School Years at Cabanatuan East Central School
(1934 – 1941)

Tinoy and Fabian with friends

It was Ateng Neneng who enrolled me, talked to the teachers, and left me on my own. Maybe I had rubber shoes then.

Grade I and the other grades (up to seven) lasted the whole day with recess in the morning and the afternoon. Everyday, there was a flag ceremony—both the American and the Philippine flags were raised. We sang the American and the Philippine National Anthems.

My first grade teacher was Miss Lacuña who later became Mrs. Sapiandante. What were our subjects? We had Reading, Arithmetic, Language, Music, Phonics, Writing, Character and Conduct, Gardening, Physical Education, and in the higher grades, Geography, Civics, and Vocational. We used to play under the school building. I was neither the best nor the poorest in class. Those with good grades were always in Class 1, regardless of the grade. So from Grade I to Grade VII, I was always in Class 2.

I remember some of the names of my classmates: Sergio Balara, Godofredo Parumog, Geronimo Cecilio, Jose Miclat, Buenaventura Dulay, Remigio Quiambao, Orlando Bolisay, Pompeio Diaz, Romeo Diaz, Diego Abando, Praxedes Garcia, Pastora Ramoso, Divinidad Buenaventura, Arsenia Francisco, Loreto Williams, Priscilla Calarag, Augusto Melencio, Rosa Embuscado, and Romeo Velasquez.

I never had a grade of 80. I was fond of drawing and used to fill up my notebook with drawings very much like that of a comics book. I first saw real comics of “Batman,” “Superman,” etc. when I was in Grade IV. My friend in Grade IV was Victorino Gatbonton.

There were many times when I was in Grade II that Godofredo Parumog and I would cut our class and go swimming in a small body of water called nabao which was surrounded by tall bamboo trees. One time, a big leech clung to my right leg and I had difficulty removing it. Since then, I never went back to that place.

We had gardening from Grade II to Grade IV. I raised pechay, onions, garlic, and lettuce. I had good grades in gardening because I attended to my plot very well.

From Grade V to Grade VII, we had woodworking as a vocational course and therefore, learned the parts of a plane, hammer, chisel, spokeshape, copping saw, keyhole saw, and other tools. We had a number of projects but always, my problem was the wood I needed for the project. As we were hard up, I had no way of buying the wood I needed.

When I was in Grade VI, I wrote an anthology of Philippine folklore with colored illustrations. Miss Sarenas (later Mrs. Mina) liked it very much that she asked it from me and exhibited it in class.

We wrote themes beginning from Grade III and we used a theme notebook which I had difficulty in buying because I had no money. I was fortunate to have a baon of 1 centavo a week. At that time, a centavo could buy a piece of bread or a cake. I was never asked to participate in folk dancing because it required buying appropriate clothes. However, in class programs, I was asked to recite a poem or sing a song. I never had a picture except during class pictures which I could rarely afford at 20 centavos.

We had health inspection and each time I was asked to show a handkerchief, I had none. For that matter, our family never had toothpaste (perhaps, except Ateng) and I never had a toothbrush. I used the peeling of the betel nut to brush my teeth and gargled every morning with salt.

I don’t know how many pieces of clothing I had; certainly it couldn’t be more than three. I had a small aparador, maybe no more than two feet high and a foot wide. Here I kept my notebooks and clothes. Our books were rented from school and some were issued free. It was only Inang who had a book --a bible in Tagalog whose title was “Banal na Kasulatan.” Ateng had a small trunk where she kept her clothes and belongings. It was a wooden trunk about a foot high, a foot wide, and two feet long.