The Tyranny

by Gary C. Devilles

Twenty three years ago, we were in grade school and I was new to 6-sultan, the honors class of that graduating batch. I found myself sitting beside the science wiz Irving Raymundo, Rolando Lopez the hyena at my back and the ever generous Oliver Martin who often invites us over his place after class, for a light merienda, an Atari video game, and when his parents are away, porn viewing. We were in the first row. The next row was the international group with Gilbert Santos and Gary Pueblo who just came back from the US, Willie Blue Bussel, the Fil-am from International School. I remember Ms. Berdan asking Gary where he came from and Gary replying that he hails from Bembeng Boookeeyd.

1984 was the year the film Return of the Jedi was released. At that time I couldn’t afford to watch movies but the film was remarkable for I have to know characters like Darth Vader for which the wunderkind Ferdie Evangelista would be fondly called based on his haircut that looks like a helmet. There are also the jocks like the gentle beast Nestor “Chunky” Ramos, the actor-singer Bong Estrada, the kung fu hustler Rodrigo Vagilidad, and the prankster Joey Manalad. At that time, it was hard to know who belongs to the dark side of the force but one should not try to be a Skywalker unless one risks being tagged as Chewbakka. One of the few lessons I learned early then is being prudent.

In our English class we had the oratorical contest in which we were supposed to memorize an essay and recite it eloquently. The title of the piece was something like, “The Tyranny, the Youth, the Hope, and the Fulfillment.” I forgot who wrote it, but the thing is - eloquence meant a lot of things to us back then, dramatic, hilarious, or something in between.

Joel del Rosario was one of those who surprised us with his rendition of screaming “The Tyranny” out of the depths of his soul that made us awfully silent, anticipate his move, diction, and brio. But immediately silence turned into a ruckus when Joel mistakenly said “the young” instead of “the youth.” Even Ms. Amelia Berdan, our teacher, couldn’t contain her amusement. I believe there were many who erred too but Joel was the one I can vividly recall. Anyway, those were the days when mistakes can be forgiven by laughing it away.

Soon the oratorical piece became a class activity and Joey Manalad was tasked to direct the class. Joey thought that depicting the assassination of Ninoy Aquino would be the opening salvo of the piece with Ronald Ablaza playing Ninoy and Rolando Lopez (or was it Jay Lorenzo?) as the assassin Galman. Ms. Berdan believed that the idea was good and brave, considering in retrospect now, that it was still the Marcos regime when no one was safe, even us in the campus. But we proceeded with the idea and worked with it. I could still remember some lines such as “I am the youth of the land, I was told that I was ignorant, that I was soft and easy-going. I was accused of not having the right attitude. And since I don’t have the right attitude my leaders tell me, that they do not know where this country is headed for...”

The ending of the piece was quite spectacular. Joey asked some of us to drop confetti as the theme song of Chariots of Fire (a movie) by Vangelis was being played. The ending was our version of that fateful event in 1983 when the procession for Ninoy proceeded to Ayala and Makati office workers from their buildings stopped and dropped confetti as the mass of people swarmed and marched to the streets.

Needless to say, the piece was a crowning glory for our class. But more than the winning, what was amazing is the fact that we were young, yet not quite innocent, rascal but keen, and unassuming though sharp. We could not forgive what happened and we were initiated to politics right there and then. Many things would happen before we graduate in 1984 but somehow those years swept to us and we felt the storm looming in our horizon.

Within the next two years, there would be EDSA revolution. As a sophomore, I would join Mr. Romeo Saguisag, Ms. Lelith Adriano, Mr. Antonio “Noo” Cruz (our principal) and some TAHAK (Tanghalang Hayskul ng Kumbento) actors together with our mentors from Dulampasigan group to troop to EDSA anniversary and give free glass of water. We were stationed near the Tropical Hamburger across POEA. We would listen to radio and hum the tune of Magkaisa, popularized by Verni Lisa. We had stickers and pins of Hindi Ka Nag-iisa. Some wore yellow shirts and bands. Others would hail the L sign for Laban or Liberal Party. We prayed with people from all walks of life. I still remember seeing Jim Paredes of Apo Hiking Society, standing near our water station. At that time everyone was walking and we would eat peanuts sold by ambulant vendors along the way.

That was in 1987, and almost twenty years would pass and I would find myself teaching in Ateneo. This will be my fifteenth year of teaching and I would still be asking questions about what really happened back then in 1986 to unfortunate students who later I’ll find out have no idea whatsoever of those fateful years. They were too young to remember. But I still ask myself today how much older one should be to see that nothing much has changed especially when one hears of innocent people bombed and killed or a 12 year old committing suicide out of poverty. The oratorical piece we had in grade school asked a relevant question I failed to understand.

I have to go back and see where we went wrong.