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The school was located just a block away from our home, with only one street to cross. As a young boy, that one street was the widest I ever saw. I was probably the most talkative in my kindergarten class, and one of the most unruly. I even ended up in the toilet one day, locked by a police of a teacher, who was a monster in her time. Although I excelled in academics, both in english and chinese classes, I never made it to the honor roll
My sister, who was also my classmate, was our first honor for Kindergarten I and II, which provided an even greater contrast, and the entire faculty dismissing me as a black sheep.
Because of my "bad record" in kindergarten, I was placed in section B in Grade I, something which I resented because my sister was in section A. Both of us were first honors in our respective section, but I became first honor at the end of the school year because I had the higher general weighted average. It was a controversial issue so early in my life because I was not in the top section, and the competitor in question happened to be my own sister. That was also the last time I was placed in section B.
I then became a consistent class or school candidate for declamation and spelling contests. I won several trophies and prizes here, as well as in writing contests, both English and Chinese. This young, I already saw myself competing with students from other schools, which probably sowed in me a healthy outlook towards struggle, sacrifice and competition, which I bring up to this day.
Honors received
In High School, I deteriorated even more, or so it seemed. No matter what I did, even if I knew I was better than the rest, I couldn't seem to get the highest grade in any subject. I discovered of course that the honor roll was being manipulated, in favor of either a teacher's child in class, or an adviser's tutee who gets to study the facsimile of the very test papers we were going to answer. I was also admittedly one of the poorest in class in terms of social standing and or family wealth. I was just content with the fact that I was the only financially-poor student in the honor roll. Probably, I even had to thank this set-up, for in the face of adversity, I vowed to myself that I shall prove all the manipulators wrong, beyond high school, for that was where my only chance lay.
Still and all, I was the class' undisputed declaimer (English and Chinese); speller; debater; candidate for boy mayor; and perennial contestant in interschool competitions.
Positions held
I had to give up my full scholarship at La Salle College, Bacolod City, for the dream that was UP. I entered college with much anxiety as I knew that there will be much difficulty at home. Although the tuition will be much cheaper, the board and lodging had to take some toll. Luckily, I became a grants-in-aid awardee as soon as I entered UP. These are cash grants to poor but deserving students. I also tried to augment my allowance by joining the UP Glee Club and the Official Publication staff of the university which gave honoraria to their members. Initially, I was enrolled in the Iloilo City (now Visayas) campus of the University, from 1975-1977. There, I was one of the pioneer members of the Theatre Arts Guild of UP College Iloilo (TAGUPCI) as well as staff member then features editor of the college paper, Pagbutlak, and a tenor member of the UP Glee Club for two years. In the summer of 1977, I proceeded to the Diliman campus, where I was conferred the degree of Bachelor of Science, cum laude in 1979.
It was tough getting into medical school as I remembered it. The cut-off average for admission was way above the general weighted average for students graduating with honors from UP Diliman. So that six (6) cum laude graduates from UP Diliman alone, were refused admission. An eighth of the class was composed of the so-called "minority concessions", i.e., top graduates of other universities here and abroad, children of UP faculty, and cultural minorites. It was practically an honors class, so to speak, and yes, at first it was like everybody was running after everybody. The saga of competition and survival continued. For an extra-curricular activity, I joined the Medics staff (the official publication of the UP College of Medicine), first as a staff member and contributor, and later as features editor, and then as associate editor during my third year. The publication was unique in that the writers would even write about national issues, attacking the then Marcos cronyism and conjugal rule at the height of the dictatorship, with impunity. There were 144 of us in the class, and with very few exceptions, we were rather a cohesive class. Many were close to many classmates. And although we hold the rare distinction of being a consistent loser (third place of three participants)in the annual "Tao Rin Pala" contests (chorale) for three consecutive years, we were able to produce five honor graduates.
Bacolod Tay Tung High School UP in the Visayas UP Diliman UP College of Medicine Philippine General Hospital
