by Telly G. Ocampo
Turning to Friendship in my mournings of September
This is a photo of my former students at U.P. Tacloban, If they happen to read this and see the photo, I request them to identify themselves and give me their addresses. This is in one of our get together at our home in Tacloban.
We are friends with no agenda,
free to lay bare our real selves,
fragments never exposed to light,
hidden covers for our soul to dwell.
Our love for each other sustains us.
A lifelong bond sets us apart.
Ours are the ties that liberate.
Tied to the strings of your heart.
But friends for life are forever rare.
Unlucky souls do not own one.
We the fortunate know where to look.
Between night and the searching sun.
Today, Tuesday, September 21, 2021, is the 49th anniversary of the declaration of martial law. It was our tradition at the University of the Philippines in Tacloban, during my stint there, to hold poetry reading during anniversaries like this. We called the gather as Mournings in September. Presently, I don’t want to dwell on those memories. Bug-at sa dughan. Labi na gyud ug dugangan sa panghitabo sa Covid pandemic. Daghan kaayong gigutom unya naa ra man diay bilyonbilyon gihuptan sa pipila ka mga tawo nga matud pa tu-a toa pa gyud dalha sa China.
Instead I want to focus on joyful memories of my days as a member of the faculty of the University of the Philippines in Tacloban. Those were the most productive years in my life. Not because of the salary I got. Di ba gagmay ra man ang sweldo sa maestra? But the income I earned from the positive psychological impact which the experience created in me, was tremendous.
I left UP Tacloban in 1992, and never did I realize that this age of the facebook would allow me to meet all over again my former students. Oh, this age of technology and gadgets and all! My students are now all accomplished in their fields of endeavour and they are now in different parts of the world.
I was always known as Tita Telly in the campus. UP Tacloban then was in its pioneering years and modesty aside, the curriculum for BBA in management and accounting was partly my masterpiece – the flagship of the management and technology program. In later years the graduate school and the agricultural and rural development programs were merged into our department.
I remember my students very well. I’m always delighted to see them very accomplished. We had a grand plan of having a reunion here in Bohol but Covid intervened. We have our account in the messenger platform: Bohol travel with Tita Telly. Many have registered in this account.
One of my students was Gina Atilla. I still remember that it was her birthday the other day. Gina Astilla was one of the 3 inseparable girls in my class. Gina has retired early from her stint in the bank of the Philippine islands in London. While there, she always responded to my request for rosary beads which she readily sent thru LBC. The two other girls were Matet Obediencia, now a lawyer based in Manila and Ellen Galapon Patrickil based in the USA. Gina and Matet are not married. It’s just Ellen who is married. The poem I have reprinted above aptly describes the kind if friendship they have. They were high school chums thru college. They were are all girls whose love for family is unwavering.
Gina, after her retirement, is in Italy as a scholar in a religious order. But mind you, she is a theater enthusiast
Vic Tan, another student of mine, is from Burauen, Leyte. He is now an accountant. He was sent to India by his company for two years. His wife Ces, who is from Iloilo, used to work for the Ayala Foundation. Ces used to be with Paz Baylon in their work as community advisers for the foundation projects. Ces and Vic’s only child took his graduate course in Switzerland and is now back to the United States which they presently call home.
By the way, Ayala foundation helped us a lot in Baclayon when we were fighting for the preservation of our ancestral houses in 2004 from the threat of a demolition move due to road widening. At the same time, the foundation helped us develop concepts in the preservation of houses and livelihood programs along heritage for tourism.
I also had another student named Godofredo Diaz based in Canada. He used to be the seatmate and friend of Nikki Nicanor Sison Romualdez, the son of Bejo. Of my Romualdez students, Caloy and Nikki were always on low profile. Walang pasigasiga. They were also seatmates of Gina, Matet and Ellen. After graduation from college, they worked with Island Development Bank including Nikki.
This page is not enough to mention all of them. But they are all embedded in my heart. During my time, students at U.P. Tacloban were goal driven and 80% of the student population were called iskolar ng bayan. with only 20% on a paying status.
This September, I still mourn for the death of democracy. But it is always certain that this too will end. Is it very soon????