Eraserheads receives UP Gawad Oblation award 

The Eraserheads bite their UP Gawad Oblation award medals during the awarding ceremony on August 20, 2024.

The Eraserheads band is definitely part of UP history as recipient of the UP Gawad Oblation for their “enduring excellence as a band, reflecting the university’s commitment to promoting national pride and cultural excellence.”

First launched in 2017, the award has been bestowed on outstanding UP alumni who have represented the school’s values of “honor, excellence, and service.”

Designed by the late artist and UP professor Leo Abaya, the Gawad Oblation medal echoes early Philippine flags, UP’s signature colors, and the iconic Oblation statue for which the award is named.

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“It is not an exaggeration to say that the Eraserheads is a pivotal force in the history of Original Pilipino Music (OPM). Even now, decades after they first burst into the local music scene, they remain a household name, a cultural icon for the ages,” said UP president Angelo Jimenez at the Gawad Oblation awarding ceremony held on August  20, 2024  in Diliman, Quezon City.

UP has played a special role in the formation of Eraserheads since they started to perform at the Diliman campus in the 1990s, composed of Raymund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, Ely Buendia and Marcus Adoro. Their first performance was at the UP Fair on  February 1991.

Since its formation in 1989, Eraserheads had seven studio albums, 44 singles, a live album, four compilation albums, 10 music videos and three extended plays.

The Eraserheads’ groundbreaking album, “Ultraelectromagneticpop!” contains the songs “Shake Yer Head”,”Toyang”, “Ligaya”, “Tindahan ni Aling Nena”,  “Pare Ko”, “Shirley” and “Maling Akala”.

The lyrics of  “Pare Ko” aptly reflect how friendships were galvanized inside the campus: “O pare ko meron ka bang maipapayo. Kung wala ay okey lang. Kailangan lang ay ang iyong pakikiramay. Andito ka ay ayos na”.

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Zabala and Marasigan were my roommates for two years (1989 to 1991) at the UP Molave dorm during my last college years. Our room, with high ceiling and huge windows, was at the end of the second floor of the Molave boys’ wing with the original room number replaced with “AS 101.”

I usually go out every time our room was used as their “practice area” since I could not study due to the “noise” they were creating.

Instead of going home to Las Piñas for my birthday in 1990, I celebrated it with Buddy over ice cream while watching an old film in the dorm’s TV room.

It was beyond my comprehension that the “noise” that I tried to avoid made them known as one of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands in OPM history, earning them the accolade “The Beatles of the Philippines.”

“Thank you, UP Diliman for being our home away from home,” declared Zabala. “My world expanded, no, it exploded. UP has given us many unforgettable experiences, academic and otherwise, countless of which have made their way to our songs, our experiences in the university inform our storytelling.”

Marasigan added: “Dito nagsimula kahit na hindi nakapagtapos. Salamat sa karangalan, parang grumadweyt narin kami ngayon. Padayon.”

“The Eraserheads would not exist without UP,” Buendia said.

“Sa UP Diliman namin naranasan ang tunay na kalayaan — kalayaang pumili, kalayaang maghayag, kalayaang sundin at pakinggan ang sariling himig,”  Adoro said.

The reunion concert of the Eraserheads dubbed “Huling El Bimbo” last December 22, 2022 at the MOA grounds was peppered with elements associated with our UP college life.

It showcased iconic UP Diliman campus scenes and traditions from enrollment chaos, Oblation Run, Lantern Parade, UAAP, rallies, classroom rowdiness, endless rendezvous, romance, and most significantly our dorm life.

Jimenez stressed that the Gawad Oblation is the “highest distinction that our university can bestow. It is of our deep gratitude for the extraordinary service rendered with or in our name, in the name of UP.”

“The band revolutionized OPM by introducing a new sound, blending alternative rock with traditional Filipino elements including Western rock styles, but with distinctly Pinoy sensibilities,” Jimenez continued.

The Oblation is a sculpture by National Artist Guillermo Tolentino which serves as the UP iconic symbol that depicts a man facing upward with arms outstretched, symbolizing selfless offering of oneself to his union.

The E-heads repertoire is a reminder that we should not only reminisce the innocence and enthusiasm of our youth, but we also have to look at the joys in our adolescent lives, when we were pursuing both academic excellence and progressive thinking.

This is reflected in the lyrics of  the song “Minsan” — “Sana’y huwag kalimutan. ang ating mga pinagsamahan….Minsan tayo ay naging tunay na magkaibigan”.

E-heads will perform in the UAAP Season 87 opening ceremony on September 7 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. UP is this season’s host with the theme ‘Stronger. Better. Together.’

(Peyups is the moniker of the University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the Seafarers’ Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail [email protected], or call 09175025808 or 09088665786.)