My Elementary and High School Years Memories for StoryWorth

 

Last Father's Day Ditas and Carenna gave me Storyworth as their gift. I have been enjoying the service, since all the questions I can easily answer since most of them are already published in my blogs and autobiography.  What is StoryWorth?

StoryWorth is a service that can collect your dad’s favorite stories and memories and preserve them in a beautifully bound book.

StoryWorth is a service that aims to capture these precious memories — even the ones that are hard to talk about — over the course of one year, culminating in a gorgeous book.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/27/cnn-underscored/storyworth-review/index.html

Here's the latest question regarding my elementary and high school years.

My high school experiences will not be complete if I do not mention some events during my elementary school years. I should mentioned that during my time ( I believe it is still true today) that elementary school years in the Philippines is only for 6 years ( 6 Grades only) not 8 years as in the US. When the Japanese-American War in the Philippines ended in 1945 school was resumed. We were given a test and based from the results you are assigned your grade level.

When the war started in 1941 I was only in 2nd grade. After the war my test level indicated I was capable of 4th grade, thanks to the schooling/teachings  I received from my Father while we were hiding in the jungles of Panay. Thus, I completed elementary school years for only 4 years instead of six. I was 2 years younger than my classmates.  In my autobiography, I wrote 3 events in my life, illustrating the statement that your failures motivates you to succeed. One of that event occurred during my elementary school days. 

When I did not receive the first honor award (I got 2nd honor award) during my elementary school graduation both my parents and I were very disappointed. My parents even contemplated filing an official complaint to the school superintendent against my teacher and principal for nepotism since the valedictorian was a close relative of the teacher and principal.

However, I convinced my parents not to do it. I told them I would work harder in high school to be number one, to show the teacher and principal they made a mistake in the selection process. The whole four years of high school, I competed with the top five honor students from my elementary school. Needless to say, I graduated valedictorian of our high school class. My classmate who was the valedictorian in my elementary school got the salutatorian award (second place). I was happy and felt vindicated. My teacher in elementary school congratulated me but without looking straight into my eye, when my parents invited her to my high school graduation party at our house.

One of the highlights of my elementary school years was my participation in Our School District Declamation Contest.

I was in 6th grade, when I participated in a declamation contest sponsored by our school district. There were ten schools in our district from three neighboring towns. If you have not heard of a declamation contest: It is just public speaking contest reciting and acting poetry, a short story or an article. My English teacher was my coach. I remember memorizing for 4 weeks, a short story titled "A Yankee in Love". The short article were filled with American slang words that I could barely understand. The piece was more suited to an older teenager, possibly someone who has already fallen in love. As a result I delivered my declamation piece without any feelings or emotion but with an American accent taught by my coach. But I was surprise to win 4th place ( among 10 contestants). The gold medal winner was from the school in the next town and I remember very well her declamation piece was Jose Rizal famous poem, My Last Farewell( Ultimo Adios in Spanish). Jose Rizal is Philippines number one national hero. December 30 is Rizal Day in the Philippines.

Here's the first and last stanzas of this patriotic poem both in its original Spanish and an English translation. The poem has 14 five-lines stanzas and has been translated into 30 languages. I will never forget this poem as long as I live because of the Declamation Contest that I lost during my elementary school days in the Philippines.

Mi Ultimo Adiós.

Adios, Patria adorada, región del sol querida,
Perla del Mar del Oriente, nuestro perdido Eden!
A darte voy alegre la triste mustia vida,
Y fuera más brillante más fresca, más florida,
Tambien por tí la diera, la diera por tu bien.

Adios, padres y hermanos, trozos del alma mía,
Amigos de la infancia en el perdido hogar,
Dad gracias que descanso del fatigoso día;
Adios, dulce extrangera, mi amiga, mi alegria,
Adios, queridos seres, morir es descansar.

An English Translation-My Final Farewell

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress’d
Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life’s best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.

Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed!
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day!
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest!

The last phrase, "In death there is rest" ( morir es descansar) is appropriate in Rizal's Life. Dr. Jose Rizal who was executed by the Spanish colonizers of the Philippines on December 30, 1896 for his alleged role in the armed revolution against Spain. He was in prison and on the night before his execution, he wrote this poem as a final statement to his fellow Filipino countrymen. Here's a partial video of the poem sang in English and Tagalog translations.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUjqJzq8YhE

The "Mi Ultimo Adios"(My Last Farewell) was originally written in Spanish. I feel that the English translation loses the depth of emotion Dr. Rizal felt at the time he wrote it. The poem is so inspiring, I do not get tired reading it again and again.

My elementary and high school years were in the town of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo. Here's a brief description of the town.

Barotac Viejo, Iloilo(BVI) is a 3th class municipality about 60Km North of Iloilo City. Iloilo is one of the four provinces in Panay Island. Panay Island is part of the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines. The Visayas Region is the Central Part of the Philippine Archipelago. 

BVI is the town where I grew up. It is the town where I finished my elementary school years. It is also the town where I finished high school. In 1951 I graduated valedictorian of my high school class. It is the town where I have both pleasant and unpleasant memories of my childhood and teen-aged years.

My childhood memories of the American-Japanese war occurred in the town proper, foothills, seacoasts and jungles of this town.
 

When I left BVI in 1951 to pursue my college degree in Iloilo City and later in Diliman, Quezon City, BVI was a 4th class town with less than 5000 residents. In 2015, Wikipedia states that is now a 3rd class municipality, with a population of  around 45,000. When I left BVI in 1955, there was the elementary and high schools, public market, Cockfighting Arena, the Catholic Church, the Post office and one gas station, a couple of hardware stores, a Chinese bakery and may be 100 residential homes in the town proper. 

Today this 3rd class town has more buildings both for business and private homes. The local high school was named a national agricultural high school. Part of the land for the school was donated by my uncle ( Jose Balleza) and my mother Paz Balleza . When I left the town in 1955, the mayor of the town was Luis Tupas, a relative of my mother. Today the local politics, are still controlled by the Tupas family and their clan. When I left the town, my parents bestowed me a 12 hectare parcel of rice land as part of my inheritance. Today that land has been land reformed and I have not received a single centavo from the Philippine government. What was left of my inheritance is a 2-hectare parcel in the upland area without water irrigation and not suitable for rice growing. 

In 2005, my wife and I accompanied by my sister visited our parents grave site .Me and Macrine(RIP) with sister Amor at the Cemetery.

Our old house (located at the back of the Post Office) was gone. The only thing that remained was the foundation stone with the engraving Dolce Building, 1952.

Tears from my eyes flowed like a gentle rain, when I saw that foundation, recalling the pleasant memories of my teen-age years. The house is gone but my memories of BVI will live forever.

 

Our ancestral Home-The Dolce Building, 1953- My Home during my elementary and high school years in the Philippines.   

Here are some photos of my high school years (1947-1951).

 

My High School Graduation- 1951. I am in the front row Second from the Right. 

National High School Conference for Visayas and Mindanao, Iloilo City, 1949

Delegates to the National High School Conference. I am in the front row knelling second from the Right