From Vision to Realization: The Rebirth of a History Society

Call it a rebirth or a new beginning of a society that was once lost and gloriously came back into being…

Once a thriving organization in the 1990’s the former history society (named BIKAS, short for Bigkis Kasaysayan, and later on shortened to Kasaysayan) served as a venue for students of history to inculcate to the students a profound interest and awareness of things' past, a genuine sense of love for country, and a sincere pride in one’s own culture. Years later, the history society faded out of existence due to apparent and unfortunate circumstances (some say it’s the lack of proper documentation others, the lack of active members) that led to an age of dormancy. But this did not leave students of history undeterred from promoting their cause. Over the years without a history society, the history majors helped and participated with the History Department in all of its activities thus becoming the informal student hand of the department.

Over time, support for the revival of a history society swelled in numbers as the history majors set in motion for the creation of the movement. However, due to some technicalities in the applying process and a lack of motivating trust (as well as a lack of unity among history majors of all levels), the movement did not push through but did not completely fan out; the movement thrived on among the history majors and plans for the history society’s revival continued. It even got support and approval of various professors from the History Department like that of Dr. Rene Escalante, Mr. Fernando Santiago Jr., and Dr. Ronaldo Mactal, the current Department Chair.

Soon, around January of 2005 and after a slight dormancy the movement finally got enough momentum and motivation to form again a history society. Efforts were made to establish contacts with all history majors of all year levels. This provided the much needed thrust for the history society’s application as an aspiring organization for the 2005-2006 school year.

Before the start of the school year, the movement was already in full swing. The society’s constitution and by-laws were drafted and ratified, the organizational structure formulated and the preliminary set of officers put into place. And finally, a name for the new history society has been agreed upon: Liga Historia. This name is Spanish for League of History and is loosely based on the society that Jose Rizal formed, La Liga Filipina.

By the start of the school year contacts with the sophomore and freshmen history majors were fully established and the history majors proceeded with the application as an aspiring organization. By the end of the first trimester, all the necessary and proper documents for an applying organization were duly submitted to the Aspiring Organizations Application Committee (AOAC) composed of Simoun Ferrer, the Student Council Vice President for Activities, Goldilyn Uy, President of the Council of Student Organizations, and Ms. Paquita Bonnet, Director of the office of Student Activities.

In September, the history majors composed of Joana Obispo (1^st year), Ian Saulog (1^st year), Melissa Pazcoquin (2^nd year), Rachelle Lim (2^nd year), Paul Tan (3^rd year), Christopher An (3^rd year), Nepo Firmalan (4^th year) and John Leyba (5^th year who graduated on the same term) were able to successfully present and defend the application of the organization in front of the Aspiring Organizations Application Committee panel. The only thing AOAC panel were concerned about is the obvious low number of history majors and hence a possible low turnout of members. Because of this, the AOAC requested a document containing the statistics on the number of history majors. The majors responded quickly to this seeming predicament by researching the number of history majors from 2002 to 2005 as well as projecting the numbers in the coming years. The results were then passed on to the AOAC for evaluation.

It was only late last December that the organization received word from the AOAC that Liga Historia has finally been approved. This is an unprecedented feat for the history society considering that it was the only aspiring organization (out of 5) that was approved. Truly, this is a renaissance era of sorts where students of history may once again gather in the spirit of unity and camaraderie and form a movement that promotes and encourages fellow students’ ardor for history and thus create in them a keen and noble sense of the past.

Kinuha mula sa pangunahing lathala sa internet ng Liga Historia, El Renacimiento, 20 ng Enero 2006, http://ligahistoria.tripod.com/elhistoriador/index.blog/1461430/from-vision-to-realization-the-rebirth-of-a-history-society/