mArCh 09...a dAtE tO rEmEmbEr........

March 9 was not a good day for the fourth years. It was a day of tears, anger, pain, physical and emotional stress and more. I guess the physical stress might be the reason for the whole conflict but really I consider this day as the "Malas day" for the fourth years.

When I went to school, first thing I did was greet my best friend, Kimberly, who was then celebrating her birthday. A day before her birthday, she already told me that, her birthday this year will be her worst birthday ever. I then told her that I'll try to do my best to make her happy for her birthday. But then I guess she already foresaw what will eventually happen because afternoon that day, what we thought as an ordinary day became a day we shouldn't forget.

During our CWTS period, we were told that we were going to have a marching practice because we are going to have a pass-in review for the retiring teachers. So, as usual we had the inspection, some drills and the usual things we do during the CWTS period. Eventually, because of the need to practice for marching (not all of us can do the proper march), we then practiced how to march. We practiced at the Cultural Building because it was a very hot afternoon. We had a lot of practices before about marching before but this time, the officers became more strict because we have to present that to the retiring teachers so expectedly, we have to make it perfect as much as possible. We have to march properly so we did our best to do the proper marching. The officers told us that the proper march should be, 90 degrees parallel to the ground, no sound of the feet and with clipped wings. It was such a hard task not only to me but also to my other batch mates but still we tried to do our best. We tried to make march with no sound at all but that was really difficult. So because of that, our officers did not make the marching stop at an instant but rather stopped it after five minutes or so after intense marching. Our sweat was dripping on our faces and our feet were already experiencing extreme pain but still because of our determination to make it perfect, we had to deal with the pain and the fatigue.

The break time came and we were then told that after the break, we have to carry the chairs from the second year rooms to the AS building because the day after that will be the HSAT for the incoming high school freshmen. So as cadets, we followed our officers and carried the chairs to the AS Building as we were told. After carrying the chairs there, we rested there for awhile. Our officers then told us to go back to the cultural building for the pamamaalam because the bell has rung that time. Our officers were there and arrived there first so they already started counting and some of our batch mates did not notice that their platoon were already called. Platoon Babaytan did not respond immediately right after the call of their officer so they were given punishments. Their punishment were 31 bombers. 31 bombers! Imagine that? So after that, some of the girls were already crying because they were already tired and they even had to comply with the 31 bomber punishment because of an order and not to mention, that time, many girls also had their periods and it was already an agreement that when girls have periods, they won't do the bombers but instead, they'll just knock their heads.

We then proceeded to our classrooms and then we were just surprised to hear the girls from Tan crying. So, my classmates and I eventually went to Tan to see what happened. The girls were already crying and they were already hysterical. They were angry to the officer who gave them the punishment. Jessa and Jezza were already hysterical that time that they even fainted. We were all worried about them so we then led them to the clinic. My other batch mates had a talk with the officer( I won't mention the name..) and told him everything they felt towards him and expressed their feelings of disbelief about what he did to them. He tried to say sorry but then everybody was still emotional so we just agreed to let it cool off for awhile before they talk again. The students' rally was also happening that time so the talk really stopped.

I know that we Gonzalez was not part of the punishment but I can really feel the pain the Tan girls experienced during that time. Not to mention that we were batch mates but because of the fact that we were already close and bonded that when a person is bothered, everybody seems to be involved in it. Even though, during that time many felt anger, pain and hatred I still felt happy because again I can really see how close our batch is that even if we were not affected directly by the punishment, we still felt their pain and anger. I hope that our closeness and bonding will still continue even after the Graduation.