Fathers & my Philippines

JUNE is the month when we celebrate our independence as a nation, when we honor our fathers. June is also the birth month of my better half. There is also a similarity in all of them beyond the month of June, and allow me to enumerate this in three anecdotes:

1. When the Marcos dictatorship ended and there was so much uncertainty in the Philippines. Many of our family and friends started to fix their immigration plans to either Canada or the US. I remember being worried and asked my dad if we were going to do the same. I distinctly remember his answer, “The Philippines is still the best place to live in.”
2. Before I met my husband, I always dreamt of retiring in the US. When my husband and I were making plans for where to settle down, we came to a decision to live in Manila. My husband’s dream has always been to live and help his beloved province, Bicol. So we struck a compromise to retire there instead. For those who know me well, including my husband, it was a hard compromise for me to make, as I liked the fast life. It’s a good thing that today I understand my husband’s love for his province. I now love Bicol because I see the root of my husband’s genuine and humble passion for agriculture and sports, and the comfort of lifelong friends. Today, in my small way, I admire him every time he would gather up his year-old rubber shoes and send them back to Bicol. Of course, you know whom we voted for vice president.
3. I never looked Chinese and was teased by my classmates a lot before for being dark. Hence, I got the nickname “Negro.” Even my own sisters always teased me about supposedly being an adopted child. At school age, this was traumatic because, in many ways, it caused me to feel lost in my own circle. So I found comfort in the school help, like the maids and janitors in school who were the first to greet me in the morning as I was often the earliest to arrive. After school, I would help in our office and found great company in our employees. At home, Manang Eyang, my nanny, taught me the proper way to eat with my hands, eat tuyo (local salted fish) with crushed tomatoes and shrimp paste. Since she is from San Quintin, Pangasinan, she also often sung to me her local song “Manang Biday.”

My dad, my husband and our country have been a great source of comfort for me. In many ways, I believe this is why I wanted to become a human-rights lawyer at one point; why I love the Filipino language; and why I truly love growing our company for our employees. When I travel and meet business associates or random seatmates, I always invite them to come to our country because of the food, the sights and the warmth of our people. Below are my top 10 favorites that I share with my kids:

• Aling Paring’s Suman Latik (sticky rice with their one-of-a-kind brown sauce, found in The Landmark and Robinsons Magnolia)
• Mayon Volcano in Albay, Bicol. It is truly an experience to see its majestic, perfect cone
• Boracay—for its powdery white sand, great food selection and massages on the beach
• Hizon’s Mamon (a bakery found in Manila but whose goodies are now sold also in The Landmark Makati and Greenhills Promenade) and Mary Grace Toasted Ensaymada (this is available in many malls in the Philippines)
• Fresh coconut juice with coconut meat.
• Lechon kawali at Beer Below Zero outside of Rockwell Makati
• Churches in Manila
• Batchoy (local noodle soup) in L’Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City
• Halo-halo (local desert) in Milky Way, Pasay Road, Makati
• Cebu lechon from Ulcing at Jusmag Area, Southside, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig (for order only; not a restaurant)

And so I always remind my kids the importance of knowing their roots. They are as much Filipino as they are Chinese. Chinese is their blood but the Philippines is their home. That’s why I put special importance in learning the Filipino language for my kids.

Below is a poem I wrote when I was in high school, when I felt so stifled by some school administrators:

Ang magtapat ng pananaw

…ng damdamin

Isa bang kamalian?

O isang pangangailangan?

(To profess an opinion, Is it a wrong or a need?)

Kailan pa ba pakikinggan

Ang mga daing…

Kailan titigil sa panunumbat

Na ang lahat ay sadyang

Umaamong dula?

(When will concerns be heard?

When will the bickering stop that all is a persuasive monologue?)

Ang munting isip

Ay may nilalamang hiyas…

Isang pangarap

Na magtagumpay

Isang nasanag

Lumigaya

At isang mithing

MAPAKINGGAN.

(A youthful mind has inner treasures. It has a wish to succeed, a wish to be happy and a dream to be HEARD)

Happy Philippine Independence Day, everyone.