The Beta Epsilon Sigma Fraternity History

(Excerpts from the 50^th Founding Anniversary Coffee Table Book)
By Mars P. Morales

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Early Beginnings

The Founders, better known us as the “Magnificent Seven” — Joe-Santos Bisquera, Cesar Fontanares II, Amador Llona, Eugene Mateo, Jaime Oidem, Arturo Roa, and Celso Samson … from the Phi Beta Rho Fraternity [banded together] to  form an exclusive ‘honors society – The Beta Epsilon Sigma Fraternity, committed to the ideals of patriotism, scholarship and brilliant leadership in an atmosphere of democratic leadership. At that time, the Founders have noted that mediocre student leaders have occupied the campus organizations positions while the precious scholars have found contentment in confining themselves within the four walls of a classroom.

More scholars and honor students soon joined the organization, Wilfredo Abalos, Primitivo Amores, Jr., I! Fernando Geronimo, Felipe Judan, Roberto Manabat, Marcial Morales, Jr, Alfeo Pelayo, Rolando Robles, Vicente Teodosio, Ricardo Vera Cruz, Sadiri Yoro, Andres Andres,  Anthony Corres, Manuel Diel, Jr., Eduardo Evangelista, Philip Ng, Francis Pasion, Dante Sy, and Emmanuel Naron. These nineteen members, together with the seven organizers formed the nucleus of the fraternity.

The fraternity submitted its constitution and by-laws to the University Student Adviser for appraisal and recommendation on 22 October 1966 and on the same date it was placed on probation. Due to its qualifications and merits, the fraternity was finally recognized by the University of the East on 6 January 1967.

During its first five years of operation at the University, BES under the leadership of five Grand Lord Chancellors – Joe-Santos Bisquera (1967), Philip Judan (1968), Mars Morales (1969), Ely Aurellado (1970), and Sonny Brozas (1971) successfully recruited the outstanding student leaders and brilliant students to the ranks of Sigmans. At this period, BES has set a track record of members graduating with Latin honors and placing in the Top 20 of the CPA Board Exams.

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Tumultuous Years of The 1970s

1971 signaled the start of student activism within the UE campus, in the Manila University Belt and in other school campuses all over the Philippines in defiance of the Marcos Administration. The business sector and certain government units have likewise demonstrated their strong resistance to the Marcos Regime. As a result, the President of The Philippines declared Martial Law on 21 September 1972. The UE Administration, like other similar institutions in the country, was mandated to dissolve all existing student organizations and ban them from operating on-and-off campus, or suffer the consequences. Student organizations had dispersed and their bulletin boards which then served as meeting places and rendezvous points had likewise been torn down for good. The BES-HNS tandem was no exception. The favorite hangout of our members then was the small office of the Textbook Bank, located at the far end of the ground Floor of the College of Secretarial Education Building. This corner office, which used to be our stronghold as it had been wholly controlled by BES-HNS since its inception, was not spared and had folded too.

Despite the ban, BES members enrolled at UE continued to recruit and secretly operated in groups of threes but no more than five at a time until the last batch shipped out in 1976. Hiss and whispers were the operative mood. To keep the spirit of the fraternity alive in the campus, these young undergraduates went out on a limb, and risked getting expelled from college and subjected to the harsh, sanctions under the Martial Law regime.

This challenging period was managed by the capable leadership of six Grand Lord Chancellors: Alfredo Santiago (1972 – 1st Semester), Oscar Torralba (1972 – Semester), OJ Jornacion (1973), Rudy Andres (1974), Ben Guerra (1975), and Roger Madriaga (1976).

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Spirit of Brotherhood and Sisterhood kept alive

Since their dissolution* in 1972 as student organizations, BES and HNS had reshaped into an informal joint organization which came to be known as BES-HNS. Over the years, the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood has been kept alive as most of their activities particularly social gatherings had been merged. So, too, unwittingly, some of our BES and HNS members had tied the knot together as a result.

When the last batch graduated in 1976, all fraternity activities at the University stopped altogether. Yet after graduation, and after taking the CPA Board Exams, many members found themselves as colleagues in such auditing firms as Sycip, Gorres, Velayo & Co., Joaquin Cunanan & Co., Carlos J. Valdes & Co., J. S. Zulueta & Co., etc. So the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood was rekindled anew. Such events, as Wedding Anniversaries, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Birthdays, and whatnots were utilized to keep the bonding tight, and update us on the whereabouts of other members. This social fabric was reinforced later, when everyone started to have his or her own family (fourteen pairs of brods and sis have become life partners), and some members becoming sponsors to weddings of fellow members, and later as godparents to members’ children. This enhanced fraternal bonding, especially those belonging to the same batch, continue to be strengthened further thru meetings on the side while our children were having their parties until their debuts and weddings.. –

The 80s saw the migration of many members to other countries. So despedidas and bienvenidas for members taking foreign assignments either as crosspostees of international companies or plain overseas professionals were yet another chance to maintain contact. In the late 90s till early 2004, BES-HNS parties were held at the Makati Sports Club, using the membership privilege of Oscar Torralba.

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Reunions kept bond intact

The first Grand Reunion held after the fast hatch of BES-HNS members graduated from UE in 1976 was at the Grand Ballroom, Century Park Sheraton Hotel, Vito Cruz St., Malate, Manila on 18 June 1983. No one remembered this occasion except when a copy of the ticket to this Reunion was unearthed from the vintage files of Gil and Cecille Palad.

On 21 and 22 September 1991, BES-HNS celebrated its first real Grand Reunion — the 25th Founding Anniversary, with the gala night held at the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental. On the first day, we had a Family Day at the MMJ Covered Court, Miriam College where members’ children had a full day Fun in a barrio fiesta ambience where dirty ice cream, hot dogs, cotton candy, marshmallow, barbeque, lechon, and other local delicacies were served. Topping it all, we had a great entertainment in the afternoon with the world-renowned magician, Lou Hilario. The day’s activities were capped by a painting session of all attending children with a painter-artist Solano Cruz, friend of Ely Aurellado,. The end product was a collaborative painting done by the children which was given to Andrew as a token of appreciation for being the major sponsor for the two-day big event. OJ Jornacion volunteered to print the Souvenir Program in his publishing company in LA.

When BES-HNS turned thirty in February 1997, we celebrated the 30th Founding at the New World Hotel, Makati. The anniversary was well-attended, mostly by the founders and earlier batches of BES-HNS, and members residing abroad who were in town like Mely Tamondong-Yancey. The guest speaker of the grand reunion was Dean Ester Ledesma of the College of Business Administration of UE who started her career at the University as my faculty assistant during my stint in the University as an Accounting Instructor.

Another four BES-HNS Global Reunions followed — once in the US, in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, in May 2003 which was organized and sponsored by OJ; twice in Manila, sponsored by Andrew Tan at Eastwood City on 23 November 2002 at Country Waffles (BES-HNS 40th Founding Anniversary) again followed by an excursion to Baguio from 24 to 26 November 2002 and on 18 February 2005 at Shanghai Bistro (which was followed by a tour of Baguio and the Ilocos Region from 19 to 22 February 2005) and the last one was held in Sydney, Australia from 24 September to 6 October 2006 and has been acclaimed as well –organized reunion, under the sponsorship and leadership of Linna Mitchell, ably assisted by Aida dela Cruz and Johnny Balagtas.

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Grand Reunion

All “Sigmans” and “Hiyas” were unanimous that the three day BES-HNS Grand Reunion from 8-10 January 2016 was a smashing success! We could not agree more. It has united all members from the founders down to the last batch of Class ’76. An overriding by-product of this affair is the re-establishment of contacts as everyone from all over the world showed up under one roof: USA, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the Philippines. With this, the gap of years and years of wayward isolation had magically fallen away, and, as everyone was being ushered into the grand ballroom, we felt once again like sophomores giggling along the hallway on our way to our respective classrooms. The true spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood, as one big happy family, reverberated for the first time, matured over the past half-century. Billed as the “ONE, LAST Big Affair of BES-HNS“, the drum beater had encouraged everyone to make good his or her attendance, and the “Brods” and “Sis” did not fail and responded quickly for no one wanted to miss out on the chance. The grand gala then filled with our voices, the walls echoing our laughter as we reminisced our naivete, our clumsiness and our once naked fragility, happy that we had surmounted the odds.

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Commending the two most outstanding members

During our BES-HNS 40th Founding Anniversary Dinner at Country Waffles in March 2004, Andrew Tan announced that all future BES-HNS parties to be held at any of the restaurants he owned would be hosted by him. So there followed Shanghai Bistro in Paseo, Center and later at the Eastwood City. And when Resorts World opened in 2009, Passion Restaurant, the best authentic Chinese Restaurant in the Philippines, housed at the six-star Maxim’s Hotel became our party venue. Andrew’s generous hosting, led to more frequent BES-HNS gatherings, especially when our “Brods” and “Sis” residing abroad come home for visits. Topping it all, Andrew sponsored major events in the recent Grand Reunion: the golf tournament at the Sherwood Golf and Country Club, the dinner at Passion Restaurant, the musical show “Bituing Walang Ningning“, and capped by the gala night at the Grand Ballroom of Marriott Hotel in Resorts World, where he proudly brought his wife, Sis Kathy and daughter, Kara. This, truly, is a classic example of a man who shares with his “Brods” and “Sis” his bountiful blessings every step of the way to his towering successes. Andrew takes pride of his humble beginnings which we all do share.

Another equally successful Brod worth commending is OJ Jornacion. He has been the Shepherd to all our members who migrated and settled down in California. His overwhelming, unsolicited support included assistance in searching for employment and homes for newly-arrived immigrants in his area. As he has embraced BES-HNS as his HOME, he provides every possible assistance until our immigrant members are comfortably settled. For transient visitors to Los Angeles, he opens his house to members as their temporary home. He would attend to any of us visiting at an instant notice. Without fail, he has been organizing mini-reunions every time a Sigman or a Hiyas visited Los Angeles. Brod OJ’s goodness is further amplified by the kindness and hospitality of his caring wife, Sis Gilda who always attended to us in their homes either in Los Angeles or here in Metro Manila. No wonder Brods Andrew and OJ are highly successful because both of them are GOOD MEN!

As in the Gala Night of our Grand Reunion, we deeply honored Andrew and OJ for their exemplary success in business, and, above all, their consistent, overflowing support over the years to the individual-members and to BES-HNS as a whole. Also commended is Cherry Bernaldo who had excelled herself in many ways, especially in the field of accounting, taxation and law thru the establishment of her own firm, Bernaldo and Associates. She has served as co-chair in most grand- and mini reunions of BES-HNS organized in the Philippines.

SEMPER PREUMIUM has been our credo for the past 50 years and will remain for the rest of our lives.

*The fraternity was rendered inactive because of the martial law restrictions on school organizations

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