By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
materialize.“
During the second semester of school year 1979-1980 I took a leave from law school where I was in my first year to do some volunteer work for the Ananda Marga Yoga Society. I then cris-crossed the country hopping from one island to another.
At one time I had to meet somebody in Bacolod City. Coming from Cebu City I took a passenger boat to Dumaguate City from where I would then travel by bus. That city hosts the famous Siliman University, the first institution of higher learning in the country put up by Americans.
I once asked Atty. Mary Inglay Fokno why a number of iSagadas aside from her went to study and graduate from that university. So I learned the reason. The school was put up by protestants (Presbyterians) and was recommended by their American teachers at St. Mary’s School in Sagada.
Incidentally, St. Mary’s School was once dubbed (so I heard) as the best high school in the country when it came to English. But many years before St. Mary’s even saw the light of day in 1908, Siliman Institute was already an established school with English as the medium of instruction. It was the first school in the country to have that distinction.
In 1903 Siliman Institute was already publishing a community newspaper, Siliman Truth, whose medium was English. It must have been the first English newspaper in our beloved Philippines Islands. Being printed by its own press, many its students cut their teeth writing in that language. How much of that rich heritage was handed down and still existing today? I don’t know. But I know somebody who is a very good writer whose lecture I attended in Los Banos on the practice of yoga, convinced me to also get on board with him in the practice. That guy graduated from Siliman University (SU) although he is from Laguna. He later became the dean of the UP Open University.
During my undergrad years in UP Baguio we had several teachers in the Humanities courses who were products of SU. So I was curious about how it was. We arrived at the city around midnight. The silhouette of the school was pointed to me by a stranger whom I asked for directions. It was beautiful even at midnight with surrounding flickering lights. It was by the seashore. There was the Bohol Sea to the east and the Cuernos de Cagayan mountains to the west. The community therefor was “between the silence of the mountains and the crushing of the sea.”
My immediate conclusion was the university must have been a dream come true for anyone who was a poet by heart. It was the right academe for those in courses involving creativity. For instance, creative writing, or other Humanities courses. The emotionally nurturing scenic environment could cause creative juices to naturally ooze.
I wanted to enroll there for some summer classes as electives but the plan did not materialize.
While Siliman might sound so far away, it is proof how small the world is. Even our end of the road village, Besao, Mtn. Prov., which is 10 kilometers away from Sagada, have some natives who are SU alumni. The most famous of course is long time Manila RTC Judge Innocencio Maliaman (retired).
Well, God directs everybody to their rightful places.**
