University of the Philippines Prep High School
As between daylight and dark ghost-like the landscape My heart goes back to wander there,
And among the dreams of the days that were, I find my lost youth again. And the strange and beautiful song,
The groves are repeating it still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." |
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The University of the Philippines Prep High School was established in U. P. Manila campus
SKYLINE OF PADRE FAURA TODAY AND THE CARILLON AT THE DILIMAN CAMPUS
UP Prep was created in 1954, when the UP Board of Regents authorized then UP President Vidal Tan to open a first class high school in Manila.
The school’s high standard curriculum was designed for secondary school graduates with the aptitudes and intellectual talents for university level education. Emphasis on a special curriculum focusing on science and mathematics while forwarding the graduates into UP college programs. The faculty was carefully selected for these advanced subjects, and oh, how I love my teachers… Ms. Galang in Math, Ms. Dayap in Biology and Chemistry, Ms. Cortez in History and many others who deeply instilled in me the value of education.
It was only by passing a battery of rigorous examinations could a student get in, and once accepted, he or she had to hurdle to pass each of the four tough years of the highest standard of education ever given to high school students in the Philippines before one could graduate.
This was a small close knit school among students, where everybody knew each other, and where proper decorum was expected by the upperclassmen from the lower years. Seniority was respected, as if the atmosphere was inside a military academy.
Unfortunately, due to limited resources, in 1973, after graduating 20 classes — comprised altogether of 1500 graduates — UP Prep was merged with UP High School to later become what is now known as UP Integrated High School.
A poignant oblation photo. My interpretation of my last look and parting with "UPPHS". "Paalam" Prep High
1960: At UP Los Banos with mom and siblings, me in uniform of UP Prep High, khaki pants and white top with logo on left breast. (Photo by papa UPLB BS Forestry class'40). It was a rare event when we all could gather and pose for a moment. They are grown up, mother have left our midst. The glimpse of all of us together brings the emotions of close family ties.
1960: I became aware of my family's heritage at UP Prep and began preparation for entry at Fort Del Pilar (PMA), a military academy in Bagiuo named after my granduncle. A period in my teen years in High School that I remember fondly, of the hectic days, dashing thru the corridors catching my schedule of classes at Rizal Hall. I recall my bag loaded with books, eager, wide eyed, and quick to learn the tenets of math, and the sciences. I remember past friends and stormy situations that most teenagers weathered through. As in life surviving the unspoken pecking order of bigger classmates and the so called in crowd was the rule. That lone wolf streak that kept me apart, which peers seemed to see as a weakness was a measure of heritage that set me off from the current teenage precepts of the day. Later, when of age after further studies, having ever spurred curiosity, like my ancestors did, aspired a life of adventure, of soldiering and foreign lands.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way........Therefore when I see the flowers before me blocking my view, I jump at the thoughts of my youth and then smile to myself...
Tip toe thru the tulips with me
Tip toe from your pillow
To the shadow of the willow tree
And tip toe thru the tulips with me
Knee deep in flowers we'll stray
We'll keep the showers away And if I kiss you in the garden
In the moonlight, will you pardon me
Manila Harbor, Manila City, and Intramuros, Philippines, early 1960s Notice that this photo was taken before much rebuilding in Intramuros and there is lots of empty land showing just how much of the city was cleared after WWII. The US embassy and the Manila Hotel are shown on the upper right. I relished and missed the traditions followed in a military base (MNS) about a mile to the right of this picture, now occupied by the Central Bank of the Philippines. The site of the old Fort San Antonio Abad was demolished, in favor of the bank, another sacrilege. My recollections of waking up in the morning to the bugle calls to the colors remained fresh in my mind.
   
A Mini of Class 61 in Northern California. After 47 years we finally meet up with Alex and his lovely wife Marissa. And to think they were living only three blocks away from Cap up to about 3 years ago! It really takes a mini to reconnect. Thanks to Joe for driving all the way from Dublin. Missed Mayette.Thanks to Augie and Violet for finally finding Cap's house while avoiding launching divorce proceedings on the way. The company makes me fully support the plan to organize a reunion as soon as possible. A cruise would be an excellent opportunity to bond once more. Remember we're all in the"pre-departure lounge." ..RC; We give thanks to our host Melchor and Helen for the successful reunion in Vallejo. Most of all to the classmates who came from afar RC and Dudi, Joe de Guzman/son, Augie Capulong and Violet. Our reunion went well all the way to 10PM. The lively discussions were mostly about Politics, about you not present and the next reunion somewhere, sometime soon...ASC
 
RIZAL HALL UPPER LEFT 52 YEARS AGO (1960 AFTER LIBERATION WWII) REBORN LIKE THE PHOENIX
When we were young we saw the world through simple, hopeful eyes. We knew what we wanted to be, we had no biases or concealed agendas. We liked people who are positive. We avoided unkind people. All have high hopes for the future, but me, preparations were structurally rigid to a fault. Tomorrow was not left to chance.
One teacher introduced a letter in class just in passing. The classic lines, words and thoughts attracted my attention to abide by it, but not all, to be honest. Although it was gender specific, it applies somehow. Here, I posted it, for the sake of others, who missed that class…. A transgenerational letter from Barcelona, dated 13 of March 1889
My dearest niece,
The vagaries of life, which Providence in its most inscrutable design has alloted to me, had taken me away from that beautiful land where I have left behind the treasures of my life without even giving me a chance to say goodbye to the people I cherish and appreciate. In this letter to you, I shall try to make amends for my precipitate flight, by sending through you this my humble message to the young women of Bulacán. I feel convinced that you have been chosen, and on you depends the regeneration, the rebirth of our town. For there is no doubt of the strength and scope of a women’s influence on the family. Daughter, sister, wife, or mother — a woman offers the balm of solace that makes endurable the rigors of everyday life. More than that, she is the element that guides men to paths of virtue and courage or to the pitfalls of wrongdoing and cowardice.
In all these countries that I have now visited, I have found eloquent proof that where women are virtuous, vice is timid and dignity predominates in the life of man. But when feminine frivolity reigns, the men are taken up in immorality and the abandonment and disregard of the sacred duties of man is the popular way of life.
It is your duty to God to develop your mind and your reason by education; it is your duty to your fellowmen to share the knowledge that you possess, that they may use it to better their lives. Do not forget, dear niece, that an untutored mind is like a lighthouse without light, useless to guide the sailor to his port.
I shall recommend to you the diligent study of the Spanish language, because knowledge of Spanish will open to you the opportunity of wide reading which in turn solidifies your education. For this reason alone you should, and the other women of Bulacán with you, devote yourselves to the mastery of the Spanish idiom.
Studying Spanish is not a luxury reserved for a few and denied to the indigent and the female. To study it is not a useless activity to be passed up in indifference and carelessly exchanged for a few idle hours of gossip everyday.
You, my dear niece, and your friends who will be the mothers of tomorrow, do not throw away this treasure. Cherish knowledge not only for yourself but that posterity may have received it from you and bless you for this legacy. Surely, for this you may well sacrifice a few hours a day, the few hours you waste so carelessly in “panguingue” and idle gossip.
For this reason, I have written you from across the sea. For this I plead with all my soul — will you not do this out of love for our town of Bulacán, our unhappy town that had cradled our birth, had sheltered our youth and now shares with us the bitter and the sweet of life’s memories? Look not with indifference at my plea for the weal of Bulacán is linked with yours and those of your children. Study, spread the love of learning, uplift yourselves, and you shall yet uplift your town. And I beseech you for the sake of this goal, to learn to work as one in spirit and determination. Forget and set aside petty rivalries that frequently becloud your little groups. Be ready to sacrifice your little prides in the bigger altar of common good and your noble purposes shall have a better chance of survival. Build up, my dear niece, the honor and prestige of Bulacán by spreading the love of learning among your compatriots. For the mind enlightened and elevated is better than a temple of stone; it is a living sanctuary reflecting the magnificence of its Omnipotent Creator.
M.H. DEL PILAR
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1st row: Manuel Edralin,Wilfredo de Leon, Cynthia Cuevas, Eldora Bella,Nilda Fulgencio, Araceli Mindoro, Lourdes Gacad, Rosalita Vizconde, Melanie Villanueva,Lilia Laqui,Frine Bautista, Rosalinda Roa Edgardo Cruz
2nd row: Roma Clemente,Roberto San Juan, Oscar Recto, Milagros Suva, Lilac Umali, Elizabeth Stuart, Melinda Caparas, Erlinda Ramos, Lourdes Balderrama, Bilma Bala, Roberto Roa, Romeo Fojas
3rd row: Romeo Miclat, Paul Montalban, Virgilio Vergara, Jose Acevedo, Jose Fargas, Amado Santos, Philip Kastner,Jesus Ching, Melchor Capili, Pascual Veron Cruz, Eduardo Maglaque and Rodnel Javier
                                       Billets were in a gymnasium with rows of cots and mosquito nets. I do not know where the girls were, but the energy was ever flowing from the boys…as shoes were flying everywhere in the dark, landing safely at the mosquito nets. Above Pictures of the boys in a later field trip (1960) to Bagiuo and Pampanga High School   
 
 Auf Wiedersehen,Until we meet again! That is the meaning Of the familiar words, that men repeat At parting in the street. Ah yes, till then! but when death intervening Rends us asunder, with what ceaseless pain We wait for the Again! The friends who leave us do not feel the sorrow Of parting, as we feel it, who must stay Lamenting day by day, And knowing, when we wake upon the morrow, We shall not find in its accustomed place The one beloved face....HWL.....A Toast to Class61...
Pasay City, Aristocrat (Barbecue Plaza) Plaza, Dewey Blvd: So called, as barbecue stands abound from twilight to dawn. Scenes of fights between warring gangs during the evening and where ladies of the night sell their wares.
Not to be outdone, my father indirectly thru his books, and literature, who most probably wanted me to follow his footsteps instilled in my mind, this speech from a well known soldier.
"Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.
The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule. But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense.
They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman."… Gen. Douglas McArthur
    Our Field trips to Bagiuo: The University of the Philippines made this field trips available to the student body under the supervision of Mr. Rubio. I remember our trips to Bagiuo and Bicol by train. The later, I was not able to avail. students start the term with a trip to various High Schools, either to a resort, an American base, or towns in Luzon. School life is also enriched by additional field trips to such places important to the nation’s infrastructure, like dams, markets, military base and institutions like PMA. BURNHAM PARK Bagiuo below photos  Burnham Park, where we rented roller skates, and then, shared one of these tricycles with an upper class junior. I held both her hands, no names please, a boyish romantic encounter. Surely an unforgettable Chance Encounter for a boy of 13, as she shifted towards me. We cuddled and continued to ride in the cool afternoon fog.   1st row: Manuel Edralin,Wilfredo de Leon,Cynthia Cuevas,Eldora Bella,Nilda Fulgencio, Araceli Cruz (?),Lourdes Gacad,Rosalita Vizconde,Melanie Villanueva,Lilia Laqui,Frine Bautista, Rosalinda Roa Edgardo Cruz 2nd row: Roma Clemente,Roberto San Juan, Oscar Recto, Milagros Suva, Lilac Umali, Elizabeth Stuart, Melind Caparas, Erlinda Ramos, Lourdes Balderrama,Bilma Bala,Roberto Roa,Romeo Fojas 3rd row:Romeo Miclat,Paul Montalban,Virgilio Vergara,Jose Acevedo,Jose Fargas,Amado Santos,Philip Kastner,Jesus Ching, Melchor Capili, Pascual Veron Cruz, Eduardo Maglaque and Rodnel Javier     1960: I became aware of my heritage in my junior year at UP Prep and began preparation for my appointment as a cadet of the PMA at Fort Del Pilar. This was a period in my teen years that I remember fondly, memories in my High School, of the hectic days, dashing thru the corridors catching my schedule of classes at Rizal Hall. I recall my bag loaded with books, eager, wide eyed, and quick to learn the tenets of math, the arts and sciences. I remember past friends and stormy situations that most teenagers weathered through. As in life surviving the unspoken pecking order among bigger classmates and the so called in crowd was the rule. That lone wolf streak that kept me apart, which peers seemed to see as a weakness was a measure of heritage that set me off from the current teenage precepts of the day. Later, when of age and after further studies, having ever spurred curiosity, whetted my appetite for a life of adventure, of soldiering and foreign lands.   
IN THIS PHOTO ALONE ALMOST ONE THIRD (TEN) DEPARTED TO ANOTHER DIMENSION BEGINNING WITH MISS GALANG, NICK PELAEZ, JOSE QUIAMBAO..MELCHOR CAPILI..MAMERTO MADELA...NESTOR RIVADELO...EVANGELINE GABRIEL...
MANUEL EDRALIN....CARLOS GARCIA...ERNESTO VILLAREAL 
Hello Cap and Helen, Alex and Marissa,
Maraming salamat! Kahit aanim lang tayo, (Si Augie and Violet missing-in-action and much missed) masaya at busog na busog kami sa
ating salu-salo. Pati ang mga anak namin, sina Karmina at Noel, walang katapusang rave sa ginisang munggo ni Helen at yung broiled
catfish niya (to die for talaga ang sarap!!!).
Thanks Alex for the many tips o various matters and MARISSA! for the beautiful music. Ang galing-galing mo palang mag-piano. And Helen, your shopping tips are invaluable. I will really take you up on your offer na sa next
tagpuan natin, e, sa city na tayo magkita. PERO, kailangan pagdating ninyo sa Pilipinas, (sa Marso, alam ko,nandito kayo) bigyan naman ninyo kami ng isang araw para kami naman ang mag-host ng mini sa inyo.
Pasusundo namin kayo sa Morong. Ayan, wala na kayong excuse. Let us know when you are back in the Pilipinas Islands so we can schedule it.
Again, our thanks to all of you. Helen, mamaya ko na ipadadala ko yung galing kay Karmina. Mag lalast day labas muna kami nila RC, Noel
and Karmina. Of course, kaladkad namin ang mga bata.
Dudi and RC  
After a terrific night in Vallejo, Dudi and I just got up after lazing
away in bed practically the whole morning
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Marcelo H. del Pilar y Gatmaitán
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MY FIRST CAR
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Burnham Park above, where we rented roller skates, and then, shared one of these tricycles with a junior, held both her hands, no names please, a boyish romantic encounter. Surely an unforgettable Chance Encounter for a boy of 13, as she shifted towards me. We cuddled and continued to ride in the cool afternoon fog.
Ambuklao Dam, newly constructed then, Photo of Bay Area Prep 61 and songs of 1957
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Market place, Baguio, Pines Hotel where we stayed for two nights
View of the Bagiuo Cathedral from my hotel room located adjacent to Pines Hotel. |
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The eagle above has the likeness of a Phoenix. The phoenix has long been presented as a symbol of rebirth, immortality, and renewal. From the ashes, we were born during those extraordinary times, in the crucible of World War II, then in later years, the most changes and perhaps the last of the innocent generation. The years from 1943 to 1945 are considered to be the silent (war babies) generation, between the so called hero and the baby boomer generations. The war years, reflected my perception of this period that significantly impacted everybody. If not for the war and the turn of events, maybe we would not be even here. In truth, it is our trademark as war babies. How we and our parents survived the trials and tribulations of that era maybe a feat worthy to be written in the book of adventures.
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I have passed over 70 years of my life, but I still have vivid memories of the halls, and classrooms at Rizal Hall. I can not deny my deep feeling of warmth to this great school. Among the colleges that I have attended in the Philippines and in the USA during my academic life, my particular fondness is always with the University of the Philippines. I and like every alumni of the U. P. Preparatory High School should be so proud of this University and the rich traditions that it represents…ASC
When we were young, we were in a hurry to grow up
The future a dream and now the reality
These were icons of our mind as kids
Now we know and we have learned
Tomorrow, the tomorrow is uncertain
With unknown script
You don't know how
Life can bring it
Because everything is passing
And what will happen tomorrow
Nobody knows.
Now that our wish came true
To become adults, our life is complete
Time is not enough for our dreams anymore
Our childhood is gone…Greek
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