Tinambac Town Fiesta ‘99
San Diego Celebration – A Big Success!
San Diego, CA. Tinambac Town Fiesta '99
was once again celebrated successfully in this beautiful and America’s
finest city. This year's venue was the Del Mar Camping Facility at the
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. The occasion,
which has become a traditional annual reunion for Tinambac expats, was
well attended particularly by members in Southern California.
Mr. "Showman" Marlon Multo Iglesias
of the famous Las Vegas Point-Point Inn, graced the occasion with an impromptu
"Concert at the Beach" along with his international sidekick Jose from
Mexico. Tony Betito , a famous Tinambaqueño tourist and now residing
in Baldwin Park, California also graced the occasion along with his entourage
from Diamond Bar, California. A conservative estimate of the total number
of attendees at Del Mar Beach was roughly 500 people with about fifty of
them concentrated in Cottages 20 through 24.
Notably missing were the Platons
and Abiogs from the Bay Area; Pradeses from Oxnard, California; the Papa's
and Newcomers ;and Mr. Dino Ablay from Oahu, Hawaii; and surprisingly,
Mr. "Entertainment" Tony "Bebot" Abrazado who just flew back from the Philippines
after a successful "Save Planet Tinambac" concert tour in Bagumbayan, Naga
City and Baybay, Tinambac, Camarines Sur.
Despite a gloomy forecast for
the weekend, the annual festival started on Friday, May 14 for some families.
Ervin Borja along with the incoming Vice Mayor Gil Borja and their families
arrived early followed by Mr. "Tom Jones" Frankie Abaño and his
mom Femia, and outgoing Mayor Al Villamora and family.
By the time the trio (Gil, Frankie
& Al) came back from their storied firewood expedition at Camp Pendleton
at around seven-thirty in the evening, the families of Noel, Jess &
Larry Borja; and Leo Soltes were also camped out.
Saturday came however with a
pleasant surprise from Mother Nature as the campers were greeted with bright
sunshine and blue skies. As if in sync with the planet’s rotation, incoming
Mayor Steve Abiog and family, along with his brother Herve, Rudy Abaño
and Richard Perry and families also arrived just as the morning sun was
coming out. Not to be outdone, as if there for the high noon duel, Evelyn
and John Ragsdale; and sister Emily with hubby Rodney of the new Pepsi
generation, joined in. Pepe Ablay and family arrived in time for the afternoon
games.
After a sumptuous lunch, the
children ‘s games were underway with outgoing Mayor Al directing
and wife Myra giving out the prizes. Five year old Marissa Borja, bested
six others who were much older than her in the ring toss competition. The
"Paste the Monkey on that Tree" competition was won by Crystal Abaño
and Massy Borja. The "musical chair" competition was won by Marissa Borja
and Jenny Tuy.
The adult competition was hilarious
and outrageous as they all got down and dirty, literally and figuratively.
Most hilarious of them all was the "Talong Transfer" competition which
ended up being the "Talong Relay" to break the tie among the last three
couples. With about ten couples initially participating in the "in between
the legs" transfer of the talong (eggplant), by the fourth round many of
the short and long talongs were talong-forgotten as only three couples
were left: Manny & Nena Betito, Ervin & Connie Borja, and Rudy
& Eva Abaño. The Betito couple was heavily favored because of
their good-fortuned extra-long talong. But, as history will cruelly show,
size was not a factor during the relay as Manny & Rudy found out when
they dropped their talong at the midway point while bunny hopping. Ervin
& Connie won by default as they limped their way to the finish line.
Cindy Villamora and Denden Abaño
both found out that despite the extra large apples that were used for the
"Apple Eating Contest", it paid to eat them all as they received their
hefty bucks for their first place finish.
The "Beer Guzzling Contest"
turned out to be a big surprise as Ervin Borja upset the heavily favored
John Ragsdale. Noel Borja thought he won the contest but to his dismay,
his bud was still gushing with suds.
With a tournament record of
two seconds, Jess Borja amazingly made a saucer full of cold spaghetti
disappear in front of the hundreds of spectators as he handily won the
"Spaghetti Eating Contest". When asked to comment about his record-breaking
win, Jess was speechless as he tried to clear his mouth still full of spaghetti.
The "Musical Chair Contest"
sounded like a broken record tournament of sort, as Dading Borja
hogged the remaining chair in the final seconds of the "go, go, go" song
to win the contest. On a sour note: Cora Soltes watched in disbelief as
she couldn't find a chair for the championship. "I will bring my own chair
next year" Cora was overheard to have vowed while walking towards the restroom.
The ten feet championship trophy
for the "Iraya versus Baybay" volleyball grudge match was withheld as the
two teams were tied after eight matches. The tournament was stopped due
to darkness and tired players.
As predicted, the Los Angeles
County delegation of Luis, Dandoy, Ramon and Tony Betito along with their
families and Marlon Iglesias, arrived in time for the afternoon Karaoke
contest just before the afternoon sun was about to take a dip in the Pacific
Ocean. However, the event was cancelled and rumor has it that the reason
for the cancellation was because the heavily favored LA delegation started
singing early and were singing well.
The weekend was indeed full
of fun, except for an unfortunate incident that happened on Sunday morning,
May 16th when Fel Borja slipped and fell while going up to the cottage
to retrieve a bottle of suka (vinegar) full of sili. She was rushed
to the Del Mar Branch Clinic and transported via ambulance to the Camp
Pendleton Naval Medical Center where she was diagnosed with a dislocated
left elbow. She was released later in the afternoon to the custody of her
husband Noel after her dislocated arm was corrected and they lived happily
ever after.
