I will be in Bacolod this week to attend La Consolacion College – Bacolod’s 75th Homecoming Anniversary. I am excited since I am a recipient of the Leadership in Education Category.
I was able to attend the homecoming in 2022 at the behest of my sister, Stella, of Class ‘84, but this one is something special for me. As a student, I lived a simple life through the example given by St. Augustine. In elementary, I was inconsistent with my studies. I was in Section 1 this year and the following year in Section 2.
In high school, students with below-average, average, and above-average grades were mixed in one section. How they chose was something I could not fathom until now. I even skipped one whole quarter in first year and ended up taking summer classes at another school. I could say I am above average, but mediocre performance has overtaken me as my father would be happy to see us passing with average grades.
That is why he was surprised and happy when I got a 4.5 and above grade, when I was at La Salle. Unbeknownst to my family, I had skipped the whole year of 1990 after I got my former girlfriend and now wife, China, pregnant with our son Osmund.
During those years, parents didn’t have access to their child’s grades. I did pass my subjects but not with flying colors as my fake class cards would suggest. I even flunked my PE class with my wife’s aunt, who was my teacher. Every time I would meet her, she would say sorry for failing me. But that was a thing of the past. That irresponsible man is now an accomplished fellow in his own right.
In all humility, I have changed because I chose to. In life, just as the book “The Power of Focus “ said, you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to study, wash dishes, or even pay taxes. Just be ready for its consequences. I did actually pay the consequences years back that almost cost my life. But God was good; He spared me and my family from the agony that ungrateful people like me deserve.
While after college, I had been blessed to be recognized through promotions and citations with several awards, there was not a day that I did not dream of being honored by my alma mater. It is with all humility that I will stand before my batchmates of Class ‘88 as a testimony that not all rotten tomatoes end up in the sewers.
I am happy as well that there are good tomatoes among my batchmates that will be recognized as well. Araceli Mendoza-Eckert, our valedictorian and former district governor of Lions International, Dr. Mary Grace Espinosa-Escaniel, a government physician assigned in Cadiz, who visited me despite the rough road leading to our home during my father’s wake in 2015, and last but not least, Dr. Pepito Malapitan, a private physician in Riverside Medical Center, who for many times I attempted to pass by but failed to materialize despite Mrs. Tess Coroña, the wife of the former medical director, telling me that she would accompany me. I know doctors are the busiest working creatures on earth and would rather let them be with their tasks than take their precious time for a chitchat.
I am totally humbled and awed by this recognition, especially together with these distinguished ladies and gentlemen who were honor students of our batch. I am grateful to my family, friends like Ollie Abata-Sarmiento, who nominated me, and to Engr. Vlademir Nonato, who informed me of the nomination and subsequent awarding.
I have nothing more to ask for but that God continues to bless our batchmates who have gone astray but, in God’s mercy, recovered and stood up to give honor to our alma mater. ||
