Strong Women and the first Marist School Marikina Walk-out!

If there are two women  that made a great impression on me in High School,  it will have to be Mrs. Mallonga, former principal in Marist School and Mrs. Fernandez, parent of my service jeep mates Basilio Fernandez and Placido Fernandez.  The setting was a parent teacher meeting of sorts conducted in the spanking new audio visual room.  That room which as cooled by 10 Daikin window air conditioners, was in a newly built section that joined the western ends of the original buildings that were parallel to each other in Marist School, Marikina. It was a "hot meeting" as impassioned arguments were brought forth by the administration side and the parent side. An amusing aspect of the contentious issues at the time was "Long Hair", specifically moves being made to regulate it.  It was a memorable argument between these two women adversaries.  I sided with the "Long Hair" faction of course and even got a chance to say a few words in support.  I had been elected President of the first ever Marist Student council earlier that year.  I had a landslide victory over a school administration candidate, my barrio mate "Butch" Benedicto Legaspi, Jr.  The only reason I won was probably because I had a lot o unintentional exposure in the previous years as an attendance sheet collector for the whole school and two wins at a declamation contest.  (Yes young people out there, performing in front of people does boost your self confidence!)  My chances of winning were possibly boosted when we had a first ever walkout (for some reason that i now don't remember).  Please remember that tese were the times of the First Quarter Storm in the University of the Philippines and activism as was the trend.  What happened during the walk-out was this. It was quite peaceful and then all of a sudden a police mobile car was spotted approaching the school. Apparently our school adminstrator Bro. Eugene Pious sent for it, perhaps thinking it will encourage us to end the walkout and proceed back to our rooms. I saw the look on fear on many of the student that were with the walk-out. It was a bit tense for a while. Then the when the police car door opened out stepped a kababarrio police officer that lived on M.A. Roxas near my cousin's (the Santiagos) house. He recognized me immediately and we exchanged pleasantries.  Our pleasant conversation eased the apprehensions of my fellow students and even resulted in a loud cheer!  We look back to those days of the 70's quite fondly.