Growing up memories: On the go

The SDA educational system is a unique one where non-SDA trained educators are not allowed to teach in SDA schools. At the present there are enough graduates to fill teaching positions at SDA schools anywhere in the Philippines, which was not so in the 1950s to the 70s. With the apparent lack of higher level educators my parents were moved from one place to another to solve the shortage. At an early age I was already accustomed to packing and making a major move to some other city. The places where my parents were assigned were Iloilo City, Cebu City, Caloocan City, Valencia City, Managa near Digos and Davao City.

These moves required that I changed schools from time to time. It also meant adjusting to the local dialect and making a new batch of friends and teachers. In the elementary grades I had three schools: Philippine Union College, Mountain View College (MVC) and Southern Mindanao Academy (SMA). In high school it was SMA and MVC. As a growing kid I didn't like the frequent change in schools. It disrupted the bonds and plans that I had with my friends, however, there was also some excitement in the thought of reuniting with some friends who I left many years back.

My parents' assignment in our move to Davao City during my high school years was to supervise all elementary, high schools and colleges in Mindanao that were operated by the SDA church. This meant regular travel to different parts of the island with Davao City as the base. To make it easier for them to leave me and my sister, they had us stay in the dormitory at SMA and we would take weekends or bi-monthly breaks from school whenever they were at home in Davao. This was our set-up for three years and in retrospect I could see that it wasn't a good situation for a growing kid like me.

The relative freedom from the parents that this setup offered could have been much welcome by an adolescent, and yet I resented being managed by my parents by remote control. In those years communication was very rudimentary. The fastest way to get information across from one city to another in our island was by telegram. Telephone service was mostly affordable and available only for big companies and their executives.

At that early age I was already thinking that I would not want my kids to grow up in this situation, and true to my aspirations I was able to work things out that my kids never missed me by their side in their formative and growing years.