Remembrances at Lepanto High School

Reminiscing those high school days is nostalgia indeed. All that is left are wishes and memories, yet a smile unquenchable remains at the corner of my lips to muse. I would sit with my classmates on the grassy slopes of the High school grounds and enjoy our lunch. Chatting merrily as we view the clean airstrip of the mining camp, we shouted at the top of our voice as if the people of Cervantes Ilocos Sur and Tadian Mountain Province can hear us over those horizons. Climbing trees that abound on the campus is fun but falling is certainly not, yes these are the gems of childhood. Unforgettable impressions glittering in my memory as years go by.
The single most powerful and compelling force that kept my interest in attending school is so called puppy love. I was infatuated with a pretty girl who is my classmate, revealing her can create repercussions arising from jealousy, is it obvious? Maybe not [laughter], just looking at her innocent face makes me happy and inspired. My infatuation was so intense that I dream of her many times, in my dreams we were holding hands going to school, sometimes my imaginations go wild and she is entangled with it. As I ponder those feelings of youth, how ridiculous they were, it’s really funny guys.
There is the Junior-seniors prom; it is one event that earmarks the transition of a kid’s emotion into an unchallenged stage. I attended the occasion with a borrowed necktie and oversized pants, at first it didn’t really matter. I thought it’s just like a Christmas party or an ordinary happening. But on the night it occurred, the girls literary became ladies, their makeup and attires made them so attractive! Every girl has a peculiar beauty to behold and dancing with her is bliss, an ecstasy. If only you can see my happiness as I danced with my crush, the dance floor, an ordinary pavement has magically transformed into soft clouds under our feet. Her smile so sweet and enticing, I can feel the soft touch of her delicate fingers on my shoulders and cold shivers run down my spine as I held her close to me. We danced to the envy of blinking eyes until the last tune of the inspiring music!
Then graduation usually illicit lots of mixed emotions I wished it never happened because being in high school means extraordinarily happy life. I am with my parents and I feel secured, fear of being alone in college is overwhelming. But life has to go on and the inevitable has to come. Leaving a memory of high school and shedding a part of experience filled with vivacity of life is not easy.
In my waking moments I can hear the echoes of laughter coming from the campus; my classmate’s faces are so alive and vibrant in our high school uniforms. These are very amusing moments I treasure in my life, memories, memories and more memories. Though I can’t remember all the names of my dear classmates, their faces never fade. Smiles they gave me seem to come alive every time I come across one of them in moments of inspiration.

Trapped for Corruption

I received a message from a reliable source who refused to be identified as he is not authorized to release a report, that a top provincial Bureau of Internal Revenue officer, a certain Mr. Josefino Ong was caught red handed extorting money from James Lingbanan a resident of Bauko Mountain Province Philippines. Police operatives from the local Philippine National Police under the leadership of P. Supt. Pedro Laganse Ganir from Ilocos Sur and his men conducted an entrapment operation after a complaint was filed to their office. It ultimately led to the arrest after the entrapment of the Provincial BIR chief of Mt. Province. Prior to his arrest, there were numerous complaints against him but no one reported them to the authorities. It took the courage of one individual to nail the culprit who had been victimizing tax payers for his own enrichment and others who are responsible for his assignment to this locality. Others are encouraged by this arrest to file affidavits to support the cause of the complainant.This is very positive on the part of the tax payers who are frustrated by corrupt people in the government. But sometimes I pity this guy who is forced to extort cash and goods since he is pressured by his superiors to make money for them yet they remain Scot free. He is doing these illegal activities to repay for the lucrative job given to him by these superiors. A BIR personnel I interviewed after he was reassigned to a lesser position told me that the reason for his relief from work was due to the fact that he is too honest. He cannot give gifts to his immediate superiors who expect something in return for his stay in a favored position. Hence, here in the Philippines we need trappers of corrupt people who are free from the recommendations of politicians. Appointments for government positions must be overhauled reflecting the merit system but free from the clutches of politicians.The reason is obvious, meddling hands should be prevented by law and must be applied squarely to all without bias and prejudice.

Justice Denied

Lawyers that I knew
Indeed a master of the law
Upholding justice sacredness
Standing in uprightness
To them I ran for help
When tongues of injustice slurp
They cradle me awhile
From evils snarling fangs
But there is the other side
Mask in hypocrisy
Looking so nice and clean
Upon the law they lean
To make the sharpest claws
Inflicting untold sorrows
Upon the widows and ignorant
Choosing neither young nor old
To satiate their own desires
And suck blood upon my sorrow
Hence no glimpse of tomorrow
A nation full of slithers
To whom shall we look upon?
Thus hope is all gone
As men who uphold the law
Use it to kill anew