THEN and NOW
By Totoy Reorizo

50 YEARS AGO, we graduated, 214 strong and full of hope and aspirations.
NOW, we are down to 160, weak and slowly disappearing from the face of the earth.

50 YEARS AGO, Ateneo de Naga had one two-story building and a faculty house.
NOW a university, there are 12 high-rise buildings in its old campus and a high school department in Pacol.

50 YEARS AGO, Ateneo de Naga was the best school in Bicol.
NOW, Ateneo de Naga has become a university, and is the best university in Bicol.

50 YEARS AGO, we were counting “POST” on Saturdays.
NOW, we stay on one post even on Sundays.

50 YEARS AGO, we envied classmates who were gifted with good looks – the likes of Bobby Mariano, Bertito Palacio, Teddy Monasterio, to name a few…
NOW, we all look the same – old and unsightly.

50 YEARS AGO, our tuition fee was ten pesos per month.
NOW, it’s two hundred times that.

50 YEARS AGO, our teachers were our second parents (they spanked us sometimes).
NOW, teachers cannot touch their students; they are the ones being smacked.

50 YEARS AGO, speaking the native dialect while on the school campus was a major infraction punishable by “jog” or “post”.
NOW, Ateneans may speak the dialect anywhere on the campus, and even the school paper in the dialect.

50 YEARS AGO, we played in the basketball night league almost six times a week hoping to become professional basketball players.
NOW, we have become instead lousy golfers.

50 YEARS AGO, ALATCO, kalesa, bisekleta and walkathon were the means of transport to reach Ateneo.
NOW, students come to school in Toyota’s, Yamaha’s, Mitsubishi’s, and BMW’s.

50 YEARS AGO, no Ateneans were politicians in the Bicol Region.
NOW, almost all politicians in the region are Ateneans.

50 YEARS AGO, our world and our parochial minds were limited to Naga, Calabanga and the surrounding environs in the Bicol Region.
NOW, 1955 graduates live all over the world and have gained universal minds.

50 YEARS AGO, the dollar exchange was two pesos to dollar.
NOW, it’s P55.00 to $1.00.

50 YEARS AGO, we could not imagine what one million pesos was.
NOW, the majority of our classmates have amassed several millions in their bank accounts.

50 YEARS AGO, New China Restaurant was the waiting place for wives (like my mother who was drinking “leche”) while husbands transacted business at the Provincial Capitol.
NOW, Naga’s “standbys” like Romy Balmaceda , Romy Bombase, Monching Villareal, Dennis Badiola, Gerry Pasa drink beer at the “New China” (actually very old) while waiting for beautiful women to pass by.

50 YEARS AGO, we serenaded beautiful ladies at their houses at night.
NOW, we serenade beautiful ladies at karaoke bars overnight.

50 YEARS AGO, the top hits were Diana; Oh, Carol; Because of You; Love is a Many Splendored Thing; Fascination; Too Young; and other love songs.
NOW, it’s all about Pop Rock, MTV’s, Rap and Jazz.

50 YEARS AGO, we never had computers.
NOW, all schools in Naga are equipped with computers.

50 YEARS AGO, television sets were never household items. We say movies either at Bichara, Alex, Albe, Cita and Vic Theaters in Naga.
NOW, all households in the Bicol Region have one or two televisions sets; we watch movies in the comfort of our living rooms and bedrooms.

50 YEARS AGO, Naga City has only one radio station – DZRB.
NOW, Naga City has several television and radio stations and 2 TV stations.

50 YEARS AGO, the only means of transportation to Manila was the PNR which usually took 12 hours minimum to reach the Big City.
NOW, all means of transportation are available to the Nagueños – Airplanes, private cars and SUV’s, air-conditioned buses – taking them only from 50 minutes to 6 hours. The Railroad system, though, has deteriorated even more.

50 YEARS AGO, the “terror” teachers in Ateneo were Mr. Pedro Bernardo, Mr. Gregorio Imperial, Mr. Temporo Dy, Mr. Avelino Basilio, Fr. James O’Brien, Fr. Porfirio Andaya and Fr. John McFadden who taught us so deeply they are etched in our minds and hearts.
NOW, they are all “saints” in heaven.

50 YEARS AGO, we bought our groceries from small sari-sari stores listed as “utang”.
NOW, we buy them from supermarkets and malls with credit cards.

50 YEARS AGO, I had lots of ambitious dreams.
NOW, the greatest reality God has bestowed upon me is: I am surrounded with grandiose jewels of my life, in the name of Cora, J-SIR, EMIR, Emma and Joseph and 7 very lovely grandchildren.

50 YEARS AGO, Ateneo de Naga and Ateneans have one kind and loving heart.
NOW, that kind and loving heart has not changed. It’s still the same but more vibrant and intense.

50 YEARS AGO, most of us could not even pay our P10 monthly tuition fee on time. We lined up at the Treasurer’s office to sign a promissory note.
NOW, class’55 made a promissory note to Fr. Tabora to donate the entrance gate and the guardhouse at the Ateneo de Naga High School and some scholarships.

50 YEARS AGO, we had a small chapel in the school- the refuge we ran to when Jesuits or lay teachers went after us for speaking Bicol and committing other school infractions.
NOW, Ateneo has a big church on the campus that we can run to for solutions to harder personal problems.

50 YEARS AGO, we called ourselves (Titing Zantua, Romy Balmaceda and me) 3-Lab skippers, Gualberto Manlangit our class beadle always bailed us out by signing Mr. Imperial’s name. Isabelinas thought we were LOVE skippers, so we always got dedications at DZRB.
NOW, the three of us still skip and/or “cheat” on our wives. Atty./Mayor G. Manlangit cannot bail us out anymore. He has his own trouble: his wife is not a Mr. Imperial.

50 YEARS AGO, I was a full blooded Calabangueño who grew up in the neighborhood of Jimmy Malanyaon, Danny Banks, Belindo Tordilla. Bluenski Romero and Roily Batalla.
NOW, I’m still a full blooded Calabangueño living in Hollywood, rubbing elbows with a few Calabanga actors and Jack Nicholson at the Los Angeles Lakers game.