MANILA, Philippines?Two weeks ago, Cecile Alvarez and I succeeded in luring Sec. Heherson Alvarez, presidential adviser on global warming and climate change, to the dzRH program we co-host?despite his jet lag?to talk about behind-the-scene happenings at the Copenhagen Climate Summit and about the non-binding ?Accord? signed by the world?s nations. But for tonight?s revelry, I?d like to highlight his appeal not to burn tires and to minimize, if not totally eliminate, exploding firecrackers as these add to the carbon emission which has become quite deadly for our atmosphere. I join this appeal; in fact I wholeheartedly endorse someone?s classic idea of turning full-blast at midnight Beethoven?s Concerto No. 5 instead. I also appeal to our police and military to refrain from firing guns tonight as this could endanger lives.
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Just as there?s an appeal for no fireworks tonight, there were no fireworks nor loud horns for Ateneo University?s recent ?Sesquicentennial? commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the return of the Jesuits to the Philippines. Instead, as my nephew Rick Olivares, who headed the marketing of the ?Sesqui fun run,? put it, ?Everything that was collected or earned during the festivities will be used for the scholarship of the students. This is a chance for the whole community to give back to the school.? Ateneo?s scholarship program, called 500@150, was conceptualized in November 2008, and aims to add 500 more scholarships to the 1,088 at the college level. This means 13.6 percent of Ateneo?s 7,963 students are scholars, but the school and various alumni organizations want to raise the ratio to 20 percent, as in the ?80s.
In support of this program, various fund-raising activities were conducted. Donations were solicited either in the form of individual endowments of P2.5 million each to support scholars in perpetuity, or in amounts of P500,000 for a four-year scholarship of one student. The Ateneo Alumni Association held an art auction (that raised P1.2 million) and a telethon. The Pacquiao-Cotto fight was shown in the Henry Lee Irwin Theater and ticket sales were channeled to the scholarship fund. Ateneo?s college class ?59 felt, however, that more than a scholarship, it would be worthier to support in perpetuity a deserving teacher through a professorial chair in Math or the Sciences.
The underlying belief in all these activities is that the Ateneo education enjoyed by the upper crust should be more democratized. By enabling a poor but bright and industrious student to avail of this quality education, the school becomes a continuing agent for leveling society?s inequalities.
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Last month various media women were invited by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for lunch. One of the ladies noted the delicious food being served and the attractive presentation. I agreed with this observation and noted that at the informal dinner GMA hosted for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and at the elegant dinner she gave for Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, daughter of Thai King Bhumibol Abdulyadej, the fare was also delicious and attractively presented. At the dinner for the Princess, items with local flavor were served, such as ?smoked tangigue ceviche, bulalo consommé, baked lobster, pan-seared wagyu beef? and ?Philippine carabao?s milk & white chocolate bavarois.?
At the mention of media?s observation, GMA lighted up and summoned her cheerful and unflappable executive chef, Aurora ?Babes? Austria, to meet us. Babes had a ?previous life? as a career accountant, working with GMA when the latter was still an undersecretary in the Department of Trade; later Babes went on to head the budget service of Vice President Arroyo. When GMA became president, she tried to lure Babes to the Department of Budget and Management with the job of assistant secretary, but Babes wanted to pursue a longtime dream: to become a good chef. She enrolled in the Culinary School of America. In GMA?s later years at Malacañang, she appealed to Babes? sense of service to country, via the Palace kitchen. Babes told us that GMA and she have the same goal: to present delicious and elegantly served food at Palace functions at a fraction of catering costs. What?s more, Babes admits interns into her kitchen and trains them, including disabled but talented young people. On the other hand, the elegant table settings and décor are attributable to Social Secretary Bettina Araneta-Aboitiz.
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Those of us who were staffers of the black-and-white Mr. & Ms. Magazine that was instrumental to a large degree in helping restore democracy to the Philippines are proud that our former colleague, Candy Quimpo (a.k.a. Ms. Richard Gourlay, London-based since 1989; her husband was the Manila-based correspondent for the Financial Times of London in the dying years of Marcos dictatorship) has joined the list of prominent authors published by the prestigious David Fickling Books (DFB), an imprint of Random House, one of the biggest publishing companies in the world. Candy?s novel, ?Tall Story,? uses our own Bernardo Carpio legend and other local folklore as a stepping-off point to tell the story of a teenager named Bernardo, who grows to eight feet tall. After years of being separated by immigration paperwork, he meets his half-English sister Andi with, as Candy puts it, ?by turns hilarious and touching results.? DFP hails ?Tall Story? as ?an outstanding and highly original novel? which, as its editorial director Bella Pearson admitted, reduced her to ?fits of laughter one minute and in tears the next.?
?Tall Story? will be published by DFB in the United Kingdom in June 2010 and late in the year in the United States; RP publication rights are claimed by Ramon ?Ray Vi? Sunico (manager of Cacho Publishing House, a pioneer in bringing teen fiction to the local publishing scene), who lauds Candy?s ?crisp, crackling prose.? Congrats, Candy.
