Once upon a time … as a student

 

 

Reeling from a devastating loss in our much ballyhooed debut in student politics, it was indeed a very welcomed development to be selected as one of two representatives from Xavier University to a weekend seminar in fabled Tagaytay.  A grand event financed and sponsored by the dollar-rich US Embassy.  And in hindsight, one could consider that inauspicious event as consequential and providential in some respects. The year was 1965.

 Though not showing much strain and sorrow, we unexpectedly had just been handed a tragic blow, when our entire election slate from President to PRO came in a poor third in our very first, and luckily only, outing in campus politics.  And worse, we had such great prospects and expectations of winning.  But it was not to be.

 A quick airplane trip out of the scene of the carnage was an apt remedy prescription, except that the other party with me came in the person of the winner in our star-crossed contest, Max Paderanga.  But I soon shunted that thought aside, buoyed by cheery expectations of the event.  The Embassy had invited us for a weekend seminar with some specific agenda, about 50 student leaders from all over the country.  They came from prestigious schools all over the country, but we Ateneans were particularly anointed because of the greater number of participants in our ranks, coming from Ateneos from different parts of the country. 

 We were billeted in small groups at different nice hotels and lodging places in cool and foggy Tagaytay.  But the mass gatherings and functions were held in one particular venue, inside an imposing monastery and convent for nuns, the main building perched high on rolling topography within very expansive grounds.  And it had the commanding view of the famed volcano inside a lake.  The nuns not only provided the elaborate venue, but also catered to our gastronomic needs with very impressive menu, many items unfamiliar to provincial palates like ours.

 To summarize it was a coming together of a lot of important persons with their different roles.  Top and foremost was US Ambassador Edward Mattos who spoke in general about his country’s devotion and promise of assistance to the local student population with regard to its critical role in governance. And he also regaled us with his piano playing, completing a picture of a consummate diplomat representing a powerful nation.  The Philippines then had close ties with the US AID as integral partners in the myriad of development projects planned for the region.

 He also gathered with him some very notable Filipino student leaders like Raul Roco from Naga, who later on become senator, and a Jose Conrado “Jolly” Benitez, who also was appointed a favored cabinet member during the infamous Marcos administration.  The affair was also graced with the presence of an appealing lady student leader named Sonia Malazarte, who had earlier won the title as student of the year, coming from a Manila all-girls school. Roco and Malazarte eventually got married but this was supposedly their first encounter.

 We had the fortune also of having several representatives from the Israeli Embassy gracing the affair, and which country’s noteworthy doings were a major topic in the seminar, starting from the consul to a couple of attaches.  And rounding off the roster of participants, we had about 50 vocal student leaders, many bursting full with outsized egos.  Though in fairness, there were also many who sat at the opposite end, very quiet and introverted.

 It was I believe the first time that student leaders from all over the country were purposely gathered together to discuss topics then relevant to their times and circumstances.  And I have no recollections as to whether succeeding or similar gatherings were held during that time.

When all was said and done, many of us came away from it with some notable memories.

Personally, I was amazed to learn that one of the nuns who by happenstance read the student roster recognized a name and had asked for me to see her.  She was a daughter of the late Chief Justice Mariano H. de Joya, who once had been assigned in CDO as provincial judge. He and his family were close to my father’s family.  And may even had shared the house of my grandparents for some time.  Thus, when my father spent time in Manila for his schooling, he also spent some time with the de Joya family, having been very close to one of the brothers of the nun, and I recall at a later time that his name was Boring.  It was a very blissful meeting and I had promised to relay this incident to my father who was in CDO.

 At the end of the seminar, we were each advised to write our impressions about the seminar, but more importantly, to write about the political conditions in the home country as seen by the younger generation.  Though I was not inclined to dismiss the parting instruction, writing about the subject just did not appeal to my interests then.  But I did submit an entry.

Months later, I received from the Embassy a copy of a bound pamphlet with collated selected entries from different participants.  And was glad Xavier U did not disappoint because one of the selected entries was that of Max Paderanga, and I still recall he wrote about the “dog-eat-dog” climate developing in Philippine society.  A curt analysis of a nascent country in the mid-60’s trying to develop its sea legs.  Was Max prophetic with his observation?

 Another memorable event that transpired within that seminar and has stayed on in memory, was the segment about Israel and what it had done then.  The consul spoke seriously and determinedly about their kibbutz system and its initial successes.  He gave out books and pamphlets, which I still have in my possession to this day.  Talk about a determined country, though small and surrounded by eternal foes. And notice how it considers itself as part of Asia.