Commotion Blog

by Austin Claude Alcantara

—-

Ang sarap maging Atenista. Ateneans have different reasons for saying such a statement. Ramon L. Cualoping III (AB COM 04), states his, “The Ateneo has taught me how to laugh and to cry. Ang sarap maging Atenista. Bar none.”

When it comes to school spirit, few can compare to Mon Cualoping. The die-hard supporter, who once shaved his head because of a losing streak by the Blue Eagles, can always be seen cheering his heart out in UAAP games. Mon’s passion for the Ateneo though, goes well beyond basketball and way more than just Ateneo sports.

Coming from a family of Ateneans, Mon describes himself as Jesuit-bred. After studying in Xavier School in Greenhills for grade school, Mon’s family moved to Mindanao where he ended up as a high school student at the Ateneo de Davao. College marked his return to Luzon as a Communication major of the Ateneo de Manila.
As a Comm graduate, Mon fulfilled his college dream of working in the advertising industry. After graduation he ended up in J. Walter Thompson, worked for GMA Network’s Corporate Communication’s department, and went back to advertising for Ogilvy and Mather. Come February, he will start working for a pharmaceutical company.

Despite working for different companies in just a few years after his graduation, Mon says he still goes back to the basic concepts he learned in Comm. “Until now I go back to the PR modules that Sev (Sarmenta) gave us before. Sometimes once you’re working you overcomplicate things, but when you go back to the basics, and you approach it in the simplest manner, you get to execute things better.”

His course, Mon says, was the biggest influence and had the biggest impact on his “super-enjoy” college life. For Mon and for his blockmates, Comm wasn’t just a series of classes taught in the classroom, it was a way of life. “It’s the way you talk, the way you interact with people, the way you observe people.”

Back then, Mon and his friends, all of them in the Ad and PR track, would often visit Starbucks to observe people. “Observe kami nang observe, how they do things, how they respond to things and eventually it led me into doing great things inside the college.”

In his junior year, ACOMM was formed and many from Mon’s block ended up joining the organization. Mon didn’t join though because he was busy organizing a new group. Along with a former blockmate who had just shifted out, Osmond Ong (BS Comtech ’04), Mon founded Partido Agila.

One afternoon, Mon challenged Osmond to run for Sanggunian. Osmond was the president of the Ateneo College Ministry Group (ACMG) at that time and was being asked to run for SOA cluster president.

“At that time, the Sanggunian did not have any political parties. It was really a coalition. The individuals running for office had no concrete vision,” he says. “We always had hopes for a better Philippines, a better country, to help the country as individuals, as students, as Ateneans.”

After thinking about it over the Christmas break, the two friends decided it was time for the Ateneo to have a political party that would serve as a backbone for future leaders. It was a political party, he says, that would create leaders not only for the Sanggunian but for the various Ateneo organizations.

Three weeks after, membership of Partido Agila grew from just Osmond and Mon to 70 members. With their election line-up complete, Partido Agila joined the elections with Mon running for Secretary-General. Even though he lost to future UAAP courtside reporter Chinie Canivel (BS ME 05), Mon continued to be an active member of Partido Agila. During his senior year, Mon also headed the Namfrel and Ateneo Sanggunian joint project Oplan Halalan 2004, which not only raised awareness but helped in the tabulation of election results.

Mon has continued to be connected to Partido Agila and continues to give the party advice and encouragement. As a Comm major well-aware of the importance of public perception, he reminds them to always take care of their image as problems with perception can bring them down.

When he wasn’t busy with Partido Agila, Mon’s free time was spent online. Mon would spend two hours a day browsing forums and reading everything and anything related to Ateneo.

“When I was in college, I’d spend my online time reading atenista.net since I loved all things about the Ateneo. Hindi lang basketball. Mas known lang yung mahilig ako sa basketball kasi iyon ang pinakasikat,” he explains.

Even after graduation, Mon’s interest for everything Ateneo-related, basketball included, continued. After a conflict arose in atenista.net which prompted the regular posters to move to a new site in gameface.ph, Mon realized that there was a need for new forum site.

“The problem with gameface was that it was purely dedicated to basketball. There are so many things to be discussed about the Ateneo, why just focus on basketball?” This led Mon to set-up, along with other Ateneo alumni, animoateneo.com.

Animoateneo uses the tagline “Ang sarap maging Atenista.” Mon and his friends started using the term when they were watching UAAP games back in college.

“‘Ang sarap maging Atenista’ is like a creative handle of a certain feeling. When you say Ateneo is number one, a lot of people will argue, but no one can argue with your feeling. When you say you love a person, you love that person,” he says. “No matter what your parents say, that’s what you feel. That’s the feeling. Ang feeling na ang sarap maging Atenista. Walang makapantay.”

And in the same intensity as his passion for anything Ateneo, Mon proudly declares how he loves the course he says has given him a great life.

No doubt. If I would repeat my college life, Comm pa rin. Walang ibang course.” COMMotion