For me, U.P. Prep High, was another passage to adulthood. I was exposed early to student politics and activism, when a strike by college seniors closed classes in 1957 and sent us home for a week during my yearling year. I was puzzled why the strike, but it was a transition of presidency of the University, and there was no sitting president.
Later, I learned more about classmates from the best among the best, chosen from different walks of life. You apply yourself to a diverse bunch of kids, invariably they were not from the same parish, like back in the elementary. My little world expanded by the distant location (two jeepney rides) to Padre Faura. Fascination in the field of Sciences and Mathematics from Liberal mentors instead of Religion gave me a glimpse of my future career. Disallowed text by the catholic church, accessed freely in High School, and devoured voraciously, led to the knowledge of my heritage, and our true history. My sensibility changed and it became more acute in the unequal treatment of less influential classmates by superiors.
RIZAL HALL: My High School: UP Prep was a unique high school 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. The faculty was carefully selected for these advanced subjects. 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. 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.
Our UP Diliman Campus early 1960
In 1939, the Board of Regents acquired a 493-hectare land in the Diliman District of the newly established Quezon City. Construction began on the area on the same year. The development of the area was then stalled by World War II, with invading Japanese troops occupying some of the buildings built. By 1942, the university was forced to close down some of its colleges, with only the Colleges of Medicine, Engineering, and Pharmacy maintaining their operations.
When the war ended in 1945, the buildings intended to be the homes of the College of Law and the College of Liberal Arts were left with extensive damages. The university administration led by UP President Bienvenido Gonzales sought a grant worth P13 million from the US-Philippines War Damage Commission to restore the damaged facilities and to construct new ones so that the transfer of the university from Manila to Diliman could be pushed through. Through a symbolic ceremony of transferring the Oblation from Manila to Diliman, the whole university's administration was relocated to the new campus. New buildings were constructed in response to the creation of more academic degrees.
Organization of the newly established institutes and the reformulation of programs followed with the establishment of programs such as the General Education Program, a delegated roster of core courses required to be taken by all students at the undergraduate level. Under the presidency of UP President Vicente Sinco, a University College was made to address the need of a much-organized college structure. The College of Arts and Sciences was created to offer major subjects in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
A poignant oblation photo. My interpretation of my last look and parting with "UPPHS". "Paalam" Prep High.
| Reaching my destination in San Francisco, my dreams of more liberation of my ideology and thoughts were fulfilled. But we wanted more, to see life without violence, unlike the country I left. We wanted media that contained truth. Some of us risked our lives to find out what the government was doing and let the underground press know. We wanted to talk about things in print that we were not allowed to discuss in our culture of origin. We wanted to live without stupid, arbitrary rules, either for ourselves or for our children. Some of our children, as adults today, say they wish we had been more protective of them, or offered more structure.It was a moment in history when a mushroom explosion of consciousness began altering the life force. Through that explosion, we broke down the prison walls of "intellect as the ultimate". We focused on the heart, and by doing so, reopened our cookie jar of possibilities·politically, socially, sexually and spiritually. The effects of that explosion have permeated our culture. We, as a generation, have a responsibility to see that the 60's are remembered in the context in which they unfolded." |
![]() Looking up Powell St. from Market St. The canteen at Woolworth on your right, served me well at lunch. During my job search, the hills of San Francisco was a hindrance. I think my overdeveloped legs were the outcome of the constant walking in SF. The Filipino community has grown remarkably since World War II and has spread to all areas of the city, especially the South of Market area. The affluent Castro district (technically Eureka Valley near Twin Peaks) has attracted gays and lesbians from throughout the country, becoming perhaps the most famous gay neighbourhood in the world. Its streets are adorned with elegantly restored Victorian homes and landmarks highlighting significant dates in the struggle for gay rights. It is said that no local politician can win an election without the gay community's vote. Dropping down California St. Fabled hills, were the scourge of the handicap, nowhere in any city but San Francisco, where wheel chairs are absent...my own observation. I remember there were so many people coming in for the Peace March, we wondered around listening to the sounds of the bands warming up at the Union Square. The guitars faded in and out like the morning fog that drifted in and out on the breeze off the bay. Again, there was the thick smell of incense and marijuana, but there was something else in the atmosphere as well: the air was glowing electric with excitement and anticipation. Everyone felt that we were about to be part of something really big. ![]() |


So much legend has been woven around the Sixties that it is very hard to see them for what they were, especially the ideas that sparked the Youth Revolution. It was a time when it was really something to be young.' I should mention that many of us whose youth had been pinched by post-war austerity did our best to have another one by joining the party.Sex, drugs and rock & roll are the staple ingredients of the legendary Permissive Society "That sense of freedom had a place and I don't think you can blame the Sixties for what we are like nowadays. "I think that is an excuse for the way things are now and you can't make excuses."Some things may have got out of hand, but it was a time when people became more liberated."It is not true to say it was a time of hedonism. It is excessive to say that."We were obvioulsy involved in photography and we had some innovative people working for us and we had ideas. The Sixties had a lot to offer."
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good at short hand. Kasi daw maigsi yong kanang kamay!I am sure the Korean Airline crew he fies with are getting a dose of the Madrid humor!
Summer is a slow period for getting piano gigs, like once a month instead of the every other weekend during the fall and winter. My latest was at a cocktail hosted by the president of a local bank at his Chapaqua mansion, two blocks away from the Clintons. My eyes bulged when they showed me the piano - it was an 1890 Bosendorfer! Maski Chopstick maganda ang tunog sa Bosendorfer.
Am sure you are enjoying retirement, like most of our batchmates who opted for the same thing!
Doddie

FROM RC ANCIENT MEMORIES
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…
Amado Punzalang is the virtuoso on the piano. He resides in New Jersey. He plays sa simbahan. Paul Montalban and Vivian are musicians as well. Did you know that Paolo Montalban (Cinderella actor, partner of Brandy) is the son of Paul? A handful of our 61 classmates live in the West Coast as listed: Jose Guzman, Honorio San Pedro, Erlinda Ramos, Victoria Tolentino, Jose Buenaventura, Amado Santos, Ernesto Tan Gatue, Edgardo Silverio, Milagros Suva, Lilac Umali, Evelyn Fontanilla, Sister Elsa Sevilla, Josefino Quiambao, Dolores Vergara, Melchor Capili, Augusto Capulong etc. Carol Corpus, Paul M., Amado Punzalang, Nilda Fulgencio reside in the East Coast. Vilma Bala, Ping Fargas, Macrina de Leon etc. nasa Toronto. naman. Nelia Gonzales nasa Richmond, BC, Canada naman. George Olivar passed away three months ago. Jose Sason & Jose Pecache passed on too.....a few years back
Dear Amado,
- THE CONCERT GRAND PIANOS
- God Bless, ASC
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.
MANUEL EDRALIN....CARLOS GARCIA...ERNESTO VILLAREAL
Dudi and RC
Memories of our field trip to Bagiuo in 1957. First stop was Angeles, Pampanga, where we toured Clark with Dr. Roa. I remember the doctor riding in a brand new 1957 yellow Chrysler with all the high fins typical of the cars of the late 50’s. The day was not over yet, a jam session in the moonlight at a basket ball court at the school grounds. The seniors and teachers alike did enjoy the ball hosted by the Pampanga High School. I remember the single Ms. Roma Clemente, photo above, talking about her repertoire of dances and how she enjoyed it. Me, I stayed behind, as I do not dance yet, but was busy talking to local high school girls. I found out the beddings belong to them. Thinking this time, how UP Prep can reciprocate. 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

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Market place, Baguio, Pines Hotel where we
stayed for two nights
Tanay, lake meets the mountain Ah me! the fIfty years since last we met Seem to me fifty folios bound and set By Time, the great transcriber, on his shelves, Wherein are written the histories of ourselves. What tragedies, what comedies, are there; What joy and grief, what rapture and despair! What chronicles of triumph and defeat, Of struggle, and temptation, and retreat! What records of regrets, and doubts, and fears What pages blotted, blistered by our tears! What lovely landscapes on the margin shine, What sweet, angelic faces, what divine And holy images of love and trust, Undimmed by age, unsoiled by damp or dust! |
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- see..... THE CONCERT GRAND PIANOS
2002 Somewhere in the Pacific Atoll of Kwajalein. Of the 29 atolls, 27 are accessible by small plane (Air Marshall Islands). Majuro and Kwajalein atolls, the two population centres are serviced by both Air Marshall Islands and Continental Air Micronesia Jet Aircraft. Kwajalein Atoll is in the heart of the Marshall Islands. It lies in the Ralik Chain, 2,100 nmi (2,400 mi; 3,900 km) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii at 8°43′N 167°44′E. Kwajalein is the world's largest coral atoll and comprises 93 islands and islets, it has a land area of 1,560 acres (6.33 km²),[1]:12 and surrounds one of the largest lagoons in the world, measuring 324 mi² (839 km²) in size.
The two most significant land masses are Kwajalein Island in the south, and the linked islands of Roi-Namur in the north. By the start of World War II, the Marshalls (South Pacific Mandate) were already an integral part of the Japanese perimeter of defense. Its facilities were being utilized as outlying bases for submarines and surface warships, as well as for air staging for future advances being planned against Ellice, the Fiji Islands, and Samoa.
The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
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Environs U. P. Manila campus |
Sarmiento Bldg, Makati, where I worked at Procter & Gamble; ARISTOCRAT. The closest restaurant to our place at MNS. 432 San Andres St. cor. Roxas Blvd., Malate | Top, movie houses, City Hall, Right Photo Bagiuo, the terraces and the Lost highway bontoc-mainit (mountain province). A mountain trail in the Cordillera, Philippines. Rizal Avenue the street was named after Rizal, it was referred to as Calle Dulumbayan. I watched movies at the Ideal, State, Dalisay and Avenue Theaters. Later on ... the Universal Theater and Odeon and Galaxy. And Scala, Apollo, Alegria and Opera House. |
Learn to labor and to wait...









































































































































































