We survived and changed—PLM’s “Iskolar ng Bayan”

 
By Willie Jose
Toronto-Canada
September 7, 2018
 


We alumni belonging to the First Batch of the Class ’67 of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila have gone a long way to attain our most cherished dream: to obtain college degrees and to get away from the bondage of poverty.



Our indomitable spirit to survive in life is really admirable. We have journeyed a strenuous and bumpy road to realize our dream of becoming engineers, nurses, professors, journalists, scientists, accountants, CEOs, police and military officers, and other bureaucrats.

Despite the comforts we are now enjoying, we have not forgotten our beloved alma mater; we know that we’ll be forever grateful to the school that has given us the privilege of having a free education-- and that opportunity had allowed us to turn around our lives for the better

These days, when we have a chance to have a get-together, we could not help ourselves but remember the hardships we had experienced studying at PLM, we would always reminisce the experience on how we survived the rigors of maintaining our scholarships—for being the “ skolar ng Bayan”.

Despite our success, however, the “What If” question still keeps lingering on our minds, meaning if we had not been given that free education, what could possibly have happened to our lives.

With today’s technology, it’s much easier to get in touch with other alumni-friends, seeing their modern houses, frequent travels, ‘selfies’ photos and other lifestyles. No doubts, we are now enjoying the blessings of having that kind of once-in-a-lifetime life’s break: free education, free uniform, free out-of-town field trips.

With the visit to Toronto by a PLM alumnus, Plecy Hermogenes, with his wife Cora, we had a sumptuous dinner, a “boodle food fight” at FV Foods Restaurant recently.

Some of the alumni who were there --Dani and Ping, Lilia and me, Rey Bermudez and Ollie, Delia Gonzalez and Gani Vallesteros.This mini- reunion was both our way of welcoming the Hermogenes’ couple and also sending them off because they were scheduled to go back to the Philippines in two days’ time. They were in Toronto for a short visit—attending the wedding of their nephew.

Aside from these sumptuous foods on our table, we had lots of never-ending kwuetuhan, lots of laughter, lots of bonding , and lots of updates about the whereabouts of some alumni friends .

But while we were eating, one of the discussions veered towards the question: what would have happened to us had not been for the PLM education we’d gotten and also what other courses of action we possibly would have taken to pursue our studies.

I purposely threw that question to my alumni friends to find out how grateful we are to our alma mater for the life’s comforts we are now enjoying.

In posing some questions, I began with these words,“ What If?”— So I set in motion a kind of a brainstorming session and a lively exchange of opinions.

I first tossed the question to Plecy, what would have happened to his life were it not for his PLM’s education? Without batting an eyelash, he said, “ being a magsasaka in our province, all my dream was to get out from this kind of hard work; I had been tilling the land owned by our relative since I was a little boy and I used to sell chicken eggs too to augment our income.”

“My parents who are ‘no read, no write’ would not even want me to pursue my education because by doing that could mean fewer people tilling the field”

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to finish my business administration degree at PLM, so whatever I’ve reached in my life now, I owe it to Pamantasan“.

Plecy is now a successful businessman and the incumbent Barangay Captain of Philam Life Homes in Quezon City. He’s married to Cora, a doctor.

For his part, Dani said that he is grateful to the PLM for the education he got there— and now, although he is not rich, at least he is enjoying some of life’s comforts.

“ Were it not for the PLM, I don’t know what would have happened to me. We were poor and my Mom was a dressmaker. But while studying at the V. Mapa High School, I knew my parents could not afford to send me to college, so I took advantage of the school’s 2-2 plan (vocational) by learning steno-typing”. Dani said.

“I knew I needed that skill to prepare me for a clerical work in the future, so that this way I could support myself in going to college and at the same time working,”Dani added.

Digging my old journal, I found an entry on the little conversation I had with Dani in his home dated June 19, 2013, telling me  “As a matter of fact, I won the steno-typing contest at the inter-high school vocational competition and our school, also won in the automotive and electrical categories.

“Our prizes were not just certificates but a lot of palakpakan too; we had been given a heroes’ welcome upon our arrival at Mapa. Personally, I knew my certificate was important and it would come in handy should I decide to study and work at the same time in the future.”

Dani is now a retired accountant; he’s married to a PLM alumna, Ping, who’s a nurse.

Gani Vallesteros, an engineer, said that his parents were teachers, so he had other options aside from studying at the PLM; maybe he would go to other public universities.

Delia Manguba, a retired nurse, said that she appreciated the privilege of getting her nursing degree at the Pamantasan, adding that “I came from a poor family and my dad was a gasoline truck driver and part-time mechanic. Maybe, if I did not make at the PLM, I could have taken my nursing at UST but it could mean additional hardship for my parents. But just the same, my Tatay would do everything for my education, even to the extent of borrowing money just to support my nursing. I really wanted to be a nurse “.

My wife, Lilia, also a retired nurse, told me that it was good enough that she passed the PLM entrance exams and eventually took up my nursing there or else “ I would have taken an education course at the Philippine Normal College “. Her father was an MD bus driver and a union leader while her Mom was a dressmaker.

For her part, Ollie Bermudez who has a business administration degree said that her father was an ordinary clerk but “if not for the PLM education, I could have gotten a business course at the Philippine College of Commerce.” Ollie is married to another alumnus, Rey Bermudez.

Frankly, I would say, we need a book to tell all the success stories of all of our alumni-friends belonging to the Pioneer  ’67 Class. I’ve heard that book is already in the offing.

And to end this nostalgic piece, I want to add a little excerpt from an article I’d written many years ago:

Most of us are children of carpenters, drivers, dressmakers, office workers, vendors, laborers, soldiers and other workers; and that our parents worked hard all day so they could give us our daily baon and transport fare but they themselves also dreamt that someday their children would be their only chance to give them some respite from life’s adversities.

How happy we are today to think that we have not failed both our parents and our alma mater.

Look at ourselves now and what we’ve become--executives of some companies, school deans, journalists, writers, accountants, professors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, public officials, and other professionals--and from having lived   in small houses along the railroad tracks, and other shanties in Tondo, Sampaloc, Paco, and Sta. Ana, many of us have moved to some affordable subdivisions in Metro Manila while the others have migrated to the US, Canada, and Australia.