The Early Years

Teodorico Victorio David was born on the 1st of July, 1919, in Lubao, a town in Pampanga, a province in Central Luzon Philippines. He was born, a year after the end of the First World War. He belongs to one of the noble families in Lubao, Pampanga at that time, the family of Victorio. The Victorio family had a business which was rice mills in Lubao, a business which they succeeded from their ancestors. My grandfather was born and raised as a Christian, a believer, and a God-fearing person. My grandfather Teodorico or often called "Teddy" by his cousins and friends was a Capampangan, an adjective for Filipinos who were born in Pampanga, and is a native-speaking Filipino dialect used in a few provinces in Central and Northern Luzon. His mother, Maria Victorio David was a single mother and had a failed marriage. My grandfather was the only child of his parents. His mother and father were separated, and he never had fatherly love and caress. His father was Don Anselmo David, a Pharmacist from Betis, Guagua Pampanga. His father died when he was three years old therefore, he just grew up with the love and care of his mother and aunt, Dorothea. His mother did not come to his father's funeral because according to my mother, they never loved each other. Their marriage was just a mandatory thing for his mother. It all began when his father touched the right hand of his mother for the first time without her consent. During that time, a touch of hand to a woman was a big thing to be considered. If a man touches a woman it will surely come in a sudden commitment to a relationship or even a mandatory marriage. At that time, touch to a woman can be considered already as sexual interaction, and to a woman's side, it will look like she lost her dignity, purity, and virginity already if she has been touched by a man. Sounds crazy but it's true, it was an old fashion Filipino tradition. My grandfather Teodorico studied and finished his secondary education at Lubao Institute, this school is also my alma mater in High School. One of his classmates in this school eventually became an actor, Mr. Jaime Dela Rosa. He has a best friend in our hometown according to my Mother, he was Vicente Ocampo. They were schoolmates in Lubao, Central Elementary School, an Elementary school located at San Nicolas 1st, Lubao, Pampanga a Barrio nearby. As a normal teenager, he enjoyed his high school days with his classmates and friends. Every weekend he used to hang out with his cousins and friends, ending their days riding their bicycles, playing various cultural Filipino games like Patintero and Sipa. Whenever they have school programs like foundation day or other activities, he performs at the stage with a song or dance number with his classmates including Jaime Dela Rosa. Even though his mother used to spoil him with certain things as he is the only child, he was still a responsible son to his mother, and a hard-working student until he finished his studies before the Second World War. During that time, the Philippines was under the American Government, therefore there were Thomasites, a group of American educators that was sent to provinces to share American education with Filipinos. The Thomasites were like early Peace Corps Volunteers, teaching in remote places such as Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Samar, and Zambales. Aparri, Jolo, Negros, Cebu, Dumaguete, Bataan, Batangas, Pangasinan Tarlac, and other places.

In 1934 he graduated from high school, and this was the beginning of his journey to live as an independent student in Manila. His mother decided to enroll him at the University of the East in Manila to take his first tertiary education, the "Bachelor of Arts". He had half-siblings to his father, and one of them was settled in Caloocan, a city located in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. His sibling was Rosita David the eldest among the children of Don Anselmo David. My grandfather used to spend his college life together with his sister and brother-in-law. He was asked to stay in his sister's house as an offer while taking his college education at UE. It is a privilege for my grandfather to deal with because his school is just approximately 3 kilometers away from Caloocan city, therefore he took his eldest sister's offer. Every weekend his mother visits him bringing a bunch of different kinds of delicacies, and special dishes like longganisa, tocino, ham, and special chicharon from Pampanga. This is a traditional Filipino practice when one traveled from another place, he/she is expected by someone to bring something special. This offering is called "Pasalubong", a little gift from relatives or even friends. My grandfather's favorite is the chicharron, a Filipino dish made from the stripped skin of pork or cattle, it is deep-fried for a few minutes to make it very crispy. Manila is very different compared to his hometown, with a noisy environment, several infrastructures, and an enormous population. He made a lot of friends in Manila, and as a Capampangan, he used to introduce his province to his friends and tell a lot of things about Capampangan culture. His first day in school as a college student was quite normal for a youngster. Just like what we feel when we start our first day of school with our new classmates, there is excitement, nervous feeling, shame, and consciousness, because you're just about to join a new company in a brand new environment. He had a seatmate who eventually became his best friend, Mr. Jose Gutierrez. Jose was from San Juan Manila and he belongs to one of the noble families in San Juan during that time. He was a believer in God the son but a disbeliever in God the father. My grandfather described Jose as an unusual person, because of his clever personality and his different perspective on some things.

Weeks and days went by until the week for the preliminary examination comes. During high school days, my grandfather was already fascinated by literature. Philippine History was his favorite subject in fact, at a young age he can already discuss the history of the Philippine Revolution, the Philippine-American War, and the Novel of the Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, entitled "Noli Me Tangere(Touch Me Not)". My grandfather was then assigned to report the Three Major Battles of Alexander the great by their World History instructor. From the moment of his research about his report, he became more fascinated with History. Whenever he had leisure time, he used to spend his time reading history books in the library. He focused his research on ancient Asian, and European empires, and American Military history, all the way back from the American Revolution. He used to idolize famous historical figures like Julius Caesar, Alexander, and Constantine the Great. He used to tell historical stories to his classmates and friends and he was frequently asked by them if he ever wished to be a Soldier, his answer was just always a smile because at his young age there were a bunch of professions in his mind whereby he kept on asking himself if he made the right choice of choosing his course. At the time of my grandfather, the subject ROTC(Reserved Officer Training Corps) in the Philippines was considered an important Subject in College. Once a week they had to train as Filipino Soldiers for two and a half hours. Their instructor taught them the proper way how to hold and fire a gun, sprint, crawl, and march. For training, they used World War One rifles such as Enfield, and Springfield with bayonets, and for artillery, they used bamboo canons. ROTC in the Philippines began in 1912 when the Philippine Constabulary commenced with military instruction at the University of the Philippines. The university's Board of Regents then made representations to the United States Department of War through the Governor-General and received the services of a United States Army officer who took on the duties of a professor of Military Science. Through this arrangement, the first official ROTC unit in the Philippines was established at the University of the Philippines on 3 July 1922. President Manuel L. Quezon issued Executive Order No. 207 in 1939 in order to implement the National Defense Act of 1935, otherwise known as Commonwealth Act No. 1, the embodiment of the national defense plan formulated by General Douglas MacArthur for the Philippine Commonwealth. This executive order made ROTC obligatory at all colleges and universities with a total enrollment of 100 students or greater. My grandfather's life as an AB student was colorful, he became stronger and developed his personality at a young age. He became the group leader for their thesis. Their thesis writing was research but a very hard one. For their documentation, they had to write manually the output of their research from Acknowledgements to the Appendix, which was almost hundred and fifty pages.