The battle to liberate Manila was raging a mere 15 months before we began our freshman year in 1946. Back in February 1945, the Japanese torched houses in the southern districts of the city and then entrenched themselves in the southwest where they drew heavy artillery fire from the Americans. The Ateneo, being in the southwest, was destroyed during the bombardment.

During the early postwar years, Manila was like a boxer shaking off the effects of a hard blow to the head. The houses that rose from scorched lots were hastily built structures, some of them using materials such as corrugated sheets recovered from ruins. Many buildings, with only parts of their framework left standing, had their walls pockmarked with shell or bullet holes. And the public transport consisted of jeepneys and buses which were rebuilt jeeps and weapons carriers obtained from the US Army.

The Ateneo on Padre Faura was very much a reminder of the war. If we entered the school using either of the two Faura gates, the first thing we would see was the remaining brick framework of the main building and the wreckage of the Manila Observatory, once the city's pride. Farther on we would reach our classes which were held in Quonset huts assembled behind the rubble.

We came from different grade schools - none from Ateneo whose doors remained closed during the Japanese occupation. We also came from different levels of society. There were those who belonged to well-to-do families - they were brought to school in family cars. Most of the others belonged to middle class families and there were a few whose parents skimped to be able to pay for a good Ateneo education for their sons. They came to school using public transport or on foot, if they lived close enough. In class, however, we all looked the same in our short-sleeved white shirts and khaki pants.

English, Religion, History, Tagalog and Math were regular subjects in the curriculum. But there was also Latin to contend with. So, for Latin, we went from doing verb conjugation drills such as "amo" "amas" "amat" to reading and translating the Aeneid. At Mass, prayers were said or responses made in Latin. In time we could recite the "Pater Noster" or say "Confiteor Deo omnipotenti....." as if Latin were our second (third?) language. Actually, the official language on campus was English. Speaking Tagalog on school grounds was a no-no.

Ateneo has always put a premium on developing English language skills. Early in our first year, one of our first lessons was for us to slide our tongues under our front teeth to pronounce "the", "this" and "that" correctly and other words of the same ilk. We quickly had to get rid of the habit of saying "da" or "dis" or "dat". Often Fr. Delaney mimicked our way of addressing the Jesuits as "Pader" perhaps to get us to pronounce "Father" the right way. Then, there were the more serious stuff - English grammar, composition and literature..

A few got their feet wet in journalism when in our third year they became staff members of "Hi-Lites", our high school paper. Mel Salazar, who was its editor, was also a staff member of the 1950 Aegis, our yearbook, and Guidon.

The annual Christmas Package Drive added to the Christmas spirit. We knocked on doors of

A view of Escolta of our time.

The NCAA Basketball tournament was also something we looked forward to. In the gym we often watched practice sessions by our junior and senior basketball teams. From 1946-50 neither team won the NCAA championship but we always cheered our hearts out for them. Whenever they played, we dished out "fabiliohs", "eeneecadeemahs" and "halikinu kinikinas" and yelled out "Fight!" with the same fervor and vigor as Ateneans of today do.

Graduation day came on April 1, 1950. We got up early for the 7 o'clock mass and in the afternoon dressed up for the graduation ceremonies.

It came as no surprise that Carlos Abesamis (now Fr. Carl Abesamis, S.J.) and Glicerio Abad, who were consistent honor students from first to fourth year, were valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. When the graduation exercises ended, our high school days, at times quite fun-filled but often rather stressful, were also over.