Alumni In Focus: Last of the Mighty ’68 Hosts 2018 Alumni Homecoming

The ‘38 special’ DLSU Alumni Homecoming is more special this year. Hosting the homecoming event on March 3, 2018 and spearheading a number of activities leading to it is the last High School class of Taft Avenue, known then and up to now as the ‘Last of the Mighty’ Class ’68. With no hesitation, LOM’68 stepped up to the DLSAA Council to volunteer for this role soon after the 2017 homecoming. As the host, LOM’68 took on the primary responsibility of driving the fund-raising activities highlighted by the annual Bro. Benedict Golf Tournament and coordinating the Homecoming program on March 3 which promises to be a memorable event. However, LOM ’68 made it evident from the start that their motivation went much further than hosting the homecoming event. LOM ’68 committed to give support to the Jaime Hilario Integrated School (JHIS), the co-educational primary and secondary school set up by the De La Salle Brothers in 2006 to cater to the fishing and farming community of Bagac, Bataan. This commitment comes in the form of scholarships for the students, books from Books for Less and nutritional products from the Philippine Food Bank foundation which the class has engaged as partners.

Like other preceding batches, most LOM’68 members began their studies in La Salle Grade School and a good majority went on to finish college in DLSU. What makes the batch distinct is its unique privilege of being the last high school class to graduate from the Taft Avenue campus, which carried it with a huge responsibility of preserving the rich legacy and traditions of the most prominent school campus of DLSU. Aside from the years shared in the classrooms and a host of continuing sports and organizational activities, this distinction accounts for the bonds of friendship and camaraderie that remain up to this stage of their lives.

LOM’68 has its fair share of alumni who have made a difference in their professions in local and international circles. The Class counts as one of its members Supreme Court Associate Justice Andres Reyes. Lubin Nepomuceno is concurrently the General Manager of Petron Corporation and CEO of Petron Malaysia Refining. Current Class ‘68 president Antonio Olives was a former San Miguel Corporation executive and continues to be a crack golfer in his senior years. Joaquin Henson has distinguished himself as an astute sports analyst and television commentator aside from writing a regular column on Philippine Star. Arthur Bautista, the LOM’68 Council President in high school, retired as a senior BPI executive and now runs his own restaurant business (Kuya’s). Not to be forgotten are 42 of the original 161 graduates who have passed away. Among them are the late Dr. Jorge Camara, famous eye surgeon and humanitarian, Renato Diaz, the class valedictorian who was a top executive at Ayala Corporation and the Lopez Group, Dr. David Tan, the class salutatorian who was the first Summa Cum Laude of Civil Engineering in the University of the Philippines in 50 years, Mike Osmena who was the President of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation and Jay Assad, former Class president who was President of Di Marks Pizza, Philippines. Even as a significant number have moved on, LOM Class ’68 will be around for a while and it isn’t done yet. May Animo pa ang LOM’68 Class!