Page 10 - Hello Philippines December 2015 'B' ISSUE

8 www.hello-philippines.com
Fil-Am matriarch perishes
in California car crash
FOSTER City, Calif. - This time
every year, the 10 children of Conchita
Dalupan Sebastian gather together to
honor their beloved mother, who was
born on the feast of the Immaculate
Conception 90 years ago.
The tradition will continue next
week without the honoree and her
youngest born.
The Foster City resident died
November 19 in a car accident in San
Luis Obispo on her way to Southern
California, a tragedy that has shocked
and saddened her large brood and
many friends around the world.
Nineteen days earlier, she had suffered
the loss of her son to complications
from a recent cardiac arrest.
The clan will honor Mrs. Sebastian
and her son Rolando “Rocky” Sebastian
10:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 12, at St.
Luke’s Catholic Church here, where the
devout Catholic matriarch often began
her day hearing morning Mass.
Concepcion “Conchita” Sebastian
lived her nine decades to the fullest.
The widow of Dr. Ricardo Sebastian
was blessed with a radiant personality
and contagious exuberance that lifted
everyone who had the fortune to meet
her.
“She had a heart of gold and the
boundless energy of a child,” said
daughter Cecile Sebastian-Nobuhara.
“Her legacy of pure love and kindness
lives on in her family and friends.”
Among her gifts was a positive
outlook that enabled her activity in her the former Lorenza Adam, founders of
advancing years.
She delighted in headlining the
many celebrations of her kin just
as she supported the humanitarian
advocacies of her extended family, who
called her “Tita Chit.”
“Mom always said to be kind and to
live by the Golden Rule,” said daughter
Carol Sebastian-Goretti. “She led by
example.”
“’Mom always left a lasting
impression even on people who she
OFWs with old banknotes can exchange them until 2017 –BSP
OVERSEAS Filipino workers who
still have banknotes from the old series December 31, 2016, deadline set by the
launched in 1985 could still have them
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just met for the first time,” added eldest
son Raul Sebastian. “Because after five
minutes of conversation, they would
know so much of our family history.”
Theirs indeed was a remarkable
journey that spans the greater Manila,
Chicago and San Francisco Bay Areas.
Her children know full well
her mother’s earliest heroics in her
ancestral homeland. Daughter Cecile
S. Nobuhara told Philippine News:
“During the Japanese occupation,
Mommy and her younger sister Tita
(Aunt) Stel Dalupan were recruited
to pass messages to the Filipino
underground by one of her suitors. He
said that no one would ever suspect
school girls to be involved, so my
mom, then-19, and Tita Stel, then-16,
would be given communiques tucked
into their school books that would be
handed to their brother-in-law, who
was part of the resistance.
“When their mom found out what
they were doing, they stopped the secret
deliveries and were so scared that they
would endanger their whole family.
Sadly, that brother-in-law, husband of
their eldest sister Tita Choling Consing,
would later be captured and beheaded
by the Japanese. Not of their doing, but
he was very involved, apparently. “
The erstwhile courier was born
Dec. 8, 1925 in Manila, educated in the
U.S. East Coast and enlightened by her
frequent trips overseas.
She was the fourth of six children
born to Dr. Francisco Dalupan and
University of the East and its medical
colleges in Manila. She attended high
school at Manila’s St. Scholastica’s
College and in 1950 earned her
Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgian
Court College in Lakewood, N.J. Three
years later, she received her master’s
degree in banking at Columbia
University in New York - one of the
pioneer Filipino women post-grads in
the U.S. Ivy League.
exchanged for one more year beyond the
Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas — provided,
IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS
With her credentials, Mrs. Sebastian
could have embarked on a flourishing
career in finance anywhere. Instead
she dedicated herself to motherhood
when she married Dr. Sebastian, then a
surgery resident at St. Claire’s Hospital
in New York. They had their four
eldest children when Dr. Sebastian
responded to his father-in-law’s call
to return to Manila to head his new
institution — the University of the
East-Ramon Magsaysay Hospital (now
UERM Memorial Medical Center) in
Santa Mesa, Manila.
Mrs. Sebastian embraced the
transition that would bring her closer
to her parents and her siblings, many of
whom resided in a sprawling compound
near the teaching hospital. She had
six more children and happily hosted
often-poolside birthday festivities.
Mrs. Sebastian was the life of any
party. She was a regular fixture on
society pages and at the Malacanang
Palace, where she spent many
sleepovers with her friend Vicky
Quirino. The daughter of the widower
President Elpidio Quirino assumed the
role of first lady with her young friends
forming her entourage at civic and
social events until 1956.
Less than 20 years later the
political climate in the Philippines
simmered, sending the Sebastians
back to the United States. They settled
in Crown Point, Indiana, where Dr.
Sebastian resumed his practice. His
wife immediately replanted her roots,
joining the Welcome Wagon Club for
community newcomers.
Toward the late 1980s, Dr. Sebastian
retired and the couple moved west to
California, where their older children
had relocated earlier.
They made their home in Daly City,
where reunions resumed — large, loud
and memorable. Right next door was
a church, where Mrs. Sebastian heard
daily Mass.
After her husband of 50 years
however, that they register online.
BSP Deputy Director for Currency Issue
and Integrity Office Maya Gratia Malic
on Monday said OFWs who could not
exchange their old banknotes with banks
or BSP offices from January to December
2016 may register online starting October
1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2016 through the central law enforcement agencies (OLEAs) keeping
bank’s website, bsp.gov.ph.
The old banknotes can then be
exchanged with the BSP within one year
from the date of registration.
The BSP, however, limits the value of old
banknotes that could be exchanged by each
OFW to P10,000.
The central bank would also only honor
the value of the old banknotes registered
by an OFW for exchange, Malic said.
“Kung halimbawa may P10,000 na old
December 2015 / Fortnightly – No. 24 • UK & Europe Edition
passed away in 2004, Mrs. Sebastian
moved further south of San Francisco
to San Mateo and later to Foster City,
where many of her children already
lived.
Where there was a family milestone,
she was at front and center.
Mrs. Sebastian crisscrossed the
country and the globe.
At 79, she rode a camel in Egypt,
chiding daunted but impressed
traveling companions.
Then-85, she realized that she had
lost her passport on the eve of her
flight home from Russia. Refusing
to inconvenience her fellow tourists
who offered to stay behind to resolve
the matter, the intrepid world traveler
drew from her logistical expertise and
managed to have pictures taken and
a new passport processed at the U.S.
Embassy in time for the whole group’s
scheduled return flight.
But her favorite place was where her
children surrounded her.
She was despondent when her 10th
child Rocky died.
He was president of Class of 1987
of Merrillville High School in Indiana,
where he made many of his closest
friends for life. He later rejoined his
family from the Midwest to Northern
California and worked as a video game
designer.
His siblings miss his “generous
heart, great big laugh and gentle soul,”
shared Nobuhara.
The loss was particularly hard
on their mother, who accepted her
daughters’ proposal to visit with her
sisters in Los Angeles County for a
change of scene.
Mrs. Sebastian was riding with
daughter Carmela S. Manahan as son-
in-law Noel “Boyet” Manahan drove
along Highway 152, also known as
Pacheco Pass, when an oncoming
car crossed the median barrier, lost
control and crashed onto their vehicle,
according to a report by the Fresno Bee.
banknotes ang isang OFW pero P5,000
lang ang pina-register niya, yung P5,000
lang ang iho-honor namin,” she told
reporters during a briefing on the BSP’s
demonetization program for bills from the
Old Banknote Series.
Meanwhile, Malic said courts and other
old banknotes for evidence in court cases
must provide BSP with the list of their
peso bill holdings on or before Jan. 31, 2017. in line with Section 57 of Republic Act No.
The banknotes can be exchanged after the
termination of the case.
As of Sept. 2015, Malic said there at
least 432 million pieces of old banknotes
in various denominations that are still in
circulation, which represent 15 percent of
the peso bills currently in use by the public. Currency bills launched in 2010. n Xianne
“We are looking forward to the return
Conchita Sebastian (at foot of stairs), had 10
children. The loss of youngest child Rocky (seated
right, behind his mother) hit her hard.Cecile S.
Nobuhara
Mrs. Sebastian was rushed to
Doctors Medical Center in Fresno,
where she reportedly died. Emmanuel
and Carmela Manahan survived, but
the latter is still in serious condition.
Both are recuperating in separate area
hospitals.
The passengers in the other car
survived with minor injuries. Police
are continuing investigation of the
accident.
Mrs. Sebastian is survived by her
children: Raul and and Marleene
Tolentino of Los Angeles; Cynthia
Sebastian of Burlingame, Calif.;
Carol and Francesco Goretti of San
Francisco;Christine Sebastian of
South San Francisco; Carmela and
Noel Manahan of Foster City; Ramon
Sebastian of Daly City, Calif.; Cathy
and Javier Oledan and Corinna
and Enrique Albert of Foster City;
and Cecile and Wade Nobuhara of
Honolulu; her brother basketball
Coach Baby Dalupan of Manila; sisters
Consuelo Consing and Stella Dalupan
of Los Angeles, and their families.
They welcome friends to join them
at the Dec. 12 memorial. For more
information, contact ramonsebastian@
gmail.com. n Cherie M. Querol Moreno / Philippine
News / Published December 3, 2015 / 3:04 pm
of these [old] banknotes, which have an
equivalent amount of P67 billion,” she said.
Starting January 1, 2016, peso bills
launched in 1985 may no longer be used
for daily transactions, and can only be
exchanged in banks and BSP offices until
Dec. 31, 2016. They would fully lose their
monetary value starting January 1, 2017.
The BSP’s demonetization process is
7653 or the New Central Bank Act.
The central bank is encouraging
the public to use their old banknotes
until Dec. 2015, or surrender them in
19 BSP branches and commercial banks
in exchange for the New Generation
Arcangel / KBK, GMA News / Published / December
7, 2015 / 5:15 pm