Dean Q and the Maroon 46

MASTER BLASTER (Mindanao Daily Mirror, March 10, 2010)
Neil Bravo


Dean Q was grinning from ear to ear on Saturday night.

For those who don’t know Dean Q, he is Atty. J Melchor Quitain, Dean of the College of Law of the University of Mindanao, and former City Legal Officer.

Dean Q, looking dapper in jusi barong tagalong, proudly gave tribute to his students in the College of Law that Saturday night in one glitzy and glamorous event hosted by the Juniors led by my kababayan and active student governor Abdul Kader Tambuang.

Indeed, I will not contest Dean Q’s declaration. He was the night’s most handsome guy. No one objected. Not even Abdul. I smiled from my seat submitting to the declaration and declaring my inhibition to contest the same.

I did my own bold declarations too. Objectionable but everyone agreed to let go. I did the class prophecy on behalf of the graduating class which I have nicknamed UM’s “Maroon 46.”

I have not made significant predictions in my life that went true to form. But this one was the biggest gamble. A 100% passing for the school’s bar candidates come September. Never has it happened. Not even close. That is why I know for sure only myself believed in the prophecy. Not even my good buddy Ronnel believes me. Not even Glendale who was adjudged best dressed among ladies. Not even Atty. Santos Torrena who came up to me after the program.

I have made it clear though. The purpose of a prophecy is not to tell the truth but to make it happen. Making it happen now lies on the shoulders of those who will take the biggest challenge in September.

But I will stand by my first prediction for the night. That one goes to Dean Q who is poised to run for one of the Council seats in the city’s first district.

I hope my luck bails me out from these predictions. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Dean Q and the Maroon 46. This early, I run a short list that includes Dean Q, former PSC chair Butch Ramirez and good friend Nonoy Militar.

Talk about luck, Colleague Roy Geonzon is one lucky guy.

The DXUM Radyo Ukay station manager won the recent friendly golf event among friends of Philip Morris at the Rancho Palos Verdes. Roy was a last minute substitute for the absent Leo Palo of the Mindanao Daily Mirror and should be working on that day when he got a late call from Edith Regalado. Roy would’ve said no but Edith knows her way. She called up Roy’s boss Willie Torres and the rest was history.

Roy received an “order” from the Big Boss to play that day.

If you are a guy like Roy and your boss orders you to play, you must be the luckiest guy on earth. That’s because you have a boss who’s very much into sports.

And so, Roy went on to beat the rest of us in our class. Had he not played, another colleague, Bong Gonzaga, would have won it. Bong finished runner-up instead, although to his consolation, Bong proved luckier late in the night as he won the top prize in the raffle—a brand new golf bag. He also came close to winning the poker fun tournament.

The next night, the guys were back again for one late night out. This time, there was a lot of pigging out and a lot of San Mig Lite bottles to down. No more Grey Goose. No more Scotch 7. But the night was made special with the presence of vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda who belted out some Carpenter songs. I am not a big Loren fan but that night, I was awestruck with her presence and singing. To cap the night, everyone was caught by surprise by Edith who called an impromptu meeting that turned out to be a midnight serenade for birthday boy Bing Gonzales of the Mirror.

Jojo Terencio, the PR guy of Philip Morris, dropped a message on my Facebook account to say thanks for the piece that I wrote last week. For the nth time I say, no worries. Like Roy, I had a lot of fun in a losing bid to win.

The most memorable shot though should go to another Mirror columnist and flightmate Lito delos Reyes. Tolits’ short iron slipped his grip and went a-flying and I was lucky to duck just in time.

It happens. At least, I had luck even in unpredictable situations.