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Pieces of Me
Cattlerium '96

The History That Was...

JS Prom '95

me in 3rd year

Below is our class history. It was read by Mark Leinad Enojo during our Junior-Senior Prom held at the Sarabia Manor Hotel on February 26, 1996. I don't know exactly who wrote it, but I believe it to be a consortium of ideas from several parties.

me in high school

In the beginning there was darkness. And God said let there be light. And there was light. Everything was still, calm, and serene. Everything was peaceful, until God created Batch '96.

Charles Darwin shocked the whole world by stating in his theory of evolution that man and the apes have a common relative -- the primates. Well, that was 17 million years ago, when the first ancestors of the special people they would call Batch '96 first evolved -- the Australopithecus Tacayos.

Una sadto ka adlaw. What's so interesting was that despite the racial and cultural differences of the new group, they nevertheless did not find it hard to gel with each other. Of course, there were the Puti-ans, Itumans, pati na Tambukans, Pototans and majority of them, the Guapuhans. (Guys, you know who you are.) They were divided into tow sections or barangays. Under the mystical Bb. Villaruel were the Molavians, and under Missed Dequilla, the language guru, were the Narranians.

sitting on the soccer field during a Drum Corps break (January 1994)

First day. Of course it was time for the customary "introduce yourself" routine. Who could ever forget such famous lines as "My name is Fernand Fagutao and I represented Region VI in the national Quiz Bee in Philippine History." And of course, "My name is Jess and I am bombastic."

The fieriness of the new group was evident during the first week of the school year. Ana Liza Viajar of tribu Puti-an engaged in a mocking battle against an amazona from another year level. Moments later, Ms. Viajar found herself in her first trip sa langit. Sa langit ni Ma'am Libo-on. Now, wasn't that starting the year with a bang?

Days grew and flowers bloomed. Isn't fun to remember how changes developed and new relationships formed? Like ipil-ipil blossoming in spring, new love teams flourished. There was the Rodnie-Mary Grace front row affair...Thirdy-Wellah Jollibee escapade and what else...the love story of the millennium, Mark Lloyd of Familia Tisoyons in his almost perfect relationship with Ana Liza "Kana" Viajar. It was a pleasant sight during break time to witness the much talked about Tamburong love affair.

Christmas Party 1994

The Narra-Molave War also emerged. The Narranians were headed by the furious Sharon Alegario and the Molavians by their Bathala, Ryan Carasco. The war reached its height during the Christmas party where the former had a superb class party while the latter's disco was stopped by the mystical adviser.

The Molavians had a sensitive leader. He would stage a walkout during meetings complete with broomstick as hand prop. In spite of this, they still worshipped him and even had a special prayer.

Mirjam -- the foreigner with influence?

The downfall of the two powerful barangays caused a period of dormancy for the High School Empire. After two months, the two barangays were conquered by foreigners and renamed Faith under the Greek and Latin ruler Miss Hojilla and Hope under the beauty titlist -- the Miss World, Mrs. Sumergido.

Their unity was later on achieved through an open forum where many shed tears and expressed emotions.

Speaking of tears, who could ever forget Edward Sudario during the SLS Math Quiz? He broke into tears. Kay nga-a? Wala siya gali kuno ka-tuon.

Because of foreign influence, their tails and horns grew longer. These were manifested during Environmental Conservation class where typewriters would sound and choral groups were formed. Miss Acevedo even delivered her Tagalog-Ilonggo-English speech before the faithfuls.

With the birth of Renaissance in Italy among Emeralds and Amethysts, the dawn of changes brought by this period made sweet friends out of enemies and bitter nemeses out of old acquaintances.

Brein's and my 15th birthday celebrated at Ocean City (August 1995)

Out came the inheritors of the west castles of feudal kings. There was Euclid's great-great granddaughter -- Miss Rose Acevedo and the long time friend of Erasmus and Petrarch -- Miss Leah Mae Cabalfin. Though their lives were certainly more interesting than Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and factoring of special polynomials, they made junior life for Batch '96 brimming with religious inclinations and English-Tagalog-Ilonggo drama.

Even more interesting were the students themselves, who, in their quest for individuality, initiated humanism by flaunting their demands for a return to basics. The ever-conservative third year girls, determined to have their complaints aired, refused to wear bloomers for their field demonstration. Their intense thirst for reformations forced the PE monarch Mr. Barlas and the liberator Miss Rendaje to give in to their requests. As a consequence, the humanists were made to perform as a separate group from the other year levels.

high school boys

But who could be more revolutionary that Mr. Gerald Longno himself? Deciding to be artistically unique, he had to employ his own socks as substitutes for gloves. Pretty radical, huh?

It was also in third year when the humanists were subjected to English for the first time under the steady hand of the iron damsel, Miss ma. Girlie Libutaque, who startled the class by her classic statement "Thank you Darren. From the beautiful, we now go to Rodnie."

But the crusades didn't stop there. All eyes in Biology were averted to Mark Leinad Enojo, when the precious son of the Duke of Normandy suffered a bruise on a certain part of his body when his broken chair gave way to gravity. No one laughed of course. The Duke ruled with an iron fist.

And there's the Prince of Brandenburg, Jess Losaria, who had a fierce encounter with a lost amazon-student teacher with a voice like Pocahontas because of the prince's claim of being categorized in a "higher level" than she had. The event sparked the Six Days War between the two parties.

The Renaissance Period ended with a tragic-romantic twist. A knight who was swept off his feet learned the hard way that nothing lasts forever. Too bad for him, it didn't even last a minute.

high school girls

History reached its golden age when the humanists finally reached seniority under the watchful eyes of Queen Maria Luisa Jucaban I of Cattleyan royalty and King Jun Tibajares II of Anthurium nobility.

But senior year didn't exactly start off with a smooth sail. Separatists and Puritans got the chance to be frank with each other in an open forum. Sure, things were magnified, windows were opened, and others thought from the middle ground point of view that they were subjected to humiliation, but the open forum brought about emotion and drama that, arguably, changed Batch '96 forever. Once again, the word "friend" and "enemy" became hard to distinguish.

To make matters worse, the humanists were bereft of two mentors: the first being Ma'am Elen Hojilla whose departure to another kingdom left many eyes wet with tears. Then there was the sad fate of Sir Herminio Mempin who succumbed to death.

However, despite all these, Batch '96 had their share of laughs and victories in the Elizabethan Period. While Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the earth's waters and the Parliament overthrew monarchy, the seniors garnered the crown in events such as the local SportsFest, the Acquaintance party Dance Contest, Linggo ng Wika Folk Dance Contest, and the RSPC to name a few. And once again there was the ever-talked about field demonstration. Trying to outdo Gerald Longno's remarkable feat, Rodnie Tacay of the roundheads wowed the crowd with his improvised Scottish costume: a very short, very tight pencil skirt that barely concealed his curvaceous behind.

The seniors were also the first to be taught Research under El Professor Noeni Nepomuceno who, in the period, finally became a doctor in his profession and was touted in a recent survey as the most attractive man to ever walk the face of the earth, next to King Tiba, of course.

Indeed, history would never have been interesting without Batch '96. Though radical and constantly complaining, their brief existence will continue to tread the halls and the rooms of the SLS. Memories will endure and linger...like any other classic.