Editor’s note: Was it a girl, a failed course (?), or a bad break up? These are just some of the things that would push one UP student to pen a song, a poetry or an essay. Eraserheads comes to mind, quickly (obvious ko anong batch ako, heh).

In the case of Toto Colongon, events that had transpired in 1989 pushed him to write this nice song, aptly titled, “Ga-graduate din ako.” Thanks Toto for sharing this with us.

Update as of 29 Dec 2007: Video of Toto Colongon at the Sentimentong Sentenaryo added! See below and enjoy.

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I would like to make one of my compositions as my first contribution. It was inspired by events or people and friends I met in UP Baguio. This one is entitled “Ga-graduate din Ako” composed in 1989 (I was already teaching then) for one barkada who seemed to be in a perpetual state of being in college–a song that seems to still reflect the sentiment of many graduating (or trying-to-graduate) students based on the students’ response when I sang this song at the “Sentimyentong Sentenaryo Concert Series” last Dec 18 at the Oblation Grounds.

This is for all students of UP Baguio….

(editor’s addendum: Toto graduated in 1987 with a BA in Social Sciences (Pol Sci and Philo). He was born and raised in Palawan, but he spent most of his lifetime in Baguio City as a student and a professional. He currently teaches politics at UP Baguio. But he stresses that he’s a “cultural worker at heart.)