On a sunny afternoon of April 13, 1973, exactly fifty years ago today, the graduating class of Jose Abad Santos High School bade goodbye to their Alma mater.
While I was preparing my notes in conjunction with our Golden Anniversary Grand Reunion and homecoming, this message from the Assistant Principal Mrs. Soledad A. David printed in The Pampangan 1972-73, caught my attention:
“To this year’s graduates, congratulations and continued good luck. Today you join the legions of young boys and girls who leave the protective roofs of their Alma Mater to venture toward a broader, more complex world.”
What I pondered about her message are these two phrases - “continued good luck” and “a broader and more complex world.”
In many ways, the Class of 1973 has the most unique experiences among graduating batches in the post war educational system in the Philippines. We consider our JASHS’73 batch exceptional. Naiiba and katangi-tangi.
We share with other schools’ Class of 1973 the conjunctures of our nation’s history.
First, we were the first high school students to graduate under Martial Law. It also meant that we were the high school seniors when Martial Law was declared and imposed in September of 1972 in the Philippines. We have batchmates who were arrested, jailed, and even disappeared when Martial Law was imposed.
Second, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was the president when we had our commencement exercise. He was re-elected for his second term in 1969 when we were Freshmen. After 50 years and many historical dramas in between our nation’s history, including his ouster by a people power EDSA uprising in 1986, and as we, the Class of 1973, are celebrating our Golden Anniversary, we have his son Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos JR (BBM) as president of the Republic. In other words, our bookends are Marcos - Marcos Nuon, Marcos Pa Rin.
Third, most of the graduates of high school class of 1973 are just a year older than BBM (1957), although 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 great and timeless pop music. And yet, to hold dance parties, we must consider the restrictions brought about by the imposition of curfew in our community. It was either you start late afternoon and have partygoers leave the place an hour before the 10 o’clock curfew or have them stay safely at the party place 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.
This is perhaps what Mrs. David’s message inferred fifty years ago as we face our life’s challenge in venturing into a broader and more complex world.
And what about Mrs. David’s message of “congratulations and continued good luck” to JASHS ’73?
It should be noted that 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) due to the massive floods, heavy rainfall, and storms, while the second time was when all schools were closed in compliance with the Letter of Instruction from Department of Education following the order of the martial law administration.
Also, 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.
We were fortunate as a class to experience the pre-Martial Law extracurricular activities in high school. From 1969 to 1973, the boys had options to join boy scouts training (Boys Scouts, Explorer Scouts and Air Scouts), Glee clubs, and PMT (Preparatory Military Training)., while the girls had Girl Scouts, Home Economics, and Glee Club. We did not have CAT (Citizens Army Training) while (CIVAC) Civic Action was still being developed.
This is particular to JASHS ’73. We were the last batch that was grouped into class sections that were labeled numerically. Every student is assigned a section based on students’ Grade Point Average. Those with higher GPA's were placed in Section 1 while the rest were sent to succeeding numbers which unfairly labeled students in hierarchy as from “lower sections” to “higher sections”. Thankfully, this system was terminated after our graduation.
Eventually, the system was modified for JASHS ’74 where names of flowers were used instead of numerals to designate each section.
Our Alma Mater, Jose Abad Santos High School, is the renowned Pampanga High School, which was established in 1902 following the public education campaign of American occupiers. Almost 600 American teachers, commonly known as the Thomasites, arrived in the Philippines in 1901. Our hometown was one of the recipients of these Thomasites, and classes were held in a large house in downtown San Fernando. To accommodate more students, the school was later moved to a building near the Provincial Capitol, in Barrio Santo Nino, and in 1937 the classes were once again moved to new facilities in Barrio Lourdes (Teopaco Subdivision).
It is important to note that the facilities along High School Boulevard became known as the main building while the school site near the Capitol served as its Annex. During our time, the Annex was exclusively for senior students, making our graduating batch more intact and closer to one another, and having a sense of independence from the rest of the student body and administration of JASHS.
Even during our time, JASHS was a premier public high school in Pampanga. JASHS was well represented in provincial and regional athletic meets, sporting events, academic competitions, and science fairs.
Looking at the profile of JASHS graduating class of 1972-73 as presented in The Pampangan, there were 1114 graduates spread in 25 sections with an average of 40 students per section; 562 are males and 552 are females. Our batchmates come from 14 towns and 1 city of our province just to attend our school. As expected, San Fernando has the most (60%), followed by Bacolor (12%), Sto Tomas (11%), Mexico (7%), and San Simon (3%).
I was surprised to hear from Principal Lyn Esguerra, our guest during the grand reunion celebration, that there are now more than 13,000 students and more than 500 faculty in our Alma Mater, which is now known as Pampanga National High School with six year-levels housed in almost the same land area but more buildings along High School Boulevard. There is no more Annex, and the old school building is being reconstituted as a historical and heritage museum.
What makes JASHS’73 exceptional? As members of the Class of 1973, we were exposed and very much influenced by the social and political climate of our times, 1969 to 1973. Our “continued good luck” of surmounting difficulties through our closeness and caring for each other, open to challenges and innovations. Our batch has produced very successful entrepreneurs like Alfredo Patawaran, Rosalie Naguit, Danton Dizon, and Carmelita Santos, and a number of successful professionals, teachers, those in government services and law enforcement. We also have batchmates who migrated to different parts of the world.
Our times in our Alma Mater have germinated the revolutionary spirit in us. The revolutionary spirit is expressed in various ways, but the common denominator is caring for each other, sincerely serving and helping our fellow men and women, and our faith in God.
The JASHS’73 Golden Anniversary Grand Reunion theme is Together Then, Together Now (Solid as Gold). Our batch is exceptional, and we are proud to claim, “JASHS ’73, We are One.”