C.A. Batch 1993..

I have spending the past few days in school campuses doing a research study, reminds me of that movie “Never Been Kissed” starring Drew Barrymore. Imagine what I felt when I went to UST, that’s where I took my provenance as a college student 19 years ago. Time has passed, I admit, it has been 15 long years since I finished college, I was 15 when I started my tertiary education, I was 5 feet short, and I can’t imagine that I grew so tall now, 5’11” to be exact. The first time I laid eyes on UST, I felt it was the school I wanted to enroll, although I took another entrance exam in Lyceum Of The Philippines since I considered Foreign Service as a course and planned to be a diplomat later on, but I ended up enrolling in UST. Dig this, tuition in ’89 was around P3,000 for 21 units, fare was P2.00 or was it P1.50, my daily allowance was P50 or P60, but I get to bring P500 everyday since I stole like the Marcoses from my mom’s coffer. There was even a time that we didn’t have classes for a month due to an ongoing student strike opposing the 100% tution increase which was eventually approved, that's why the tution now is 1,800% higher. It was a perfect time for us to hang out in SM City North EDSA ( sorry, Megamall and Galleria were still non-existent in those days, it was only SM City, Ali Mall, Quad and Greenbelt and of course, Robinson Manila). As a freshman, I didn’t pay much attention to my studies, I even flanked Philosophy 102, or what they called “Logic”, no wonder I am so illogical, no pun intended. We were all praying that we get to fail 3 subjects in the first 2 years since the school will automatically disbar you from enrolling as a junior college student, so we were already shopping for our ‘new’ school such as Colegio De San Juan De Letran or De La Salle. Unfortunately, we all made it past our 2nd year, except for two friends, Chie De Chavez and Evelyn Lacuna, who transferred to College Of Holy Spirit. I eventually became a ‘masscom” student, a quota course since only a limited number of spots were available. We were composed of only two classes, B1 and C1, and I belonged to the latter, a menagerie of loud characters. The former was a section known for the staid and quite type, and thank God I didn’t land in that section because I would be like a sore thumb. In C1, we were further assembled to smaller groups, depending on the type of parties the group preferred. The largest was the “Party People”, composed of around 20 or so classmates, then there was the “Amigas” composed of Jenny, Alma, Arabel, Ruth (yuck!), the brainy and studious ones, the “neutral” composed of Tom, Lourdes, Reene and the more quiet ones, and then there was us, the “Faces” group since we were known as the “upscale” ones that hangs out in “Faces”. There was me, Sylvia, Mitch, Jing, Carmel and Mutya, although Mutya was not much of a fixture in the classroom because she was busy with her showbiz career, That’s Entertainment, occasional movies and of course, her crowning glory, the Mutya Ng Pilipinas where she became the Philippine representative to Ms. Asia Pacific, and there was our temporary member, Diane, the most beautiful girl in the whole of Arts & Letters, the girl that broke a lot of Commerce male student. It was a harmonious division, “Faces” could hang out with the “Party People” and vice versa, since we were the loud ones. The ground floor of the Commerce Building became the “tambayan”, and most of us were there sitting, smoking or sleeping, and those were the times when smoking was still allowed inside and outside the classroom. The “Amigas” preferred to hang out in the huts of Tinoko Park together with the “neutrals”. I must admit, the junior and senior years of college were the best time of our UST lives. We had classes until 9 in the evening and most of the time, we get dragged to a night out afterwards. Afternoons or lunches were in Dapitan, either in Janet’s ( we loved their chicken crepe), Tapsi Ng Maynila (they served beers even without an I.D.) and some other nooks, P. Noval was off the list since the Typhoid and Hepatitis outbreak, those places were a No Man’s Land, except when one has no choice since it was P.E. day and the gym sits next to that street. The only fastfood near UST was Greenwich and Goldilocks, and we jumped for joy when McDonald’s opened in Dapitan cor. Forbes. Mom and Pop’s in Morayta served the best sphagetti in town while Hungry Hippo had the best burger. Fast Forward after 15 years, those places are nowhere to be found, no more Janet’s, and the Coop (short for Cooperative) beside the main library has been demolished. They replaced it with a dancing fountain, how’s that for a theme park look. UST will be celebrating its 400th year on 2011, and so far, it has produced one national hero by the name of Jose Rizal, 3 Philippine President, 1 Senate President, and a lot of distinguished people that have become popular street names, and UST still carries the title of the “Royal Pontifical University” issued thru a Papal Bull and shares the Vatican flag color since it is the oldest Catholic university in Asia. UST recently won the men’s basketball in UAAP tournament, an 11 year drought since during our college years, we were unbeaten with a 4 peat back-to-back championship that is still unmatched in UAAP history. The players of that era are considered geriatric in PBA standards today, Dennis Espino, Patrick Fran, Gerard Francisco (sorry Gerard, you are almost 30 years old) et al. I tried texting some college classmates, maybe it is about time that we get together, 15 years has been a long time, and Diane is no longer with us since she died of cancer 3 years ago. We have accomplished so much or so little, depending on the way one looks at it, but for me, 15 years seems like just yesterday, most of my classmates have married or have their families already, Bambi and Ella as well as Angel are all in the United States and living the American Dream, so far, it is only me, Binky, Mutya, Carmel, Mitch and Jing who are single in that batch (please post your violent reactions if I missed others). The C.A. batch of 1993, the only classmates and friends I made in UST, even if I don't remember my ID number, you are the best, even if we don’t get to see each other very much, I would love to see you all and catch up with you guys.