Akó An Ateneo, or How Fr. Raul Bonoan’s Thought of School Became Every Atenean’s School of Thought

Akó An Ateneo, or How Fr. Raul Bonoan’s Thought of School Became Every Atenean’s School of Thought

Vision, aspiration, action: if this string of words were mentioned, no other story would read clearer to me than the one that began when I was a young student in the 1990s at Ateneo de Naga, headed by its then president, Raul Bonoan, S.J.

Father Bonoan was sent to Ateneo de Naga in 1989 at the verge of financial—or moral—precariousness, though not formal bankruptcy. During the 1980s, the school had faced serious financial struggles, declining enrollment, and operational challenges that made its future uncertain—so much so that, according to some accounts, he was initially sent to assess, and possibly close, the institution. Depending on whom I’d ask: Mr. Gregorio Abonal or Mrs. Ma. Liwayway “Y” de los Trino, both legendary high school teachers and administrators; or Dr. Paz Verdades “Doods” Santos, my distinguished college professor; or probably you, Atenista.

When Ateneo de Naga celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1990, it was almost like the Olympics. The much-awaited homecoming was festive but also full of fellowship and community outreach. Of all the activities, it’s the torch parade that still lingers in my memory. Led by our moderator, Mrs. Bernadette Dayan, our LG 21 class, wearing Alive and Kicking shirts, paraded through the streets of Naga City alongside alumni from previous batches. Fireworks filled the sky.

That year was also significant for our principal, Mr. Abonal, whose own Silver Jubilee coincided with the celebration. It was also the year of my brother Mentz’s high school graduation. I am sure those who witnessed it would remember it as one of the most memorable days of their lives.

As a sophomore under Fr. Rene Repole’s LG 21 class, I did more than read about Ateneo de Naga’s CorPlan 2000—I eventually benefited from it as an academic scholar for six years. I remember seeing scholarships and financial endowments by high school batches, individuals, and organizations engraved on golden plates on the wall of the Four Pillars lobby, where the statue of Francis Xavier in robes, hoisting the Cross and preaching, stood for many years.

Equally challenged by stagnation and low morale, Father Bonoan revitalized the faculty by training them and sending them to pursue continuing education, primarily at Ateneo de Manila University, where he had served as college dean and administrator. I remember when Mr. Abonal was sent to study abroad and when Mr. Vernon de los Trino went to AdMU. I also recall how many of our teachers spent weekends at Bicol University for graduate school. Faculty development was in full swing, and so were the movements of Jesuit scholastics and newly minted teachers returning to the school to reinstate their careers.

For our teachers, like English Department’s Mrs. Evelyn Florece and Filipino’s Mrs. Carmen Ilao, it was probably a great time to teach. For me, it was a great time to be a student, benefiting from a faculty that was becoming a powerhouse

In all four years of high school and another four in college, I benefited from the Salamat Po Kai Foundation, a partnership Ateneo de Naga cultivated for many years. My brother Mentz, an economics and political science double major, received educational support from the Ateneo Endowment Fund. Even after our mother passed in 1996, the last semester of our sister Rosario, who finished her baccalaureate in psychology, was supported by the Alay Malasakit program under Ateneo’s Office of Admission and Aid. Admission and aid: yes, this visual alliteration did more than please my eyes.

Regularly meeting with its director, Mrs. Antonette Rodriguez, I helped organize the college group of scholars, which we aptly called Gabay. Among others, I enjoyed being a Salamat Po scholar with my high school classmates Menandro Abanes of Milaor, Christopher Abelinde of Tinambac, and Edgar Tabagan of Libmanan. Pol Abanes became an international scholar; Chris is now a highly respected professor at the same school; while Gary is now one of Camarines Sur’s alternative learning systems experts.
Alumni Connections and Leadership

More than anything, Father Bonoan sought the alumni to give back to their alma mater. From his stationery to the school’s announcements and promotional materials, his administration bannered the words “Serve Bikol and Country,” buttressing a miniaturized illustration of the Four Pillars. At times, we would travel to Manila or abroad to speak with alumni associations. The Atenista connection was undeniable. My scholarship, among others, was one of the fruits of his tireless and extensive networking. Nothing could have been more iconic. His lobbying for alumni sponsorships and donations went beyond persuasion or inspiration—it probably bordered on salvation.

The alumni association was very active, brimming with initiatives and fundraising for the school. It was moving to see, even years later, how alumni activities influenced our daily lives as students. Older Ateneans literally owned Ateneo in those days, with monthly fellowship, spiritual renewal, and fundraising events throughout the year, including raffles, Flores de Mayo, and Santacruzan. These activities fostered a strong sense of community among us.
Campus Transformation

As early as 1993, Ateneo de Naga’s physical infrastructure began transforming. The Fr. John J. Phelan, S.J. Hall, built even before Father Jack passed, signaled the evolution of the campus. Any former student returning would feel disoriented; the old campus they remembered had changed.

I experienced this feeling again in the mid-2000s, when the front soccer field already had Xavier Hall and the church. My field of dreams was gone. The grand Four Pillars still stood, but not as grand as when Mentz, Nene, and I ceremoniously marched out the doors with our mother and eldest brother, Manoy Awel, for our graduations in the 1990s. Yet, change is necessary—and Father Bonoan understood that.

Now I don’t find it hard to see the juxtaposition: like Xavier, who went to India to teach, Father Bonoan went out to the global pasture to “shepherd back” Ateneo de Naga’s alumni. I can only imagine how he must have told them that she is the “mother (mater) of their souls (alma).”

He sought to bring back Ateneo de Naga to its rightful owners: students, teachers, and the community. Giving them a sense of ownership, he not only promoted quality education but also personal growth. Bonoan’s “giving back” slogan, translated into the Bikol phrase “Ako an Ateneo,” clearly cascaded into the Atenean sensibility. What Bonoan preached was that only they could nurse their mother back to health. An avid Rizalista himself, he must have imagined the newly arrived Jose Rizal, fresh from medical studies abroad, curing his mother’s failing eyesight.

In a decade, Father Bonoan elevated Ateneo de Naga and transformed it like no one else had. In 1999, just after it became a university and with the new millennium approaching, he passed away. His mission was complete. It was as if a novelist had ended his last chapter because the story had reached its conclusion. Nothing sounds more bittersweet.

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Speak to Us of Teaching

Consider the Cross

Consider the Cross.

Two straight lines intersecting each other, which may not necessarily be of equal lengths, but on which you can spend equally substantial time to ponder.

First is the vertical line. Place your right hand opposite your heart and from there starting from your heart, raise your hand to your head gently. From your heart up to your head, and to God, it is as if you tell Him, “God, take all my heart, my will, my intellect, take all of them I raise them all up to you.

You can please utter “Ika na ang bahala” (You are the one in charge); or you say—“Ika man nanggad ang Bathala” (You are, indeed, the Supreme Being). You sound very much like the Jesuit patron Ignatius when you do.

Guiding your hand from your heart to your head to Him, let them all go. As renewal groups always [ex]claim—let go and let God. The vertical gesture says someone is your God. From where you are standing, seated or lounging, you need to reach for Someone higher than you, upwards. You alone cannot do anything. Without God, with no sense of Divine Providence, what can you achieve? Certainly, Someone else Is higher than you are. Certainly He Knows better, and He can do better than you. American recluse poet Emily Dickinson would even write—“He’s Somebody. Who are you?”

Then, the horizontal line. Place your hand gently from the left shoulder and to your heart again then to the right. The horizontal gesture says that others are like you. It also says you need to reach out to others because grounded on earth, it is in your nature to move leftwards, rightwards, horizontally.

From your left side to your right side, that is how you are advised to relate to life. You are directed to go sideward to see the meaning of life further in other human beings like you. Grounded on earth like you, other people are also waiting for companionship. Yes, an anecdote even said that millions of people are waiting to be spoken to; people moving left and right like you might also need to puzzle out the same mystery you have been confused with for years.

Yes. Take the chance. Best reach out to them. With some of them, you can clarify your too many questions. With others, you need not ask too many. And with a fewer special ones, questions, not answers are the least things that would bother you.

What a sensible way to make sense of monotony! If all symbols fail to justify things about which you ask too many questions, what blessing it is to look at the Cross and realize its essence. What a sensible way to explain why you make the sign every time you pass Church or other sacred spots.

Contemplating the Cross this way calls to mind Christ’s laymanizing of Moses’s Ten Commandments—two laws on life only: Love God with all your heart, with all your might. That’s the vertical line, that’s your vertical life. Love your neighbour as yourself. That’s the horizontal line, that’s your horizontal life.

Consider the Cross. 

Utos ng Pari

Sa National Press Congress na itinaguyod ng Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI) sa Hyatt Regency at Ambassador Hotel sa Maynila noong 2003—halos isang dekada na ang nakalilipas—nakatawag ng aking pansin ang keynote address ng batikanong mediaman na si Fr. James Reuter, S.J., isang paring Heswitang nakapaglingkod na sa bayan nang halos anim nang dekada.

Binigyang diin ni Reuter ang value o pagpapahalaga ng tao sa kanyang sarili. Ani Reuter, ang value ng world sa ngayon ay “take”—lahat ng ginagawa ng tao sa kasalukuyan ay puro pansarili lamang. Sa halip, hinamon ng paring Heswita ang mga taga-mediang tingnan ang value ng gospel—o ang value ng “give.” Wala nang ibang tumpak na halimbawa ang pagpapahalagang ito kundi ang kahulugan ng Christmas—o ang pagsilang ng Mesias sa mundong makasalanan.

Malugod na naging makabuluhan ang panayam ito nang mag-react ang mga media audience sa open forum pagkatapos ng lecture ni Reuter. Nang tinanong si Reuter ng isang peryodista tungkol sa ano ang pwede niyang gawin laban sa paglaganap ng mga smut publications sa paligid, mariin ang tugon nitong itigil ang paglathala ng mga bold pictures ng mga babae sa mga tabloid. Subalit tulad ng inaasahan, halong reaksyon ang sumalubong sa opinyon ng pari.

Base sa mga diskusyon ng mga peryodista, hati ang kanilang paninindigan sa usaping ito. Kampante na ang ibang mamamahayag sa pagbasura ng ganitong uri ng publikasyon. Sa kabilang dako, ang mungkahing ito ay hindi ganoon kapraktikal sa mga peryodistang diumano’y “nabubuhay” sa paglathala ng nasabing materyal dahil sila ay mga publishers ng mga ito.

Nang hinamon ng paring Heswita ang mga tagamedia na pag-ibayuhin ang value ng Gospel—“give” o maging mapagbigay sa Kristiyanong sense nito, hinamon niya na rin ang sensibilidad ng bawat peryodistang dumalo sa komperensya. Gaano ba kahanda ang mga Pilipinong mamamahayag sa hamong ito?

Ano na nga ba ang value ng media sa kasalukuyan? Ilan pa nga bang mga mamamahayag ang nagtatrabaho tungo sa kabutihan, tungo sa masasabing moral na kamalayan o pagkatao?

Harapin natin ang kasalukuyang katotohanan—iba ang sinasabi ng realidad sa idinidikta ng moralidad. Hindi natin nakikita sa tunay na buhay ang mga retorikang ibinibandilyo ng mga pangulong-tudling sa mga peryodiko, ang sinasabing kaluluwa ng pahayagan, na siya ring makapagsasabi rin tungkol sa kaluluwa ng may-ari ng pahayagan.

Ang sagot sa ganitong tanong ay magpapakakilala atin sa sa dalawang uri ng mamamahayag na Pilipino. Narito ang dilema na sinasabi ng buhong na peryodista. Kung ang isang pahayagan ay nabibili dahil may mga hubad na babae ito sa cover, ano ang mangyayari kung aalisin mo ang mga come-on elements na ito. Wala bang ibang choice ang publisher maliban dito? Hindi pa maaaring mabili ang isang peryodiko kung walang Sam Pinto o Christine Reyes na nakabuyangyang sa cover?

Subalit narito naman ang sagot ng pwede nating sabihing endangered nang journalist. Aniya, maaari ka namang makapaghikayat ng mambabasa sa iyong pahayagan kung ito’y hitik sa impormasyon, pagsisiyasat at analisis ng mga isyung nakakaapekto sa general public. Napagkasunduan din doon na walang ibang pang-akit ang isang matinong pahayagan kundi ang pagiging puno nito ng kaaalaman para sa mambabasa. Marahil ay hindi naman lubhang kailangan ng mambabasa ang sex—maliban na lang kung ang isang pamayanan ay isang sibilisasyon ng mga perverts o sex addicts.

Anila, there is more to publication come-on than sex. Mas magiging mabenta ang pahayagang puno ng makabuluhang isyu at analisis ng mga isyu. Halimbawa na lang, mas magugustuhan ng mga mambabasa ang kopya ng pahayagang hindi niya ikahihiyang basahin sa loob ng MRT dahil wala itong starlets na  malagkit na nakakatitig sa parehong lalaki at babaeng pasaherong nakakaangkas ng mambabasa sa tren. Kailangan lang na ma-educate nang maayos ang mga mambabasa.

Nang sinabi ni Reuter na ang media ang pinakamakapangyarihan instrumento para magturo nang matino sa sangkatauhan, nakita kong hinamon ni Reuter ang bawat mediaman na tingnan ang kanyang sariling bakuran—at simulant niyang walisin ang lugar na yaon—tipunin ang kalat at dumi palabas ng kanyang sariling tugsaran. Sa huli, nakakaawa ang mambabasang tinuturuan ng media ng katotohanan kung ang mga katotohanang kanilang isinasaalang-alang ay iyong mga makapagpapababa ng kanilang pagkatao.

Know thyself, ika nga ng isang dakilang Griyego ng makaunang panahon. Ang mga klasikong kamalayang tulad nito ang gagabay sa atin para suriin ang ating sariling sensibilidad sa ating mga ginagawa sa kasalukuyan. Sa ganyang paraan laman natin masasabing tayo’y mga stewards ng katotohanan. At dahil diyan, tayo’y higit na magiging karapatdapat na basahin ng sangkatauhan.

Ateneo Serrado

Serrado an Ateneo pag-abot mo. Mayong tawo. An guardia sa tarangkahan dai mo bisto. Mabisita ka sa sarong pading dai nag-uli pag bakasyon. Pero mayo daa siya. Pero pinadagos ka.

Hali sa guardhouse nahiling mo an Four Pillars may bago nang pintura. Nagduwaduwa kang maglaog ta garo dai mo aram kun Ateneo man nanggad an linaogan mo. Pininturahan ni nin kolor na garo man lang bagong shopping mall sa Centro. Nagimatan mo na kayang kupas an pintura kan Four Pillars kaya nataka ka kan nahiling mo.

Saboot mo tapos na man nanggad an mga aldaw kun kansuarin sa façade kan eskwelahan na ini, nagparasad-pasad an magagayon na coed na pencil-cut an mga palda—yaon ka duman sa hagyanan kairiba si Emil, Bong sagkod Gerry, iniiriskoran pa nindo an magagayon na nag-aaragi.

Nagsalingoy ka sa wala. Mayo na an soccer field kun saen kamo nagkaramang sa carabao grass ta may nagpasaway na parehong kadete sa Delta Platoon. An Xavier Hall na dati wooden building pa kaidto na dati man na SIO (Social Integration Office) saro nang konkretong edipisyo. Dai mo na mahiling an Pillars Office kun saen mo pigmakinilya sa bukbukon nang Olympia an enot mong love letter ki Jenny. Huli ta bago, dai mo na ni nabisto.

Nagsalingoy ka sa tuo. Mayo na an mahiwas na grounds kun saen kamo naggiribo nin Belen para ilaban sa Pintakasi. Sa may batibot na ito nabisto mo si Lani, kaklase mo sa Sociology ki Nong Fernandez. Tapos na an Pintakasi kaidto pero dai mo pa nalingawan si mahamison na huyom kan Miss Irigang ini. Totoo man nanggad an cultural myth na pinag-adalan nindo sa subject na ito. Dai pa natapos an semester kadto naprobaran mo na tulos kun ta’no ta an Iriga pamoso sa mga aswang—pirang banggi kang dinuno kan sarong kagayunan na Lani an pangaran. Haen na man daw siya ngonyan?

Naglakaw-lakaw ka. Nagsara-salingoy.

Haen na an gym? A, natahuban na palan kan Xavier Hall Building na bago. Dai mo na tulos nahiling an Blue Knight sa letrang A na enot mong nahiling kan nagpila ka para mag-exam sa First Year High School beinte anyos na an nakakaagi. Pagbalik mo pag-ralaogan, ogmahon kang maray kan mabasa mo na an ngaran mo sa lista kan LG 12.

Mayo ka pang kabisto kaidto kaya pagtingag mo sa façade kan building, nahiling mo an Blue Knight na nakasakay sa kabayo. Hiya! Maski sa kabayo saboot mo masakay ka makauli lang tulos sa Bagacay—iiistorya mo ki Mama mo an marahay-rahay na bareta ito.

Tinahuban na palan kan Xavier Hall Building na bago. Dai mo na mahiling si Blue Knight na tiningag mo kaidto.

Mayo na an dating Ateneo de Naga. Sarong aldaw pagbisita mo, dai mo na ‘ni naabutan. Marayo na sinda. Mayo ka nang mabisto digdi. Dai ka na madagos sa laog. Tibaad ka kaya maanayo. Malakaw ka na lang pabalik sa Avenue.

“Tapos na ang maliligayang araw,” saboot mo sana. Tibaad an Golden Age kan Ateneo de Naga nakaagi man nanggad na. An Four Pillars Lucky Fortune Hotel an pintura.

Maraot man nanggad daw na magsangli nin itsura an Ateneo—na an Ateneo magbago?

Bako daw an Ateneo bako man sanang sarong edipisyo? Bako daw an sinasabing Ateneo ika mismo—an tawong naglaog sa antigong edipisyong ini? Tibaad ika man nanggad an makaluma— habong magsangli, habong magbago.

Dai man daw na an bagong pangaran mo—Ateneo Serrado?