My older brother Jose Jr. and I traveled by boat for two days from Davao City, and when we reached the shores of Dumaguete, that was when I saw the first glimpse of the City that would become my home for the next 62 years. I went straight to Oriental Hall, and subsequently enrolled in the SU College of Nursing. That was May 8, 1956.
Visiting hours for dorm residents was scheduled on weekends only, and those of us who had suitors could only entertain them if we got permission from the Office of the Dean! Student life revolved around the campus, Silliman Church, the library, and a bit of social life. The library would always be filled with students; ‘survival of the fittest’ was the norm.
The cultural scene was practically nil. But inside the Silliman campus, the Student Personnel Services office would line up weekend activities for us students who were dorm residents. We learned square dancing, we had singing sessions, a lot of games, a lot of eating, socializing to ward off homesickness and stress. The boys would serenade the girls in the dorm. Oh, it was fun, as we peeped through the windows to see who were the serenaders; the girl they were wooing was usually too shy to show herself to them, so there was a lot of giggling from the girls, and teasing her no end.
Once we walked out of the Gates of Opportunity, the City beckoned. We would buy our school supplies from Cang’s, which was just a stone’s throw from the campus; and our shoes from Abian Store that also accepted made-to-order nurse’s duty shoes. There were no malls, only stores that were mostly owned by Chinese families. Insular Hotel was the only one around, and the most popular restaurant then was Opena’s.
The City was inhabited by local residents, as well as students, many of whom came from all over the country, as well as Asia and the US. There were also students from St. Paul University, the first-ever in the entire Philippines, and Foundation University, set up by the fifth president of the University of the Philippines. The East Visayan School of Arts & Trade (now the Negros Oriental State University) was a government school that offered technical-vocational courses. Dumaguete was regarded a University Town because the city was “alive” during school days.
Those years in the late 50s and early 60s, people in Dumaguete walked a lot, and used tartanillas often, compared to the 2,500 or more tricycles, and thousands of motorcycles and cars of today. We would walk along the boulevard, and sat on the benches with our suitors or boyfriends (who later became our husbands), and envisioned our future.
For those who were not as lucky, the promenade was regarded as “the boulevard of broken dreams.” There were three movie houses that time: Ever, Park, and Town. After a movie date, we were contented with partaking of a bowl of mami, and then we walked back to our dorm. Life was that simple, and it was a walkable City then.
The streets, canals/creeks, and the market were clean. Garbage was better-managed, and we did not use plastics as much, but the native bayong. The Banica River then was clean that people would take a dip there, bathed there, while the women did their laundry there. People were able to sleep more peacefully, and because the crime rate was low, Dumaguete was referred to as The City of Gentle People. The use of drugs was unheard of in campus or in the City. As students, we did some mischievous things here and there, but it was all clean fun.
But now look at what have happened: People extend their businesses in the streets (vulcanizing shops, etc), houses are built on top of canals/creeks, with other structures and palm trees growing beside, and people throw garbage away carelessly, mindlessly.
More than six decades have passed, more things need to be done to bring our City at par with other university towns in the world.
We know the present local administration has grand plans for the City. Let us wait and see, and do what we can in our small ways.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
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