The Class of 1973 My Personal Accounts

At the very successful grand reunion and homecoming of JASHS 73’ Golden Anniversary, which was held on February 4, 2023, at the Laus Event Center in the City of San Fernando Pampanga, many of the attendees were not expecting the opening remark of Amelia Canlas, our class valedictorian of Jose Abad Santos High School.

Amelia sincerely invited our batchmates to address her no more as “Amelia, our valedictorian,” and it was unexpected to many when she confessed, “I did not graduate in college,” and that she joined the underground revolutionary forces, she was arrested, and returned to the fold. Yes, she proudly claimed, “I am a surrenderee” not in the term that I surrendered to the government but to God Almighty. She ended her remark with verses in the Bible.

Amelia was my classmate from grade one at the San Fernando Elementary to our third-year engineering class at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Not only that we have the same surnames but many of our batchmates thought that we have similar life paths. In elementary, she was number one and class valedictorian, and I was number three, first honorable mentioned. We were both Mayor Virgilio Sanchez scholars in high schools. For four years, she was awarded as model female student of the year, and I earned that award for male only on our first and second year.

As members of the Class of 1973, we are exposed and very much influenced to the social and political climate of our times, 1969 to 1973. The First Quarter Storms and youth activism in Manila also spread and immersed in the provinces. We were in our third year when the chapter of Samahang Demokratikong Kabataan (SDK) was established in JASHS. My essay “Mga Unang Sabado ng Martial Law” which was first printed in Tibak Rising: Activism in the Days of Martial Law, Ferdinand C. Llanes, Editor (Anvil Publishing, Inc, Manila, 2012). https://www.mccanlast.com/_files/ugd/a54b4c_67a81d996cb14e8ba764ac1716787d11.pdf

Our departed batchmate Joe Pagquil, we fondly called him Sengo, was the hardcore student activist; he led the student strike and protest the faculty adviser of our school paper, The Pampangan, on press censorship, and against a teacher who harassed female students with his foul-mouthed and filthy language.

Joe and a bunch of student activists were also involved in the Operasyong Tulong during the inundations of Central Luzon in 1972 and joined the local folks in rebuilding the devastated river and waterways. Then, Martial Law was declared, and the military raided our SDK headquarter, and a month later, my friend and classmate Pericles and I were detained at the PC Pampanga Command HQ for almost a week, while another batchmate Alan Lagman was transferred and detained in Camp Olivas for five months.

Until now, on our golden anniversary, nobody knows what happened to our batchmate Joe Pagquil. He was not reported arrested, joined the CPP-NPA, or killed in a military encounter. His disappearance is a puzzle and a continuing topic whenever his friends get together in our batch reunions.

During our grand reunion we paid tribute and remembered our departed batchmate, however, Joe was not listed among them, and he was not in the 1114 graduates of JASHS Class of 1973.

As I always write about the uniqueness of Class of 1973, our JASHS 73 has produced very successful entrepreneurs, the like of Alfredo Patawaran, Rosalie Naguit, and Carmelita Santos, and number of successful professionals, teachers and batchmates who migrated abroad, our Alma Mater has germinated the revolutionary spirit in us. The revolutionary spirit is expressed in various ways, but the common denominator is sincerely serving our people and God.

I am grateful and proud that I am a JASHSian 73.

The Class of 1973

In many ways, the Class of 1973, those young graduates for the school year 1972-1973, has the most unique experience among graduating batches in Philippines.

First, we were the first high school students to graduate under Martial Law. It also means that we were the high school seniors when Martial Law was declared and imposed in September of 1972 in the Philippines.

Second, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was the president when we had our commencement exercise on April 13, 1973, and after 50 years, and as we are celebrating our golden anniversary, we have Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos JR (BBM) as president of the Republic. In other words, our bookends are Marcos.

Third, we are just a year older to BBM (1957), but I am very sure we have a different experience dealing with our later teen years under Martial Law. To name a few, we invented the term and party protocol “stay-in.” We are a generation that grew up with the music of the Beatles, Motown, Rock and Roll, The Carpenters, Burt Bacharach, Simon and Garfunkel, Don Maclean, and many more awesome pop music, and yet to hold dance parties we must consider the curfew. It’s either you start late afternoon and have partygoers to leave the place an hour before the 10 o’clock curfew or have them stay safely at the party and just leave after the curfew, which was usually at 4 am. Hence, such terms as “stay-in party” and “pa-morningan” became our secret code in holding dancing parties.

Fourth, the 1972-73 school year was extended due to two “no school” or “school closed” episodes. The first was the suspension of classes for several weeks in July and August in Pampanga (most of Luzon and Metro Manila) was due to the massive floods, heavy rains and storms, and the second time when all schools were closed in conjunction with the Letter of Instruction from Department of Education following the order of the martial law administration.

Fifth, the Class of 1973 was the senior class who underwent the pilot test for the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), which was abolished in 1994. The test conducted was called FAPE. FAPE stands for Fund for Assistance to Private Education, which also played a part in the development of the first National College Entrance Examination (NCEE). The Class of 1974 took the first NCEE.

Sixth, for boys in the Class of 1973, we had options to join boy scouts training (Explorer Scouts and Air Scouts), glee clubs, and PMT (Philippine Military Training). We did not have CAT (Citizens Army Training) while (Civac) Civic Action was only being developed.

Seventh, the Class of 1973 were the last class to arrange students by numerical sections. Every student is assigned a section, and the division of class by sections based on students’ grades, which unfairly labeled students in hierarchy as from “lower sections” to “section one.” Thank goodness, this system was stopped by the next classes.

I belong to the Class of 1973 of Jose Abad Santos High School (Also known as Pampanga High School) or JASHS 73. The profile of our graduating class (source the Pampangan):

Total Graduates: 1114

Number of Males: 562

Number of Females: 552

Number of Sections: 25

Number of Honor graduates: 22

There are many things to write about our Class of 1973. ATM, I am enjoying every minute of our reunion and get together.

Pagtatanaw 2023 at Pagbabalik-tanaw 1973

Bagong taon. Bagong panahon. Bagong salaysay sa pagtatanaw ng 2023, at pagbabalik-tanaw naman sa 1973, limampung-taon na ang nakalipas.

Nitong darating na Pebrero, magdaraos ng pinakamalaking pagtitipon -Grand Reunion and Homecoming - ang hayskul batch namin, Jose Abad Santos High School (JASHS 1973). Sigurado ako, marami rin sa ka-generasyon namin, mga nagtapos ng hayskul sa pagpataw ng Martial Law sa bansa, ay maglulunsad ng pagtitipon at pagsama-sama para makapagbahagi ng kani-kanilang kwento sa buhay. Ang mga reunyon ay hitik ng pagtatanaw sa 2023 at pagbabalik-tanaw sa 1973.

Ang namumukod tangi at naiiba ang mga hayskul batch 1973 kaysa ibang hayskul batch sa Pilipinas, ang aming panahon ay natatakluban ng Marcos, si FM nuong 1973 at si BBM sa 2023.

Si Ferdinand Edralen Marcos ay unang nahalal nuong 1965, at na re-elect siya nuong 1969 bilang Pangulo ng bansang Pilipinas. Sa 1935 konstitusyon dalawang four-year term ang halal na presidente, at sa 1973 magtatapos si Marcos sa kanyang luklukan. Gayun pa man, ang manatili sa poder maging sa anumang paraan ang direksyon ng kanyang mga hakbang sa pulitika. Ninais niyang palitan ang konstitusyon sa pamagitan ng pagtatawag ng constitutional convention pero hindi nagtagumpay dahil malakas ang oposisyon sa pananatili niya sa poder. Naglabasan ang mga iskandalo at payola sa mga delegado. Kaya't ang ginawa niya ay idineklarang nasa malaking panganib ang Republika at ipinataw ang Batas Militar (Martial Law) sa buong bansa. Inaresto at pinakulong ang mga oposisyon at aktibista, sinuspendi ang senado at kongreso, at pinailalim niya ang maraming larangan sa gobyerno at sa galaw ng lipunan sa militar. Ang emergency power ang ginawang daan para maipasa ang konstitusyon na magbibigay ng probisyong pananatili niya sa poder. Sa madaling salita, siya ang diktador sa authoritarian regime. Napatalsik ang kanyang rehimen nuong 1985 sa pag-aalsa ng mga taumbayan sa Edsa nuong Pebrero.

Nitong nakaraang taon (2022), si Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos ay nahalal bilang presidente ng bansa. Nasa panahon tayo ngayon ng Marcos II.

Maraming kwento ang Batch 1973. Magaling ma-share ito para sa ating collective memory.

Abangan.