This is a compilation of how we, Quezon City Science High School Batch of 1977 remembered our dear Science High School during the years 1973-77. The memoirs are written for the present and future generation of science High school students to appreciate what they have now and strive that they too would have lovely memories in that school as we did some 23 years ago. This project which I aim to someday publish, started when a few of my former classmates started a series of mini reunions as a prelude to our 25 year anniversary come year 2002. And the interest heightened when I was able to find the long lost seniors annual we failed to see before our graduation ceremony. It was an annual painstankingly manually produced and as thick as a webster dictionary made by a group of seniors tasked to do it by the senior adviser, Mrs. Justiniani.

To see it once again opened a box of memories for us, something we may have forgotten through the years of honing our skills as professionals. Yes, we may have gone separate ways already yet what may bind us together was the experience of learning together during our teen years. Not only learning the ABCs science and math in that special city high school but life within those confines in one way or another we could not deny molded us through the growing years till adolescence. I together with my classmates would want to share with you that chapter of our young lives.

"... Tomorrow, I'll be going back to sciencia not only for a visit, not only to see old teachers like Mr Antonio, Mr Madriaga, our music teacher Mrs.Sison, and our Home Economics teacher Mrs Lomibao. I would also have a chance to once again visit the old nooks of the school where we spent most of our time before. Remember the UFO like concrete slab at the field where we used to eat lunch among the tall uncut grass because Mang (local equivalent for a Mr. but means a person of lower social status but respected) Johnny's unireaper (the term for the portable grass cutter) does not have gasoline....

Remember our interview? Mine was before Mr. Monis the assistant principal who interviewed me instead of Mrs. Reyes (and you'll understand why I felt blessed by God during that time as you read on this piece).

Although I was for my daughter to enter UP high at the start, I am excited being part of the alumni that my daughter may finally chose sciencia (Our term for the Science High school) instead of UP (University of the Philippines) high school which from my investigations (among faculty of that school, parents of former graduates and other UP personnel) now has alow percentage of graduates passing the UPCAT or college entrance exam. As compared to the city science high school. Some blame it on the ever-changing curriculum of the school since it is a laboratory school of UP's College of education and the very socialized selection of students.

Well, as a parent I decided on the science high school primarily not because of this but because my little girl does have a tendency to be lax in her studies at times. The rigidness of the science High school could do her good. As I looked at the school ground this afternoon from the Shoemart Mall parking lot and said to my daughter... "you continue on where I left".

And with a wheeze, my memories ran wild as I looked into the campus. The old pre-fabricated building we used during our freshmen and sophomore years is now demolished and a three story building is being erected. The flagpole area where we used to get our morning sermon from Mrs. Reyes, our school principal... bless her soul, is now covered with an open sided covered court cum gymnasium.

I remember we had our junior senior prom in that along the flagpole area for we weren't permitted by the then regime to hold it outside the school premises. Do you also remeber Fritzi P. (whom we called shrinking violet due to her height) had bouts of hika (asthma) while the head teacher morning eulogy was going on heheh... ok i'll see you again...

I praise God that despite my heart condition, Ill get to see my daughter entering hopefully sciencia. Of course she says papa forced her... coerced her to enter. By the way the rumor goes that a stipend of P1,000 per month per student would be given this year and I dont know how realiable that rumor is, but in any case the amount would be good for daily fare of my daughter via the new LRT3 (the latest light rail transit constructed at E.Delos Santos Avenue) where the station is then a short walk to the campus. I do have to check my daughter though. Baka maglakwatsa sa shoemart pagkatapos ng klase (she might end up skipping classes and taking the afternoon off in the mall after class). Buti nalang walang Mrs Justiniani o Mrs. Laigo na (It's good that Mrs. Justiniani and Mrs Laigo are not around anymore).

Oh yes, I have short story if some of you are interested on how I got a revenge on Mrs. Laigo years ago....email me hahah... that was real funny...." Pastor Ezra M. B. Our First Few months :As recalled in another email to classmates after the May 22, 1999 mini reunion:

First things always make the most lasting impressions. For one some say that s gem need to be polished well to get more value or a jungle be cleared for it to bear produce. The school did not have the luxury of first hand good reviews.

Memories flash on my first day at that school. it was a chilly Monday morning of June 1973, the sun just rose at the east and I was waiting for people I knew inside the school premises. I stood at the end of the annex near the old Darwin room near the walls of the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Child Reception and Study Center, and the Philippine Pediatric Society... I then saw Dindo D. coming in the unpaved path way then of course my old elementary classmate Jose Miguel "Nognog" M. and Jonathan "Kalansay" R. I then felt that I was not alone any more in the turf called high school.

Remember the tall grasses in the school ground and the model housing that stood before where Shoe Mart City now stands? How about that nipa hut house at the corner which was a tambakan (stock pile) of gravel and sand, diba (wasn't it) that the fence was all piled up with gravel and sand and the smoke of the 6x6 delivery trucks sometimes soiling our newly pressed uniforms. Or how about that time that the road from EDSA going to the school was filled with mud because of some construction which made ur newly shined shoes look like mudded boots when we reached school...

I envied Debbie C. and Ophelia C. who used to be brought to school in a carsby their their loving parents... at least their Greg boyshoes did not get muddy.

Yes I remembered those time 23 years ago and my daughter would be going to a different scenario these days prominent of course is the mall and the tricycles making that street full of memories look like a trike garage. NO more nipa hut house and model housing only rows of commercial buildings that would make one's pockets bleed.

It must be terrible as a student now probably if that mall was constructed before if we could remember how much baon (allowance) we had then, barely enough to ride jeepneys or a minibus to Cubao or if one's luck is present get a ride in those army 6X6 trucks ferrying passengers to Monumento at a discounted fare. Of course, what those 6x6 tuck rides where a treat for us then courtesy of the the Marcoses who rode their limousines without pity to the plight of the masses.

Did you know that in front of the DSWD's Child Reception and Study Center was a military camp where they silently tortured and killed people who were against the regime's policies? Now they plan to build another commercial cum residential complex.

But the old gym inside that camp still is there, the edifice is prominent, concrete and semi arced just like the hangars of Roel "UFO" C. (Roel C. tease name) .. by the way Roel C. promised to attend the reunion last May 22 1999 but did not keep his word. Maybe his computers got a foul up where to land his craft with all thosee nice houses on Willy "Burog" M.'s subdivision in Quezon City. But its ok that he did not come.. he could have landed his spaceship at the vacant lot where Ma .Victoria "hik" T. parked her nice silver mitsubishi car and have burned it in the landing process... OK next time ha...

The school was like a Maya's nest nestled at the inner corner of E delos Santos Avenue and the North Avenue. Tall grasses abounded in the area where at that time a model house of the NHA, a pet project of her majesty's Imelda Romualdez Marcos housing for the poor stark contradiction of what the Marcoses really had, the unfinished palace at the sky in Tagaytay, the palaces in Ilocos and in Leyte did not even compare to what they had to offer the masses and as if these model houses looked like dog houses their palaces built for their follies.

An asphalted trail connected the highway to the school and this also passed another public school called the Don Mariano Marcos High school or what we termed as Nano (has since been renamed to its original name, San Francisco High or Kiko). The pupils of both schools where clearly distinguished first by their sheer numbers one school had a bigger population while the other school, our school, the Quezon city science high school were but like M&Ms in McDonalds McFlurry ice cream, checkered blue skirts among the sea of green skirts. The students from Mariano Marcos walked at the left side of the road while we walked on the right side.

While we both had differences in numbers and appearances, both of us however where victims of the times, marching to the tune every morning of Martial Laws Hymn, May Bagong Silang (A New Birth) refering to the new society Marcos perceived to have envisioned several years ago, to change the Filipino notwithstanding a change himself. We also were subject to the strictness of our principals when we were late for the mornings flag ceremony. The punishment meant waiting in the gate until after the flag ceremony was done and to cap the mornings punishement, like sheep to be slaughtered, heads bowed as if to hide them from peering classmates, towards the principal's office. There a dose of our own medicines to be given. Grasses where tall inside the campus and on the surrounding parts of the field not cultivated as rice paddies. Occasionally on the pavement wet by the morning's dew was a fresh Carabaos (water buffalo's) dung as the beast of burden where ridden by peasant boys to the rice fields. We could see the buses clearly traversing EDSA facing the schools south west while Bago Bantay district at the North east.

Grasses, freshly soaked by the morning dew inside the school grounds where a brief respite for the academics ahead of us particularly the science and math subjects. I remember a teacher we had during our first year, Mrs. Lilia L. who taught algebra. It was like the Gestapo coming or for us Filipinos, the head of the MetroCom (Metropolitan Command, a police department used by Marcos to keep the peace and the dissenters away). She rattled away from one chapter to the other of our textbook which looked like a bible to me emphasizing and sometimes screaming formulas to us which we hardly understood because of the method. I remember she gave me a 75% One grading period and for which my dad rewarded a flogging on my butt. The grasses where usually trimmed by three faithful janitors, Mang Johhny, Mang Willie or whom we called kojak at the time and Mang Rudy but from what we heard, he died from a car accident years ago. They used a new donated grass cutter called the unireaper which was a machine driven cutter with a rotating sharp blade at the end of a 6 feet aluminum pole. It was so sharp that a single whoosh could have severed a leg or a hiding head in the bushes, or probably a frog or two. Of course the frog would get its vengeance when it hit a stone or two causing it to fly and severe the leg of the Janitors. I still remember the smell of the fresh grass of that field. We were both happy and sad that the grass was cut because for one, any untoward creatures such as the escaped python of Mrs. Alojipan brought for display during a scince fair could be now be visible.

We were however sad because when the grasses where cut our source of ground cover during lunch time which was atop of that concrete UFO look alike thing on the south western part of the school would make us be visible. We really did not know why it was there but some say it was the base of an antenna of an American base which used to have its facilities there.

Going back to that rounded concrete thing in the middle of the field. For some of us students, it was the most respectable place to be in come lunch time. first compared to the canteen it was clean and mold free, and second it was windy unlike the ceiling fans of the canteen which blew in dust and most of the time hot air. Of course the noise was less and the away from the prying eyes of the teacher Miss Cudal and Mrs. Ancheta who kept watch over the banana fries dipped in sugar or what we term as a banana que and the ever present melon juice with pulp bits included.

There was a sense of peace in the rounded thing in the middle of the field, a peace that forged friendships and short lasting loves and even mad plans for the future sitting there as we watched the sun go down. That concrete slab served as our bleacher when volleyball games where done in the afternoon in that muddied portion of the field near the school wall and the cut grasses used as floor pads for to keep the ground dry from the rain that fell that day. That concrete slab we used also to watch formations done by the model and the non-model CAT (Citizens Army Training) platoons or the boy scout squads.

I remember that slab had a hole in the center which was the receptacle of any rain that fell, sort of a rain gauge, but we never did mind as long as it's sides where dry. It was all that mattered in a field of mud.

Of course ther was another concrete and asphalted portion of the school, remnants they say again of the americam base. We held scouting formations there too and some half court basketball games and volley ball games if the mud at the other court was really intolerable. A small guava tree shaded the North east protion of it which automatically we used again as bleacher roofing and the concrete base of the court as our benches.

It was a treat for us boys that as we sat there in the cool afternoon to spot a thing or two when the strong field wind blew up the skirts of our girl classmates. But they where not in any way wary since their bloomers and blue shorts worn beneath their checkered skirts protected them from the eyes of silly boys like us.

We would also shout "fowl" instead of foul when Theodore P. came into the basket ball game. He was called "manok" (chicken) for nothing as he strutted proudly if a shot came to accomplishment.

At the back of that concrete was a portion of what hushly the janitors told us early in our sojourn that before it used to remnant of an american club where taxi girls or taxi bar girls usually did their thing. It then looked like the posts of a once grandiose giver of temporary happiness to lonely GI's then rotting it's way waiting that its brownish skeleton structure be demolished any time.

Here in this concrete portion of the school, I can term it as the lower volleyball court was a year-round, all-weather place to play sans the drizzles. The school place two iron post on both ends of the concrete floor and recycled it into a volleyball court.

Scouting marches where done in the asphalted portion of the school, this was a former road now enclosed by the school fence. A treat during the rainy season because that meant our white sea scout uniforms, just like sailor uniforms, would not get soiled.

We really did not have much during those days as compared to the campus of the neighboring Philippine Science High School but we made most of what we had then and the lack of physical facilities made us do more, to excel in whatever conditions, like a Don Quixote fighting the imaginary dragons with rusty spears and shields.

"Anyway, hindi ko rin masisisi ang anak mo for choosing UP High over Scientia. Ako rin kung ngayon, I'll choose the same. Why? Wala na yung magagaling na teachers natin noon. Na-pirate na either ng private schools or PhilSci. We cannot blame the teachers also since they have to survive. If only politics will get away from deciding what to do with our children's future, sana most of the taxes should go to education."

Romulo DJ

Teachers where our inspirations well as the source of our perspiration. They gave us assignments long enough to keep us on our toes. We never liked assignments but since there was a culture that we had to be molded in, we desired to fulfill the obligations to the best of our abilities. Graded accordingly, we got grades ranging form the highest possible to the lowest possible which would make our parents sneer at them. The teachers had different styles of teaching from that of being bookish as our physics subject to that where the teachers required us to give super nice presentations that practically drained our creative juices and made us exhausted the hour after presentation.

So was our social studies subject under Mrs. Justiniani who required that we presnted things in drama form, in musical form, in interview style or whatever possible presentation one can come up with just to be unique for our grades depended on it like dear life depending on a life saver.

I remember a freshman teacher named Mrs. Perez. She was newly married then and no children during that time. She was sweet the way she would say things. For us freh men, that meant a lot. Her manner of being strict was to say one or two words then sign off. Mrs. Perez became our homeroom adviser and consequently guide us the year through.

Like all others, the female teachers wore navy blue skirts and a white blouse which eventually was change to a one piece sky blue uniform. The newer uniform had a zipper in front which eventually could determine decency or being indecent.

I remember one afternoon, Mrs. Reyes, the principal caught some of us boys as we attempted to escape flage retreat. She hauled us to her office that afternoon. Noticing that Juanito "Otina-uj" R. and Willy "Burog" M. wore their polo shirts with buttons half way to the belt unbottoned, asked us why we had the style. Answering her self "tama naman, malamig sa pakiramdam", without any warning given to.

Who could forget Mr. Ramirez and his antics. We felt like French school boys and girls because of his accent in teaching. He taught speech then and you wouldn't want to be caught in front while he delivers his lesson plan, or else bring an umbrella as you take down notes. I would say he was quite different from the rest of the male teachers. He wore a different style of clothes then, like black pants which was tighly fitted on top becoming bell bottomed below with matching platform shoes that seemed to be over used through the years as the original form was lost from walking that dusty roads. He even wore a different set of clothes during evenings at the Hi-Y conferences in Baguio City for he was the adviser of the delegates then should say he was ahead of his time.

To excel was anything the school desired. It seemed students are there to give the school a chance to fill it's cabinets with trophies, medals, plaques and whatever honor we can bring. We, the studentry were supposed to be medal hounders at all cost. Of course, obtaining a medal did not exempt you from being scolded at times or having a medal did not make you a star and celebrity student all your school life, with certain privileges, but getting one gave you celebrity status at least for the time being, until the student body forgets it, or another mischief sends you to the principal's office.

With our limited science facilities, we could not compete with Philippine Science or Manila Science for top honors in science fairs and science quizzes. We were always in the tight spot of either 2^nd or 3^rd place. What could we expect? There was not real working physics or chemistry laboratory to speak of. Even the so called biology class had to do with the makeshift equipment we had on hand. Some time a microscope peep could make one cross eyed because the lenses have not been properly aligned or the frog jump out of the dissecting table, since the candles that have been melted and place in a tray for the disection was of no good use.

So to make up for the failures sans frustrations in the field of science, the Citizens army training made the school proud in the consistent winning for several years of the national CAT competition. And our nemesis was the German Army strutting Ramon Magsaysay Cubao High school model platoon.

Thanks for the PMA like training Mr. Madriaga our school Commandant or Taping (Tap-ping) for his detractors, and where usually the male students who wanted to sport the Long hair and joined the non-model platoon instead. Foremost of whom were Willy M., Juanito R., and Amando J. The boyzones of our time or probably closests description are the Moffats of our time. Well no girls seemed to scream at them while they sported those shoulder-length hair and bell bottoms.

Mr. Madriaga was a disciplinarian both in the field marches and in the room lectures to the model platoon which was chosen or recruited yearly among the senior male and female students of the school.

Our armory consisting of dummy rifles and other parade accessories was spic and span. In our batch, a classmate was always assigned to varnish these rifles come competition time, his name was Ariel L. or Ayel as he was fondly called because he had difficulty in pronouncing the letter R. Their family had a furniture business then, so varnishing things was like a second skin to him.

Any way, we could not forget Mr. Raymundo Madriaga because he sported a different look. His hair was alwys cut short to be an example for us boys that having a semi-bald look was beautiful and sexy. He had a straight posture just like a PMA cadet fresh from drills and kept to the basic of life even in the way he ate lunch and what he always brought to school as meals.

It was terrible thing to be lectured in his office but much less terrible than the principal's office. If his office felt like a garrison, the principal's office felt like a guillotine and the principal the executioner. Of course, there would be times we could just drop in for a chat or two in the spartan-like office. For his office was shared with the school property room where science equipoment which seemed to have been used by Galileo to discover the stars where stored.

Oh how we envied the laboratories of Philippine Science and Manila Science. Well our property room looked more like a lavatory during that time with dust blanketing that whole half of Mr. Madriaga's room. Of course, it was not his turf beyond the armory and someboby else was responsible for it's cleanliness, but between the principal's office and Mr. Madriaga's office, the property room seemed like purgatory to me even dim lighted as a crypt.

The dummy rifles was used during practice marching sessions around the field during school days and at UP sunken garden or the track and field oval during Saturdays and sometimes come competition Sundays.

Dummy rifles where made of wood carved to look like a real rifle and during time that we took it home for next days' training, we could hear a snicker or two from street boys who teased us as playing soldiers for the prevailing regime. Those rifles, we carred on our shoulders in buses, jeeps, for those who had the means, taxis, and the socially-privileged students, the trunk of the family car.

We were not supposed to lose them and must me treated like our wives. Now how about that, to be trained in our early age that wives were to be loved or else would shoot us. The rifles had a sling that should snapped at our palms during a certian command of the drill and the snap had to be so loud, it caused pain in our palms.

Coloured dark brown or varnished dark brown with a silvery tip on the nozzle and the trigger part. The appearance alone and with those rifles slinging at our shoulders walking home, made us look like a bunch of dispersed army volunteers for the katipunan. But it was a prestige seen with those dummy rifles for it meant we were part of the model platoon.

Outside trainings were a treat for us because it meant that we could relax in the mall's movie house after the competitions even without telling our parents for we always said that training's late till afternoon. We also had a trusty sweet fried banana vendor selling her stuff during our break time and under on the the trees at the training ground. I think she made a killing realizing that the nearest sari-sari store was minutes away and the breaktime shorter than that. Water supply was either stored in canteens or Tupperware's carefully chilled the night before and wrapped in either a cloth napkin or a face towel to make it still become cold till the break time. Note that the handy coleman jug was still not invented during that time.

It also meant official exception from our classes when the week of competitions was near for we had to practice our marching drill Monday till Fridays. This, of course, was to the understanding of our teachers in the science and math subjects for the school was hungry as a lion for trophies and medals.

A model platoon had to be proficient in both understanding command and move as one Robot-like unit in marching at the same time proficient in map reading, garand rifle dismantling and assembling, and military organizational matters which would be asked usually during the competitions.

The training was usually done till the midday sun during Saturdays that is why as we look at our skin after those gruelling training's, we looked reddened like newly broiled pigs. A finger or two became pinned against the garand rifle part as the dismantling or assembling was going on and of course the firing pins click was the final test of the judge if the assembly was right.

During our time, the boys won 1^st place in the regional competition but failed to get the top honors during the national championship in Fort Bonifacio, while our girl counterparts won 1^st place in both the regional and National levels. It was hard to accept. Even our platoon commander Desiderio Fuerte could not sleep for night thinking of why such a debacle could happen when in fact that trophy was already in the bag. And to think that we lost by a fraction of a point. Did we smell something fishy there?

Now as I look back on those medals and trophies we got during the competition, the once trophy proudly displayed at the prominent corner of the school is now placed in the lowest shelf of the present faculty office and not even the principals office as it used to be during our time. I asked myself as I visited the school when I brought my kid for enrollment, is this the way our once glorious past goes, in the dusty lower portion of the faculty cabinet. Well, life is really that way, once you have tasted the glory of success, it would never come back instead be lost in obliviousness.

"Ako yung sinasabi mong nag-start ng bonfire sa upuan. Actually ako lang ang nagsindi, tapos hindi ko alam kung sino ang nag-dagdag ng iba pang papel doon kaya lumala. Mabuti na lang at nandoon si Ferdie Vero at pinatay yung apoy at tapos, siya na rin ang nag-varnish. Oo nga nakaka-miss din yung ganoon. Biro mo ga-graduate na tayo noon, at clean ang record ko, tapos bigla na lang may ganoon akong gagawin. Ang usual suspect pa nga ni Mr Madriaga sina Willy at Johnny. Sorry about that Willy and Johnny! Favorite lang talaga kayo ni Taping."

Romulo de J.

It was the closing week of school before graduation time and as clearances where being asked from departmeent heads and the property custodians, with no school work on our heads, such is true when aid that the empty mind is the workshop of the devil. Romulo de. J. coming from the other section, with nothing to do, visited our room. We were having a merinda during thaat time, minding our own buiness and food when somebody shouted "fire" And true enough the arm chair was on fire with Romy laughing his butt out. Some body added more scratch paper to it and the flicker became a medium sized bonfire.

Now now, bonfires are supposed to be made outside the field but in this case, it was right at our room at the second floor of the building and lucky for Romy during that time, Miss Cerveraa, our homeroom adviser was not there. Of course th smoke was seen from the outside as Ferdinand "hangin" V. put out the flames probably by fanning it out with his breezy personality.

But a bad day for Willy and Johnny who where pet peevees of Mr. Madriaga. The blame feell on them without Romy de. J coming up and admitting the prank. The poor guys, Willy "burog" M. and Johnny "Otinauj" R. spent the afternoon trying to wiggle themselves out of the situation. Who squealed on the matter? An email from a classmate reveals that it was Jaime "balot" R.

"If it's any consolation, merong nag-chuchu at sinumbong si Mulong sa mga teachers, kaya acquitted kayo ni Willie. I really don't remember that incident but Des does and he knew all along na si Mulong ang may kagagawan. Wanna know who made sumbong? Si Balot, Jaime Rebultan, kaya nagalit sa kanya si Ms. Lacquian! Ang sarap talagang mag-reunion kasi pati yung mga hindi namin alam, nalaman!"

Bobbie M.

"Another legacy that I left in Sciencia was also before we graduated. Remember I got hit by a stone on my eyebrow. Francisco Pico was the culprit on that one. Kaya naka-shades ako sa graduation natin sa Amoranto Stadium."

romulo de j.

"Mulong, gusto mo batukan ko na si Balot? He's an executive at LandBank and he also lives in Sta. Rosa like us. Binata pa kasi na-broken hearted dahil binasted siya ni Lily J. (haha)."

Bobbie M.

"Alam ko na si Balot ang makapili noon. Pero huwag niyo namang sisihin si Jaime. He did what he had to do. Kasi kung hindi rin niya ako sinumbong, lalapit rin naman ako kay Taping later on. Pinalalamig ko lang muna. Pinadala tuloy ako sa principal. Mabuti na lang si Mr Monis ang principal noon at hindi si Mrs Reyes (God rest her soul). Kung hindi, baka maghapon kami sa office. At least, 5 minutes lang kami sa office noon. Alam ko rin kasama ko sa principal's office si Noel Meneses, hindi ko alam kung bakit. Alam ng lahat na ako ang nagumpisa ng apoy. Ang mystery ngayon ay kung sino ang nag-palala ng apoy. Ang alam ko kasi isang piraso ng pad paper lang yung sinunog ko. Hindi naman noon kayang sunugin yung upuan. So nakalusot pa rin yung naglagay noon kung sino man yun."

Romulo de J.

"But it was fun, right? No harm done naman di ba? Kung nasunog yung building, then that is another thing. Thank you nga pala kay Ferdie. He tried to cover for me ng pintahan niya yung upuan. Now I am beginning to wonder why it reached Taping kasi early morning pa, na-varnish na ni Ferdie yun eh. Ariel, naalala ko rin yung belt ni Johnny kay Takong. Auntie niya si Mrs Pascual. Ilang stitches nga ba yung inabot ni Melandro? O nasira ba yung belt ni Johnny sa kunat ng ulo ni Takong? Kaya Johnny, dapat good friends na kayo ni Takong. Pulis na kasi siya ngayon."

Romulo de J.

"Speaking of memory lane ang di ko makalimutan na nangyari sa batch natin ay ng hampasin ng belt buckle ni Johnny si Menandro Singson. It was during our freshman year at kakasimula pa lang ng school year halos di pa tayo magkakakilala and here comes Menandro who probably thinks he's above us dahil pamangkin siya ng registrar, sorry na lang siya natapat siya sa batang escopa, he he he."

Ariel L.

Pranks where a part of our high school life. They were meant to be silly but not destructive in nature. All part of the exprimental rebellious years we had. I remember as early as first yeaar high school, Arnel Lu, a classmate who lived in Bago Bantay District during thaat time, whom we calld "lu-ga" or ear pus, did his share of pranks on our science I teacher named Mrs. Daz. Arnel transfered to Davao before the year ended so his pranks were short lived.

The Janitors upon order of the administration did a facelift on some rooms of the teachers particularly the teachers who taught the sciences. The order's objective was probably to make the science laboratories look presentable and not to look like storage rooms.

Mrs. Daz's table by the door was varnished like new and the gleem was seen through out the room. One morning Arnel lu was busy scrapping the reddish phosporus heads of a newly opened match box. Using a sharp blade for the tedious process. Upon scraping the entire sticks off it’s phosphorus material, he spread the red orange powder atop the newly varnished table forming the three letter family name of our teacher, Mrs. Daz.

And as those letters where formed in script font, he lighted on end of it, and just like the opening segment of the series "mission impossible", the powder burned in such a speed that before anyone could put it off, the powder had formed the letters DAZ on the newly varnished table. Now our teacher got a free marking on her table which would make that table different from the rest. Mrs. Daz did not really catch the culprit of that artistic stroke. But you should see how her face looked the morning after.

Water was always a problem in the school. The Bagong Lipunan fever did not change how the Metropolitan Waterworks and sewerage system did provide for the most basic of commodities to the metropolis. There where times when water was in dire need speciaally when we used the comfort rooms that poor Mang Johnny had to be contented in declogging with great effort the clogged facilities from the most odorous elements that have accumulated through the days.

And as a student you would always wish that the "inevitable" activity would not transpire inside those torture rooms. But still it was a great torture because of it’s odor and a great torture because of how the room looked.

Water was a scarcity and I really wonder how they managed to keep those rooms clean. But observing the stagnant water pond dry up at the edge of the comfort room makes one’s imagination run wild specially if it mysteriouly dries up.

Any way water was essential in our homeroom clean up as rags have to be washed and mop heads wet to make the floor look clean.

It was an uneventful afternoon right after the science fair week and rooms needed a lot of scrubbing. And what do you know, there was no water in the faucet inside our home room in the second floor of the newly constructed building. To my frustration, I got some rags and plugged the drain of the sink and left the sink open overnight.

What a sight the next day when our Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Reyes, namesake of the principal, shouting to the top of her voice instructions to the Einstein boys to hurry up and mop the floor and to remember to keep the lights closed and not make the electric fan run to avert any electrical short circuit as the water seeped into the ceiling floor our homeroom above.

Well visiting the old school building this year and peeping into that room on the ground floor, made me remember that prank I made 23 years ago as the ceiling which was just nearly painted just barely a month that year displayed evidences of that drip that uneventful afternoon.

"yes, i remember it now. beng is marissa a.. was that memory during our 4^th year? i also learned from kinjo during one of those times that we were having a chat that he and mayrose p. had been lovey-dovey too. did you know that? he said that it was a secret one. i remember seeing someone (guess who) on our fourth year and he used to come to our house pretending to borrow a book. he was the reason my dad didn't enroll me at u.s.t. for college and instead i ended up in p.u.p. (my aunt worked there). i was so stubborn i didn't go to school for two weeks after it started."

Ophelia c.

"4 couples..just to refresh our memories. ha ha ha. or would you like a guessing game? des and bobbie..edwin and marissa...debbie and ?...you and ?...

ophelia c.

"Hindi na ba ninyo natatandaan yung mga couples before? Ako, alam ko. Des - Bobbie Edwin C. - Grace A. Neill - Debbie , Elmo - Maryann M. Then alam ko rin si Kennedy S. saka isang lower batch - Rhodora ba ang pangalan noon? And Ado C. and isang higher batch Theresa R., model platoon leader ng batch before us."

romulo de J.

The passions of our youth did not escape the so-called scholars. We did have loves too. But maybe it was more of the so-called pressures of our age (those hormones), what we read, or hear in the music of the times and what we watch in TV and in the movies. We did get into a sort of a fix that this was the way to go and the tall grasses where a our hideaways. No we were not as wild as the younger batches or the x generation. Our basic "trip" was to exchange love letters and do a little chit chat every now and then . When I was in first year, a girl even told me I wrote her a biography of my family and not a "love letter". How would I know the difference back then.

We were not that physical then but a little helping, a slight touch of the palm, when going down from public buses or jeepneys were the times we expressed affection to each other. The more common was when we crossed the streets and especially when we crossed EDSA or North Avenue.

We enjoyed our pairs that we became cliches in a way. Very exclusive. We went home together, well maybe until the corner near the girls house since we did not want to make the dads go berserk that their little girls had boys hovering around like bees among flowers.

Parties where also activities we could "bakod" or what we would say fence off our partners as we should have a sole and exclusive right to dance with them particularly in the slow drag music. Of course some other boys would jostle us guys to also have a dance with them. We gave our love simple gifts and sometimes had dates in the most unassuming of places like the part of under the trees after the Citizens Army Training sessions prior to the annual competition or the Quezon Memorial Park or the parks and wild life lagoon after the tree planting activity which our school had to participate, an order by Madame Marcos so her cronies can once again cut down trees, what an irony.

We would also be together during the annual Alay Lakad done during the month of July which was a charity walk and which the school administrator required as to participate in to make the number of participants balloon, which was the way to go during the Marcos era.

We would walk from Espana Rotonda to Luneta a hefty distance for our young legs legs. Of course our allowances did not allow us expensive malling, now now, the best mall during that time was Ali Mall in Cubao which we all thought belonged to Muhammed Ali. It was constructed and inaugurated at the same year Ali and Frazier fought the "Thrilla in Manila" That was the place to go then but of course school requirements and monetary concern prevented us from frequenting that place. For one I live in Cubao and the possibility of my dad seeing me with a date was repulsing.