The saga of good and noble men

IAM proud to belong to a group of men in a brotherhood called UP Beta Sigma Fraternity. We celebrate our 72 years of existence nationwide and worldwide. So much has been said of these combination of young and old men trekking a network of roads in various directions motivated by a single purpose — that of being good and noble in whatever we do.

I collated bits of narratives to highlight the footprints we made in 72 years.

History

The Beta Sigma Fraternity is the

- versity of the Philippines (UP). At UP in Padre Faura, honor graduates from different schools converged. From UP High, Jesus Jayme led a group who called themselves the “Gay (Happy) Varsitarians.” Nicanor P. Jacinto headed a group from Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle. They were known as the UP’s 20. Daily, the two groups, off from their classes, would sit on the steps of the old Cancer Institute Building.

talked to Professor David Wico about organizing a fraternity. Tiyo David suggested the merger of the UP 20’s and the Gay Varsitarians. To comply with the minimum requirement, then, of 50 members for a fraternity, the united group initiated 10 additional members. They adopted the name UP Beta Sigma Fraternity (Brotherhood of Scholars). On July 14, 10 days after the declaration of the country’s independence from the United States,

solemn ceremonies. Jesus Jayme was

Oratorical Contest in 1947 with the piece “True Friendship.” Beta Sigmans demonstrated their intellectual prowess as they, with predictable consistency, made the “Dean’s List” of their respective college community — the attainment of scholastic honors.

In the ‘50s, through the determined and united effort of the Fraternity, Brod Teodoro R. Padilla was elected president of the UP Student Council, Sabino Padilla was editor of the

Vicente Mendoza was editor of and Benjamin Santos edited the

Raoul Victorino was president of the UP Oratorical and Debating Club. Fortunato C. Gupit headed the UP Dramatics Club. The ‘50s was also the time when Johnny Moreno composed the Betan songs: the “Beta Sigma Hymn,” the “Betan Marching Song,” the drinking songs, and those melodies which would

Betans would gather.

“Who Me Malmon,” the Beta Sigma Mascot or the famous Beta Sigma icon was created by Bernardo “Banz” Bañez in the late ‘50s. Brod Eli Santiago made waves as one of the country’s best caricaturist.

During the ‘60s, the Fraternity consolidated its grip on critical campus posts. Brods Lito Imperio and Jimmy Yambao held reign of the editorship of the

Brod Horacio ‘Boy’ Morales ruled as Corps Commander of the ROTC

were Betans. In the written arts, the ‘60s was a period of fecund creativity. Erwin Castillo, Toti Que, Cris “Jun” Icban, Edmund Sicam, Frankie Llaguno, Vic Ramos and Vic Tirol wrote and were read.

The Beta Sigma School of Martial Arts (SOMA) was established by Johnny Chiuten in the early ‘60s. It has been a tradition of Betan resident students since then to learn Martial Arts as a form of training and discipline.

Beta Sigma

During Martial Law Years:

The Fraternity’s sensitized political nature moved with the new challenges. Many a Betan fought in the streets. When Martial Law was declared, many Beta Sigmans went to the mountains and took arms against an oppressive and unjust political regime.

In the campus, the Fraternity, with vigor and enthusiasm, sponsored events that mirrored the activist temper of the times. It initiated civic projects such as the Free Medical Clinic and Operation Big Brother.

Betans marched in the streets to dramatize their respective concerns. At great risk to their own selves, they gave generous support to brods who stood and fought for alternative causes.

In the mid-’80s the pent-up feelings of a people long suffering under a rule of oppression poured forth in a torrent of humanity to bring down the old dispensation.

Together with the people, Beta Sigmans fought hard to expand the democratic space that was bitterly won. The Fraternity’s actions were duly rewarded. Many brods were in

Brod Pepe “Pepe” Abueva was UP President. Brod Teddy Padilla was a justice of the Supreme Court. Many brods held sway, in sensitive posts in Congress, in the executive branch, and in the judiciary.

- nance, in industry, in the military, and in the professional and service areas, Betans were there. We were proud when our brod Dr. Teddy Topacio was bestowed as the country’s National Scientist for his brilliant work in the

Currently, the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity stands as one of the superior fraternity, because of their involvement in group initiatives throughout the universities and various agencies in the government. The fraternity, and its growth into a powerful and moving campus force into the global brotherhood that it is today, is our accomplishment.

I quote Brod Abueva, former UP president: “Only by knowing what is happening in our fast changing world and knowing where we should be going can we assure ourselves that we will not be left behind.”

Good work, good deeds and good faith to all.

While the full vision didn’t pan out, a year later the US and the Soviets signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Five years later came the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. “New START” arrived in 2010, shortly before relations between the two governments began to deteriorate in a big way.

At this point, the US is working on “modernizing” its existing nuclear arsenal, while Russia touts an advancing hypersonic missile program. We’re moving back toward the days of American schoolchildren practicing “duck and cover” drills under constant threat of nuclear war.

The best possible outcome of the Trump- Putin summit would be a new treaty that I’ll call “Fresh START.” Under such a treaty, the two governments would commit to getting back on the track laid down by Reagan and Gorbachev, actively working to meet their existing obligations under Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons ( NPT):

“Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament ....”

Nuclear weapons are weapons of terror and of Mutual Assured Destruction. They’re not militarily useful outside those two ways of thinking. It’s time for the two countries with the largest stockpiles of such weapons to move together toward decommissioning and destroying those stockpiles. We may never again live in a world without nuclear weapons, but we can aspire to a world with as few of them as possible.

If Trump and Putin can deliver a Fresh START toward that goal, their summit will have been a resounding success.

thegarrisoncenter.org).