How did it all start?!

I was about to graduate with my Chemistry and Computer Engineering degree (circa 1999) at the Ateneo de Manila University. Everybody in our class was applying for jobs and taking exams from several big companies like Intel, P&G, Accenture, Canon, and IberPacific (now Soluziona) to name a few.

To make things more convenient, we all made ourselves personal websites using a web server that was dedicated to our class. Thus, my first URL was something like http://balot.admu.edu.ph/yuga and it contained some profile about myself and a copy of my resume.

I was still editing my site using pico on a Linux terminal back then and accessing my emails thru pine.

The rest, they say, is history.

Why “Yuga”?

Most people I know today or those who know me through the internet call me “yuga”.

It’s a long story but as far as I can remember, it was one of my dorm mates back in college, at the Cervini Residence Halls in the Ateneo, who started it all.

Most of the 200 or so residents in the dorm at the time were from down south, just like me. A good percentage of us were either from Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and a few neighboring provinces like Davao, Cotabato and Zamboanga. Only as few were from Bacolod or Iloilo.

I was, allegedly, the first and only one from the island-province of Guimaras — a small isle between Iloilo City (Panay Island) and Bacolod City (Negros Occidental).

Despite the cultural diversity and social differences, I managed to sneak my native tongue amongst the dozens of languages being spoken — Ilonggo (my local dialect is Kinaray-a).

Although I could understand Cebuano/Bisaya, I spoke Ilonggo most of the time, and quite often inserted Ilonggo expressions and slangs in-between Taglish conversations. That got me the nickname of “yuga”.

— an expression of disbelief or amazement, similar to “really?!”, “ows?!” or “talaga?!”

Not long after that, everyone started addressing me as Yuga.

About a year later, only a handful knew me by my real name – Abraham (from US Pres. Lincoln).

That was it! I’ve been stuck with Yuga, until now. :D

Why “Abraham”?

I was born and raised in the small town of Poblacion, Nueva Valencia in Guimaras on February 22, 1978. My grandmother (from my father’s side) thought it was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday that day, so she suggested I’d be named the same. My mom, who was an avid fan of Ryan Cayabyab, at the same time wanted to name me after her idol.

But my dear lola prevailed, unbeknownst to her that it was actually George Washington’s birthday and not Lincoln’s.

Well, as was told to me by my dear mother that was how the story went.

I also got several nicks back home. Two of the most popular are Abang and Abe.

How did I end up here?

Ours was a relatively small town in a faraway island deep down south.

I went to the local elementary school just a hundred meters from our home where my mom also taught elementary grade 4 students. Being the eldest of 3 sibling (all boys), I had the undeniably heavier burden of bringing pride and honor to the family.

My mom would scold me if I did not include the “E.” (as my middle initial) whenever I would write my complete name. She said it was a sign that I am also proud to be an Estaya in the same way as an Olandres.

And indeed, I was able to do so by excelling academically. I was the top of our class from kinder to grade 6, and eventually ended up as the class valedictorian. I was also getting major achievements in co-curricular activities by joining all sorts of quiz contests.

Several of my most successful attempts were Division runner-up for the DOST-Caltex Science and Technology Quiz, another second in the Division Nutrition Quiz and the Division Champion and Regional delegate for the Super Science Quiz Bee (circa 1994) in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.

For high school, I applied for 2 scholarships — one is the Philippine Science High School (which I failed on the second exam) and the Special Science Class (DOST-INHS) where I landed 11th of the top 30 at the time. With 12 Valedictorians, 8 Salutatorians and 10 more with Honor students from different elementary schools across Western Visayas, it was a very tough job working my way up to the top of the class.

After 4 years, I managed to get a spot with the top 5 and ended up getting the 3rd Honorable Mention. Of course, I also managed to rake-in several awards and citations like the Regional & Inter-Regional Champion of the Philippine Math Olympiad, the Regional Representative for the Super Science Quiz Bee (again!), Golden Harvest of Excellence (from DOST) and the Math and Science Wizard of the year (circa 1995).

I was close to getting the Mercury Drug Award for Excellence in Science and Excellence in Math — something I was really rooting for.

Then came college. I only took the UPCAT and the ACET. I luckily passed both (Molecular Biology & Biotechnology in UP Diliman and Chemistry with Computer Engineering in AdMU) but opted for the Ateneo since I got a full scholarship there, while I only got the DOST-SEI scholarship for UP Diliman.

After successfully finishing my double degree on time, I waded through the IT industry for several years.

Five companies, several dozen freelance stints and hundreds of thousands of paid taxes later, I’m still blogging during my spare time.