"These made me what I am today."
"These made me what I am today."
I had wanted to end my recollections of World War II, which for me began with the Japanese occupation and ended with the liberation. After this, I began my college education at Ateneo de Manila.
Those four years were memorable to me. They made me what I am today: A journalist and a lawyer.
In the first weeks of schools we endured the heat as we attended our classes in the infernal quonset huts built among the ruins of the old Ateneo on Padre Faura. Our 24-member class was divided into LITB and AB students. I was classified as an AB student.
I loved dialectics, philosophy, ethics, English composition, Shakespearean tragedies, theology and cosmology. But I hated physics and chemistry.
I wanted to pursue law studies so I had to take law electives. One of my friends was a certain Juan Ponce Enrile who was taking up his pre-law before transferring to UP Diliman.
I had a hectic schedule and barely had time to relax. I had several extra-curricular activities like the social order club and The Guidon.
But my four-year course in Ateneo was very challenging, so much so that when I graduated in 1950 I considered becoming a missionary. I guess a Jesuit education really inspires one to be a man for others. I maintained my scholarship for four years and I graduated with honors.
As an Ilocano among Negrenses and Tagalogs, I was drawn to the company of Rudy Tupas and Peps Manalo. They became my best friends even after college. Tupas and I volunteered to go to Cotabato City to help with the weekly publication The Mindanao Cross, upon the invitation of an Oblate missionary.
Among the students I cannot forget was Tito Guingona, who became vice president. Santa Banana, Tito and I even thought of joining the communists at that time when the Hukbalahap, anti-Japanese organization that had become a Maoist movement. At that time, we had romantic notions that communism would solve poverty and end many other problems of the country.
I was close to Ting Roxas, our summa cum laude and valedictorian. We used to go to Ting’s house while reviewing for exams—to study, yes, but also to look at his two beautiful cousins.
There too was the late Tito Sison who became Nawasa head during the time of Cory Aquino. Ting Jayme became finance and then later or public works and highways secretary. Toti Albert became a Manila congressman. Badong Gonzales, an uncle of Ting Roxas, joined him when he became economic planning secretary under then-President Diosdado Macapagal. Mike Avanceña was the son of chief justice Ramon Avanceña. Two classmates became Jesuit priests.
But the most exciting aspect of my college days was when our class controlled The Guidon. Rudy and I had to stay overnight at the printing press to ensure The Guidon came out the next day. We were named the Best Campus Organ award by Columbia University.
Sad to say, however, when Ateneo became a university and transferred to Loyola Heights, many subjects we took up in AB were no longer offered. AB graduates no longer had “revalida”—a two-hour session with no less than two Jesuit priests asking you questions on what you learned.
Some of my classmates even fainted from the stress!
It’s tragic that many of the graduates of Ateneo de Manila University cannot even speak straight English. Gone were the days that speaking in any dialect or foreign language on campus was taboo.
The worst thing that happened to Ateneo was that it has been politicized. It takes sides in most of the political issues of the day. This happened when ADMU became an all-Filipino Jesuit community and no longer an all-boys’ school.
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The next three weeks are the most crucial days of the election.
It’s the time when candidates for both local and national offices have to assess their chances of winning.
I said much earlier that the 2019 midterm elections would be a referendum on President Duterte. And from the looks of it, administration candidates will dominate, and the President’s favorite candidates will win.
This means many people still trust President Duterte.
With the possibility of having only one or two oppositionists winning, we can predict it will be smooth sailing for the President’s legislative agenda.
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The so-called Matrix has brought up the issue of foreign funding of news organizations. Is this a violation of the law?
It has been argued that foreign funding is not foreign ownership.
Santa Banana, when a news organization gets funding from American foundations like the Ford or Rockefeller Foundation, I believe that the mandate of 100-percent ownership is violated.
If PCIJ, Rappler and Vera Files admit to being funded by US Foundations, they must be stopped from operating.
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