by Rose-An Jessica DioquinoApril 14, 2012 5:34pm

It's been said that commencement exercises are the end that marks the beginning of the rest of one’s life. For the “neo-centennial” graduates of the University of Santo Tomas’ (UST) College of Architecture, the graduation rites meant they could finally release that long pent-up breath as they formally secure their degrees after enduring five (or more) years of flooded days on campus and “plate-ful” nights at home (theirs or their classmates').

But Jerald Benedict Equina still couldn’t let his guard down during the ceremonies last March 27. Armed with a plan to secure another “beginning”, the 24-year-old faced his moment when the “cue” accidentally started playing on the big screen.

His virtual, larger-than-life self had everyone listening to a monologue of sorts: “Kay hirap nga namang pagsabayin ng design at pag-ibig. Nakakapagpadagdag man ng stress minsan, wala tayong magagawa kasi mahal natin. Siya ang nagbibigay-inspirasyon kapag feeling natin wala tayong pag-asang matapos ang mga plate. Siya ang palaging nagagalit kapag hindi ka pa gising dahil alam niyang late ka na sa pagpasok…"

“Pero ngayon, ‘eto na, graduate na tayo. Ano nang susunod?”

As if answering himself, Equina – with the help of a college official and spurred on by the cheering crowd – urged his girlfriend of five years, Angela Tafalla, to come up with him on stage, where he finally pulled his stunt on one knee, a little red box and a microphone in his hands and his heart on his sleeve.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he told Tafalla – the girl he knew briefly in second grade then met again as he was entering UST. The crowd gave way to silence as he popped the question: “Will you marry me?”

A wide-eyed Tafalla looks at the crowd as her boyfriend pops the question in front of the whole graduating batch of UST’s College of Architecture. Photo courtesy of Angela Tafalla

Eyes wide with surprise, Tafalla faced the crowd. “I do,” she mouthed. The lovestruck guy lifted the microphone to her lips so everyone could hear. “I do,” she said again, her voice quivering, as the whole batch and the faculty members rejoiced with Equina, who was finally able to breathe and slip the ring on her finger.

Planning the surprise

Equina’s graduation proposal has made many netizens gush after it was uploaded on YouTube on the same day. [By the time this report was published online], the video has been viewed more than 85,000 times and was widely shared in social networking sites.

In an e-mail correspondence with GMA News Online, Equina said he thought of asking Tafalla’s hand in marriage after he passed in the thesis deliberation, when it dawned to him that she “has been there with me, [from the time] when I was applying for UST [to] the down times of thesis[-making].”

As the youngest in the family, he turned to his mother for guidance and was told, “Diyan din naman kayo matutuloy.” Then, amid the many suggestions pitched by his friends, he “decided to ask the dean for [his] permission.”

“He said, ‘Sigurado ka ba’ng magpapatali ka na agad? Ga-graduate ka pa lang,’” he told GMA News Online. “I said, yes, I’m sure because I know we are meant for each other.” Equina also went to ask for blessing from Mr. and Mrs. Tafalla because “Angela comes from a very conservative and religious family.

“If her parents said no, then wala talagang proposal na magaganap,” he told GMA News Online.

But the Tafallas approved, entrusting their only daughter to Equina. Mr. Tafalla had only two conditions: “Basta siguraduhin n’yong marunong na kayong mamuhay nang mag-asawa” and “Basta, gusto ko, hindi buntis si Angela bago ikasal.”

‘It felt like the world stopped’

For her part, Tafalla – a registered nurse taking up her master’s degree at the UST Graduate School – told GMA News Online that she “sort of” felt that Equina was going to propose because he couldn’t keep still “for, like, two weeks.”

“It is so rare of him to make surprises; usually kasi nabubuking ko [ang] surprise niya,” she said. “He keeps on telling me that sa 2013 pa siya magpo-propose para sakto sa 2014 ‘yung wedding.

She admitted, however, that she was still caught off guard by the moment and “it felt like the world stopped in front of me.”

“Ayokong umakyat talaga kasi nahihiya ako,” the 23-year-old confessed. “I could not think of anything[kaya] bigla ko na lang nasabi na “I do” instead of yes. I felt so happy.” Tafalla also said she appreciated the fact that Equina actually earned her parents’ blessing because it “made me realize how much he valued my family, not just me.”

The newly-engaged couple smiles for the videographers, who were Equina’s accomplices in his proposal. They are planning to get married in 2014. Photo courtesy of Jerald Benedict Equina

Future together

For now, the newly engaged couple is planning their trip to the United States “to visit her relatives in Texas and mine in Los Angeles,” while also mapping out “our own career and business endeavors.”

Asked if they have set a date, Equina told GMA News Online that they “want to set it around the first quarter of 2014,” but it would still depend on events like pamamanhikan. He added that they might work on a “prelude” that relives their five-year journey, which he described as a “rollercoaster ride [with its many] twists and turns.”

“Long story kung paano kami nagkatuluyan, actually, but we’ve been together for five years; we’ve been through a lot,” Equina wrote. “But in the end, we still go back to where we started – falling in love with each other.” — TJD, GMA News