After 16 long years and three NEB sessions that lasted from 3:00 P.M. of May 22, 2003 until early dawn the following day during the APO Philippines 22nd National Biennial Convention, the APO TTMIST Petitioning Group of Calbayog City was finally granted its recognition. And when the much-awaited motion was seconded and followed by the Chair�s proclamation, the hard bang of the gavel finally ended Bro. Willy�s seemingly endless dilemma, as if suddenly awakened with respite from a long nightmare. For while defending a thesis to earn a masteral degree is a tough job to tackle, defending a petition for chapter recognition before the National Executive Board on the other hand is more like facing a �sadistic firing squad�.

Consider this scenario: You, the humble petitioner-representative, clean-shaven with a new forty-peso-haircut, well-dressed in a rented barong and newly perma-pressed water-repellent pants and standing waringly stiff at 5�7� tall before the Honorable Board inside a fully air-conditioned room while Your Honors viciously throw rapid staccato �shots� at you at pointblank range. What can you do to defend yourself? Or to say the least, to take the shots unscathed and prevent the ominously unstoppable �download� of your worthless perspiration? A petitioner has to be well armed with �bulletproof� presentations that are impeccably supported by countless documents in classy voluminous navy blue hardbound copies. Not only that. A petitioner has to have an �arms arsenal� of his own to be able to �shoot back� but never missing a shot. Or better still, to be able to shoot back �without firing a shot at all�. But most of all, a petitoner must have the guts of a tiger and the wits of a king cobra. Maybe that�s just what Bro. Willy did. Otherwise, he would have never successfully defended his group�s petition. Bro. Willy may be a practicing mathematician but he�s also a good �englishian�. After all, he is the chapter resident adviser. Congratulations to the Lambda Rho Chapter, the only petitoning group in Region 8 during the Development Year 2001-03 to earn official recognition from the National Executive Board as a collegiate chapter of APOPhil.

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