SAI GOES RETRO AT 15
The brightest colors! The wildest of prints! The flashiest of styles! Who would have thought that reliving the past decades would bring out all these!
But there it was! The 15th anniversary of Staff Alliance held at the Richmonde Hotel on February 2, 2008, was as exciting, exhilarating and brimming with fun as only the 70’s and the 80’s could be.
There was so much color around, one could almost imagine oneself inside a huge kaleidoscope! And the styles, wow! It was evident each guest was determined to outdo the others!
Gigi Malabanan swept up her curls and wrapped them with a printed scarf and voila! Hairstyle circa 60’s! Gianne Halog chose a silky pair of elephant pants, while Ms. Anna Halog, lovely wife of SAI president Ed Halog, wore a belt several inches wide on a colorfully printed dress to come up with a very hip retro look. Some of the guys, including Mr. Ed Halog sported the very wide collar that was fashionable in those days. The real scene stealer though, was Horace Acain in bright green body hugging shirt and a pair of pants in deep red, whose hem flared at the back and swept the floor behind him. As expected, he bagged the “retro star of the night” prize, together with Rachelle Tanafranca who was equally stunning in her orange printed mini dress with matching scarf.
The invocation was led by Lito Jimenez, and all fell silent as they gave thanks to the Almighty God for a year marked with triumphs and trials that made us stronger yet humble, and asked for blessings and the grace to continue through the coming years living our vision of success through righteous ways.
In her opening address, Lou Lorenzana gave the audience a brief glimpse of the fashion and music scene in those days gone by, and the guests, mostly young and without any personal experience of the things they were hearing about, were curiously attentive.
Entertainment was provided by “home-grown” talents - Patty Amandy and Abby Agamata sang lovely songs while Jack Nerez provided the accompaniment on the guitar. It was fun, especially when some guys from the audience started ribbing Jack, who just laughed and took everything good-naturedly. We hadn’t known we had such good singers with us! Encore for next year, guys?
So much fun too was the competition among the various groups, who were asked to each render a number that showcased the 70’s or 80’s scene, relate it to Staff Alliance, and at the same time incorporate into it the “Papaya Song”. No mean feat, that, but all the groups gamely dished out beautiful, well thought-out and highly entertaining numbers.
All the groups were good but of course, only one emerged as the big winner and champion - who else but the combined group of EJ Hall and Cleanserve! Best individual performers were Horace (again!) and Lani Amores.
Of course the celebration would not be complete without the games, which proved to be as boisterous and as exciting as always. Laughter and banter filled the room as each of the three participating teams competed for the cash prizes at stake. So okay, not everybody could win in the games, but not to worry, because the raffle prizes made sure everybody took something home after the party. An assortment of kitchen and entertainment appliances, furniture and fixtures which were displayed near the stage at the start of the party, one by one found their way to the guests as the night wore on and the program was interspersed with the drawing of winners.
Well, as anniversary celebrations go, recognition of deserving individuals and groups was the order of the day, or should I say night. Awards for worthy performances and contribution were given out. Congratulations to the happy awardees for Best in Attendance, Most Industrious, Best in Customer Service, and Unsung Hero, and for the major awards of Over–all Winning Attitude, Most Improved Performance, and Best Performer of the Year! Your awards are very well deserved!
Towards the end of the program, after all (well, almost all) the winners and awardees had been announced and called forward to receive their prizes or awards, there was still one big winner left to be announced, or, to be exact, to be drawn from the “magic tambiolo”, and that would be the winner of the grand raffle prize - an entertainment showcase! President and CEO Mr. Ed Halog drew the stub, took one look at it and said, ”sorry boys!”. Ah-haa! So it was a female! Then he said “sorry single girls!”. Ah-haa! So it was a married female! Finally, he broke the suspense and announced the lucky one – none other than Ria Zamora! Ria was instantly the envy of everyone in the room, because of course, the grand prize was grand - a flat-screen TV, home theatre, a DVD and a magic sing!
In his closing address, Mr. Ed Halog said the celebration brought back to memory certain things that he thought he had forgotten. “Retro” he said, means going back to the basics, the things that really matter, much like our vision. He asked everyone not to lose sight of this vision. He thanked all the employees present, especially the committees that organized the event, over-all chaired by the unsung hero (true indeed!) Tessa Saguid. Not to forget the two emcees, who ably and efficiently steered the program while making everything as entertaining as anyone could expect – Emman Merida and Jen Sinson.
The 15th anniversary celebration of Staff Alliance was another huge success. So till next year, happy 15th anniversary everyone!!
Gallery
page top ˆ |
