What Brought Us Close?

By Joseph Regan Bernabe

After kindergarten and the summer vacation, I would always wonder who would be my new classmates for the next school year? Would I get to see my old classmates like Jerome Tuazon, Paul Donor, Eric Aprecio, or Peter Bondad? Or the other kids at the nearby classrooms like Boyd Monje, Rosauro Tuazon, Richard Caguingin and the rest whom I can no longer recall their names. But their faces would always have a place in my young and definitely not small memory.

First, second and third grades brought new friends like Sanny Cruz, Joel Hernandez, Celestion Boom-Boom dela Paz, Marvin Malonzo, Erick Mauricio, Arnold Albano, Jay Lorenzo, Edwin Lu and Arnold Martinez.

Then it was on the fourth grade when PCC decided to create a pilot section. The section's name was Sapphire and our adviser was Ms Virginia Cruz aka Mrs. Cacananta. Everybody knows that the brainy bunch would comprise this group, but would you expect normal? From the very first day, this group would definitely stand-out from the batch for good and not-so-good reasons.

The pilot section would definitely stand out on the academic side. So I would like to share what are the not-so-good reasons -- We were geeks! You would never expect us to win the basketball and volleyball championships. I was part of the "Group Games" team. We weren't so lucky either.

The realization of being nerdy became obvious for me on the fifth grade. Lapu-Lapu was the section. As history would tell, the national hero won his war. But not on that year for our batch. Dumangsil was the champion on both basketball and volleyball. Captains Marvin Barcelona and Benjie Reyes led their teams to victory. I won't forget as we got the chance to share their classrooms once a day in a week. I think there was a shortage of teachers during that time so one section was asked to divide themselves into groups. Each group would then be sitting inside another section's classroom for one whole day. That's when I met Marvin, Benjie, Paul Tumaneng, Arnold Anog and Jess Clemente. There was one person who asked me, and I forgot who, this one unforgettable question, "Why do you (pointing to the Lapu-Lapu guys) all have watches?" I replied that I got mine as a gift from my mom for good grades. I never really noticed until the question was asked and I had to look around to verify. I felt fortunate but I would envy the two trophies displayed on top of Dumangsil's blackboard bragging that their group was on top of the athletic field for our batch. Guess, one can never have it all.

The fifth grade also introduced us to Gary Devilles. This guy got the brains and would definitely put up a fight in all the academic contests that year. But I would not need to go further, just read back on the past postings here. :)

Sixth grade was the worse. Sultan would get threats written on our desks that other sections would wait for us after school and we should be really for a brawl. During the intramural games, other sections would team up just to make sure we would get defeated.

Eventually, that's how things went until high school. But on the third year, the faculty decided to break up this one solid group. For the specific reason, I do not know. This change introduced Robin and Cardinal. I definitely missed Jonathan de Veas from our classroom after that. But we still each other during breaks at the grotto area together with Noel Acosta, Nelson Juinio, John Michael Cruz, Armin Kraft, and Bing Espiritu. The first few days were really critical as the section was definitely divided into the old Cardinal and the old Robin. You can definitely guess how the class officer elections went. Good thing, Bing Espiritu had already asked Jessie Rodriguez to vote on our side. But we weren't expecting Rodrigo Eden to side up on his old classmates. It is really funny thinking back how we tried to create that wall but we would eventually overcome in the next months. I think Mrs Maralit was the one who pointed that out to us. Who won the elections? Jeffrey Sulit.

College went and we all eventually started our own careers. But one thing is for sure, each one of us came back to Kumbento every third week of February. We weren't coming back for Sapphire, Lapu-Lapu, Dumangsil, Robin or Cardinal. We were coming back for batch 1988. We were into our group that we even decided to hold our own reunion outside PCC last 1998. Yes, the attendance was impressive. The event was a success. But the background was remote. We craved to walk again those corridors, climb those stairs, and stand in the middle of the school ground looking around the buildings that was once our second home. And take note, they have elevators now. You can still see the old high school building and the elementary buildings. The new college buildings might take away the memories of the past but then again one should always welcome change.

I love thinking back how we saw each other as classmates back then. But time and experience has changed that. Cyberspace and the latest technology made the distance between us short. We matured. We became career people and/or family men but the constant communication remained. Now, I see a Kumbento Boy as someone I have good memories with. Each reunion comes with eagerness of meeting again my old friends.

Kumbento 88 is an extension of my family. You are my brothers. Long Live Rigmarolers!