At 17, the best time to live our life at Artlets

By Wilma Villanueva-Palafox

Not knowing exactly what course I wanted to take up after high school, my parents decided    that the University of Santo Tomas was the ONLY school for me. The thought of going to the state university was definitely remote. My father called it “the hub of Communism.”

On the first day of class at the Faculty of Arts and Letters in July 1970, I found myself in the company of friendly, wide-eyed, innocent-looking young men and women aged 16-17.  This special class was IA9, the Honors Class, made up of the 35 who topped the admission examination for freshmen from over hundreds of examinees.

Most of the class members introduced themselves as having graduated Valedictorian or Salutatorian or with honors. All I could say was that I had a Gold Loyalty Medal for studying at St. Theresa’s College Manila and Quezon City for 12 years.

We all came from different regions of the country, from different family backgrounds, yet we blended   well as we respected each other’s uniqueness and idiosyncrasies.

Our class adviser was Ms. Perla Queyquep, who taught Freshman English. She encouraged us to produce our own class paper, Traces.

For the first semester, we had Romy Abulad (Logic), Araceli Murillo (Algebra), Fe Palafox (History of Europe) and Pedro Abella (Political Science). 

In the second semester, we had Cesar   Martinez (Statistics), Magdalena Villaba-Cue (Dialectics), Vida Madrigal (History of Southeast Asia), Lourdes Bautista (Filipino Literature) and Corazon Cantos (World Geography). When Prof. Bautista took a leave of absence, Prof. Milagros Tanlayco   took over. She would bring her own chalk which had to be of the same color as her outfit.

Our Dean was Rev. Fr. Dr. Frederik Fermin, formerly a Dutch diplomat.  For years, Artlets was the only college which had a Dominican priest for a dean.

We found something odd in our building, the Commerce Building. There were separate staircases and canteens for men and women. This was to be strictly observed.

As freshmen, we followed the rules on uniforms. But, as years went by, the ladies became bolder and bolder as their skirts became shorter and shorter.  The men’s tops became more colorful than the prescribed white! Men sported longer hair, too!

By the second semester, we welcomed three Vietnamese nuns, cross enrollees from the College of Education. We don’t know if we became holier with their presence or if they stayed on as nuns after that semester!

We also had a singing group named Trans Luv Energysts that represented the College in an intercollegiate singing competition.

We didn’t win, but it felt so good  being pitted against the best groups in the University.

In the following years, the A-niners would become writers and artists of the college paper, The Flame,  and  Varsitarian. Some became Council and club officers.  Others excelled in singing, dancing, public speaking. I was blessed to be chosen as Miss Arts and Letters in 1972 and one of UST’s Five Outstanding Coeds in my senior year.

We have been successful in our chosen fields: media practitioners, book authors, lawyers, an engineer, artists, entrepreneurs and   civil   servants.  

So, 53 years after, here we are. Neither distance nor time weakened the bond we had with each other, thanks to social media.

I’ve always believed that nothing happens by accident. We were meant to be a part of each other’s lives.  Some came, as quietly as the gentle passing breeze; some like a thunderstorm with a bolt of lightning! Some remain in our memory for a long time; others do not. Each with a particular purpose according to God’s divine plan.

It was the best time to live our lives …. at seventeen.