda Alabang!


Each letter started soft and was modulated, then the SBCA part picked up tempo for each repetititon and culminating with the San Beda Alabang yell.

Congratulations also for passing the bar if you are the person with almost the same nick from the Red forum. My cousin was from your batch. 2nd cousin but I have'nt met him. He was a baby when we last saw his family but they deinitely still remember us as we have a not so common family name. Check out my nick and I'm sure you'll figure it out. I think he was in the top 5 of the batch but he didn't quite make it to the top ten in the bar placings.

This post has been edited by bluebruiser90: Nov 1 2005, 07:09 AM

[CPA_LLB]

off topic, but just to respond.

bluebruiser90:

Bene HS '93.

Never heard the SBCA cheer in Bene but I am familiar with it since it was still part of the cheers of the Bedan crowd during NCAA games in the early 90s.

I may i have a good guess of your surname and if I am correct, then I think you're referring to my batchmate who graduated 2nd in our class. He was my classmate in law school and also my batchmate in college. Actually, I also had a classmate in highschool with the same surname. You're probably related to her.

This post has been edited by CPA_LLB: Nov 1 2005, 04:30 PM

[bluebruiser90]

The cheer was never used in Bene after that one time that it was introduced. That was probably 1979 if I recall correctly. They should start using it again in Bene.

Sent you a PM panero regarding my relations with your batchmate in HS.

[Mananambol]

Just finished 36 pages of posts, almost two years worth of replies. Whew. Great thread. Dispelled alot of my misgivings about Ateneans in general.

[edged]

Just finished 36 pages of posts, almost two years worth of replies. Whew. Great thread. Dispelled alot of my misgivings about Ateneans in general.

IT IS.. it has a lot of nostalgia in it.. hey u guys should be present on dec 10.. (IMG:http://atenista.net/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) do you reckon the babble will cheer?

[animo_red]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vygQcImuqY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DUmXTgx7tM

I think a few pages back someone requested to hear what our Indian Yell sounds like? here it is.

This post has been edited by animo_red: Oct 4 2006, 09:35 AM

[bluebruiser90]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vygQcImuqY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DUmXTgx7tM

I think a few pages back someone requested to hear what our Indian Yell sounds like? here it is.

Haven't been in these parts for a while myself. Congrats for winning the NCAA crown. Vicariously, I celebrated the win as well. PULA din naman ang dugo ko.

[animo_red]

^ congrats to you too. hehehe you should have seen the players when they went to Alabang, they came to thank the Alabang supporters. They were treated like rockstars, the gym was filled with red shirts.

The scene was unexplainable, it gave me goosebumps. Gone were the days when Alabang was considered San Beda's prodigal son. hehehe Bene no more, but San Beda Alabang.

BTW, The Indian Yell was a joint cheer of the three schools. Alabang sent a big contingent as well. We were all surprised actually.

[RuckuS]

i think San Beda is looking at a timeline of 2-3 years before they get University status and a shot at applying for a UAAP seat.

if and when they join the UAAP.. will they still cheer their fabled "is-kwater! is-kwater!" cheer? (IMG:http://atenista.net/forums/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[bluebruiser90]

^ congrats to you too. hehehe you should have seen the players when they went to Alabang, they came to thank the Alabang supporters. They were treated like rockstars, the gym was filled with red shirts.

The scene was unexplainable, it gave me goosebumps. Gone were the days when Alabang was considered San Beda's prodigal son. hehehe Bene no more, but San Beda Alabang.

BTW, The Indian Yell was a joint cheer of the three schools. Alabang sent a big contingent as well. We were all surprised actually.

Sana nandiyan ako para makita yan. It's nice to see all the Bedan schools coming together under one Bedan identity. Dapt din magsaya ang Bene (it will always be Bene to me, puwede pang "BENE BULOK!!" pag panay hard core kasama ko, with pride of course, he he he....inabot mo ba yan, saka na ko ipapaliwanag..) of course, over the years, particularly during our time when we didn't have a college department and a college team, we threw our lot with the Red Lions. I remember some classmates getting into an argument with another classmate who made the mistake of bringing to school a Letran commemorative poster of their championships in the early '80's (taga Letran yung erpats at mga kamag anak). Muntik ng punitin on the spot. We also sent our token share of ballers over the years to play for the Red Lions the most noteworthy being Eric Altamirano (BAS HS batch '82) who transferred after his second year in Alabang. Jolly Escobar made a cameo appearance his freshman year in Mendiola before leaving for the US.


I'm hoping this victory by San Beda is the start of something big. Maybe a jump to the UAAP would be inevitable in a few years. Though at this point my heart is torn on whether or not to wish for the Red Lions to compete in the UAAP. I welcome to see San Beda in the UAAP stage but it will be very hard to cheer against them. San Beda in the NCAA will also double my chances of ending the basketball season celebrating a championship. Pag sinuwerte, double title or quadruple title pa (pag nagdikit dikit ang mga bituin ang pinagsabay na mag champion ang seniors at juniors, isa pa sigurong bituin at damay na Women's team ng Ateneo).

For the meantime, dasal tayong hindi kinakalawang ang Ateneo at San Beda para magtuloy-tuloy sa finals ng CCL. Sample nang makikita natin kung matutuloy ang San Beda sa UAAP.

This post has been edited by bluebruiser90: Oct 12 2006, 06:48 AM

[animo_red]

I still call the school Bene, force of habit I suppose, studied there for 13 years. You guys were lucky that you had a connection with Mendiola before. As of now, it's deja vu all over for you for the current crop of Alabang students see the ReD Lions as their own. As what the Rector President said on that day, "they are your team too." You can say basketball has a way of uniting things.

We both know that Alabang has a lot of potential, it is a major tool in helping San Beda achieve her greatness. Of course I know the "Bene bulok" thing hehehe we use it all the time back in HS, especially after we left for college. hehehe That's Typical Alabang brattiness for you hehehe

This post has been edited by animo_red: Oct 12 2006, 06:30 PM