The La Sallian of my time reflected De La Salle and the society of its time, i.e. a period of political and social unrest, economic crisis, and student activism. Articles about society at large and not just about campus activities, found their way to the campus publication. There was a need to connect La Salle, an elite institution, to the plight of peasants, workers, and the working class and to the social and political movements occurring in other schools like the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University.
This was the period of severe economic and political crisis, which occurred shortly after the 1970 devaluation and the controversial 1969 presidential elections, wherein former President Marcos became the first ever Philippine president to be re-elected, according to his critics, of using “guns, goons, and gold.” The subsequent unrest, caused by high prices, high unemployment, all-around economic distress and combined by severe political conflict, spread to many sectors of society, particularly students and the intelligentsia. The student unrest culminated in a student siege of Malacanang Palace in February 1970, which was subsequently described as “The First Quarter Storm.”
This was the backdrop of La Sallian during my time. La Salle, being an engineering and business school primarily then, was less focused on social and political issues. Because of the larger economic and political crisis, however, there was, therefore, an attempt to make the students more politically and socially aware, through the pages of the La Sallian.
In hindsight, though, I can’t say we succeeded. It may be because the overall environment proved to be hostile and repressive with the declaration of martial law in 1972, such that social awareness and activism became equated with dropping out of school and heading to the hills, or that La Salle culture was really pragmatic and business-like. It may well be the latter case, but this isn’t something to rue about. It was Leftist nationalism that was dictating the discussions then (and the meat and tone of articles in the La Sallian) and it may have proven providentially to be alien to the La Salle culture.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
This article is an unedited submission from The LaSallian‘s former editor in chief, offering a glimpse into the candid thoughts, insights, and perspectives of an individual who once steered the publication through the currents of time.
Calixto V. Chikiamco was The LaSallian‘s editor in chief in Academic Year 1970-1971, also serving as managing editor the previous year. Around that time, student and youth groups led demonstrations against then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who was just inaugurated for his second term in office. Dubbed the First Quarter Storm, the eruption of bold and violent protests came as a culmination of the worsening socioeconomic and political state of the country. The publication focused on nationalism, radicalism, and communism, amid Lasallian involvement in the protests and the growing sociopolitical awakening of the community.
He graduated in 1972 as summa cum laude with a degree in AB Economics and continued his studies for Masters in Professional Studies in Media Administration at Syracuse University, New York.
Now, he is a Business Process Outsourcing and online entrepreneur, a book author, and a writer on political economy. He co-authored Momentum: Economic Reforms for Sustaining Growth, published in 2019, and the following Momen2m: More Reforms for Economic Growth in 2021. He is currently the president and co-founder of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, an organization advocating economic and political liberty, good governance, and secure and well-defined property rights. He continues to publish his think pieces through a monthly column on political economy in BusinessWorld in his capacity as a board member of the Institute of Development and Econometric Analysis.
