Which of us is Filipino?

LAST week a giant billboard ad appeared at the corner of Capitol and Ocean, a few blocks from my home in San Francisco, featuring the photo of two attractive young women with the words in bold letters above them asking, "Which one of us is Filipina?"

One of the women was dark-skinned and could easily be an African-American while the other of fairer complexion might be a Latina. The answer printed just below the photo is "We both are."

In very small print, that you can only read if you're really close, are the words: "First Exposures: Youth Opportunity through Photography." The sponsors of this intriguing ad are listed below in even smaller letters as the Nelson Fund of the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley and the Potrero Nuevo Fund of the Tides Foundation.

What was the point of the ad? Was it to sell the notion that Filipino women come in all complexions?

Regardless of the point of the ad, I was pleased that someone took the time and invested the money to post its point in a billboard. Because there are so few images of Filipinos in the mainstream consciousness, we have to be grateful for even small gestures. Thank you whoever you are for giving recognition to Filipino women in particular and Filipinos in general.

The billboard ad reminded me of what Dr. Dan Kelly, the president of the San Francisco School Board, once observed that Filipinos are the world's role model for racial harmony. The full spectrum of races can be found in Filipinos, he said, and yet he saw that we exhibited no racist attitudes toward Filipinos of lighter or darker complexions.

Dr. Kelly expressed this observation at a meeting of the local school board in connection with a resolution he had sponsored recognizing the achievements of Filipinos.

We take his observation so much for granted because we are so used to this notion and it is "no big deal" to us. Just review the panoply of candidates Filipinos have elected as president from Spanish mestizos Manuel L. Quezon Jr. and Manuel Roxas to darker-hued "Balak beauty" Carlos P. Garcia and Ramon Magsaysay to Chinese mestizos Sergio Osmena Sr. and Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. In the Philippine Senate, one can find a Richard Gordon and an Alfredo Lim. A former mayor of Manila, Ramon Bagatsing, has family roots in India. Filipino officials come in all sizes as well from six footers in former senators Robert Jaworski and Freddie Webb to the 4'10" "champion of the little people" Sen. Juan Flavier.

Neither the color of the skin nor the ethnic heritage of the candidate has mattered at all in Philippine politics. Filipino voters do not vote for or against a candidate based on how he or she looks but on what he or she thinks, generally speaking. The fact that Filipinos don't really care if the candidate is a "he" or a "she" is remarkable in itself as two of the last four presidents of the Philippines have been women.

No, we don't knock each other down for how different we look as Filipinos, we just knock each other down for being Filipinos. We find so much to fault in ourselves that we don't take the time to look at the good in us. It has to take someone from the outside to point out something that we should take pride in. We are the model for the world in how different races can co-exist without racial discrimination and animosity. That is truly something we should be thankful for this Christmas.

In a photo of us that would look like a gathering of the United Nations, a question could be posed above the photo -- "Which of us is Filipino?" The answer below the photo would be "We all are."

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ this Christmas, let us not forget the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who have lost their homes and their livelihoods to the devastations of typhoons Yoyong and Winnie. Please continue to donate cash, canned goods or clothing to them through your local organizations or consulates through the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Let us also take time this Christmas to mourn the death of Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ). After he died of a brain hemorrhage this past week, a reporter who visited his home was shown the garage where FPJ was collecting canned goods to donate to the typhoon victims. The reporter was informed that the goods would not be stamped with anything that would show that it came from FPJ as it was to be donated anonymously. This one selfless act of FPJ has completely changed my perception of him. He was truly a good man and I join the Filipino nation in mourning his passing.

I will be attending the Third Global Filipino Networking Convention next month on Jan. 20-22, 2005 at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City (check out www.thirdglobalcebu.com for more information). If you plan to be in the Philippines for the Sinulog festival on Jan. 16, please extend your stay and join Filipinos from all over the world who are coming to Cebu to network with each other about how we can help the Philippines and each other. The theme of this year's conference is "Pinoy Power Worldwide."

I am grateful that I will be able to return to the Philippines this January. As readers may recall, I filed a civil suit against Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson in the Alameda County Superior Court and obtained a default judgment against him in the amount of $3 million in January of 2003.

In the course of collecting on this judgment, I obtained documents that showed that Senator Lacson had amassed more than $1 million in cash and real property assets in the US which he did not disclose in his statement of assets and liabilities. Senator Lacson's lawyers have since appealed the judgment and the case is now in the hands of the California Court of Appeals.

If Lacson had been elected president this past May, I would not be able to safely return to the Philippines. And Lacson could easily be the president of the Philippines today if he had not misunderstood the prediction of a fortune teller.

Senator Lacson was absolutely convinced that he would be the next president of the Philippines because, he told confidants, a widely-respected fortune teller in Shanghai had assured him that he would be.

Just three weeks before the May 12 elections, opposition presidential candidate FPJ offered to meet with Lacson to discuss the merger of their candidacies, which was allowed under the peculiarities of Philippine election law. FPJ offered Lacson the vice presidency as his candidate, Sen. Loren Legarda, was reportedly willing to step down for Lacson for the sake of unity and run for re-election to the Senate where she would be a virtual shoo-in.

But Lacson rejected FPJ's offer and instead offered FPJ his vice presidential slot, which was vacant. It would be Lacson-FPJ, he insisted, not FPJ-Lacson as he was more qualified than FPJ to be president, he claimed. The Iglesia ni Kristo and the El Shaddai movement were poised to endorse an FPJ-Lacson merger and observers agree that the tandem would surely have won the elections, hands down. At the very least, Lacson's three million votes would have ensured FPJ's win and Lacson's as well.

If FPJ and Lacson had won, and FPJ had suffered his brain hemorrhage while serving as president, Lacson would now be the president of the Philippines. And the very least of the country's worries would be that I would not be able to attend the Cebu convention.

Lacson's Chinese fortune teller would have been right on the money but Lacson misunderstood him and thought that he would be president via a direct electoral route. I have a spare shoe Lacson can use to kick himself in the butt for rejecting FPJ's offer. Thank you Lord.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe and Secure New Year to all.