Former Daily Express employees mini-reunion in Valencia Some twenty former Philippines Daily Express employees recently held

a mini-reunion at the Valencia, California home of Sannie Patinio and his wife, Carmen. The Daily Express minireunion was started in the early 90s by a core group of former employees of the defunct Manila daily broadsheet, with the first and biggest get-together held at a regional park in Pasadena. This reunion, coordinated by Dante Sambilay and Sannie Patinio, former DE artist and reporter, respectively, brought together US-based former DE employees from as far away as San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Yucaipa, in Riverside County. The list includes Val Abelgas and his wife, Marisse; Abelgas was one of the newspapers senior editors. Dante Sambilay came with his wife, Natz, and former Express Life and Style assistant editor Tet Villaroman; business reporter Jimmy Reyes, and Arnold Aday, a former artist, and other administrative and editorial staffers, including Josie Gangozo and her daughter, Jazmine Gangozo-Gantt, Conrad Fernandez, Cynthia Fernandez, Mar Carlos, Rudy Abagat, Malou Ramos-Veneracion, Francis Veneracion, and Francine Veneracion. The reunions used to draw larger attendance that included the employees children. But most of the children have now become adults and have pursued their own interests, and that resulted in a slowly dwindling attendance.Rene Villaroman