By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Back in the day in the late 1960s, the old St. Louis University campus in Baguio was heaven. The whole Mount Mary, from the base where its only building then was located up to the top was full of really big pine trees. The area looked and smelled heavenly. Walking through it was natural poetry.
Then building after building were put up. All the pine trees were decimated. It is now congested with big and tall buildings. Its transformation to the way it is now should be considered criminal. How everything there looks now is an abomination to poetry. Perhaps the only worthy justification is to give way to facilities for the education of students from far and wide.
But with the effects of climate change now upon us with a vengeance, couldn’t the putting up of the buildings been done somewhere else? The purposes of the buildings now could have been achieved. Most of all nature at its best could have been preserved.
The campus then would have been the best place to send a kid to take up literature or any other humanities course, or any other course involving creativity. Fine arts and architecture students could have gone crazy there in a very good way. Their creativity could have endlessly oozed out in that kind of environment.
And their spirits could have soared to high heavens. It Would have been the best place to do meditation and contemplation.
Now, what do you see and feel there? A lot of pollution from the surrounding streets from top to bottom. And a lot of materialism. The exact opposite of how it was back then.
A campus now worth sending your kid to if he has a creative spirit is UP Los Banos. It was laid out like an American campus. After all, it was put up by the Americans.
The first time I got there more than 50 years ago, I was impressed how “well maintained if not manicured” the campus was. The jeepney we were riding in had to traverse more than 2 kilometers from the gate, passing through the College of Agriculture and other colleges, before we finally reached the College of Forestry. There, I was even more impressed as it was in Mt. Makiling, a literal forest. Buildings were ensconced between towering trees.
Going back there more than 50 years after to enroll my only son when the Covid 19 was waning, I was again impressed. The removal of trees to put up buildings was very minimal, even without considering its total area of about 1000 hectares. Basically, the overall architecture of the campus was preserved. Though so many colleges were added like the Colleges of Engineering, Social Sciences, etc.
While the campus could still make its residents creative, sadly, the majority of courses offered there are technical. Perhaps its saving grace is it hosts the school project of Imelda Marcos to take care of and develop the talents of artistically gifted kids.
Up north, a school which used to evoke poetry was St. Mary’s School of Sagada, Mountain Province. It was so beautiful then. But as time went on, especially after the last American administrators left, so many of the pine trees were felled. A number of alumni expressed sadness with the way it is now, especially accentuated by the rotting building near the main road.
Like SLU, the whole place now reeks of so much materialism. I don’t see or feel now any sense of poetry in that campus.
Even further up the mountains about 10 kilometers away is St. James High School, my alma mater whic&&h was crazy enough to grant me a high school diploma even if I spent only a year of residency. That saved me from hopeless truancy in the city.
Though it was started by the Americans, there was no poetry on how the campus was, physically. Going back there just before the pandemic to speak during their town fiesta, I saw the school’s small campus could still be enhanced and landscaped to become beautiful.
But then again that is for the active alumni members and other stake-holders to think about.
Poetry? Every school should be, to enhance the process of imparting education.**
