I DISTINCTLY remember -- a 12-year-old, first year student pleading to his class adviser to allow him to take the final tests. He had no money to pay his monthly tuition of P9 (nine pesos). He was willing to sign a promissory note. The adviser scornfully said: “Bakit? Kamag-anak mo wari ding mikibandi keng eskwela?” (Why? Are you a relative of the school owners?) She referred to the secondary school San Miguel Academy owned by Dr. Diosdado Bustos of Masantol, Pampanga. The adviser was Ms. Dolores Tanqueco. I was the first year student. The year was 1962.
I know that my maternal grandmother (Maria Pabalate) used to visit the house of Dr. Bustos. My grandma did not say why she frequented the Bustos household.
Sometime in 70’s, my second cousin, Belly de Guzman graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio. He was a handsome, tall young man. He married the eldest child (Emet) of the Bustos. He could have been the first general of Masantol in the Military but he was prevailed to resign when his young classmates one by one perished in Mindanao rebellion.
In 1976, Belly and Emet resided in San Fernando subdivision with their two children. They rented a house in the same compound as ours. Later on, they migrated to the United States.
Fast forward, sometime in 2015, Emet and Belly assumed ownership and managed San Miguel Academy. I became the facto legal counsel of my alma mater. It was also during this time that I traced our family tree and discovered Emet is my cousin apart from being a cousin-in-law. I successfully handled the two cases filed separately by Fernando Guintu and Marietta Dizon, against Emeteria de Guzman and/or San Miguel Academy,
It was almost too late. The poor boy who did not have enough money to pay his tuition fee of Nine Pesos, became the lawyer who defended the school, not once, but twice. Good thing, I was allowed to take my final test in 1962 even without paying Nine Pesos. It turns out that the owners are my relatives, after all.