I can not believe that many would admit how great an influence a teacher could be in their lives. One such teacher ( now a retired Professor, a Doctor in Linguistics ) was Ms Esther Hufana. She spent a few days with us one week end. I posted about her arrival in the Asingan Message Board. A day later many ex students of hers started posting on the Board or asking for her on my phone. When I posted the same entry in the Sta. Maria message board, more postings popped up mostly her students at the Elementary School in Sta. Maria de Pila where she started her teaching career. Here is one such, and judging on the way he/she writes I would say she/he learned a lot inside the classroom  of Ms Esther Hufana.

MADAM ESTHER HUFANA: A LITTLE SLICE OF MY CHILDHOOD MEMORY OF HER

Ms Hufana and her cousin Ludy in a photo taken recently at the revolving restaurant atop the CN Tower in downtown Toronto.

 

I do  still remember. I was in grade five. Back then, most of our classes were held in one of the classrooms in the old Intermediate Building.

The capiz windows were wide open during summertime. In December, they were accentuated with an array of colorful Christmas lantern display. The whole structure of the building was made of wood except the stairs and the stage at the facade, right in the middle facing the grass lawn. Underneath is an open space, where school children would hide and seek during recess time. Also, a good hiding place for "buntayog" after class.

In the early 70s, the building was deteriorating. The walls separating the classrooms were loosening up a good contact with the vertical columns and posts, as nails and screws holding them in place were rusty and corroded. The end to end corridor seemed to shake easily (kasla kanayon nga aggin-gined) when fellows started running to and fro in a race. Linnumbaan, iggem ti tsinelas! Certain portions of the floors damaged by white ants, disperately need replacement slabs. No saanmo ma-alwadan, manarpaak. Ma-iyabutka a saanna oras. Masaktanka la ngaruden, mabautka wenno makeddelka pay if one of the teachers is around.

Who could ever forget Mrs. Luz Lomabao, Mrs. Fulgencia Tangco and Mrs. Trinidad Ferrer? ..... Madam Esther used to hold her English classes in this old building. During the school opening in July, at the start of our lesson, where we write formal and informal theme compositions, she checked if each pupil has a spring notebook for English. We formed a line in front and will hand over to her. When it was my turn for check-up, she looked at me with obvious disapproval and said, "Ahhhaaaa, Norraaaaaa ti cover na! I don't like this. Buy this kind", pointing to that classic, brown-colored Golden Gate notebook.

I was so afraid to say about it, huh! I didn't choose mine though. My mother used to do all the shopping of school needs for me and my siblings. In the early 70s, the NORA AUNOR-VILMA SANTOS rivalry and popularity were so intense and on its highest peak. Diehard Noranians and Vilmanians fought each other -- mouth to mouth, even fist to fist. So even notebook covers, tabloids, komiks, t-shirts and the "patalastas" on TV have given way to frequently advertise and idolize the "Golden Voice" Nora and "The Sensation" Vilma 

I did not dare  ask then Madam Esther if she was a member of the VILMA SANTOS camp. ---#