Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

AJ Matela | 98-05599 | BA Communication Arts 2003 | UP Mindanao

This is my entry to our group project UP@100: Capturing 100 UP Moments. It is a Music Video Project which will compile 100 photos and videos from participants consisting UP alumni and students. It aims to capture 100 unique UP moments from 100 different points of view in the past 100 years of the University’s existence. You may still submit your entries until tomorrow, June 19. Check out these bloggers’ sites for more details: AJ, Benj, Coy, Ederic, Faith, Fritz, Gino, Juned, Karla, and Kevin.

The photo above was taken sometime in 2002.  The UP Mindanao Oblation was just transferred from its old location at the Kanluran part of the campus (which housed the College of Science and Mathematics) to its new location in front of the administration building (which also housed the College of Humanities and Social Sciences).  The stones you see above my head are etched with names and the provinces of the pioneering batch (entered the university in 1996) of students. During this time, the Oblation circle was still being constructed (or shaped?) to form a perfect circle.

I can still vividly remember the day this photo was taken.  This was supposed to be one of the photos for my yearbook (batch book, actually) page.  But the batch book didn’t materialize. On that day, I said that I wanted to have a photo taken at the Oblation circle, because I knew that one day I will look back and proudly say that I, student 98-05599,  am a part of UP Mindanao and I will always be proud of that fact.

The administration building behind the Oblation was then unpainted on the outside and unfinished - only one wing was completed and construction of the other wing has not been started. It may look so sad and dreary in this photo, but I spent five good years of my life in what was once known as the boondocks of UP Mindanao.  I have fond memories of this oblation circle, of the admin building, of the habal-habal, of UP Mindanao.

The whole facade and the UP Mindanao Oblation Circle now looks totally different from what is shown in the photo above (Click here to view the current UP Mindanao Oblation Circle and Administration Building).  Looking at my photo above makes me proud that I have walked the halls of this young autonomous unit of the country’s premiere state university.

I entered the University of the Philippines in Mindanao in 1998 and was enrolled in the BS Applied Mathematics program. Back then, UP Mindanao was still young and I was part of the third batch of undergraduate froshies. Four undergraduate programs were offered then:  BA English (Major in Creative Writing), BA Social Science, BS Biology, and BS Applied Mathematics. In 1999, five new undergraduate degree programs were offered: BA Communication Arts, BS Economics, BS Architecture, BS Food Technology, and BS Computer Science.  In 2000, at the risk of graduating a year later than I originally was supposed to, I shifted to BA Communication Arts.

I AM A GRADUATE OF UP MINDANAO AND I AM PROUD OF IT!

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