Untold story of Akrho. . . In 1972, there was a fraternityin the University Belt area called OFSI, which is short for OMEGA FRATERNITY SORORITYINTERNATIONAL. All of its members were students of San SebastianCollege at Claro M Recto Ave in Manila. OFSI and its founders were very active about the growth of the fraternity from within the college and outside. The “International” part of OFSI became a reality with the recruitment of Robert Smith, a U.S. navy personnel from Missouri, USA, who was currently assigned to the Subic Naval base in Cavite. When bro. Robert was reassigned back to the states, he was able torecruit close friends from his home town and his current base. Most of them identified themselves as members and brothers by having (the letters) OFSI tattooed on their bodies. The “Sorority” recruitment did not happen right away because San SebastianCollege was an exclusive school for men during that time. When OFSI started recruiting 4th year high school students, the membership was slowly but surely increasing. A memorable high school recruit was Jerome Reyes (deceased), who at that time was a martial arts expert and showed no mercy during battles with rival fraternities. Although, OFSI was already quite popular on campus due totheir tight camaraderie and strong commitment to brotherhood, bro. Jerome made the OFSI name famous within and outside of campus because of his fighting skills. Then came the news that the Alpha Kappa Kappa, a small fraternity from the University of Santo Tomas was interested in merging with OFSI. The first meeting was held at the Cash N’ Carry Restaurant C.M. Recto Avenue. Present during the meeting were the founding fathers of OFSI, headed by Bro. Rholly Panganiban and Bro. AlexRamirez with some OFSI members. Representing the Alpha KappaKappa fraternity were Mr. Jose Boy Chua and a few of its members. Discussed were the advantages and issues on integration of the two fraternities. One ofthe most talked about topic was which name will be used, whether it would remain as ALPHA KAPPA KAPPA or remain as the Omega Fraternity Sorority International. One noteworthy suggestion was the combination of both names of which was ALPHA KAPPA OMEGA. But there were objections to the name because there were so many “omicrons” already being used by other fraternities during that time. Finally, both sides agreed on the name ALPHA KAPPA RHO. Using the first two Greek words, Alpha Kappa and adding the 3rd Greek word, RHO which was coincidentally, derived from the name of Mr. Rholly Panganiban, giving him partial credit in naming the group. This is the day when ALPHA KAPPA RHO officially began, Sept. 9, 1973. Another meeting was agreed upon to further discuss the merge. Representatives from the Alpha Kappa Kappa, headed by Mr. Jose Boy Chua met with representatives of OFSI, lead by Mr. Rholly Panganiban at his family residence in Quezon City. This was a very historical event, since it finalized the merge and everyone contributed to lay down a solid foundation for the newly created fraternity. Another unforgettable moment that is worth mentioning from this historical event was when a neighbor, Mr. Pepe Pimentel, which was a popular TV host/actor at that time, came over and told everybody at the meeting to stay quiet so he will not be disturbed. The founders thought he was going to join. Mr. Pimentel turned out to be awitness to the event. Soon after the historical merging of the 2 fraternities into Alpha Kappa Rho, bro. Alex Ramirez accompanied bro. Cesar Macandili to his province in Batangas and established the first community AKRHO chapter in San Pio Quinto, Malvar, Batangas. In this newly created chapter, two siblings of bro. Cesar Macandili, Renato Macandili and Raynaldo Jojo Macandili were initiated and baptized intheir farm in San Pedro, Malvar, Batangas. Both brothers, Renato and Raynaldo formed the first local schoolchapter of AKRHO at the Tananuan Institute in their province of Batangas. Around 1978, bro. Raynaldo, with the assistance of bro. Jun Pasaporte, formed the AKRHO chapter at Jose Rizal College in Mandaluyong. Bro. Raynaldo was well knownas ‘Boy Ketsup” at that time. Sadly, he passedaway in 1979. After a few years, his son, Reymond, joined the fraternity. Bro. Reymond Macandili continued the legacy of his father and founded the AKRHO chapter at the Philippine Aeronautical School in Pasay City together with bro. Roberto De Lara. The origins of becoming a lifetime fraternity member as contributed by OFSI. The Mark/Cigarette burn was one of the options strongly considered because it would signify the rites of passage. The dilemma at that time was where to place theburn mark, since most parts of the hands had marks or tattoos already used by other fraternities. **sniper** phikapps
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 05:05:43 +0000
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