Siblings and Schoolmates
header photo by Teodora P. Yumul-Calzado
We celebrate National Siblings Day on April 10 and beyond by featuring a few stories of sibling love from UPHS all the way to UPIS.
We want to hear your story! Tag @ALABUPIS and share your sibling pictures with us.
Rivera Siblings
Reminisce about UP High with the Rivera siblings. Elena "Lennette" (UP High ‘67), Michael "Mike" (UP High ‘70) and Robin (UP High-Prep ‘74) Rivera grew up on campus in an all-UP family. Their parents were Dr. Manuel Rivera of the UP College of Medicine and Prof. Flora Zarco Rivera of the UP College of Music. Lennette and Robin became members of the faculty of the UP College of Arts and Letters (CAL) where Lennette served as Dean from the years 2010-2016. Mike received his MD from the UP College of Medicine, following in the footsteps of his father as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. All of their children graduated from UPIS as well.
Take a look at their then and now snaps in their childhood home in West Triangle (1964) with their parents.
“We were all part of the UP Community,” says Lennette. “We knew the parents and siblings of our classmates. Some of them were our neighbors. It was like living in a small town.”
“Great to have an Ate in the same school, lalo kung may problema,” adds Mike. “Just like Mik (Mike’s son from UPIS ‘05), pinupuntahan si ‘Ate Tara, Ate Tara’ sa klase, kaya tawag ng mga kaklase niya sa kanya ‘Ate Tara’ (Mike’s daughter from UPIS ‘03) din.”
“UP Prep moved from UP Manila to what became the Katipunan K-2 building in 1972-73,” says Robin. “They even had their own basketball court. Separate pa rin ang sections nila sa amin. Then in 1973-1974, students were merged. Kami yan. The last section to have merged High and Prep students was 1974-1975. After that, naging UP Comprehensive High School, then it was changed to UP Integrated School.”
Cantuba Siblings
If you think having one brother or sister in the same year is great, try having two! That’s UPIS ‘97’s Ellaine Cantuba Napiza and twins Elson and Eloisa Cantuba. The three were close in age so they ended up in the same year. It must be fun knowing there’s not one but two people you know you can rely on (and help you with homework)!
Cortes Siblings
Meet siblings Narita “Bang-bang” (UPIS ‘90), Cezhel “Chitty” (UPIS ‘92) and Lorenzo “Huggy” (UPIS ‘97) Cortes. They are grandchildren of National Artist N.V.M. Gonzales and UP Elementary School English professor Narita Gonzales; and children of Selma Gonzalez-Cortes (UP High ‘62), who was Home Economics professor at UPIS. Their spouses, Jaime Delas Alas (UPIS '90) and Laurence Macatangay (UPIS '93), and children are also from UPIS. Bang-bang and Chitty are both serving as Administrative Officers at UP Diliman, while Huggy is an Environmental Planner and Legislative Staff Officer at the House of Representatives.
“Since I had my sisters in the same school, I knew in advance the projects and activities per grade level,” says Huggy. “I joined my sister Chitty’s 5th grade field trip. I gatecrashed my sister Bang-Bang’s graduation ball. My sister’s batchmates became my friends, too.”
“My siblings & I are friends of each others’ batchmates,” Chitty shares. “We get to hang together with each other’s friends. And we kept close until now.”
Santos Siblings
From Malaya Roxanne Santos (UPIS ‘97):
To have siblings is to have friends for life.
Lalo itong makahulugan kapag sabay kayong magkapatid na gumigising nang maaga kahit puyat, maliligo ng malamig na tubig sabay talon, tapos papapasok sa iisang ekswela. May kadamay sa hirap at ginhawa, puyatan at huntahan.
Nung first year Grade 7 ako ang kapatid kong si Rica (Batch 2001) ay Grade 3 sa UPIS. Ka-service ko s'ya dahil shempre iisang household lang kami. Dahil nga madalas kaming puyat gawa ng aral (naks!) at gawaing bahay, tulog kami sa service sa umaga. Lagi akong nasasabihan nun ng mga busmate namin na "Laya, yung kapatid mo..." Kasi nga dahil tulog si Rica habang umaandar yung sasakyan at parang helicopter na umiikot habang tulog. Nabansagan tuloy s'yang Helicopter Rica. Dahil labis pa akong immature nun (konti na lang ngayon) ay nahihiya ako para sa kapatid ko.
Ngayon, si Helicopter Rica ay si Teacher Rica na. Nagtuturo sa UPIS at ng feedback sa akin ng napakarami kong nakakasalamuha ay isa s'yang magaling at ulirang guro. Kaya ngayon kapag binabanggit si Rica, "Laya yung kapatid mo...," siyempre proud na proud ako.
Pero kung aaminin ko sa sarili ko, noon pa man ay proud na ako kay Helicopter Rica. Mabait, matulungin, maasahan.
Ang isa ko namang kapatid na si Ria, bagama't di UPIS student, ay UPIS Supermom na ngayon sa PTA. UPIS sa Utak at Puso.
Sisters ko, besprens ko. For life.
Aquino Siblings
Maha Aquino Weber (UPIS ‘97) and JJ Aquino (UPIS 2000) are a brother-sister pair who are giving back to their alma mater. Maha serves with the Fundraising Committee for Batch ‘97’s homecoming activities. A fashion designer, JJ pitched in by designing a collection of Filipiniana streetwear for their fundraising efforts, despite being in a dfiferent batch. Talk about sibling synergy!
From JJ:
Now that we are older, it’s always nice to share stories about UPIS because we can relate with each other having lived shared experiences with teachers, school activities, crushes, and more.
We never really interacted as siblings while we were both in school. When I was in 3rd grade, Maha was already in 6th grade and transitioning into high school; when I entered high school, she was already a senior.
We were at that age when we often fought with each other as siblings do. So we pretty much stayed away from each other while we were in school! But of course kapag kulang ang baon ng isa at kailangang umutang sa allowance, madali lang hanapin sa school.
Lecciones Siblings
Four brothers and sisters means four times the fun! Say hello to the Lecciones siblings: Larissa Amy (UPIS ‘96), Aisa Amy (UPIS ‘97), Czarina Amy (UPIS ‘ 99) and Aaron Julius (UPIS 2001). They found that having siblings means:
You instantly know a lot of people
You are alone together with the lamok in the dark while waiting to be picked up
You know in good lunchbox meals and in bad, you are not alone
Here’s a story from Aisa:
The Lecciones siblings are notoriously late. Except one day, Aaron the youngest, wanted to be different and asked to be brought to school early, leaving his elder sisters at home. They had to face the Guidance Office the next day to explain the reason for being absent and were told to learn to commute to school. Did they change? Well, old habits die hard but at least they learned how to commute!
Sino pa ang mga batang UPIS na magkapatid at magka-eskwela? Share your photos with us by tagging #ALABUPIS!
About ALAB UPIS:
A project of UP Integrated School Batch ‘97, ALAB UPIS is raising funds to help underserved UPIS scholars, give back to faculty and staff, and host the school’s 2022 homecoming. Shop UP and UPIS inspired merch or donate here. Connect with us on Facebook and Instagram and tag #ALABUPIS!