Treasured Memories

Senior  moments!

I wonder if I have posted this before here but I found  it on my Memories page  on Facebook and again it reminds me of those days when dad was still alive.

Dad, Noel and I

This was taken forty six years ago when dad was recognized by the University of Santo Tomas for his exemplary record  at the high school department. My youngest brother was a first year high school student here and I was in my sophomore year in college. Noel and I stayed in UST until our graduation from college. He took up Electronics Engineering while I majored in Economics. Dad was so supportive of us all that he transferred  the four of us in UST during high school.

I remember the days when I was just a first year high school student. Our class begins at 6:50 am until 12:50 pm (all girls) while the  afternoon session was for the boys. Dad would fetch me at the exit of the  school and accompany me to the bus stop at Espana Blvd. to get a ride. I was then new to the university.  Throughout my nine years of stay there,  I learned to adjust to high school and college life. Since UST is in the low-lying area of Manila, every time it rains hard, it also gets flooded. There were times when upon going home from class,  my classmates and I would remove our socks and would hike up our skirts to avoid getting wet all the way. There were even times when we would walk  about more than a kilometer (flood and all) to get a ride home.

I worked for about five semesters in college as a student librarian. Imagine the hardship of  searching for a ride on the way home at 8pm when my classes ended.   I remember those times when Dad and I will  have lunch together at his office after my morning duty at the library. I  only  used to work for six hours so I was on a full load  in my subjects.

My stay as a student librarian were the best years of my teenage life since those were the times I met friends, some of whom are still my friends until now. I learned the value of books in one’s life and how they enrich one’s knowledge through reading. When I was assigned at the Humanities Section of the library, I appreciated most of the collections there and when I was transferred to the Asian Section for a while, I learned to appreciate history and Asian literature.

How a photo would spark  wonderful memories,  for this is what it did to me today.

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Lazy Monday

I had a good chat with a former officemate from the bank and also a schoolmate from wayback high school. She was ahead of me by two years but I knew her because she was very popular back then.

I haven’t seen her for twenty years (since I left the bank) but we recently found each other on Facebook.  What do two good friends talk about after all these years? Several, we touched on our faith, our kids, our hobbies at the moment and the happenings in the government that we both hate. There seems to be a common denominator when it comes to our views on how this country is being run.

For the first time, I watched our Vice-President  Leni Robredo attend the Congress hearing for the budget next year. Recognizing her  inspiring role as VP since she was elected back in 2016, her achievements and projects during this pandemic to help Filipinos, both the opposition and the pro-administration legislators are seeking higher budget for the Office of the Vice-President (OVP).  She received the highest audit rating from the Commission on Audit in 2019. The OVP has the lowest budget appropriation for the last two years. The Vice President said the OVP initially proposed a P720-million budget for 2021, but the Department of Budget and Management set a budget ceiling at P679.74 million.  She was helped by the private sector in all her projects. They’d rather extend their hands to her than to…. you know who. Whatever they come up with and approve is okay with  VP Leni.

“We make do with what we have. That has always been the case with the Office of the Vice President… Of course we will be able to help more people if we are given more. But whatever is given to us, we work with that budget,” VP Leni said. She is a frontliner, not a politician.  We have this notion that VPs are only the spare wheels of the president, right? But VP Leni is doing her job well. Some call her Busy President.

 

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