Vol 40 Issue 2
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ALPHA PHI OMEGA GREATER LOS ANGELES ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
February 2020
APOGLA brothers & sisters with their spouses celebrating Valentine’s Day at Noypitz Bar and Grill in Downtown Los Angeles last February 15, 2020
LADIES’ NIGHT 2020 AT THE NO YPITZ NOYPITZ By Bro. Tony Gomez Kudos to the tandem of Sis Daemma and Sis Josie for the recently concluded Ladies Nite 2020 at Noypitz last February 15, 2020 and to the spouses and significant others, etc. who once again, showed their unwavering support to APO GLA events. It was really a delight to have seen how those attended let themselves loosen up to enjoy the unli food, drinks and most of all the camaraderie as brothers and sisters. It was another awesome experience for APOGLA for this gig. Noypitz downtown L.A. was a perfect spot. Fun, laughter and entertainment were up to the sky. The gay duo ‘FIFI and POKA’ were amusing and yet expectedly unwholesome, at times vulgar and obscene in their unique entertainment style. But it was truly a non-stop treat. The 'MAGNITUDE BAND' was a spectacle. Sis Hazel is already trying to arrange for them to be our guest band at our annual December affair. That's how good they are. Headed by lead singer 'Ms. Buji', incidentally Toni Aralar's Saint Paul schoolmate in Manila and coincidentally Eric Aralar’s past co-worker in Macau. Buji, as she is called, works as a nurse at the City of Hope and passionately sings professionally. It was truly a blast. Most of us were there until closing. Special mention to two of our very own Bobets (Lara and Peneza) who 'brought the house down' for their part in the band's rendition of Ogie Alcasid's "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang" and Journey's "Faithfully." One can tell that we never get tired of being in the company of the best crowd to be - APOGLA, couples or not. One downside of the evening was the issue on the parking entrapment. We were given 3 hour parking validation, but because we were there for 6 hours, we were forced to pay the full $20 daily rate. Parking is $2 for every 15 minutes. Beware to those who plan to go there to make sure you are there only for 3 hours. Per the words of Sisters Daemma and Josie, they wish to wholeheartedly thank everyone’s participation and support of the affair. It was worth all their hard work, sleepless nights and stress. As the APO saying goes, we are always true to ourselves and to each other as we will always be . . . APO. Tony Gomez CP# 818-355-8999 Realtor, Lic.#01771553 - Home Smart Realty
More Pictures on Pages 4 & 5
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PRESIDENT’S MESSA MESSAGE GE Greetings Everyone! I would like to thank everyone for a very well attended and successful 1st General Membership Meeting of the year. Everybody at the meeting was excited. Almost everyone would like to be heard, to participate and share information. Our great Association, APOGLAwill reach greater heights because of everyone’s participation! Today, I’m writing to you to congratulate everyone on being a part of this awesome, fantastic and great alumni association. Now we are in the 2nd month of the year. The month of February is what we call the month of the heart, because this is the month we show love and affection to the people who are our inspirations, our partners, ourselves, and our friends. We have a night to celebrate and recognize the ladies in our lives, The “Ladies Night.” We are holding our February General Membership Meeting in Palm Springs, a place where we can spend an awesome and relaxing weekend. Our wish is to increase the numbers of members by spreading out our meetings in the different suburbs of Los Angeles! See you all in Palm Spring on February 22, 2020. Our meeting will start at 3:30 PM in order to allow for more time for fellowship after our GMM and to those who wants to leave early a safer drive home while the sun is still up. Thank you all so much! Fraternally yours, Tony Amon APOGLA President 2020
January GMM Highlights •
60 paid members as of Jan 18, 2020
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Sunday, March 8 - First service of the year at Mile 13 of the 2020 LA Marathon. This will be our 33rd year of service to the LA Marathon.
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Saturday, April 25 – APOGLA’s first BUSCAPADE for the year at CASINO MORONGO!
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APOGLA Constitution and By-laws Article 7.7: Chairman of the Board – elected official only?
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Sports Month is June! Standby for more information from our Chairpersons Brothers Geoffrey, Bernard and Jerome
Tribo ni Bado Newsletter is a monthly publication of the Alpha Phi Omega Greater Los Angeles Alumni Association exclusively for its members, families and friends. The opinions expressed herein are those of the writers, and are not intended to represent APOGLAAA. Editor-in-Chief Jen Evangelista Publisher Sancho Sy Photos/Graphics by Jen Evangelista • APOGLA FB Page Contributors Dan Nino • Fely Montecillo • Tony Amon Troy Agagon • Dony Rondilla • Tony Gomez Daemma Mendez
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ACNA Corner - Good News or Bad News By Bro. Dony Rondilla For almost 30 years, ACNA represents the solidarity and kinship between alumni associations in North America. The push by APO-Philippines to have ARNA manage these alumni associations has largely been unsuccessful. Realizing that they need to have an ACNA connection, APO-Philippines appointed ACNA president as the ARNA Director. Trying to mesh the two organizations under one leader did not work so ACNA abandoned this arrangement and coined the phrase “Let ACNA be ACNA and Let ARNA be ARNA”, meaning we go our separate ways and see how it plays. Behind the scenes, ACNA leadership has been pushing to have ACNA be the sole entity to manage the affairs of all alumni associations in North America. Brod Egay Ninofranco was instrumental in pushing for this change during the last Convention in the Philippines. It was good news that APO-Philippines made a commitment to have ACNA take over the functions of ARNA and in effect, ARNA will cease to exist. A few months ago, I hosted a small gathering at our place attended by ACNA President, Jun De Castro, ACNA Chairman of the Board Marc Barcelona, and a few APOGLA members who are staunch supporters of ACNA. The objective was to make sure that ACNA leadership follows up with the next steps to make his vision a reality. We set-up a conference call with the representative from the APOPhilippines BOD for them to identify what they are expecting from ACNA leadership. Once we know what they need, APO ACNA president Jun De Castro drafted the document and sends it out, hoping that this will be fast tracked on the APO-Philippines BOD meeting. Fast-forward to present and we found out that the APO-Philippines recently appointed a new set of ARNA officers. We were blindsided. It seems all communications have been forgotten and all agreements have fallen on the wayside. So we are back to square one. Back to our rallying cry of “Let ACNA be ACNA…Let ARNA be ARNA”. What does this mean? It means that there are again two organizations, independent from each other, vying to see who will be successful in managing the affairs of alumni associations here in North America. When someone will ask, “Is this a good news or a bad news?” If history is a viable indicator, it means that ACNA will continue to grow and prosper on its own, leaving ARNA standing still. It will always be good news when APOGLA stands by its commitment to ACNA.
2020 CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES
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Pictures from Ladies’ Night 2020 @ Noypitz - Los Angeles Thankful Sisters Brothers and Sisters, Sister Josie Tarculas and I once again would like to extend our warmest appreciation for all those who supported, either by attending or not, the recently concluded Ladies Nite 2020 at Noypits Downtown LA on February 15, 2020. Likewise, our grateful and warmest thanks also go to the spouses and significant others who once again, showed their unwavering support to APO GLA events. It was really a delight to have seen how those who have attended let themselves loose to enjoy the food, drinks and most of the camaraderie as brothers and sisters of our Association, GLA. To see those who attended enjoy the music by the “MAGNITUDE BAND” and the laughter that filled NOYPITZ as the duo of “FIFI and POCA” entertained, was a pleasure to see. Once again, Sister Josie and I would like to thank everyone’s participation and support wholeheartedly. These made all the hard work, sleepless nights and stress of organizing this affair all worth it. As the APO saying goes, we are true to ourselves and to each other as we will always be . . . APO in LFS, Sis Daemma Mendez and Sis Josephine Tarculas Theta Sigma ‘92 Gamma Sigma ‘78
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Pictures from Ladies’ Night 2020 @ Noypitz - Los Angeles
Brod Tony & Ofel Amon
Brod Dony & Elsa Rondilla
Brod Lito & Sis Josie Tarculas
Brod Bobet & Grace Lara
Brod Rudy & Liza Flores
Brod Bobet & Mary Ann Peneza
Brod Ogie Jaranilla & spouse
Brod Eric & Toni Aralar
Brod Ed & Marissa Tecson
Brod Roland & Gigi Paras
Brod Beeboy M. & Sis.Maye Nunag
Brod Sammie & Mylene Zamora
Brod Bong & Maricar Ansula
Brod Tony & Ella Gomez
Brod Yusup & Arnie Maidin
Brod Bernard Gopez & spouse
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Pictures from January GMM @Rosemead Masonic Lodge
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FR OM MY POINT OF VIEW FROM
By Bro. Dan E. Nino
Some Tips With Our Current Income Tax I wish you had a delightful Christmas holidays. May you also have a fulfilling, fruitful, abundant and healthier new year. May your vision for the new decade be granted. The newly-enacted, so-called Tax Cuts and Job Act (TCJA) will be in our midst till 2025. Thereafter, a new tax law will be crafted again. The TCJA has lots of deductions removed vis-a-vis the old tax codes. This is the major reason why tax refunds have been reduced and taxes paid to Uncle Sam had spiked. The other reasons are the caps placed on some deductions and minimized tax withholdings from our W-2s so taxpayers can have more take home pay. However, at the end of the year, we scramble to pay our income taxes. You are not alone. Although personal exemptions have been eliminated, the standard deductions have been doubled in the new tax law. As the 2019 tax filing is under way till April 15, 2020, I advise you to gather all your paper works for a heads up. Depending on your situation, there will be other documents and receipts that you should provide for a smooth and painless tax season. For your income, here are the major ones: W-2s, Form 1099-Rs (pensions, annuities), Form 1099 Interest, Form SSA 1099 (Social Security Benefit Statement), Qualified dividends, Cash tips especially those working in restaurants, Qualified business income and State refunds, among others. For tax deductibles, here a few of them: Qualified business deductions, Form 1098 (mortgage interest statement), Property Tax, Charitable donations with written acknowledgment, Church donations, Rental home expenses, Investment-related expense records. Vehicle registration fees, Medical, Dental & Optical expenses, Child day care expenses, Tuition fees for dependent students to claim the American Opportunity Credit, among others. For the tuition fees, just obtain 1098 T from the college or university where you’re enrolled in to be eligible for tax deductions. For those who refinanced their homes in 2019, origination fees and loan discounts are deductible. Your expenses for home improvements are not deductible if you use your home purely as your personal residence. However, you can deduct the cost related to selling your home that include the hiring of a real estate agent, legal fees, management fees, title insurance, advertising costs and escrow fees. If you have rental properties, all expenses related these properties are tax deductible including depreciation, operating expenses, maintenance and repairs, mortgage interest, utilities, loan interest and property tax among others. However, since the standard deductions have been doubled starting 2018, the tax software will choose either the itemized or standard deductions whatever is more beneficial to the taxpayer. Keep a file folder for your documents so it would be easier to retrieve your important information. Simply put, there’s no substitute for a well-organized records. If you need assistance, please make an appointment. My new office is located at 12614 Del Amo Blvd. Lakewood, CA 90715 (corner Bloomfield Ave. beside Target bordering the City of Cerritos). Whenever you are ready, please give me a call. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Contact me at my cell phone 562-508-8099 or e-mail denino1951@gmail.com
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GOINGS ON by Sis. Fely Montecillo It’s February and once again we greet all our February born a Happy Birthday and may you have more wonderful birthdays to come! May your blessings multiply and may happiness follow you wherever you are! Those born during this month are known for their frankness for they are extremely honest, mysterious (what’s going on in that head?), innovative, unique, have strong will power, generous and devoted. This month we celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14, The President’s Day on February 17 and Ash Wednesday on February 26. Those are the popular ones anyway. There are too many and would fill up the space allotted for us! ******************************** We have Valentine’s Day this month which is derived from the names of three Catholics recognized by the Catholic Church. These three though were all martyred. One legend believes that Valentine was a priest who served in Rome. At that time, Emperor Claudius believed that single men made better soldiers than the married one. Claudius then outlawed marriages for young men. Valentine however, continued to perform marriages. He was discovered and was killed for this. Another Valentine was killed for helping Christians. It is believed that the Christian church decided to place the celebration of St. Valentine’s feast in mid-February to Christianize the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. ******************************** Allow me to express my admiration and best wishes to the lovely couples in our organization whose marriages have withstood the test of time. We are all aware of the difficulties married couples have to go through, for married life is not a bed of roses. And here they are, through the years still holding hands facing life through thick and thin, in its ups and downs despite adversities, yet still loving each other! How beautiful it is to see them! Indeed, love is wonderful! ******************************** As we write this column, Sis Emma Galang would now be in the Philippines to bond with her batch mates in Alpha Sigma batch 1975 from San Pablo Colleges. She and her college chums will have an Asian tour which will cover Japan, Singapore and Thailand. Have fun with your friends Sis! We would also like to welcome Brod Egay Ninofranco and wifey Tonette as they plane in from Australia and New Zealand. Welcome back to the fold you two!
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TREASURER’S REPOR T By Bro. Troy Agagon REPORT 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
Agagon, Troy Almazan, Alex Almazan, Irma Amon, Tony Amon, Ophel Anadilla, Jun Aris Ang-Gayon, Melody Ansula, Bong Aralar, Eric Ayo, Toti Bolisay, Herome Bonete, Elena Cajucom, Willy Calvario, Rene Carrasco, Danny Chin, Jhun* Chua, Michael Cobarrubias, Bob Conferido, Rueben David, Christian David, Betta Delmolin, Froilan Emperado, Rudy Evangelista, Domel Evangelista, Jen Fajota, Honeyboy Flores, Rudy Ford, Rebecca Galang, Emma Gapido, Bodjie Garchitorena, Mar Gopez, Bernardo Guerrero, Ging Imperial, Gloria Irineo, Philip Jovellanos, Jobie Junio, Virgil Lara, Bobet Layno, MaryAnn Lee, Marisol
41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77.
Linsangan, Jun Madrigal, Jun Madrigal, Tess Maiden, Yusop Mamaril, Ferdie Mansilla, Beeboy Marte, Rocky Martinez, Romeo Medina, Boy Mendoza, Armand Miranda, Shane Ninofranco, Egay Paggao, Jerome Pangilinan, Angel Paras, Roland Paredes, Vic* Pascual, Winston Pastores, Alex Peneza, Bobet Posadas, Rey Romero, Ed Rondilla, Dony Rosales, Nonot* Salas, Hazel Salvador, Buddy Serrano, Eric Sy, Sancho Tarculas, Lito Tarculas, Josie Tavera, Glenda Tecson, Edgar Torallo, Silver Valdecantos, Henry Valera, Liza Williams, Rachelle Yambot, Ferdie Zamora, Sammy
* - paid for 2 years Report as of February 19, 2020
Please send your $50.00 Membership Dues to: TROY AGAGON 27447 Elder View Dr., Valencia, CA 91354 All checks must be made payable to: APOGLA
HAPPY BIR THD AY BIRTHD THDA FEBRU AR Y FEBRUAR ARY CELEBRANTS MEMBER: 02 - Marc Bundalian 03 - Armand Mendoza - Rebecca “bibic” Ford 04 - Jennifer Evangelista 11 - Alvin Nonato 12 - Bonjie Ingco (deceased) - Nestor Jove 16 - Christina Abad 18 - Caloy Enriquez 19 - Conrado Lazo 24 - Gerry Arante - Beatriz Ventura 26 - Dom Pascua 28 - Benito Morales 29 - Pete Sillorequez SPOUSES: 02 - Mercedes Cabral 05 - Yolly Adriano, - Rollygen Posadas 06 - Precy Marte 09 - Nida Nonato 21 - Roland Gayon, Allyn Pablo 24 - Jeanette Clarete 26 - Chiqui Ramos APO KIDS: 01 - Ardina Morallos, - Rheene Yambot 02 - Matthew Madrigal, - Mae Robles, Janine Tarculas 04 - Bed Fisico 06 - Megan Ninofranco, - Jonathan Maddela 07 - Jeffrey Gomez, Jamie Bautista 08 - Dainty Amon 09 - Joseph Duldulao 10 - Elena Rondilla 12 - Janelle Alejandria 13 - Mikael Anton Ang-Gayon, - Daryl Amon 17 - Joevic Cobarrubias, - Josh Parayno 18 - KC Ingco, James Valentino, - Jay Henry Valentino 24 - Lean Noche 25- John Howard Paras 27- Kayla Williams, Nicole Ilagan
JANU AR Y GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING ANUAR ARY WHEN: Saturday, FEBRUARY 22, 2020 GMM starts at 3:30PM Fellowship follows WHERE: Bro. Nestor & Sis Shirley Jove’s Place 68058 Madrid Rd. Cathedral City, CA 92234 CONTACT PERSONS: Bro. Tony Amon CP# 818-970-4214 Bro. Nestor/Sis Shirley CP# 760-799-6846 CP# 760-799-3304
Tony Amon 22761 Eccles St. West Hills, CA 91304
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