Both Blessing and a Curse.

By Nikki Isabella J. Rubrico

“Cam, maybe your dad can pull some strings?” Cam Caoile, a former UP student, has been subjected to this kind of plea ever since word came out her family has a hand in the government. 

Cam didn't specify what her father really does but one thing I do know, her father's signature demands power and will to either move the sessions of the congressmen forward or to a stand-still. She was humble and awkward about it, careful even to not really say much. 

She seemed like the average university girl, the only question in my mind: Why UP, a government/public university, when she in fact knows her surname was an actual wick for student protesters’ rallies? 

"It’s near my house." She didn't really expound on it but was vigilant enough to explain that her parents wanted her to study there. She took up Theater Arts. I was surprised she was actually inclined in the arts despite her imposing personality and strong opinions. I always thought she could make a good lawyer. 

She was catered to by fraternities and sororities as she carried her parents' names. She said she didn't really like hanging around them as she just wanted to be with people who appreciated the things she did. No one really noticed her at first. However, the children of her parents' colleagues, frat brothers and sisters and several professors that used to be their batch-mates, started to approach her. I asked what it was like to gain automatic friends; she smirked and said, "Not my type of people." I was taken aback. She was casual and arrogant in her answers and didn't really show any interest in these people. She told me they were just merely interested in the networking opportunities their families would have with her parents. She told me of particular experiences in class, where in the student protesters would just barge in the middle of discussion and wield picket signs, banners and holler at the students to overthrow the present corrupt administration. They would often point at her and tell everyone her father was the one supplying the pork barrels into the pockets of the greedy congressmen and would say that her family would usually have a cut in the money they make.

Cam had to prove to them, she would say, that she didn't really care what people thought of her. She wanted to be torn apart from her parents' shadow and to make her own. I noticed how agitated she was, as her family’s "power" was both a blessing and curse. Blessing since she had it easy. Curse, because “I wish people didn’t mind who I am anymore, my father's job and where I came from". Eventually, she got treated like a normal student and Camille's perspective about university life didn't change. It was still a typical university, filled with students from all walks of life trying their best to make it good once the training wheels are off in the real world.