After one year as a student of Stenotype and Bookkeeping, I was undecided about what course I would take in college. I wanted to take medicine, but there was no school for medicine at night then, and only professional students were taking medicine.
Because of my experience in the Bureau of Public Works, I wanted to become an Engineer. When I consulted Jovencio Toralbe, a typist stenographer in our office taking an engineering course, he said that Surveying would require a daytime course.
Then I consulted another employee, Mr. Jarobo Guerero, a typist stenographer of Gen. Valdes who was studying law. He said that my knowledge of stenography would be a good asset for me as a law student because most classes are held by lectures in the law proper.
Still I was undecided between Engineering or Law. To make a decision, I flipped a coin, saying, “Heads – Law; tails, Engineering.” It was Heads. Hence, Law!
The former Far Eastern University was located in a small building like a warehouse in Azcarraga. It was in 1937 when they offered the so-called Quarterly Courses instead of semester courses.
The quarterly course was more appropriate for working students in terms of time and fees. And so I enrolled in F.E.U. taking classes from 6:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.m. for Associate in Arts (Pre-Law) from 1937 to 1939.
I biked from our Headquarters near City Hall to P.E.U., crossing a hanging pedestrian bridge across the Pasig River to Quiapo. It was in 1940 when the Quiapo Bridge (now Inegon Bridge) was built.
One Friday afternoon while praying inside the Quiapo Church, which was filled with people as usual, I felt somebody touch my back. When I looked around guess who? Pat! We compared notes and found out that we went to the same church on Fridays around the same time.
During the construction of the Quiapo Bridge, Pat and I used to push the baby carriage of Boy (Rudy) on the part of the bridge that was constructed but not yet open for traffic. It was a carriage made of bamboo and rattan with wooden wheels.
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