The 50-year journey of the sestudyante

MANILA, Philippines - In 1960 a group of students first met in Sero Elementary School (SES) in Cotabato City. After graduating in 1966, they parted ways, though some stayed together and became classmates in high school. Some went to other schools in the same town. Still others transferred to other schools and left Cotabato City. No one knew what would happen to them, but what they had in common was the goal to fulfill their destiny. Each one has a story to tell, since their journey started 50 years ago.

 Part of the story was the challenge to reconnect with each other. It took some five years for the Manila-based classmates to unite with classmates elsewhere. Some met accidentally, some sought classmates out through the phonebook and some met up through friends. Meetings were sporadic, sometimes in Cotabato, other times in Davao or in Manila. In February 2010 in Makati City, it was decided that everyone should come together for a major reunion.

It finally happened. From July 29 to 31, twelve Sero Elementary School classmates, or SEStudyantes – Erma Cuevas Vargas, Tita Manabat Malalis, Francisca Manuel Sabenicio, Melvin Bart, Nacianzina Gamas Ong, Alex Aponesto, Melecio Kimpo, Eliseo Lazaro, Juanito Daguno, Rafael dela Rosa, Kalunsiang Dimalen and myself – met for their 50th year school reunion in Davao City.

They planned the reunion around an itenerary which showcased the beautiful city of Davao. On the first day, they went to Eden, a nature park and resort. Then they went to Matina Baywalk to take pictures with David, the huge golden statue reproduction of the original in Italy, in the background. They watched the video which showed old pictures and current pictures of the classmates. One classmate kept her vintage autograph/slum book and showed through the video what the classmates wrote in elementary. Reading their favorites, mottos and ambitions refreshed the classmates’ memories of the past. They shared their experiences by telling everyone what happened to them since they last saw each other.

The T’boli in native dress (above). With a view of Lake Sebu in the background, T’boli scholars show off their books (left).

They laughed when they recalled the games they played: piko, syatong, sipa, lastiko, tumbang preso, patintero and baseball. A particular song they remembered was “Juanita.” Their usual snack during recess was “piniritong saging ni Mrs. Baligo.” They remembered their class advisers from Grades 1 to 6. The night ended with singing.

On the second day of the reunion, everyone woke up early in anticipation of the visit to Playa Azalea in Samal Island. Swimming, picture-taking, playing Pinoy Henyo and a hearty lunch, including litson, awaited them. Afterwards, the group went to see the Crocodile Park, Butterfly Sanctuary and Tribu Mindanao Village in Dizon’s Amusement Park. The night ended with a dinner at Jack’s Ridge, a restaurant on top of the hill with a panoramic view of the City of Davao.

On their last day, the group visited People’s Park, which features the beautiful sculptures of Kublai Millan. After the park, the group ate a smorgasbord breakfast at Probinsiya. It was a lovely conclusion to a successful reunion.

It is, however, not the end of their friendship. In 1966, they parted with no concrete plans on how they would meet again. But now, 50 years later, they have made the commitment to stay together and look for other classmates, beginning with this article as a message to long-lost classmates, that the group is reinvigorated by a new advocacy that will hold them together as a collective that will give back to those in need. This marks a new chapter in the SEStudyantes’ journey.

Kalunsiang “Kali” Dimalen, a SEStudyante, introduced to his classmates his advocacy, Journey to Peace through Education and Development or “Journey,” which, he says, “awakens responsibility to the needy.”

Journey organizes and trains volunteers through community-centered, people-oriented development principles, to help promote people and community empowerment as well as capacity building of marginalized people to fight poverty and to promote an equitable approach to income generation, community development, environmental protection, peace and human security, and national unity.

One of the projects of Journey is GLAD, or Guardian of the Lakes for Advancement and Development, which began as a private undertaking of friends Kali, a Muslim, and Rudy Baldemor, a Christian. They had worked together on vocational training of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and their communities, with support from the International Labor Organization. After the completion of their UN community development project, both promised to go back to Lake Sebu, one of their many project sites, to continue what they started for the T’boli tribe there.

Lake Sebu, South Cotabato in Mindanao is the ancestral land of the T’boli tribe who, unfortunately, are slowly being marginalized by the effects of modernization and materialism. Most of them are being driven out from the poblacion to the hinterlands to become small land tillers with meager incomes and whose children encounter difficulties in going to school because of poverty. GLAD was thus designed to provide opportunities for the T’bolis to send their children to school, develop their capacity to create and sustain viable farm and non-farm livelihoods, create community enterprises and establish economic infrastructures to support the expansion and sustainability of their social and economic projects and activities.

The SESestudyante agreed to support the objectives of GLAD by financially assisting the poor but deserving children of the Lake Sebu community to attend elementary school through scholarhips. They are glad to be part of GLAD’s peace and development project, by giving back their successes to the children of Lake Sebu.

For queries, e-mail [email protected] or go on Facebook and join Journey to Peace.