The joy of being a teacher
Last Saturday, June 7, 2025 my former students from batch 1984 of the University of the Philippines, Tacloban, came to visit me here at my Blue Apartelle at Taguihon, Baclayon, Bohol. That was four decades ago when they were my students searching for their dreams. That was before the EDSA bloodless revolution but after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino at he Tarmac. One of their classmates was a Romualdez, the son of Bejo, but I tell you he was not an abusive student and never asked for entitlements despite the echelon in society where belonged at that time.
You just cannot measure the joy of being remembered, much more so with their allotting a night for me in their short weekend in Bohol, all the way from Tacloban. Most of them took the CPA board after finishing their baccalaureate degree in Management. When they graduated, we just opened the accountancy program. I have fond memories of (modesty aside), those days when I accepted the challenge of preparing and making the curriculum proposal for this course – a proposal which we presented to UP Diliman. When they accepted our documents for the new course offering for UP Tacloban, our school was then a regional unit of UP Diliman. But now UP Tacloban is part of UP Visayas with UP Cebu declared already as an autonomous university.
During our bonding, my students and I had a grand time talking about the good old days despite the restrictions in communication during the Martial law years.
Here we were, reconnected 40 years after with another Marcos as president. But true to their being a UPian, their conversation during our warm and passionate meeting expressed freely what was (and still is) is in their mind with the same stand they had when they were students.
I was to learn that they were happy and still remembered my way of devoting a Monday for discussing topics which we called anything goes. At that time we only had the Manila Bulletin and the Phil Daily Express. The press, then, was controlled until there was a Mr. and Ms, Magazine including Malaya and the Daily Inquirer.
They call me Tita Telly and they know I am a rabid CORYesta. Sa akong mga koleksyon sa mga libro, naa gyud sa estante ang Diana (the princess) ug Cory (the president) memorabilia. In fact, I used to have a beta tape of Cory’s speeches. But the betamax is already Jurassic.
Thanks to Facebook! Connecting with the past and the present is now within the reach of our fingers.