early boyhood friends

my early boyhood friends were either neighbors in sampaloc or classmates from santo tomas.

tito tony and tita josie briola alejo, friends of my father at the old civil service commission, rented an apartment unit owned by members of my grandfather’s first family. the unit was located right behind our house. the alejos had several children but i was particularly close to ronnie, the alejos’ third child, because he was about my age. ronnie was particularly remarkable because he played all kinds of sports and he was some kind of a bully in the neighborhood. he also won fistfights with children from the other city streets. it didn’t matter whether i was studying in a private school and he was studying in a public school (p. gomez or juan luna, i think). he became one of my early boyhood friends because he was my exact opposite. ronnie introduced me to kids from don quijote, maria cristina, m. de la fuente, dapitan, dos castillas, miguelin, constancia, algeciras, antipolo and pi y margal streets. my parents had no idea that daily, during siesta time, ronnie would drag me to play “tumbang preso,” “patintero,”” siyato,”“jolens,” “teks,” and “tanzan” with children from the other sampaloc streets. my father was working in his ermita office and my mother was usually asleep after lunch. quite often, i managed to sneak out of the house without leaving a trace. this was all happening between 1972 and 1977.

but i stopped playing with ronnie and when i began serving mass as an acolyte of u.s.t.’s santissimo rosario parish. ronnie and i saw each other even less frequently after his mother passed away. after tito tony remarried, ronnie and his siblings left their apartment unit and transferred to another house along don quijote near espana and ramon magsaysay high school. when tito tony died, his second wife sold their house and ronnie was forced to live with relatives elsewhere. i do not know where he is today.

other than ronnie, i also had other playmates. quite remarkably, i still remember their names: chippy and jonathan calata; chito soller; jouel and lynette marasigan lava (originally from isabela); vicky and raymund burgos; winnie madarang (originally from cagayan); alvin and albert realuyo (originally from oas, albay); sergio lazatin (originally from pampanga); catherine de leon and her friend mary jane cruz (she became jamie rivera, one-time miss saigon in london’s west end and contemporary philippine popular music’s “inspirational diva”); ramil perez (originally from batangas); nonoy singson (originally from cagayan), eric tierro (originally from olongapo; his sister corazon became bb. pilipinas runner-up to 1984 bb. pilipinas universe and miss universe runner-up desiree verdadero); joel and ana lopez uy (originally from aklan); and irene, iris and richie valdez (originally from zamboanga city). one particular friend, rodel pelobello, passed away when i was eleven or twelve. i also remember having friends whose family names i do not remember: rizza (who was run over by a truck) and another ronnie (who migrated to america with his family during the late 1970s). between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. we all played soccer baseball across our house. other times, we played hide-and-seek, “piko” and “step-no.” during each game, decorative plants, trees, cars, windshields, glass windows and people who pass through were attacked severely. quite often, we were scolded by our parents and the rest of the neighborhood. but we simply did not care. as kids, we took each verbal lashing in stride. we just reminded ourselves that nobody can stop us from playing street games anytime. and play, we always did.

in early primary school, i had three close friends: angelica ilagan, nicolas acal and rodolfo vilan jr. i do not know exactly how the three became close to me. but i faintly remember that angelica, nicky and rodolfo were my classmates since prep or grade one. we ate merienda together during recess time and talked over the telephone before bedtime. but one day, angelica drowned in a beach when we were eight. nicolas went to maryland with his family when we were nine. rodolfo migrated to ontario, canada when we were ten. suddenly, all three friends were gone. i was severely traumatized and i did not quite recover.

my early boyhood friends are no longer in sampaloc. these days, many of them are living probably in north america or clustered in affluent metro manila villages. meanwhile, i choose to remain in sampaloc because i want to remember. i yearn to see my friends playing in the city streets again from time to time.

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Call for Submissions to the 46th Dumaguete National Writers Workshop

National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo has announced a March 31 deadline for applications for fellowships to the 46th National Writers Workshop to be held in Dumaguete City from May 7 to 25.

Panelists this year are Gemino Abad, Alfred Yuson, Susan Lara, Anthony Tan, DM Reyes, Marjorie Evasco, and others. They will compose the revolving panel of writers together with National Artist for Literature Edith Lopez Tiempo, and resident panelists C�sar Ru�z Aquino, Bobby Flores Villasis, and Ernesto Superal Yee.

Fifteen (15) fellowships are open for young writers all over the country.

The first screening panel, composed of the workshop's resident writers, selects the writing fellows for the summer based on the manuscripts submitted by the applicants. These selected manuscripts are forwarded to the Director of the Workshop, who does the final screening and formally approves the final lineup of writing fellows.

The writing fellowship covers lodging for the full 22 days of the duration of the entire workshop, a modest stipend, one-way fare reimbursement, and workshop manuscripts and reading materials.

The applicant must submit original manuscripts consisting of at least three to five short (3-5) stories, or three to five (3-5) essays/creative non-fiction, or two (2) one-act plays, or seven to ten (7-10) poems. Stories, poems, plays, and essays in English are preferred. Only unpublished manuscripts are accepted. Works which have previously won in literary contests will not be accepted.

Other requirements include an application letter addressed to Workshop Director Dr. Edith Tiempo; a diskette or CD containing the various submitted literary works encoded in Microsoft Word; a recommendation letter from a renowned writer or literature teacher; two 2x2 pictures; and a brief biodata or r�sum�.

These must be sent before the 31 March 2007 deadline to Dr. Edith Lopez Tiempo, National Writers Workshop Director, c/o College Assurance Plan, 2nd Floor, CAP Building, Rizal Boulevard, 6200 Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines.

Accepted fellows are usually notified by postal mail, or email, or by phone call, although the announcement is usually published by major Philippine dailies.

Interested parties may also apply for sit-in or auditing privileges.

The National Writers Workshop was established by Edith and Edilberto Tiempo in 1962, making it the longest-running creative writing workshop in Asia. The 2007 edition is sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Silliman University, and College Assurance Plan, in coordination with the Creative Writing Foundation Inc. and the Dumaguete Literary Arts Service Group, Inc. Donors to the fellowship program include Senators Edgardo J. Angara and Mar Roxas as well as former NCCA Chairman Jaime Laya and Ms. Erlinda Panlilio.