THE BESA story can be told from the time two BESA brods became reunited on Australian terra firma. Ruben “Benben” Sison ‘79 (3rd generation Betan) arrived in Sydney NSW on January 1990. Before leaving Manila, Prof. Ilio informed him that Manuel “Eboy” Ortiz ‘79 (2nd generation) and Richard “Ricky” Yang ‘79B were already in Australia. Eboy’s sister-in- law in Banawe, QC provided Benben his contact details in Sydney. Ricky was in Melbourne and gave Eboy a phone call in Sydney. Three days later, Ricky decided to pack up and join Eboy in Sydney. That meeting started BESA history.

Benben Sison ‘79

Benben immediately contacted Eboy and Ricky upon his arrival in Sydney. Unexpectedly, a friend of his wife Lorna’s cousin mentioned having met this lovely Filipino couple at the Mosman ferry. Soon enough they had Joey ‘80 and Joy Tengco coming but missed them as they were out. Not long after Joey settled in Sydney in February 1990. Then there were four as Joey lived close by and Ricky lived not far from Eboy as well. Prior to meeting with Joey, Benben recalled visiting Joy at her flat in Mosman as Joey was still in Manila waiting for his visa. In one of the UP Alumni picnics, Ricky and Benben were informed by a Tau Alphan named Jules Sanchez that a Betan brod was in Sydney working as Trade Consul. He’s Romulo “Mulong” Manlapig ‘68 a well renowned member of the Epsilon Singers. And then Mulong found Abraham “Abe” Amores ‘62. He also found Alberto “Bert” Selorio ‘68, Toribio “Toby” Jamolin ‘70 and Rodolfo “Rudy” Tan ‘67.

There was a time when Ricky went through the Beta Epsilon directory to check certain names against the Sydney phone directory. He found the name of Brod Vicente Lozada ‘36 originally from Cebu City who at the time resided at the eastern suburb of Ramsgate. Ricky recalled speaking to him but declined to join the younger brods at the time as he was looking after his ailing wife. Recent efforts to track his whereabouts proved fruitless.

Rudy Tan ‘67

RUDY was sent by Colgate Palmolive Philippines to Sydney to train in project management from August to October 1979. He liked Sydney and wife Marion wanted to move overseas. It was too difficult to obtain USA visa and took too long to wait, so Rudy applied early 1980 as an independent migrant. His visa was approved in May and settled in Sydney in August 1980. Wife Marion joined him later in November. Brod Rudy worked in IT mainly in software development management for a multi-national consumer company from 1980 until he resigned in 1995 to lead a Filipino congregation in Sydney.

Abe Amores ‘62

Abe took a long time to decide whether to settle in Australia, his immigrant visa twice extended but a third extension was refused by the Embassy. He and his family arrived in Sydney on 29th January 1982, a day before their visa expiration. He never expected to meet any Betan in Sydney as Australia was not at the time a popular destination for Filipino migrants and professionals. Most if not all Betans prefer the US or Canada.

Abe’s active involvement in community service organizations like The Order of the Knights of Rizal Sydney chapter led to his meeting Philippine Commercial Consul Romulo Manlapig. Mulong introduced himself as a fraternity brother and without hesitation recalled his initiation experience during UP days. As the most senior among BESA brods in Sydney, he and his wife Tessie provided support, guidance and leadership to the BESA family.

Mulong Manlapig ‘68 – the BESA founder

“It was during a Filipino community function in Sydney where I was invited as Guest Speaker. I heard Abe’s name being called. Sabi ko, ito iyong brod ko na nagpapakanta ng ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ na bastos noong amuyong pa ako in ‘68. Sa isip ko, wala naman sigurong iba pang malaking mamang Pinoy na may pangalang Abe Amores. So, nagpakilala ako, and we have always been in touch ever since.”

Mulong met his kumpare BenBen, and through him, Joey Tengco (one of whose many kids are his baptismal godson), Ricky Yang, Eboy, Toby and Pastor Rudy much earlier. He recalled co-hosting a dinner for PAL Kapitan Dwight Galsim who suddenly showed up in Sydney and remembered vividly having missed the PAL flight back to Sydney for the first BESA frat reunion. He arrived the day after the BESA frat ball at Gazebo Hotel. Mulong was instrumental in bonding the brods and their families whilst posted in Australia as Senior Trade Representative from 1992 to 1996.

Toby Jamolin ‘70

Toby ‘70 and Aida Jamolin arrived in Australia in January 1987. He became aware of the presence of some brods in Sydney through Mulong who invited him to a get-together with other Brods in his residence somewhere in the Hills District. Since then, he managed to attend most of the major gatherings of the BE Brods such as birthdays, annual Christmas party, anniversaries, welcome parties for visiting Brods.

Eboy Ortiz & Ricky Yang’s version - 1988

Ricky Yang initially settled in Melbourne for 4 days in Sept. 1988 before joining Eboy in Sydney. Coming to Sydney was coincidental as he could not withstand the weird weather (sometimes 4 seasons in a day) in Melbourne. Manuel “Eboy” and Mini Ortiz arrived in Sydney on 1 July 1988 and stayed at North Ryde where he found a job at Hymix Concrete. Eboy and Ricky were contemporaries - mula sa College, Frat at even after college life. Another coincidence was living almost next too each other in Sydney, Eboy lived North Ryde while Ricky was in Campsie close to his relatives. During those days these 2 dynamic brods searched for other brods in Sydney. It was difficult to rely on the telephone directory. Wala pa raw kasing internet or emails to help.

Eman Manlapig ‘67

After Eman graduated in Metallurgical Engineering in 1971, he completed his Masters and PhD at the University of Queensland (Brisbane) in Mineral Processing Engineering. When he finished in 1977, he lived in the US for two years to do post doctoral work. He came back to Australia to work for Mount Isa Mines (MIM) in North Queensland until 1990. When his kids needed to go to high school, his family returned to Brisbane where he took a job at the University to teach mineral engineering and at the same time did consulting jobs for the mining industry. He looks after big research projects which took him in many parts of the world (hence the travelling).

In 1976, Eman and wife Lily got married in Manila and resided in Brisbane, Queensland. They have 2 children, Enrico - an economist who works for Price Waterhouse Coopers in Sydney and daughter Justine, an Electronic Commerce graduate at UQ and now works for Rio Tinto as a graduate accountant.

Bert Selorio ‘68

Bert and Connie Selorio arrived in Sydney with their four children in November 1989. He moved around Australia in relation to his work. He supervised the telephone manufacturing line of ALCATEL in Liverpool for 5 years before moving to the chilly Australian capital of Canberra, immersing himself in fiber optic splitter technology. It was during this time that Mulong found Bert, his batch mate. The family moved back to Sydney in 1997. Bert's career turned towards Logistics and Operation Management. He planned traffic control projects for AWA. He was Logistics Manager for TARBS, the carrier of 3 Filipino Channels in Australia. Bert & Connie had been hosting Betan visitors in Sydney even before they moved to their new north western suburb residence in Kellyville where many brods live within 5 kms. of each other.

Joey Tengco ‘80

Joey settled in Australia on February 1990. He knew that Ricky and Eboy were already in Australia before he left the Philippines. His first contact was with Benben. Ricky gave him some insights and advice on finding work in Sydney. It was at the Royal National Park in Sutherland where the almost monthly meetings of four families - Eboy & Mini, Ricky & Shirley, Benben & Lorna, Joey and Joy – have started. These momentous, historical and awe-inspiring events were captured in photo and video and continued over a few years until they found Mulong or Mulong found them.

The group grew logarithmically with the get-togethers at Mulong's house, where they first met Toby & Aida then at the Christmas party held at Georges River National Park where the group linked up with Bert & Connie Selorio, Abe & Tessie and later at Abe's house where they first met Rudy & Marion Tan.

Ed Vallester ‘75

Ed has worked for twelve years as Planning and Programs Analyst in a big electric company in Saudi Arabia. The 1991 Gulf War made him reconsider his priorities.

Ed and Judith Vallester migrated to Australia in August 1992 but it was only in the last quarter of 1999 when he heard about BESA. His batch mates Sonny Gancayco (of BENA) and Mandy Agregado (based in Malaysia) were instrumental in linking him to BESA. Sonny mentioned having met Abe Amores at Los Angeles CA during a dinner hosted by SoCal brods. Mandy encouraged him to subscribe to the BE e-group to widen his contacts.

Ed communicated with Josef through e-mail but mistook him as "bagong salta rin sa Ostrelya". He finally met all his BESA brods, ‘nettes and ‘naks (except Rudy & Marion Tan) at the Christmas Party held at Ricky's place on December 1999. Nette Tessie Amores also mistook him for Toby because during those times they rarely see Toby in past frat celebrations and reunions.

Josef Inciong ‘88

Josef arrived in Sydney on March 1999 - a total stranger, alone and a month ahead of his family. His closest relative was a 3rd degree aunt living in Burwood. The only school contact he had was a batch mate from UP Math Club. However, Benben Sison replied to his blind email to BE - egroups. For the first time, they met in North Sydney, and mentioned that a get together would be held to welcome him and another visiting brod, Dojie Manahan. On that occasion, the brods mentioned that Jun Almario ‘92B (whom he met twice in Manila) was coming too. What he didn't know was that all those times, Ida Del Rosario (then Jun's girlfriend and daughter of a rival engineering frat) was actually a work colleague of his UP Math Club batch mate. The BESA brods held another party and this time to welcome his wife Jen and their children together with Jun and Ida.

Jun Almario ‘92B

Jun came to Sydney in May 1999 with the original intention of visiting his then girl friend Ida. [She came to Sydney in Feb. 1999 for work reasons.] While planning his visit, Prof. Ilio gave him the list of brods based in Sydney. He e-mailed Joey, Bert, and Eboy who responded to Jun on behalf of the group. He inquired about the job market in Australia and Joey offered him the opportunity to work with his company, Civil Systems. A welcome get together was organized at Eboy's place to meet most of the brods and their families together with Joel Marciano who at the time was completing his doctorate at the University of New South Wales at Kensington.
Ida and Jun got married August 1999 with the wholehearted support and assistance by the BESA betanettes who organised a reception and party. Jun and Ida are now expecting their first baby in July 2003 and hopefully my second generation will join our beloved BESA family.

Dojie Manahan ‘82

Dojie is an “affiliate BESA member still holed up in Manila” according to Joey Tengco. He had been exchanging emails with Benben regarding his family’s planned visit to Sydney in the mid 1990s. In March 1999, Dojie’s family squeezed a three-week trip in Sydney. Benben, Joey, Eboy and Ricky organized a get together party at Ricky’s place in Revesby to welcome him and Josef Inciong, who just arrived ahead of his family. It was learned that Jun Almario was coming in also for a visit.

After having been convinced by BESA brods into migrating to Australia and receiving phone advice from Connie Selorio regarding immigation procedures prior to their return to Manila, Dojie and Betanette Sally finally decided to proceed with their migration application in June 1999. They were granted their immigrant visas in May 2000 but with an August 2000 deadline to settle in Australia. However, they are still in the process of demobilizing their Philippine operations, and have not yet fixed a date for their return to Sydney.

The First BESA Reunion at the Gazebo Hotel in Potts Point

The first ever frat anniversary in Australia held at Gazebo Hotel in August 1994 was a realization of Mulong’s diplomacy among brods. Although it was pouring heavily and everyone struggled to find parking space in Sydney’s red light district, everybody were extremely excited to meet their clan. It was the first time Abe, Rudy, Bert, Toby, Benben, Ricky, Eboy and Joey had linked up. Mulong was sadly missed. Bert came all the way from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory together with Betanette Connie to attend this momentous event. It turned out Abe and Connie knew each other before hand as they took the same train to work in Parramatta. Everyone agreed that the first frat anniversary in Australia was a truly memorable celebration by the Beta Epsilon family in Australia.

Ricky recalled that in December 1994 the first BESA Christmas family picnic/reunion was held at Georges River Park close to where he lives. Fortunately this time, Mulong was there. He even played the guitar and to remind us how great an Epsilon Singer he was and still is. Again, Bert & Connie together with their daughter Claudia drove again all the way from Canberra.

Beta Epsilon Sa Australia (BESA)

Brod Abe coined the name at a party at Eboy’s place to welcome Cirilo “Jun” & Ida Del Rosario Almario and to bid farewell to Joel Marciano who finished his doctoral thesis at the University of New South Wales. The BESA brods discussed the possibility of hosting an international reunion in Sydney sometime in the future. The idea of a reunion came up after Abe’s US visit and was also warmly received by BENA Pres. Vic Reyes.

Visiting BETANS

Interesting bit would be a run-down of brods we have been host to. Francis Ablan ‘48 was here on a business visit way back in 1982. Dr. Roger Panlasigui ‘60 visited Canberra and Sydney in 1988.

From memory, Eboy's dad – Remigio ‘50, Nonoy Cantoria ‘82 (in early 1992), Jojo ‘82 and Divi Malolos, PAL Captain Bro. Dwight Galsim ‘67, Rey Felipe ’78, dela Cruz & wife Helen of Simi Valley LA, Mayor Crocodile Dan-Ding Villena ‘71 of Padre Burgos, Quezon, Toti Kasilag ‘60, Butch Juria ‘92B, Frank Sison ‘53 (Benben’s Dad) Vic Loreto ‘79 in 2001, Dodjie Manahan ‘82 (still undecided when to live permanently in OZ).

Joel Marciano ‘93 was here for a while to complete his doctorate degree in electronics at the University of NSW. Also, 2 other brods took post graduate courses in Melbourne (BS Garbology – the modern science in waste disposal!) One of them was Gene Cruz ‘95.
There's also Checky Bautista’80 from Guam. Bert Selorio was the lone BESA delegate at the San Diego ‘96 BENA reunion. Benben represented BESA at the 70th reunion in Manila in 1999. There were also overseas visits by Abe, Joey, Toby and Benben in the USA at various times.