THE YEAR OF MY BIRTH: 1978

I was born in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija 41 years ago—the year when the controversial and the world’s first “test-tube” baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born via in vitro fertilization.

In the same year, the successor of Batasang Bayan, the “interim Batasan Pambansa,” was inaugurated while martial law was still in effect. Originally, it was comprised of 180 Batasan members including the unimpeachable president.

It was also this year when the (movie) audiences believed that a man could really fly through “Superman” the movie starring Christopher Reeve which premiered in cinemas worldwide.

Also, in the same year, the popular children’s character, “The Smurfs,” made its debut on television.

Needless to say, in the same momentous year, the anti-Communist and Polish cardinal and the first non-Italian Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Karol Jozef Wojtyla aka Pope John Paul II was installed in the Papacy and later became the 3rd longest-serving Pope (nearly 27 years) in the history of Papacy.

Moreover, the year was the year of the (Yang Earth) Horse in the Chinese calendar. A very historical year to remember 1978.