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A LIFE WELL-LIVED... |
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COLLEGE A Workhorse! |
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Year was 1976. I was taking 3rd and 4th year EE subjects at CIT. Meanwhile, back home, my younger brother graduated from high school and wishing to take up Architecture, in Cebu City. Timing couldn't be worse. My parents were already very broke and our eldest brother who was doing mechanical drafting for ACMDC, was under so much stress financially. In his mind, there was no way he could support both of us, and a brother-in-law, all in college, in Cebu City. A workhorse, at twenty-one. He brought me to ACMDC, which at that time was hiring in frenzy for the construction of a copper concentrator, the third for the company. Long story, short, with the help of his Engineering Services mates, I got the job. I was with newly-licensed Electrical Engineers, and some who were just waiting for the results of the board exam they took months earlier. As the only under-grad, I was relegated to the not-so-electrical engineering jobs. Since I saw that coming, I worked twice as smart and hard just to level the playing field. Just a couple of weeks into my job, my effort began to pay off. Our department head started to recognize my potential, and so did my immediate supervisors, who were sympathetic to my plight. It's the culture, no matter how good you are in your job, there can't be promotion without professional license. My rate was Php 314.00 a month, newly-hired engineers, Php 540.00 a month. In 1976, that wasn't bad at all, if only there was only myself. There's an old phrase in Bisaya, "wa ko magsalig sa sueldo, pero na-a tanan kuha-a" (I don't depend on my salary, but I solely subsist on that). Boarding house for my brother and myself, school tuition and fees (I moved to UV to continue my EE at night school, he was taking up Architecture), food, clothing, and everything else, plus I have to send what's left to my parents for their subsistence. In today's lingo, it was "tough, as in". Had it not been of the handful of beautiful-at-heart people who were with me through thick and thin, my life would have been miserable, to say the least. A good son! One time, I took a week break from work to visit my parents, when I ran into Nong Dolfo Roa. I'll never forget what he said to me that day, "Dong, it's nice to help your parents, but it's not your responsibility. Go back to school, help them when you are already an engineer". He was absolutely right! I was being a "good son", and in the end, paid a stiff price. I lost the handful of beautiful-at-heart people who were with me through thick and thin, and worse, some say that a good son can't be a good husband - the curse. |