Our Own Mount Rushmore

My original plan was to ask my readers why now, more than 100 years after Rizal's death, he has become such a controversial topic and then move on. I have come to realize, after reading the numerous responses to my blog, that I just can't walk away.

A friend, CV, forwarded to me some reactions from members of the RP-Rizal e-group. Most are arguing against my thesis that Rizal was not a Founding Father of the Philippine nation. CV's sampling of the many reactions follows:

"I posted your article on 'More questions than answers about Rizal' at the RP-Rizal group and it received a few comments. I would like to invite you to join that group and possibly engage some of the folks there on your article.

"Here (are some) of the responses (rebuttals):

" When we celebrate Independence Day, do we think of Rizal? Or do we think
of Bonifacio, or Aguinaldo?

"Rebuttal: We think of Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo and every unnamed hero who fell and fought for it. We celebrate and think about them because we would not be as free
or islas Felipines would not be as free, as we/it is, can be today if not for
them.

" I belong to the camp that believes Philippine Independence was the
handiwork of Bonifaco and Aguinaldo, not of Rizal. In fact, Rizal opposed the
revolution. His two books, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo argued against
the revolution.

"Rebuttal: Any person can belong to any group he wants, but as far as reason dictates, the independence that we celebrate today would not come about without the birth of nationalism. Nationalism did not come about (ie love of one's native land
desiring to be free from the clutches of someone else, this includes the
assimilation, of which Rizal, concluded that the poor and native indios would
not be totally free, since although the Spanish masters would be kick out in the
process, the indio-masters would replace them, and therefore, the poor and sad
indios would be poorer and sadder all the more), of which Rizal was the
acknowledged leading proponent (not only up to this day, but more so during his
times, not only did the Spanish authorities identified him with such concept,
but all members of the Katipunan, too, the principalia, and everyone else during
those times), independence (or if we want to call it -the fight for freedom)
would not be a reality at all. Any person would first love (conceptualize) to be
free first before actually planning, or doing and achieving it. Rizal
spearheaded all of it, and therefore, the handiwork of independence would not be
complete without him.

" Every revolution has its George Washington, and it was not Rizal. It was
Bonifacio. It was Aguinaldo.

"Rizal clearly ranks as one of the greatest national heroes of the Philippines,
and was hands-down the most talented and most prolific multi-talented genius of
the modern era. But he was not the father of the Filipino nation.

"Rebuttal: If Rizal was not, who will be the father of the Filipino nation? And if your argument is correct, why until this very moment, every Filipino, even the new
generation acknowledges the martyrdom, the sacrifices, intelligence, and the
courage of Dr. Jose Rizal? Why would not the person who initiated brilliantly
with his blood and tears the birth of nationalism and therefore independence, be
not accorded the honor?

" Rizal's "on one hand, yet on the other hand" paralysis by analysis
approach to the Philippine revolution made him a liability to the revolution
rather than an asset.

"Rebuttal: Rizal's approach to Philippine revolution was not a total NO. If ever his
retraction was true, sending home his brothers in arms and advising them to stop
with their plans of armed struggle then the Spanish authorities and enemies
would not shoot him after all. The logical thing for them to do was to set him
free, but not, he was still shot. Because Rizal was a peaceful revolutionary, by
that, it means he wanted peaceful change, change in the way the indios and
insulares were being treated by the Peninsular Spaniards, what he wanted was
total self governance guided by them, until full emancipation from prejudices,
a complete assimilation process achieved peacefully; a revolutionary process
without bloodshed. Yes, the revolution that Jesus Christ had long time ago won
over against imperial Rome. This is simple to understand, isn't it?

"Gracias, Sr Cesar."

CV

The issue is not whether Rizal was a great man or that he deserves to be a national hero, in fact, the Philippines' greatest national hero. That is a settled issue.

The issue is, instead, whether he deserves to be regarded as a hero of the Philippine revolution. My carefully considered opinion is that Rizal is not a true hero of the Philippine revolution. How could he be, when he opposed the revolution?

Rizal was a reformist, not a revolutionary. His portrayal of a defeated Ibarra and his prediction of the collapse of the revolution in his twin books, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo clearly demonstrate his abhorrence for a Philippine revolution.

How can one be a hero of a revolution that one opposes? It is akin to those Republican governors and senators who opposed Obama's stimulus bill and then when the stimulus money started arriving in their states attempted to take credit for bringing the money to their states.

Rizal, of course, had nothing to do with the blatant sales job. A widely-held theory is that the American occupiers of the Philippines who of course were tasked with writing our history for us selected Rizal as not only our foremost hero but also as the hero of our revolution because Rizal never opposed them. How could he, he had been dead more than two years before Admiral Dewey's fleet sailed into Manila Bay.

We ask ourselves: What historical event is the single most important event in all of Philippine history?

My humble opinion? It was the Philippine revolution. And who were the heroes of the revolution? Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, then later Del Pilar of the Battle of Tirad Pass fame and the close to a million Filipinos who resisted the American occupiers and were gunned down like dogs by an army with far superior fire power.

Rizal's greatness was there for the whole world to see. He was willing to die for his country. But his method was reforms and full representation of Las Islas Filipinas in the Spanish Cortes. His dream was of meaningful reforms, not of revolution.

Those Filipinos who used Rizal's name to promote the revolution did not know any better. But we know. We know that Rizal did not favor a revolution. In fact, he argued persuasively against it.

He was therefore not a true hero of the Revolution, the single most important event in Philippine history. And he was not a true biological father of the Revolution.

The true fathers of the Revolution were Bonifacio and Aguinaldo.

It is important that we get this right. We must have clarity in our history. We cannot as a people have clarity in our lives if our view of ourselves is clouded by erroneous history written by our colonizers.

Let us ask the questions and endeavor to supply the answers and let the chips fall where they may. Water always seeks its own level. Let our rivers of consciousness take us to where we rightfully belong. Only through honest soul searching can a shell-shocked and brow-beaten people such as the Filipinos emerge from the shadows of its false hopes and murky ideas and renew its search for the sunlight of true idealism.

We can start by identifying our heroes more accurately and discover how best to emulate them.

We can start by examining the lives of Bonifacio and Aguinaldo and enthroning them on the same dais that we as a people have reserved only for Rizal. We can erect two additional thrones in this holy pantheon, where I envision the triumvirate of Bonifacio, Aguinaldo and Rizal as the Philippine equivalent of Mount Rushmore.

More Questions than Answers about Rizal

There were whispers. There were mild protestations. There was a cacophony of doubt. Could it be? Was the greatest national hero of the Philippines really not the person we have assumed all along that he was?

What constitutes a national hero? Soldiers who go into battle and exhibit exemplary courage while under fire eventually receive a hero's welcome. People who are imprisoned by the enemy and undergo torture are received home as returning heroes.

What of Rizal? He was a true national hero. Not only did he give up his life for his country, he devoted every hour of every day to the pursuit of his dream of a new and improved Las Islas Filipinas.

Being a genius and being a hero are of course two different things. One can be a genius and not be a hero. John Stuart Mill had an IQ of 192, but he is not considered a hero of England. Gari Kasparov is perhaps the greatest chess player of all time, but he is not considered a Russian hero. Bobby Fisher was a chess genius, but he was an anti-hero.

Rizal's heroism is separate from his genius. Genius is genius, heroism is reserved for those who either devote or sacrifice their lives for the benefit of their country.

Rizal did exactly that.

The bone of contention is not whether Rizal was a hero, but whether Rizal was a hero of the Philippine independence movement from Spain.

"I die, just when I see the dawn breaks," he wrote in his La Ultima Adios (The Last Farewell). Many have assumed that the dawn Rizal visualized was an independent Philippines. The reality was, he felt his death would accelerate the process of reforms in the Philippines, which would continue as a colony of Spain. Rizal dedicated his life and writings to much-needed reforms. He was not thinking of Las Islas Filipinas breaking away from Spain. He did not trust his fellow Filipinos to effectively run a government.

When we celebrate Independence Day, do we think of Rizal? Or do we think of Bonifacio, or Aguinaldo?

I belong to the camp that believes Philippine Independence was the handiwork of Bonifaco and Aguinaldo, not of Rizal. In fact, Rizal opposed the revolution. His two books, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo argued against the revolution.

Every revolution has its George Washington, and it was not Rizal. It was Bonifacio. It was Aguinaldo.

Rizal clearly ranks as one of the greatest national heroes of the Philippines, and was hands-down the most talented and most prolific multi-talented genius of the modern era. But he was not the father of the Filipino nation.

(Note: I am using the term "Filipino nation" rather loosely. To my mind, the term Filipino nation is fictive, that there is really no single Filipino nation but rather a collection of many nations that is trying to form a true union.)

Rizal's "on one hand, yet on the other hand" paralysis by analysis approach to the Philippine revolution made him a liability to the revolution rather than an asset.

"When shall we be stronger?" asked Patrick Henry of the President of the Virginia legislature and his fellow legislators in 1775. "Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we shall be totally disarmed and and every British soldier shall be stationed in every house?" Finally, Henry's famous words: "Give me liberty or give me death."

Patrick Henry had clarity of purpose. George Washington had clarity of mission: to drive the rascal red shirts out of the country, drowning in the Atlantic.

The father of nearly every nation on earth is usually a simple man - a man of barely above-average intelligence, but with the heart of a lion and whose genius is in fighting and leading his brethren in the field of battle.

Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and his peaceful non-cooperation, Washington, Robespiere and his "liberty, equality and fraternity" battle cry.

These were and are all above-average men intellectually but not geniuses, yet they are giants in history. Their genius is in their ability to inspire their countrymen to rise up in revolt either through violence or through peaceful non-cooperation.

The fact that none of them were ophthalmologists or writers or poets or polyglots or artists mattered little. It was as though they were put on earth at the right time in history to give voice and meaning to people's struggles and to lead people out of their misery and into eventual triumph.

For one brief moment, Bonifacio was such a man. But for the Americans' duplicity, Aguinaldo would have been such a man.

The historical forces that were crafting the known world at the turn of the 20th century conspired to prevent either Bonifacio or Aguinaldo from holding that ticker-tape parade down Escolta street in Manila. But they were the closest thing to true heroes of the independence movement who actually made the symbolic claim to independence from Spain by parading down the country's premier thoroughfare.

As we reflect on the birth anniversary of Rizal, born June 19, 1861, let us remember him for his heroism, for his multitude of talents, for the huge figure he casts over the history of the Philippines. Let us remember him as the Thomas Paine of the revolutionary movement.

Thomas Paine, through his writings, gave voice to the frustrations of the emerging American nation. His incisive writings, notably Common Sense, fueled thoughts of an American revolution, but it is General Washington who actually went into the field of battle that is the acknowledged father of the American revolution.

Let us give Rizal his due, but not the recognition that others clearly deserve more. Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo were the true fathers of the Philippine revolution against Spain.

To be sure, Rizal had valid reasons for opposing a revolution, his main one being that the Filipinos were not ready as a people for self-rule and consequently, the tyrants of his time would probably be replaced by tyrants of the future. Rizal probably had a vision of Cuba, of China under Mao Tse Tung, of Russia after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

The speciousness in this thinking is that after a few initial decades of tyranny by the revolutionary bosses, the countries freed from slavery by foreign powers eventually get their act together and become a much stronger nation.

Rizal apparently found tolerable the Spanish policy of deliberately keeping most of his fellow Indios uneducated and ignorant, thereby assuring their continued subservience to the Spanish crown.

A new nation was being formed by the revolutionaries, and Rizal was a bystander. Rizal was many things, but he was not a Founding Father of the Philippine nation. Bonifacio and Aguinaldo were.

I couldn't remember the word "scold"

I woke up this morning fumbling around for a word. I couldn't think of the word if my son's future depended on it and nearly gave up, reminded of the fact that those days when I could recall words from my vast storage bin in a flash were long gone. Then, as I stepped from the new Stearns and Foster pillow-bed down to the carpet (my wife and I invested a fortune on our new S & F bed on the theory that after more than 40 years slaving in America I deserved an S & F bed) I suddenly remembered the word.

It is "scold."

I worried over the last couple of days that I might have become' a scold to my friends and people I communicate with on the Internet. I've had this tendency to look at the glass as half-empty rather than half-full. And I suspect that I may have been a stern taskmaster, trying to win people over to my point of view.

While nobody I was aware of among La Salle alumni was worked up over the fact that La Salle is now in fourth place among the four Philippine universities that made the Top 200 list of Asian universities, I decided last week to be that lone voice protesting La Salle's relative dismal showing.

My recently launched book, "Out of the Misty Sea We Must...Blueprint for a New Philippines" has strong words against the establishment in the Philippines. I recently lambasted the Philippine Senate as a useless institution that must be abolished. I've been a harsh critic. I worry that I have become a scold.

It doesn't matter if a scold is right or makes a lot of sense. People simply tune him out because he is a scold.

It's like a priest-retreat master sermonizing a flock of Catholic faithful who are on holiday in Las Vegas. They are in Church because it's Sunday. They're not there to listen to a guy talking about the fires of hell and eternal damnation.

When I opened my email this morning, lo and behold I found an email from one of the more revered professors at La Salle informing me that he is forwarding my latest rant to the highest officials of the school.

Now we're talking. I'm not a scold after all.

The first order of business is to make sure that the people assigned to fill out the forms for the THES - QS survey of Asian universities are well trained. They must be sent to the headquarters of THES (Times Higher Education Supplement) to pick the brains of the executives there. I believe THES is a supplement of the London Times, but I cannot get confirmation of this. The La Salle Brothers, however, are surely aware of all the beans on THES.

Meanwhile, the alumni associations worldwide should be commissioned to conduct an inventory of accomplishments of La Salle alumni. What is the contribution of La Salle alumni to the Philippines, Asia and the world? This inventory process will answer that question.

If the school can come up with a list of outstanding and near-outstanding Lasallians in various fields, this list can be one of the focal points of the centennial celebrations next year. It can also be used as an argument for ranking La Salle ahead of Ateneo, or even U.P. and U.S.T.

Most people in the Philippines are probably aware that La Salle alumni occupy dominant positions in business and commerce there. How extensive that control is probably is not known to them.

Most people are probably unaware that past and present La Salle alumni have excelled in public service.

There are highly accomplished writers and artists among La Salle's graduates. There are famous lawyers and bar top-notchers who grew up in La Salle. There are top entertainers and actors among La Salle alumni.

It's important that La Salle the institution takes an inventory of its graduates. A university's raison d'etre is to educate students to become leaders and nation-builders. After 99 years in business in the Philippines, what are the kinds of men and women that La Salle has graduated? That is the question that must be answered by tihis inventory of La Salle graduates.

Our approach will be two-pronged: we will prove that we have some of the best resources, facilities, staff and faculty in the Philippines and in Asia; we also will prove that the school produces many of the outstanding people in the Philippines and Asia, ergo it must be one of the truly outstanding universities in Asia and may be the top university in the Philippines.

We have one year to get this done. The alumni office on Taft Avenue should be put in charge of this massive project. They can break down the job among the various alumni chapters around the world. Each chapter will be assigned the task of compiling a list of its members and those members' life accomplishments.

We know that many of the truly outstanding people and some of the richest in the Philippines grew up in the La Salle system. Many are probably unaware that Lasallians who chose to live abroad have also made a name for themselves and are considered pillars in their professions.

It is easy to explain the success of La Salle alumni in the Philippines. La Salle is to the Philippines what University of Southern California (USC) is to the U.S. West Coast. USC graduates take care of each other. If given a choice, they will hire other USC graduates. No questions asked.

La Salle alumni are also like that. They hire other La Sallians, no questions asked. That explains why La Salle graduates in the Philippines are doing so well financially and career-wise. This, however, tells only a part of the story. Connections can get you in the door, but what you make of the opportunity is the true test of your talents. La Salle graduates have excelled not only in entry-level positions but all the way to the top and beyond.

Having said this, a truer measure of the success of the Lasallian educational system is how La Salle graduates have done in foreign countries. I believe that when all is said and done, we will think more highly of La Salle because many of our graduates rose to the pinnacle of their professions and were highly successful in business even without the benefit of a protective and nurturing alumni association.

If La Salle the institution conducts this inventory, it can alert the THES people that we have launched such a project and are prepared to argue that the accomplishments of La Salle alumni in the Philippines and abroad must be given more weight than it probably is in developing THES rankings. We have everything to gain, nothing to lose.

For what good is a school that has the best celebrated professors, the most modern equipment, the most published dissertations, etc. yet produce fewer truly outstanding graduates than other universities that produce more? And I'm not even throwing in the concept of holding a school accountable for the scoundrels, thieves and corrupt public officials that some school systems produce.

La Salle must take the lead in seeking a change in the way universities are ranked. It must argue that the quality of graduates should be given more weight than it probably is being accorded.

There must not be a one-size-fits-all approach in the THES rankings. In the Philippines, where the biggest headache is finding jobs for its exploding population, the schools that produce the most businessmen and entrepreneurs who employ the greatest number must get a special bonus that figures in the rankings.

Philosophically, if a university in a country where job-creation is the biggest challenge is producing the most number of job creators, isn't that university more important to that country's society and the region than a university that has the most Ramon Magsaysay awardees and PhD dissertations?

La Salle must be prepared to argue with the THES - QS people. Those people did not start out by being infallible. They are learning as they go along. That is why the rankings of some universities such as La Salle and U.P. are all over the map from year to year. La Salle can take a leadership position by arguing for a change in the way the universities are ranked.

I grew up in La Salle being brainwashed by the Brothers that we can change the world. If we can do that, it would be child's play trying to change the way THES - QS rankings are done.

ERRATUM: In my previous post, I stated that Augusto Syjuco, Jr., father of celebrated Filipino novelist Miguel Syjuco, grew up with me in La Salle. This was wrong. Augusto attended La Salle college but did not graduate. He transferred to University of the East midway thru college and earned his B.S. in Commerce degree from that school. Augusto graduated from Ateneo High School and probably went to Ateneo grade school as well.

As my school counts down to its centennial

OK, boys and girls, let's pull our heads from the sand this morning. Let's un-stick our necks from the mud and see the world for what it is, not for what we wish it were. Here's shocking news from GMA News:

Four Philippine universities made it again to the Top 200 Asian universities list of consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS) for 2010, even as this is not really a cause for celebration in a country with about 2,000 institutions of higher education.

Leading the Philippine schools is the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, which tied Taiwan’s National Central University at the 58th spot. Ateneo rose from the 84th spot it occupied last year.

State-run University of the Philippines’ rank fell from 63 to 78, while University of Santo Tomas ranked 101st, an advance from its former 144th spot.

De la Salle University suffered the worst blow among the four Philippine universities, falling from the 76th spot to land at 106th.

In measuring quality, QS used the following criteria: Asian academic peers (30 percent), papers per faculty (15 percent), citations per paper (15 percent), student-faculty ratio (20 percent), Asian employer review (10 percent), international faculty (2.5 percent), international students (2.5 percent), inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and outbound exchange students (2.5 percent). – (GMA News)


We Lasallians know in our hearts that La Salle is an excellent school, perhaps even the best educational institution in the Philippines. Not long ago, there were suggestions that La Salle was the best school in the Philippines, better even than U.P. Yet, as we count down to our centennial celebrations next year, we are besieged by reports that Asian academics no longer think highly of our school and, conversely, those same academics are becoming enamored of the Jesuit institution which is bent on throwing sand in our face.

What happened?

The report reprinted above presumably provides an explanation for why La Salle no longer scores as well as Ateneo in university rankings. Yet, from my perspective, the criteria used probably should favor La Salle. What is really going on?

I think there is widespread perception out there that La Salle does not produce the kind of graduates that Ateneo does. If you want to know about a school's quality, look at the graduates. This is how schools are generally rated. Harvard is considered the top school in the U.S. because its graduates are the leaders in most fields. Princeton graduates, Yale graduates, Columbia graduates, Stanford graduates, UC-Berkely graduates, etc. manage to rise to the top. Ergo, those are great schools.

Ateneo produces many of the country's leaders. Look at the Presidency. The last three Philippine presidents are products of Ateneo. National conversations and discourse are often led by graduates of Ateneo. The school is heavily and prominently represented in culture, science and - now - even in business. Lasallians have always been in command of the commercial world and this has become a problem. There is widespread perception that Lsallians are one-dimensional. That we are good business people and nothing much else. We are too busy making money or are just not interested in anything else - least of all being leaders in the country's drive to economic ascendancy.

We have ceded the high ground to Ateneo and U.P. And now, apparently, to U.S.T.

In La Salle's Internet circles the moderators have adopted the policy of non-engagement. If it's serious stuff, or controversial stuff, or politics, we are cautioned to stay away. We're just not interested. We will talk about the birthday parties we are going to attend, the chicks we will surround ourselves with, but we will not be caught commenting on the sad state of our country. We abhor serious topics, they are too "heavy" for our taste.

We do not want to speak out against the country's elite, who have mismanaged the country for close to a century, partly because we are the elite and partly because most of us are marketing men and women and therefore take pains to avoid the prospect of displeasing anyone.

People take potshots at us as society boys, gay boys, China, Inc. or conyo boys. If not for our women graduates, people would have an even lower opinion of us.

I am in the process of reading the celebrated novel, Ilustrado, by Miguel Syjuco. Miguel is a son of one of my classmates in La Salle-Taft, Augusto Syjuco, Jr. I think it's reasonable to assume that Miguel would speak of La Salle, his dad's alma mater, more favorably than he would of Ateneo. Never mind that Miguel actually grew up in Canada, where his family elected to wait out the Marcos years.

I was taken aback by a passage in Ilustrado:


And so it became a habit for Crispin and me to trade these well-worn classics, particularly the ones about our distinguished alma mater, writing them on slips of paper to pass like shibboleths when next we'd meet.

"These male students loiter around Shoe Mart Megamall," one note said. "One is from the exclusive Ateneo de Manila University. One from the rival De La Salle University. The third, named Erning Isip, is from the populist AMA Computer College. The three students spot a very pretty light skinned girl. Each of the boys takes a turn at trying to woo her. The Atenean says: 'Why, hello there. Perhaps I should text my driver to bring my BMW around to chauffeur us to the Polo Club so we can get some gindara?' The Lasallista says: 'Wow, you're so talagang pretty, as in totally ganda gorgeous. Are you hungry at all? Let's ride my CRV and I'll make libre fried chicken skin and Cuba libres at Dencio's bar and grill.' Erning Isip, the AMA Computer College student, timidly approaches the girl. Scratching the back of his head, he says: 'Miss, please, miss, give me autograph?' "


It is clear that Miguel has a low opinion of the school that his dad attended and grew up in.

I know the characterization of the Lasallista in Syjuco's Ilustrado is a stereotype and perhaps unfair. The problem I have, though, is that I've heard Lasallians (people from La Salle are no longer called Lasallistas) talk in Taglish. Whether most Lasallians talk in Taglish is not a conclusion I'm prepared to concede. But clearly Syjuco seems to think that at the very least Lasallians are less educated than Ateneans.

It is this widespread perception that we are fighting. It's an uphill climb. Ateneo has managed to convince Asian academics that it is far superior to La Salle and it will take years before La Salle can reclaim the top spotlight from its much-ballyhooed rival.

And so we've gone full circle. When La Salle started in 1911 with a little school in Paco, Manila, the high-flying Ateneo de Manila was already one of two premier educational institutions in the country, along with University of Santo Tomas. La Salle was just a dream, a gleam in the eyes of the Christian Brothers who first ventured in the only American colony in Asia. The University of the Philippines was only two years old.

Now, nearly 100 years later, La Salle is taking the back seat to the venerable Ateneo. While La Salle is going-away the better commercial success than Ateneo - we have 19 campuses nationwide, Ateneo has a mere handful - it is Ateneo that has claimed the highest rock in the country's academic circles. We are somewhere down below, on a lower rock, in the shadow of that big rock where the Lion King rests and roars and stares with bored eyes at the moon.

That La Salle has added a Law School is welcome news. The institution must produce lawyers who will someday lead the country. We must at some point produce a President or Prime Minister of the Philippines. We must graduate people who will someday have major roles in the country's nation-building.

Asian academics must become aware that we are not just a Computer Science School, or an engineering school, or an accounting, marketing, advertising or salesmanship school or a finishing school for call-center employees. They must perceive us as present and future leaders of the country.

Someday, we will retake the glory from our fierce rival. We are capable of doing that, I know, because we did it in the past. Not too long ago Asian academics - in fact, academics around the world - thought of La Salle as one of the top two schools in the country, along with the University of the Philippines. We did it before, we can do it again.

It's just sad that as we start the countdown to our centennial celebrations in June, 2011 we are playing second fiddle to the school that is making fun of the way we use the English language.

They also make fun of us in Latin.

His school looks like a Home Depot

"No wonder Paul is depressed," my daughter Natasha exclaimed, "his school looks like a Home Depot!"

Natasha was in the car when I took Paul to his then new school in Las Vegas in 2007 - the Forbuss Elementary School - shortly after our family's move from New Jersey to Nevada. From the red brick and ivy school buildings in New Jersey to the ground-hugging school building in Las Vegas that looked more like a light-industrial pre-fab building.

But no, Paul was not depressed because his school looked like Home Depot. He missed the friends he had left behind in New Jersey and vowed never to forgive me for moving him away from his friends.

I did not like the house in Jersey even though our family received a lot of congratulatory winks for having restored that all-brick English Tudor house and its 100% gleaming hardwood floors. It was an old house, built in 1931, and my repair and maintenance bills each year were atrociously high. The property tax was way too much - New Jersey has some of the highest property tax rates in the country.

Some who visited the house commented that we had a nice house but people had to drive through hell (Newark, New Jersey) to get to it.

I had retired and didn't want to pay the high maintenance expenses and the property tax. I knew, however, that I would be abandoning that slice of heaven - from son Paul's perspective. South Orange, New Jersey is made up of professionals, business people, educators, artists, actors, writers, government officials and the like. Their children are some of the most cosmopolitan and smartest in the country.

A few of those were kids Paul was growing up with.

We snatched Paul away from that environment and placed him right smack in the Las Vegas desert, where people have no sense of neighborhood. People in Vegas come from everywhere. None of us know our next-door neighbors. We don't know their backgrounds, whether they are good or bad people, whether they have good personal histories, whether they've ever been arrested, whether they are registered sex offenders, whether they are running from a criminal record in their previous home towns. The net result is we are very stingy with the smiles we flash at our next-door neighbors.

Paul still blames me for bringing him to Las Vegas.

Not so much lately, because he belongs to a school "gang" and one senses that he has forged a deep friendship with his gang-mates. They are on the verge of graduating from elementary school and entering middle school - grades 6, 7 and 8 - and he and his friends have sworn to stay together at that next level.

Paulita wants to put Paul in a Catholic school next year but I don't think it's going to happen because Paul threatens to jump from the car if we do not enroll him at the middle school that all his friends will go to next school year, which starts in late August.

"Well, OK," Paulita bargains with Paul, "but you have to go to Komun on Saturdays for extra math and English training." Paul agrees.

I had no idea it was going to be like this. My plan all along was for our whole family to live my retirement years in the Philippines and for Paul to go to La Salle, or Xavier, or the International School and then eventually to La Salle, Xavier or U.P. Prep for high school. He would then be attending a top-notch school where children of the most prosperous and influential people in the country study.

It was not meant to be. Natasha, who is still in college in Los Angeles, is not as independent as Paulita and I had hoped she would be, so it looks like we're stuck in the U.S. for a while. This is why we moved to Las Vegas in 2007, when we could have moved to the Philippines after we sold our house in South Orange, New Jersey.

I love Las Vegas. The sun always shines in Vegas. It's impossible to be depressed in Vegas. There are so many things to do if you're retired. There are the casinos, the shows, the dance academies, the people who come from all over the world to play and cavort. There are the beautiful people who descend on the Wynn, the Palms, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, City Center's Aria and the other 5-star hotel-casinos on the Strip. There is the constant stream of out-of-town visitors who call you to say that they will be visiting Vegas and they'd like to get together with you.

But Paul is too young to appreciate all the fun places and activities here. And he knows how to exact revenge on me for uprooting him from South Orange. He reminds me from time to time that it was because of me that he was forced to abandon his New Jersey friends. He's got me by the balls.

He decides what schools he will go to from now on. He has the final word on the subject. I sometimes wonder if Paul is a prototype for American kids, that the kids born in the U.S. in the future will all be like Paul. I wonder if kids will all feel that they must make the decisions that will affect their lives and not their parents, who may not have their interests in mind.

This may be an important logical development because parents here in the U.S. have often made decisions - divorce, separation, new surroundings, new digs - that impact their children's lives greatly without consulting their children. Future American children may be rebelling and telling their parents that from now on they will make the important decisions that affect their lives and demand that their parents set aside money to sustain them at the place of their choice.

I have not had a bloody-nose nightmare with such a scenario, but it may be just a matter of time before I do.

I cannot, for example, convince Paul that if he spends four years in the Philippines he will go to one of the country's best schools and learn so much more than he would if he stays on track to attend one of the public high schools in Las Vegas. The Clark County school system in Nevada has never had pretensions, but now that tax receipts are down and school boards and local governments are all scrambling to plug huge budgetary gaps, the situation has gotten worse for public school students in Vegas.

Paul doesn't care about the quality of education, he has decided that I will not separate him from his friends again. Not ever.

I did not know, when I was planning my retirement, that retirement could be as complicated as mine. I had an inkling, because I still have a daughter in college and an 11-year-old son. But I did not know it was going to be this difficult.

It's time for Plan B. Paulita and I are now convinced that Paul must attend high school in the Philippines. The quality of high school education at La Salle, Xavier, U.P. Prep - over that of Las Vegas high schools, or many of the high schools in America - is the main reason. But there's also the cultural advantage of growing up in a society where kids appreciate what their parents do for them, where kids still say "opo" when they talk to their elders, where kids look to their parents as gods.

I will know over the next three years if Paul's aversion to living in the Philippines and his phobia for losing contact with his friends will mellow enough to allow for his academic expatriation to the Philippines.

If he gets a girl friend by eighth grade, then all bets will be off.

Charice

The message I get from my son Paul these days is that I'm out of it. I like the standards, such as Sinatra, Tom Jones, Michael Buble, etc. so my radio is always on 104.7 f.m., the great Las Vegas radio station that plays "oldies but goodies" music all day, every day, including Saturdays and Sundays.

The station boasts of being the number one radio station in all of the Las Vegas valley, which is home to many senior citizens and retirees. To my son Paul and his friends who often hitch a ride with us and who along with Paul spill popcorn and soda on my rear car seat and carpet, I've got the worst musical taste in the world.

Paul and his friends take turns switching the radio dial to 94.1 f.m., the r & b station in Las Vegas that is the favorite of kids from 8 to 28. My wife, who is way past 28 (shush), also loves 94.1 f.m. I got introduced to the artists Linkin Park, Green Day and Brand New this way. I also finally put a band's name on the song that Paul belted often when he was nine years old, "In the end, it doesn't really matter..." before he would launch into an unintelligible rap that has never made sense to me.

It was also the way I was introduced to songs by Kelly Clarkson and the new rap, hip-hop and r & b artists like Usher and Lady Gaga. Being of the generation that broke away from our parents when Elvis Presley burst on the world scene and changed the world's culture in the mid-50s, I have a lot of respect for my son's culture.

I still listen to 104.7 f.m. a lot because when I'm driving I want the soothing effects of American standards on my subconscious. But I've also started to like the music in 94.1 f.m.

My wife told me this week that Charice Pempengco's American debut album, "Charice" had reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, and that the album was available at Target stores. So I went to Target to get a copy.

I had a hard time finding the album in the alphabetically-arranged racks, so I asked the store clerk for help.

"You'll find it right at the very front section. It's in the very first rack as you enter the music and movies section," he said. "You can't miss it. We have lots of the album. We sold out the first batch and are working on the second batch."

So I went back to the CDs and DVDs section and sure enough, "Charice" was featured with all the hot artists. They must be selling a lot of these albums, I thought to myself, to be featured in the very first rack along with Celine Dion, Usher, Lady Gaga and other hot artists.

I had often wondered how Charice would do in the American market if she ever made an album. She was, after all, a balladeer and romantic singer - Whitney Houston's "I will always love you," the Dream Girls' "And I'm telling you I'm not going," Celine Dion's "Because I loved you" - which are throwbacks in today's fast-paced world. My skepticism was shattered by this album, appropriately titled "Charice."

The very first song, a duet with Feat Iyaz called "Pyramid," answered all my questions, allayed all my fears. Charice proved her versatility with that one song. She became Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, Katherine McPhee rolled into one. As I listened, I couldn't help noticing the similarity between her songs and those of Clarkson's and Gaga's.

I Googled "Charice" and found out that David Foster, her mentor and her sponsor along with Oprah, also had wondered about how Charice would transition from a straight balladeer with the huge voice to an r & b star. Foster assembled a group of young songwriters who would turn out sounds and lyrics that remind one of Clarkson's and Gaga's. The result is the hit, "Charice," the debut album that is now starting to gain some traction.

The album, released in February, did not start out strong as America was fixated on Lady Gaga and the American Idol. Besides, no one knew - least of all me - that Charice was a legitimate r & b artist. America had come to know Charice as the tiny gurl with the big voice who could reach the highest of the high notes. She was a Broadway songstress, not an r & b artist.

While nobody was paying attention, word of mouth advertising started to catch fire and by last week, mainstream America seemed to have taken notice and now Charice has a hit that is just behind Usher's "Raymond V Raymond" in Billboard's 200 and ahead of Lady Gaga's "The Fame." Charice has not broken into Billboard's Hot 100 list, but if the current buzz in the Filipino-American community is any indication, the album will break into that iconic Hot 100 list by summer.

I am no music critic but I do appreciate music, especially dancing music because I've been a member of the Delgado Dance Club and have heard a lot of good dancing music. Charice's numbers are all dance-able, but they also pack a wallop because they are good listening music.

The album consists of 12 very good songs. Each song can make it on its own as a single. I've often bought albums that contain two or three very good songs, with the rest of the songs being forgettable music. That is not the case for "Charice."

I spent $14, including tax, on the album. At that price, the album was a give-away. All the songs are well-written, pleasant sounding and beautifully arranged. They all have the today sound, the sound that I hear on my car radio when my Paul and his friends are riding my car.

If I start to hear Charice's songs on 94.1, starting with her most popular number, "Pyramid," I will know that Charice Pempengco, who stole the world's heart as a 15-year-old pre-puberty girl with the big voice from Laguna province in the Philippines, has finally arrived now that she is a sultry 18-year-old.

She's not yet the female version of Manny Pacquiao, but she has the talent to get her to that level. And if she's willing to metamorphose into a seductive siren songstress, she may be primed to take over the American youth's consciousness like Madonna before her, then Britney Speers, then Gaga.

She will need some facial jewelry, a trademark make-up, lots and lots of tight-fitting jeans and stiletto shoes and a tattoo. If she is willing to go through this metamorphosis, she will travel far. For her sake and for the sake of the Filipino global nation that is hungry for international heroes, I wish she would abandon the traditional Filipino virgin look and become an international woman. Her photos on the "Charice" album are just the earth-shaking move to start her transformation.

An Aquino Thoroughbred

Nothing is ever clear cut in the Philippines. The people elected a President who promises to rid the country of the unwanteds, the unwashed politicians whose hands retain the stench of unholy alliances with the corrupt, the drug lords, the jueteng lords, the murderous elements in the country's recent inglorious past.

The Maguindanao massacre, for instance, could not have happened without the culture of corruption and blatant disregard for people's welfare on the part of many in the Arroyo administration.

It was a decisive victory for the new president-elect, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. Unfortunately, he has no coat-tails. He couldn't get his running mate - Mar Roxas - elected. The two of them had promised to clean up the mess that the two previous administrations left and are leaving. The people seemingly rejected the idea.

Instead, Filipinos hedged their bets. They elected a President who is long on vision and heart but short on experience and expertise. They made sure that the second in command has a proven record of executive accomplishments and expertise. They turned to Jejomar Binay, the Mayor who transformed Makati into not only a gleaming metropolis but also a shining example of how a big city can take care of business and also take care of its citizens. The way Binay takes care of the city's retirees and senior citizens is generations ahead of other city mayors.

Never mind that there are rumors that Binay is not the person to turn to if one is looking for a corruption fighter.

The voters sent mixed signals with their choices for twelve senators who will join the holdover twelve senators to form the new Senate.

If the country really wants Noynoy to clean up the government - and survey after survey indicates that this is what the country wants - their senatorial choices are mystifying.

Noynoy clearly needs a supporting cast in the Senate that will introduce legislation that will make it easier for Noynoy to pursue his good governance and accountability agenda. He is not getting one, based on the top twelve finishers in the senatorial contest.

There are the usual suspects: Ramon Revilla, Miriam Santiago, Johnny Enrile, Vic Sotto, Sergio Osmena and Lito Lapid. There are the senators who seem to be on track to eventually becoming statesmen/stateswomen: Franklin Drilon, Pia Cayetao, Ralph Recto and Teofisto Guingona but who are short on charisma.

And then there are the blatantly ambitious, whose ultimate goal is to either win or buy the Presidency someday: Ferdinand (Bongbong) Marcos, Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada.

Thirteenth placer Risa Hontiveros is poised to sneak in, being the replacement for Noynoy Aquino, who is ascending to the Presidency.

The top twelve finishers and Risa Hontiveros will join the eleven holdover senators whose terms end in 2013. Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Alan Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes, Manny Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri are eagerly awaiting their new and re-elected comrades for a celebration of pork barrel riches once the complete results of the recent elections are certified.

It will be happy days are here again, or happy days once more, or happy days forever for these folks.

The composition of the Senate and the unexpected presidential Trojan Horse "gift" - Jejomar Binay - will make it very difficult for Noynoy Aquino to pursue his corruption-fighting agenda, thanks to the voters of the Philippines.

With Marcos, Estrada, Enrile, Lacson (has he come out of hiding yet?), Escudero, Pangilinan, Legarda, Villar and Honasan second-guessing him, Noynoy will find it difficult to get anything through the Senate. These folks - once and future presidentiables - are interested in burnishing their images. If they opt to go for the good of the country it will be like St. Paul embracing Jesus.

They lie in wait, anticipating that moment when they can break from the pack and put themselves on a trajectory towards the presidency in 2016.

The greatest evil in Philippine governance is the 24 senators. Most of them, sitting in their senate offices, dream of someday becoming President. Some, like Lapid, Trillanes, Honasan and Osmena probably know that the presidency is not within their grasp - not now, not ever.

But most of these senators think that maybe someday, when the stars align, they could go for the biggest office in the land.

These ambitious senators, on day one, set up a savings account - a sinking fund - for their eventual run for the roses. You know what that means. It means for some stealing the country blind. They all do it under cover of night, away from the glare of public scrutiny, with fictitious names and hidden bank accounts.

The Senate is the greatest evil in Philippine governance. It is an invention crafted in hell. And it's one reason people concerned for the welfare of the country want to abolish the Senate. They want a unicameral legislature under a parliamentary system of government.

In a parliamentary system, all members of parliament are on notice that if they screw up they can be replaced at a moment's notice. Even the Prime Minister is on notice that if there is a no-confidence vote in the Parliament, new elections will have to be called. The people will decide which MP's (members of parliament) to fire or to keep, which political party to entrust the government to, which political party shall elect the country's Prime Minister.

There will be no shadow governments consisting of senators whose primary mission is to see that the President fails in his attempt to clean up the government and drain the swamp where the jueteng lords, drug lords, 20-percenters live and propagate. These senators do not want to close down the political brothels that are their sources of funds for their eventual run for the Presidency.

In a perfect world, there will be no senatorial shadow governments because there no longer will be a Presidency to aspire for. There won't even be a Senate.

Meanwhile, Noynoy Aquino need not play the hand that he is dealt with. He must gather the country's top talents who with their record of integrity and unusual accomplishments, will lend an air of expertise and inspired leadership to his administration. He must look not only at the people in the Philippines, but also at Filipinos in the Diaspora.

Aquino's transition team must identify and entice people whose stature will lend credibility to his claim that he is a new kind of leader and corruption fighter. Number one on my list of potential cabinet members for Noynoy is Loida Nicolas Lewis. She would be an excellent choice as Trade and Industry Secretary.

Bobby de Ocampo should be cajoled out of retirement and made Secretary of Finance a second time. Secretary Romulo deserves to be retained in Foreign Affairs.

Bayani Fernando is a natural in Interior and Local Government. Richard Gordon was born to head the National Economic and Development Authority. There is ringing endorsement of Among Ed Panlilio as the next Bureau of Internal Revenue Commisioner. If that position is not open to him, the Dept. of Public Works and Highways is a good fit, considering his experience and narrative in Pampanga.

Grace Padaca's exemplary record on preserving the environment in the Cagayan Valley makes her an obvious choice for Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources.

The bulk of Noynoy's appointments must of course consist of people he absolutely trusts and who are eminently qualified.

It is important, however, that Noynoy seek out the people he defeated in the polls and others who were not in his intimate circle during the campaign to impress upon the Filipino people that he is a different kind of President. That he will strive to assemble a team based on proven records of competence and honesty.

None of the people I have recommended are perfect men and women, but that's because there are no perfect men or women in the Philippines or anywhere.

Each of his appointments, however, must strive towards perfection. Especially in the area of personal honesty and integrity. The country cannot suffer another Kamaganak, Inc. Cory Aquino presidency. It will no longer be enough that Noynoy prove to be un-corrupt and incorruptible. All the people he appoints to cabinet positions must be pro-active corruption fighters. If any of his appointees fails in this area, he must ask for their resignation. Immediately.

A lot of my friends are cynical about the country's prospects. I don't blame them. Nor do I blame the Filipino people, who have time and again been shafted by their leaders.

As long as there is a new beginning, there's always hope that things will be dramatically different around these parts.

Everyone will be watching Noynoy. His every move. His every voice inflection. To sense sincerity and honesty.

The people expect much more from Noynoy than anyone in the Philippines. They love dynasties, but they absolutely adore the Aquino dynasty because they have made the judgment that the Aquino clan are thoroughbreds.