MAHARLIKA NOBLE PRESS ISSUE 21

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MAHARLIKA TOASTMASTERS CLUB JUNE 12, 2007

In this Issue: 1. EdVil Brings Hollywood To Maharlika2. What’s Happening At Maharlika3. Cebulebrate: What A Way to Celebrate!4. Learning To Speak Cebuano

June Birthday CelebratorsJune 4 = David LaiJune 14 – Aida VallesJune 26 – Malcolm Mesina

EdVil Brings Hollywood To Maharlika

Edwin Villanueva executed the most elaborately decorated regular meeting when he debuted as Toastmaster of the Evening with a Hollywood theme. The program was hyped for two weeks in advance and it was as grand as it was touted. The floor of Jade Vine was turned into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with colorful star cut-outs in every tile. The bulletin board was a collage of celebrity pictures. And the members gamely came in the attire of their favorite Hollywood stars. We were once more honored by the presence of young students trying to observe how adults play.

Dressed to look like his favorite star Leonardo d’ Caprio, Edvil exuded confidence and enthusiasm the entire evening.

Above, Erika giving her Ice Breaker. On a floor littered with stars. Below, close up of one of the stars.

Malcolm (Chow Yun Fat) raised the bar for Table Topics by demanding an acting performance in his questions and participants Ed Fabonan (Al Pacino), guest Ronnie Mohani (Antonio Banderas), Elmer Policarpio (Alfredo Lim) and Mely Fernandez (Cameron Diaz) rose to the challenge. Aida (Merill Streep) had a tough time as the evaluator of this segment.

To know more about us, visit our site at http://maharlika.freetoasthost.info. Issue No. 21Or be our guest at our club meetings, every Tuesdays, 7pm at the Jade Vine Restaurant, Page 1U.N. Ave. cor. Bocobo St, Manila. Just walk in. You will be welcome.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/maharlikatmc/

Three Ice Breaker speeches were delivered by new members whose looks make them potential movie icons – Evadan (Jessica Alba), Erika (Julia Roberts) and Lester (Brad Pit). Cecille (Meg Ryan) resumed her March towards competent communicator by delivering her third speech project.

Bong Pestañas (Tom Cruise) finished the last of his CL assignment as the evening’s GE while Mely, Ronnie, David (John Travolta) and Ed worked on the speech evaluations. Doris (Jennifer Lopez) was the grammarian, Elmer the ah counter and Odessa tried out the timer role. Everyone had so much fun another Rotarian signed up and paid that very moment. Let’s all welcome new Maharlikan Lt. Col. Jun Yebres.

Past Division B Governor Irene Dy (CPA and Friends) was stunned by the preparation that went into the meeting and would like to try it for her club.

Great work! Maharlikans, you have proven that you are all stars.

What’s Happening At Maharlika? By CC Mely Fernandez, DTM Aida Valles, ATM-B Ed Fabonan

Aida Holds Youth Leadership Program

DTM Aida Valles conducted a Youth Leadership Program for 15 young people, with ages ranging from 14 to 18, of La Paz Parish in Makati City. The sessions were held on May 17, 21, 22, and 29 and June 4 -5. -MF

Odessa, Aida appointed to District Positions

ATM-B Odessa Andal has been appointed Area 12 Governor for the year 2007-2008. Odessa’s new role commences right after she relinquishes the stewardship of the MaharlikaToastmasters Club.

DTM Aida Valles will be wearing a new hat come July. She has just been appointed as District 75 Secretary. Aida had been Area Governor, Division Governor, Lt. Governor for Public Relations and twice Bulletin Editor of District 75. - MF

BonVoyage, Luisa !!!

It is now ADIEU for lovable and caring Luisa Boñaga. After postponing her trip to the US so many times, the time has come for her to rejoin her son in Chicago.

Luisa will pursue higher academic programs – either a doctorate diploma or a degree in law.

One of her immediate plans is to attend the Toastmasters International Convention in Arizona this August.- MF

Luisa in Cebu with District Evaluation Champ Hermie Garrobo and Marj Olorvida.

May 15, The Great Debate

Bong and Malcolm face off in the “Great Debate.”

May 15 was the night of the “Great Debate – Should Gay Marriage Be Legalized in the Philippines?” The attendance was quite good – Odessa, Ed, Luisa, Carl, Mercy, Mely, Mimosa, Aida, Sam, Edwin S., Edwin V., Stephen, Bong P., Malcolm, David, Maning, and Elmer (17 members) and five wonderful guests from other TM clubs – CTM/CL Khris Albano, ATM-G Jeff Menguin, ATM-S Yolly Meru, ATM-G Pam Castro, and CTM Mahdi Khadematolrasoul.

On the prepared speeches -TM Edwin Villanueva delivered a talk about “Me and My Dad” for his BSP 6. TM Mimosa Maghanoy tackled BSP 7 with her take on “Collection Target.” She gave an incisive presentation of the collection target of the Bureau of Customs. CTM/CL Khris Albano narrated a story about the rigors of rowing and the training needed to win. That presentation was Advanced Speech Project No. 3 – Story Telling.

Their respective individual evaluators were CTM Sam Tan, CTM Carl Fontanilla, and ATM-B Ed Fabonan.



Highlight of the night was the face-off billed as “The Great Debate.” With DTM Aida Valles as moderator, the debate went smoothly. The proposition was – “Resolved that gay marriages be allowed in the Philippines.” Taking the affirmative side were ATM-B Ed Fabonan and TM Malcolm Mesina. On the negative side were CC Stephen Caparaz and CC Bong Pestañas.

The panel of judges – Chair Jeff Menguin, Mercy Ente, Maning Valles, Carl Fontanilla, Khris Albano, Yolly Meru, Pam Castro, Edwin Suson – had a lengthy deliberation on the merits of each debater.

And the winning team was the AFFIRMATIVE SIDE. Best Speaker was Stephen Caparaz and Best Debater was Ed Fabonan. But the biggest winner of all was the glorious sight of the four debaters looking so dignified, dashing, and debonair in their barong Tagalog.

The night was lightened up by Elmer Policarpio serenading Mely Fernandez, who marked her birthday on May 12. CTM Edwin Suson chose that night to celebrate his big promotion by bringing pansit and goodies from Goldilocks. DTM Aida completed her CL requirements by being TME.

Completing the other roles were statuesque Odessa Andal as GE, CTM Edwin Suson as grammarian, ATM-B Luisa Bonaga as timer; and CL Mercy Ente as Ah counter - AV

May 22, MatheMagic

Math Teacher Samuel Tan took another crack at the Mathematics theme when he planned and emceed a meeting he called “MatheMagic.” Everyone came attired in geometric prints. David Lai gamely played his role as Table Topics Master wearing a yellow magic cap. Stephen delivered his first Advanced Speech Project, A Toast, in honor of Ed Fabonan who was District 1st Runner Up in the Evaluation Contest at the Cebu Discon. Beautiful guest Pryncess Pernia of the Makati Club charmed the crowd with her sweet evaluation of that project.

A sizeable crowd came to watch Sam weave his Mathemagic

Anna Herrera of Diamond Toastmasters was the evening’s General Evaluator. The other guests of the evening were Andy Uyboco of El Presidente (who tugged two other guests with him), Area 12 Governor Michelle Gojar, Division B Governor Marian Carandang and Aida’s young

leadership trainees. Prez Odessa, having hopped by her lonesome to Bohol after the Discon in Cebu (which ended on May 20), missed the meeting.

In the end, Sam delivered on his promise to magically pass through a hole which he cut in an 8x11 piece of paper. How he did it is now a secret that only those present in the meeting jealously keep. - EF

May 29, An Evening of Music

The meeting last May 29 was indeed a night of music. Master Showman Elmer Policarpio wooed the audience with his rendition of “I’ve got you under my skin”. It seemed almost everybody fell in love with the song and the singer.

Mely, Sam, Nelson and Mimosa being awarded with certificates of participation by Prez Odessa.

A singing competition was held with 4 contestants: Sam Tan, Mimosa Maghanoy, Nelson Andrae Antiporda ( guest of Aida) and yours truly. Sam, who rendered “Love me with all your heart” (a favorite song of his father’s), complete with adlib, was the run-away winner . His showmanship was superb. We now have a rep for the Quartethlon. Practice more Sam, I’m sure we have another champion in the making.

It was a well attended night with more or less 30 members and guest including Past President Benjie Eugenio, who worked abroad for a long time. He was one of the judges in the singing contest. Welcome back Benjie and hope to see you every Tuesday.

Evadan Culata, a new member, delivered an Ice Breaker and Malcom Mesina delivered his 7th speech project which tackled global warming. It was evaluated by guest Mary Jean Lim (TOPS). Three more speech projects to deliver and we have another CC. Go, go Malcolm!

The event was just like the American Idol with Bong Pestañas playing Simon Cowell , Odessa as Paula Abdul



and Ed Fabonan as Randy Jackson. Bong came dressed like a rock star and he was the GE in the event.

The active participation of everybody made the Evening of Music a delightful event. But before it ended Ed Villanueva gave an acting monologue as preview to what will happen in the June 5 meeting he was assigned to host. - MF

Maharlika Aims To “Beat The Clock”

Four new and talented members signed up to join the happiest club in District 75. Let us all welcome our newest Toastmasters: Evadan Culata, Lester Lazaro, Erika Nicolas, and Lt. Col Orlando Yebra. If we get one more new member before June 30, we would win the Beat the Clock Award. It will also mean we recruited a total of 20 new members this term. Isn’t that awesome?

Jun, Evadan, Erika and Lester, welcome to the club.

Cebulebrate: What a Way To Celebrate!By Ed Fabonan

If there is anything that could show Toastmaster passion and zeal displayed to the hilt, Discon 07 at Cebu has to be it. Registration, transportation and accommodation to participate in the event set me back by P10,000 and the other participants probably spent more. And yet, Toastmasters came in droves from as far North as Baguio and as far south as General Santos. 438 Toastmasters representing 95 clubs came to the grand convention.

And it was worth it! From the funny keynote speech of International President and Son of Cebu, Pawe Uy to the two educational talks given by 2005 World Champion Lance Miller to the fellowship at the beach of Portofino in Mactan. The event was so jam-packed with activities the organizers had to hold the Impromptu and Evaluation Contest in quick succession over a 3 hour period! I thought I could sneak out and go around Cebu (which has undergone a serious facelift since the time I was there 3

years ago) for shopping and leisure when there is a lull in the ceremony. But there was none! I had to get my pasalubong by asking the taxi cab that brought me back to the airport to pass by a pasalubong kiosk in Mactan.

The Convention Hall was jam-packed.

There is of course no better time to bond and meet new friends from around the Philippines than this. I met old acquaintances and shook hands with new ones (I missed that one photo op with Miss Cebu, though). The amazing thing is, the membership seem to be getting younger! This is only right. I think it is the young ones who stand to gain most from membership in Toastmasters.

International Prepared Speech winners: Randy Cabahug (1st

Runner-Up), Lourdes Felix (Champion), Greg Vallejera (2nd

Runner-Up).

And the contests have been marvelous. The caliber of the contestants has improved a lot. I attribute that to the availability of the videos of the recent conventions. Everybody is benchmarking against the past year’s winners so that the level of their game is much improved from the previous years’. Amanda Echevarria, 1st runner up of the Humorous speech contest told me she used the video of the 2006 Humorous speech contest to prepare for the competition.



Div Prepared Humorous Impromptu EvaluationA 3rdB 3rd 2ndC 1st

D 3rd

E 2nd 1st

FG 2nd 1stHI 2nd

K 1st 3rd

Where the trophies went.

This is very good for the district and for everyone. The most outstanding clubs proved to be Pines City of Baguio which bagged two trophies (1st in the Evaluation and 2nd in Impromptu) and Durian Toastmasters which also got two (1st in Impromptu and 2nd in Humorous). But the greatest honor would have to go to Division K, who will be sending District 75’s representative to the Prepared Speech Competition at the Arizona Convention in August, Lourdes Felix (Fort Bonifacio Toastmasters).

This event has become very addicting. I asked one of the delegates if she had as much fun as I had and all she could say was “Yeah-Boo!”

Delegates enjoy the white beach of Mactan in Portofino

Learning to Speak CebuanoBy Ed Fabonan

(This article was originally submitted to the organizers of Cebulebrate 2007, who printed it in one of the issues of the Cebu Discon Newsletter. It is being reprinted here with some modifications.)

I first visited Cebu more than 10 years ago. I was sent by our company to provide logistics support for one of our clients there.

I arrived late in the afternoon, went straight to a pension house (our company was cheap) and unpacked. With nothing else to do for the day, I decided to get a haircut. I tried asking for directions but nobody seemed to understand a word of Tagalog. I entered the nearest salon my wandering led me to. It was called, “Delilah’s Hair Salon.” At the waiting room, I picked up a “Wow Philippines” promotional brochure. At its back was an article titled “Learn Cebuano. It’s Fun and Easy!”

“Wow! How convenient,” I thought to myself. Fifty Cebuano expressions with their English equivalent --- exactly what I needed. I studied them while the gay hairdresser was experimenting with my hair. He was having a difficult time because I asked him (through hand gestures) to make me look good.

Alas, going through all the expressions, I realized that I could only memorize five lines, at the most. So I carefully and thoughtfully selected the five expressions that would be most helpful in surviving the streets of Cebu (I may not have remembered their correct spelling):

Kisa imo ngan? (What is your name?)Dugay ka na dire? (Have you been here long?)Ganahan ako sa imo pahiyom? (I like your smile.)Dalaga ba ka? (Are you single?)Pahaluka ko? (Can I kiss you?)

I left the salon erudite with my mastery of a new language. But I forgot to bring the brochure with me and my shortsightedness became immediately apparent. I failed to learn how to ask for directions in Cebuano. What if I get mugged? How would I shout for help? It was already dark and I was hungry. Since nobody could understand me, I could only walk and look and walk again. It was almost 9:00 pm when I stumbled upon a fancily lit eating establishment. I assumed it was an eating establishment because the signage read “Steve’s Place, Restaurant and KTV.” At that time, I really thought that “KTV” meant “Kilawing Tuna Vhelly.” (You have to expect some regional variations in spelling. After all, this is a place which spells Alan with a single “L”).

When I walked in, I thought I must have arrived too early, because much of the female crew was not yet fully dressed. But I instantly concluded that it was a safe and harmless place, because the females do not seem to mind dressing and undressing in front of all those men. I sat in a nice table with a “view.” In less than a minute, a waiter walked up to me towing the loveliest woman I have ever seen. She was wearing only a smile. “Sir, if you want, she can sit with you to keep you company?” Wow! A restaurant that gives you an instant date? It must be my lucky day.

As she sat down, I thought it was the perfect time to actually practice those Cebuano expressions I memorized.



“Kisa imo ngan?” I began. “Chestnut,” she replied quickly. Chestnut. How indigenous! “Dugay ka na dire?” I continued.“I’ve been here for only two weeks.” She said proudly as if to establish she is a fresh talent.

“Ganahan ako sa imo pahiyom.” I said appreciatively. And her smile grew even more radiant.

“Dalaga ba ka?”“Yes. But I have one baby.” I was not paying attention anymore because at this point, I have grown bolder. It must have been the beer.

With excitement and fear raging in me, I took my chance and dared ask, “pahaluka ko?”

In a flash, she grabbed my neck, pulled me towards her and planted a deep, probing kiss, into my mouth. That completed my familiarization with the Visayan tongue.

Then I came to my senses (after about five minutes in that position). I am a conservative man! I cannot do that when the lights are on (Yes, there were lights; they were all pink). So, with all the self-righteousness and propriety that I could muster, I pushed her away while saying, “I think we are moving too fast.”

Recovering my chivalry, I asked, “have you had dinner yet?” It was only a rhetorical question. I only had a hundred pesos in my wallet. Unfortunately, she took the offer seriously.

She replied, “Not yet. In fact, I’m very hungry now.”

As if on cue, the waiter was beside us instantly. I wondered how she was able to beckon him – I was tightly holding both her hands.

“Can I take your order sir?” he said eagerly.

“Yes,” I said. “Can you replace her with someone who has already eaten?”

That was how I got booted out of that place.

I decided to return to the pension house and got into the first taxi I saw. As we reached that first intersection the driver started talking to me in Cebuano. I panicked. How can I talk with this person? After a few moments of confusion, I finally found a way. I was surprised I did not think of it earlier. And the cab was able to bring me safely to my place.

How did I do it? Fellow traveler, do not worry if you cannot speak a word of Visaya. Most of the people here can understand you perfectly … in English.

In my most recent trip to Cebu, I didn’t have to learn a word of Cebuano.

About This Newsletter

Applause for Mely for helping prepare this issue.

The articles in this edition of the NOBLE PRESS were the contributions of CC Mely Fernandez in compliance with the requirements of CL Project No. 6. For questions concerning this newsletter, please get in touch with any of the following officers:

President Odessa Andal (928 5004615)VP for Education Ed Fabonan (917 8384583)VP for Membership Luisa Bonaga (917 8384583)VP for PR Carl Fontanilla (917 5287374)Secretary Jeanette Lim (917 9215422)Treasurer Doris Bisnar (918 9276874)Sgt at Arms Elmer Policarpio (9062577031)

The names "Toastmasters International", "Toastmasters" and the Toastmasters International emblem are trademarks protected in the United States, Canada, Philippines and other countries where Toastmasters Clubs exist. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.



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MAHARLIKA NOBLE PRESS ISSUE 21