A.N.A.K. (Ang Natatanging Anak Kabanatuan)

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)
American Essayist & Poet
I have always been a late bloomer and it probably had something to do with my circumstances as a child, who grew up in a family dominated by men. The youngest girl in a brood of eight, I learned early on to simply listen and follow orders, to not ask too many questions but to accept what is without bothering about the whys. It wasn’t a big deal then or even now since it’s typical of a Filipino home, where adults shush children because it isn’t their place to speak up or butt into an adult conversation.
I’m not a precocious child, nor have I ever shown any sign of exceptional talent in other areas. I still remember how my older siblings made fun of my first grade report card . “Dalawang palakol,” (two axes, meaning 77%) my oldest brother announced laughing as he pulled out my card from the envelope. Everybody had a louder laugh at my response. “Mas mabuti naman iyan kaysa bagsak!” (It’s better than flunking), I muttered without any sense or feeling of shame. But my mother had a reasonable explanation for it (Don’t all mothers do?). I was 2 years shy of the right school age and was only enrolled because I was crying and wanted so much to go to school. Worse yet, I could never finish a week without being absent because I was always sick.
My academic record in elementary school was anything but outstanding but if it could count for something, my school record was a gradual progression from the bottom section in grade 1 to section 3, 2 and finally, section one in grades 5 and 6. However, this pattern of progression had nothing to do with me consciously striving to do better. I never studied for a test, let alone did my homework. And it wasn’t because I was lazy; I just didn’t develop a study habit. There was no compulsion for me from either my home or the classrooms. It seemed enough that I got by, passed each grade and then, graduated.
A Surprising Self Discovery
High school was a totally different experience for me. Despite the fact that my grades only put me in Section Two on my freshman year, I started paying attention to my teachers and diligently worked on my assignments and even reviewed for my tests. There was still no pressure from home then and though my high school teachers were more demanding of their students’ participation in class discussions, the compulsion I felt was actually coming from within me. There was a genuine desire on my part to be able to raise my hand for every question my teachers would ask. I did what I was inspired to do and the result was unthinkable for me, who never aspired to be rewarded for my efforts. Despite being in Section Two, I was given the First Honor after getting the highest score in the final exams, besting a stronger contender from Section One who was consistently at the top of her class and graduated Valedictorian from elementary school. I ended up graduating Salutatorian in four years and Cum Laude in another 3 years and four summers – not bad for a girl who got “dalawang palakol” in grade one, don’t you think?
The years following my graduation from college with a Bachelor of Science in Education were far from being stellar. Only eighteen years old and fresh from college, I was hired as English and History teacher at Dominican High School in Santo Domingo, N.E. and then, at Great Eastern Institute in La Paz, Tarlac and finally, in Cabanatuan City Colleges, where I got my first break at college teaching. It was also here where my love for journalism was rekindled as I became adviser for our school paper. The time I spent reading and editing the works of these budding writers with their amazing literary gift was one of the best memories I continue to cherish from my teaching years. In 1973, I got my Master’s degree in English, major in Literature .
Turning a New Leaf
I left Cabanatuan City to live in Manila in 1975, immediately after my marriage to Bart , a fellow staffer at The Gideon, our college paper. He was working at the head office of PNB and teaching accounting courses at night. I was hired as English and Literature instructor at UST College of Science, where I taught for 5 years until I accepted a teaching job in Nigeria.
Our first child, Bart Xavier, didn’t come along till after 2 ½ years during which time, I enrolled at UST Graduate School to pursue a doctoral degree in Literature. However, I had to put my post graduate studies on hold to take better care of my firstborn, who became a very sickly child as a result of the infection he got from the hospital nursery where he was born. But our second child, Paul Xander and then, our third, Madelene Grace , came along in close succession. I decided three children was enough and at 29, I was done with child birth. I never had the chance to go back to graduate school though.
In 1981, the opportunity to travel knocked when, together with my older sister, Eda, I was accepted to teach in Borno, Nigeria. One tour of duty was all it took to afford us the chance to travel to Europe and the U.S. as we headed back into the arms of our families. But something big happened as my sister and I were visiting our brother in San Diego. It piqued my desire to immigrate to the U.S. Three years hence, in 1984, Bart and I along with our 3 little children made a bold move to live in the U.S., bringing Bart’s rising career at PNB to an abrupt end.
Plucked out of our comfort zone, our very young family embarked on a journey of a lifetime. Our pioneering years in Chicago, where Bart decided to settle in had some very real challenges but our determination, newfound friends and a thriving community of Filipinos made our transition into a whole new way of life easier and more meaningful.
Birth of a Dream
In 1990, Bart made a life changing decision to venture into the publishing business. We formed and registered the corporation under the name Philippine Time, Inc., which also became the name of the broadsheet publication we founded with 4 other couples as investors, whose shares we bought out a few years after, to gain full control of the business and its direction. We were the first to publish a Filipino American newspaper in the Midwest that used color separation and the latest publishing technology. Bart and I became its editors. In 1995 we incorporated the Gintong Pamana Awards Foundation, Inc., our publication’s charity arm and hosted the first Gintong Pamana Awards Night after the successful release of the first multiple full color pages of Philippine Time News & People Magazine.
This year in August, the Annual Gintong Pamana Awards Gala Night, a national event honoring excellence and achievements of Filipino Americans will be on its 19th year and will have awarded approximately 300 outstanding Filipinos all over the U.S. We also publish yearly a commemorative coffee table book, Profiles of Excellence, featuring the inspiring stories of the Gintong Pamana award recipients. Through the Gintong Pamana, we are able to partly support the publication and also do charity by way of contributions to Medical Missions, scholarship programs, promotion of Filipino culture, victims of natural disasters and many other humanitarian causes.
It was sometime in 1994 when I came closest to the reality of our Class Prophecy. As if to give life to a classmate’s make believe prediction-for-fun, I actually traveled with President Fidel V. Ramos, interviewed him and even got autographed copies of his 2 books. It was during that trip too that I got to interview several Senators and Representatives, among them, Tito Sotto, Gloria Arroyo, Kit Tatad, Eduardo Angara and many others, all of whom have been featured in our paper. I had the rare opportunity to sit at a private meeting of then Vice President Joseph Estrada with his political advisers and strategists and interviewed him, too, for Philippine Time after the meeting. When Estrada became President and traveled to the U.S., Bart and I were invited to his suite along with the other members of the Filipino American media for a press conference. We did many interviews and photo ops with American mainstream celebrities, too, among them: “The Temptations,” Barbara Mandrel, Melissa Manchester, Paul Anka, Jay Leno, Caroline Rhea, the list goes on.. Being newspaper editors and publishers cast me and my husband into the limelight we never ever thought was possible even in our wildest dreams.
But we’ve been beyond being mesmerized long ago. As soon as we recovered from the sheer flattery of rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, we realized we’re in a unique position in our community to influence public opinion and shape people’s perceptions. As such, we must try our best to understand our constituents, their values, ideals, principles and idiosyncrasies. As publishers and editors of PhilippineTIME and later, the FilAm MegaScene , we must strive to reflect on its pages, the pulse of this community and its various organizations as they respond to issues that impact their lives. Only with a genuine knowledge of our community can we as editors and publishers of a community paper be more likely to serve our readers with responsible, intelligent and fair editorials and commentaries.
Advocacies
One of the best things Filipinos in the U.S. have picked up from this country and its people is their noble desire to always reach out to those in need, to share what they have with the less fortunate, to go out of their way and make a contribution to improving the lives of others and more. Even retirees in their 70s and 80s volunteer in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, feeding centers and all places they might find themselves useful. A life of giving, we’ve found out, is the most rewarding way of life anyone could hope for.
As Bart and I became deeply involved in various community organizations, we couldn’t help assuming leadership positions as well. I tried to limit my involvement but supported Bart in his many commitments. I was twice elected President of the National Press Club of the Philippines in the U.S. and had the privilege to act as program host and moderator of the seminar about the killing of journalists in the Philippines, with then Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Phil. Daily Inquirer columnist, Conrado de Quiros as featured speakers at the 6th National Empowerment Conference of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) in Honolulu, Hawaii. I also co-chaired the 4th National Empowerment Conference of NaFFAA in Chicago in 2004, where then Senator and now President Barack Obama was one of the speakers and then celebrated 2nd highest ranking Filipino American in the U.S. Military, Gen. Antonio Taguba as the keynote speaker at the gala, along with other speakers, then NaFFAA Chair, billionaire entrepreneur Loida Nicolas Lewis and Administrative Assistant to Karl Rove, Filipino American Susan Ralston among other speakers.
Currently, I’m the Chair of NaFFAA’s Committee on Women’s Issues, member of the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance, an advocacy group for clean and responsible governance and empowerment of the Philippines, led by Loida Nicolas Lewis as the Chairperson. I also sit at the Board of Directors of IPJM (In The Presence of Jesus Ministries), the church we have been active in for the past 10 years and is one of the beneficiaries of the Gintong Pamana fundraising projects.
Today, our children are gainfully employed and each one is carving a niche in
a community of their peers. Bart Xavier is a Senior Solution Architect at Perficient; Paul Xander is a Sales Manager at Career Builder, a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune and Madelene Grace is a lawyer at a Chicago law firm. Madelene and Paul are now married and Bart X. is in a serious relationship. As they pursue their own raison d’etre, Bart and I are prepping up for the next major change in our lifestyle as semi-retired grandparents to our daughter’s child due on March 2.
Natatanging Anak Kabanatuan (Distinguished Child of Cabanatuan)
America’s 30th President, Calvin Coolidge said, “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”
Reflecting on Coolidge’s quote, I hesitated for a while to receive this award, thinking I might not be deserving of the honor. It was one thing to be nominated for the award but it’s quite another to accept it. Though I decided to accept it without being fully convinced that I’m fully deserving, I did so because I wanted to continue our vision for Cabanatuan. In our own special way, my husband and I, and hopefully, our children,too, can make a meaningful contribution to the city. We have some ideas and we hope that we can rally the finest of Cabanatuan City’s children, starting with those in the U.S., to support our future programs and projects.
If receiving this award is a means to a greater end, then I gratefully and very humbly accept the honor in the name of God, the Awards Committee, especially Atty. Ruperto Sampoleo, my deceased parents Avelino and Consolacion Tumangan, my brothers and sisters, my husband Bart and children Bart Xavier, Paul Xander and Madelene Grace and their significant others, my in laws and all our loving friends and supporters.
Thank you and God bless you all.