Reminiscence

Pass in Review

The Ateneo has large fields with green bermuda grass . The field at the back of the school was where the PMT( Preparatory Military Training) and ROTC ( Reserved Officer’s Training Corps ) made their pass in review and weekly parade drills ( I miss these, particularly ). Ateneans were proud of their military uniforms. Most often I would sit under the big Acacia tree and watch in awe the cadets pass by during their marching drills. I imagined myself in one of those crisp gray Air Force uniforms and indeed, several years later, I was donning the much coveted Air Force gray uniform with the rank of cadet 2nd Lieutenant. A year later, the gray uniform was discarded in favor of the green fatigue jungle uniform and PHILCAG hat.This was the kind of hat worn by Philippine Troops then in Vietnam in support of the U.S. forces.

Horrors of War

It was also in the 1970s when pockets of Muslim secessionists began their armed rebellion against the government .For us Christians, we consider them *savages”.For indeed they were. Nobody , I think, could really fault us for such perception for they beheaded and mutilated Christians . I remember passing by a morgue one afternoon after school with many people milling around , some with tears in their eyes, others hysterical, others simply watched silently in horror as dead bodies were unloaded from a truck . There , from survivors’ account, were tales of horror and rage. I learned that a passenger bus was stopped by armed men and separated Muslims from the Christians and then began to massacre the Christians. Some were beheaded, others mutilated.

The Muslims referred to Christians as Filipinos, which only showed that they never considered themselves Filipinos.

But that is altogether a different story which I would recount in my later memoirs( But I never did ).

( Picture above was scanned from my 1969 Beacon yearbook )

A Day Off

Car Repair

Called in sick for work today . But halfway thru the morning was feeling much better and decided to have the car’s front suspension have its much needed check because of suspicious noises coming from the front under chassis. The mechanic said that both tie rods needed to be replaced. The sheet where the wheel gearbox is attached was patched up with acetylene. Shelled out about Php 2,200.00 for the repair. The job was over in less than 3 hours and the car was in good shape again. My car’s a 1977 K30 Toyota Corolla sedan . Not exactly uour kind of muscle car. But it still serves me and the family well, No trouble with the engine. Paint job is excellent, except for some irritating scratches probably made by some moron with nothing else to do with his life but pick on some helpless car on parking areas.


1969 BEACON

In the afternoon, I decided to help out the wife ( in the office right now) by cleaning up the bedroom. I bet she’ll be delighted.

The bedroom closet is a mess, with assorted debris (mostly my own) accumulated through the years. About 20 minutes sort later, I found my 1969 Beacon Yearbook (ATENEO) still in one piece, though the hardbound cover edges had been eaten by mice or ants or something. Funny how time flies, huh? I looked at my grade school class picture and remembered those familiar faces .Hey, that’s me ! I looked funny. But so did my classmate’s faces. Why do old pictures always looked funny and horrible?

Too bad no 1973 High School yearbook . It was the year of Marcos martial law and publication was prohibited then.

Got to go and continue with the cleanup. I guess I’ll scan some pictures from the yearbook and post it later.