Memoirs of R18

CRYSTAL LIGHTS WERE HANGING from the ceiling, reflecting a prism of diamond-like brilliance. Balloons were festooned on the stage, fronting sets of chairs and tables, which were adorned with linens, for a supposed-to-be-big audience. The audience, however, wasn’t that big… It was never big. If it was, then we might have been hallucinating....

R18 was a concert organized by Cram Productions. This production team is composed of everyone in the ABMC IV class batch 08-09. It was headed by Edwin de Leon with Gypsy Salazar and Michelle Ann Frazier; all of them are my classmates.


Originally, R18 was putative to cater to 2 000 to 8 000 audience, that is according to Edwin when he was first discussing it to the class. This was for our class-project in Advanced PR, which turned out to be our partnership with Ayala Mother Corp. (Okay. This part is confusing. But the thought is that Ayala was helping us for our project. In return, we help them for their regional concert and so and so...)

“It will be the most fabulous concert ever,” we would think then. Edwin, as he used to tell and plan it, would always say we have sponsors; that we also have an agreement with Ayala, and Globe, and many more. The concert will eventuate either in the Bayanihan Astropark or Nepo Quadrangle. Then, thousands of people will attend to it. We would have tickets, and then the class will earn.

Until we learned that we can never get sponsors because AUF wouldn’t allow us to solicit from companies and establishments. We were not allowed to use the name of AUF. Our thousand sponsors became ourselves using our own money. The huge area became a mini-resort in Telabastagan, City if San Fernando, Pampanga – The Aqua Blue Lounge. The tickets became an unpainted drawing. The concert had been decided to be gratuitous.

Everything changed like a shattered dream. Sumptuousness became paucity.

Optimistically speaking still, the concert materialized. There were still audiences; perhaps, about a hundred or so. In the end, we owed Php17 000.00 to the said lounge because the number of free drinks exceeded the quota. Good thing is that the class still had some money left. Yet, the money we had then was not enough to defray our debts. So, the class tried to solve the dilemma. We contributed some more pesos from our pockets and then everything was worked out on the subsequent day.

However, there’s one thing I’ll never forget that night. Edwin advised me to do something when we still don’t know where to obtain cash.

Edwin said, “What if we’ll get the money from the budget of The Pioneer and then we’ll declare it as our teambuilding?” He said it would be better that way and I, on the other hand, should liquidate it without being questioned. His eyes were unwavering and his decision was smoldering.

However, I thought, that money is for The Pioneer, not for the class. So, I disapproved on it while puckering my eyebrows. I was enraged but I concealed it. When I conceal my emotions, my brows are being hoisted. It means I am annoyed and my decision is paradoxical from everyone else.

When I frown, everyone else knows my thoughts....