Whew! I can't believe that we're on fourth year already. This gets to be boring though. Fourth year was pretty much the same as third year. I somehow managed to stay in the 'star section', now under Miss Villalobos in 3-412. There were two attritions - and we petitioned them to remain in our class. I think we were successful in petitioning one. I became comfortable being there - and comfort to me is equal to being boring - in my own niche which was somewhere at the bottom of the a very competetive lot. It is really difficult to shine in the class of shiners. You just fade in the limelight of others.
Personally though, in fourth year, I was becoming my own person, developing my own taste and personal talents that I thought never existed in me. I wrote my first poem that year - in Mrs. Andolong's English class. We were assigned to write something about clouds which should contain a simile or a metaphor - and instead of writing a treatise about the sky, I wrote a simple poem comparing clouds to a woman's smile ... mysterious, mesmerizing, which I never could understand ... always. Considering that I never wrote a poem before, I thought it was excellent and in fact merited an 85, a high grade which I never received before, at least in an English composition. But of course, my efforts always faded against my classmates' work. For example, someone wrote, and this was read in class, of clouds being likened to coffins marching against the dark sky. I think this was either Maru Puruganan's or Jeannie Tabor's - a comparison (a simile or a metaphor, I don't care really) which I thought was absolutely brilliant. These were the kinds of classmates I had. Like Ed Vencio said in his first year memoir, he thought that our class was a cut above the rest and we were.
Writing poetry didn't go anywhere though. But writing did, and this was even fueled more so because I was also reading a lot of fiction that year - mostly cheap paperbacks but also classics including DH Lawrence and James Joyce which I didn't understand much. I suddenly was keeping a journal which became voluminous. But of course, I just kept my writings to myself - as usual, my classmates, so far as writing was concerned were so much ahead of me. In fact, the first semester, most of them took Creative Writing as their elective. Me - I took painting instead. I thought I had that in me too.
It turned out that I didn't. My sense of aesthetic was just not there - well, it was - but it was too baroque, too eclectic. But then, we never were taught anything in class - I forgot who the instructor was - Mr. Asuncion I presume - did the preliminary sketching thing - body parts and stuff and then just let us loose. My first painting - in line with my being involved in nationalist causes - was a scene out of the slums - rendered in orange. It was terrible. For my final project, I did manange to paint a passable portrait of Jimi Hendrix (copied from a Time Magazine cover) which was included at an art exhibit at the Multi that year. After the exhibit, I gave the painting as a gift to Guy Estrada who was my Christmas monito that year. The painting was promptly trashed as Guy figured in a motorcycle accident coming home from the Christmas party. Oh well.
The second semester though, I took Creative Writing and I did well. In fact, Mrs. Ver, our teacher, gave me good ratings and clearly was her favorite. I did fudge a little bit though, especially during the start. The first two or three compositions, I was a little bit tentative and I needed help from Arlene Agbayani. I borrowed one composition of hers which I expanded. But later, I did discover that I had the talent to write, and I did write furiously and continuosly until now. But back in high school, my writing was a butt of jokes. In fact, Arlene won the ghost writing award that year to my surprise writing one during the parody awards we had in class.
I was still very much involved in extracurricular activities - way too extra if I may add. I was deep into the SDK thing - and in fact was going to meetings in different safe houses and got involved in organizing high school students for some nationalist convention at the Arts and Sciences. I also kept on attending rallies and demonstrations and marches usually starting from the Quezon Circle (in Espana) ending in Plaza Miranda. I sometimes even cut classes to attend a rally. But whatever, I still didn't understand much what it was all about.
In school, I was active in trying to elect Richie Valencia as the student council president, a campaign which became successful. I also helped Ed Vencio in his Science fair project (well, this might have been third year though) - mostly in typing his findings. His project was actually revolutionary - he scooped water out of the Pasig River and analyzed it in terms of chemical composition. He found a high amount of mercury, among other things. That seemed to just went of the top of the heads of the judges. We knew that Pasig River was biologically dead, but mercury!! We're talking about Minamata disease here. Presently, in my lab, if we break a mercury thermometer and a spillage occurs, the whole lab is cordoned off and the hazard people, in their space suits, are called in to decontaminate the place. That's how serious mercury contamination is. And to think we played with mercury when we were children because it was such a cool glob of liquid. It was years later I think that some government institution did the same study, and had the same conclusion that Ed had and made so much stink about it If they only listened to Ed Vencio in 1972!
I was also appointed UP Highlights arts editor, but I don't think I ever did any art work because we didn't put out any issue then. I also was the art editor of Sulyap - the yearbook - along with Astrid Seguritan - ours was called Tagnian though - Ed, who was the editor, hated the term Sulyap and wanted to change it to something else. Miss Jorda, the adviser, didn't let us though because she said, the yearbook needs continuity - it was Clarion for a long time until it got changed to a Filipino one -- they didn't agree about a title in 1971 so there was a generic Mabuhay ang Pambansang Demokrasya in the cover. In 1972, they finally agreed on Sulyap - glimpse - which we thought was so bakya. Ed didn't want to have anything to do with the title - so a compromise was made. He still titled ours Tagnian in the outside and put Sulyap somewhere inside.
Then that year, platform shoes came into the vogue. I was the first one to have one in class.
Also year, I remember, the UP Comprehensive High School finally came into being with UP Prep ex-Manila campus, moving next to us in some pre-fab building. Since we were so against the melding of the two schools, we never sort of consorted with them except for some music presentation in Abelardo. That was the extent of our interaction with them. Oh no, we had a rumble pa pala. Some lower year kids against their lower year kids. Kind of pathetic, but we were young then.
And something really strange happened the middle of the first semester. Ed Vencio and his friends suddenly quite being officers of the PMT. Just like that. Then led a protest against the changing of uniforms. That year, powers that be decided to change PMT uniforms from khaki to olive drab. But Ed and his friends thought that it was not very efficient for us to change because it was already our last year, and it was an added expense. He suggested that they impose the new uniform to the third year who were buying new uniforms anyway, while we continue wearing khakis. So they planned a protest action one Saturday - as PMT occurred on Saturday. I wasn't much into that though, because it was decidedly local and it was lead by moderates, and I was not a moderate. I considered myself a 'radical' trained in Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thought whatever that was. The PMT protest was small time. In fact, the eve of the planned protest, I participated in a candle march around the UP campus to protest the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus a few days before. Whatever that was.
The next morning, Saturday, was the day of the PMT protest. They were supposed to put up placards in UP High for it. But the protest never occurred because that day, freedom in the Philippines died. Martial Law was declared. It was eerie. Everything was quiet that morning. The quiet was very palpable. Even the wind stopped blowing. It was as if Mother Philippines, if there was one, knew. Our newspaper wasn't delivered that morning, and the radio and TV were dead, except for one or two stations. We didn't know it of course, we just surmised that Martial Law was declared. I still went to UP High for the PMT and arrived there with the placards in place, but Sgt. Gemeniano just told us to go home.
Home was in chaos when I arrived. By that time, it was confirmed by one radio station that Martial Law was declared. We were very nervous about my eldest brother who was a high ranking official of Gintong Silahis, the cultural arm of SDK, as he was already underground that time and we didn't have any clue how we could contact him.
I didn't think we had classes for a month or so, as so many rules and regulations were being imposed. For one, there was a curfew. I think at first, the curfew was six pm during the early days but was reduced to midnight up to 4 am later on. If you get caught, violating curfew, you spend some time in jail. Then no one was allowed to wear long hair any longer. If you got caught, they cut your hair right on the spot and cart you off to jail. And suddenly, there was only one newspaper available, and that was very thin. Nothing to read, really.
We were sixteen then when martial law was imposed, just starting to experience the freedoms that we talk about in history class. Then suddenly, those freedoms, what ever they were, were taken away from us. In our case, when classes resumed, it meant, military guards on the entrance of UP High and inspecting our IDs and belongings for whatever. It also meant censors for UP Highlights and the year book. One picture of me which appeared in the yearbook - the one where I was making a placard for the Pilipino protest at the constitutional convention the year before was censored, the slogan I was writing was whited out. Even the caption for the picture of some of our teachers gesturing - it was supposed to be "Sampung palaka ...", a nursery rhyme. But this was changed to whatever it is now because "Sampung palaka ..." was in a TV advertisement extolling the values of the New Society and we certainly didn't want to mock the ad. We didn't want to become an Ariel Ureta with his "Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, bisekleta ang kailangan" parody of another New Society ad, "Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan." He spent a few weeks in Crame for that and we didn't want to. It was self-censorship of course, but this was even a more insidious form of oppression, the first stage I think, of being a martial law baby which our generation was called later.
Sometime that year, we took the UPCAT, the University of the Philippines College Admission Test, and that was very very stressful. It used to be that as a student of UP High, you were already automatically accepted to UP. But during our year, they became very strict. There was no longer automatic admission and so we have to hurdle the UPCAT. It was really difficult, especially that I took the CET, the College Entrace Test, which was the forerunner of the NCEE, a few months before, and that was a breeze. I got a 99+ rank in that test which we took at the Ateneo gym. CET was a test that was used by other universities like Ateneo, La Salle, UST, UE etc., and was administered by Peachy Corpuz's dad's outfit, FAPE. However, the test was not compulsory and so only a few of us took it. Many of us then was sure of being accepted to UP. I wasn't so that's why I took the test. And also, I wanted to practice for the UPCAT.
But UPCAT was a nightmare to take, even if we had a hometown advantage because we took it in UP High. It was really difficult. I even didn't finish one section of it - I think it was Math, and I was about to pee from being scared when the proctor asked us to put that test down. I had chuckle though when during the Math section as some of the questions used very familiar terms, i.e., names of classmates were appearing in the problems. I wonder why.
Oh, Math. Whew. That year, Ramon Sicam, our developing math whiz suddenly stumbled into some formula which won him a Math and Science fair award that sent him to Zamboanga. He didn't win there, but his formula intrigued many mathematecians that he was sent to represent the Philippines in a math fair in the US. The reason why I brought this up was I was the one who posed him the problem that made him think and devise the formula. Of course I forgot what the problem was now. Something to do with how many divisions lines would divide if they only touch once. I was never good at math or remembering math.
And then everyone was falling in love. I remember Pone J. being despondent about something, or someone who broke his heart ... then Eloisa E. dropping from first or second place to ninth but not caring about it because she was 'nine love - nain love'. Or Eddy S. chasing after some freshman girls (Liddy Nakpil who later became the celebrated wife of Lean Alejandro). Yikes. Or Ranoa always with Edna (or maybe Stella?) especially during one of our field trips.
And then we learned how to play pool. Imagine that. We used to go to the Pink House, another establishment of ill repute, near Ateneo. This time, I did not lead my classmates astray. In fact, it was either Pone or Senen who started us playing. We had the perfect excuse for it though - we were applying the principles of geometry which we learned from Miss V.
We also made more tambay at Buban store. Not much our class but the other classes as well as the lower years. This was the time when Denise Clyde's sister was making tambay over there too, going out with a junior.
Toward graduation, we had a crisis. It was the matter of the valedictorian. Peewee F. was the traditional favorite to win the plum because she had always been the top of the class but she faltered toward the end of the year. Ramon S. was a very strong candidate. Lots of people didn't want Ramon to become valedictorian because he was being groomed to be it by a teacher who made no bones in declaring him the favorite. Somehow, him being the favorite of one teacher didn't go well with the senior studentry. There were people threatening to boycott the graduation if Mon was going to be the valedictorian. Eventually, Peewee was declared the valedictorian - she received a higher grade in Physics from Prof. Umila which made her average a tad higher than Mon's. People were happy. We had a graduation after all.
I think it was just before graduation (but after classes) when the result of UPCAT was released. The timing then was very strange because of the hiatus we had from Martial Law. But - I DID IT! I passed the UPCAT and was even assigned to UP Diliman! Eventually, I think about twenty of us didn't make it, which really was bad.
It was also the year when Gino B. drove his dad's Minica. So we had wheels. Went everywhere cramped in that small car. We fit up to nine I think. And also, some of us, although Ollie may refute this, started caving. Yes, caving. Exploring the caves of Montalban. Ollie said that this might have been first year college already - but I thought this was during the interim before the May 21 graduation. We went twice. The first time, we weren't ready that much, we didn't have any gear so we just explored one of the lower caves. There were some bomb shells near the entrace, ca world war II I think. Two weeks later, we went back - Ollie, Meldin, Gino and me (I don't know who else but they are the ones I remembered). We explored the same cave but went in deeper, way down deeper the bowels of the earth - There was an underground river which we followed. We came into some grotto after going under a very small hole. We also went into one part of the cave where no one has been before. We ate our lunch there. And made sure that we left something - like refuse from our lunch - for them to be found by future explorers.
Our batch became closer and made lasting friendships during our senior year. I remember, a bunch of us, this was maybe last semester in high school or first semester in college went to Cubao and had our group picture taken. In one of those old fashioned photo studio where they had mercury lamps or whatever lamps they were they used as flash. I wish I have that picture now - I had a copy but it was very much faded --- and eaten by some kind of insect. I was going to restore it, but when I moved to my condo, I misplaced it. I am kicking myself for losing it because it was a very touching photograph.
In hindsight, I think it was Ed V's cunning that we became tighter during our senior year, especially during the last semester. As editor of the year book, he made it a point that the staff was representative of the sections and not just concentrated to the star section. Also, we elected a class president who came from another section. Again, the leaders of the star section were very humble about this. They could have usurped the position but didn't.
Well, UP High seems so distant to me now ... well it is ... but yet so fresh still in my memory. During this twenty fifth year of our being away from it, my memories have even become more acute. I may be isolated here in Chicago, but just like when I was making this website, I knew that somehow, sometime I would connect with batchmates. And indeed I have. During the last six months or so I have been meeting and talking to former batchmates after about twenty years of not seeing them - some in real life, many in real time but in cyberspace. It is an incredible feeling really. For the most part, UP High shaped a lot of the values that I possess now, especially the intellectual ones and the motivation to succeed. Of course everything is in hindsight. During our years in UP High, we never thought of that. But I think its our teacher's strive for excellence that we became what we are now. And for that I am very very thankful.
I do remember some of the teachers who in a way, shaped much of the way I am now - Miss Hermosa (1-B, English), Mrs. Pambid (1-D, Math), Mr. Villanueva (Practical Arts), and Miss de Villa (1-112, English) in first year, Miss Masilungan (Math) Miss Manalad (2-22, Health), Mrs. Teodoro (Music), Miss Llobrera (Social Studies), Mr. Diaz (Practical Arts) and Mrs. Ganaden (Chemistry) in second year, Miss Ramirez (Mrs. Esmundo) (Biology), Prof. de la Cruz (Social Studies), Mrs. Pineda (Social Studies and Principal), Miss Masilungang (Arithmetic and Mathematics), Mrs. Roque (3-412, Home Economics (?)), Bb. Jorda (Pilipino) in third year, Miss Villalobos (4-318 and Math), Mr. Umila (Physics), Miss Quirante (Social Studies, who remains my most favorite I think), Miss Fernandez (Pilipino), and Mrs. Ver (Creative Writing) in fourth year. I know I wasn't really much during high school, but I turned out ok, I guess - just like everyone else who, I am happy to know and to say, also did. We aren't really shabby, are we?
I thank them and you all.
Ken Ilio, DVM, M.Phil, PhD
Department of Urology
Northwestern University Medical School
Chicago, Illinois