Patricia Evangelista speaks for us

EVEN though we all expected it to happen, when it finally did happen, it still came as a shock. We had all hoped and prayed that mighty Jasmine Trias would somehow confound the haughty judges and win America's vote, not just Hawaii's. But alas, it was not to be. Perhaps the judges' howls of "travesty!" may have prodded enough voters to call the "American Idol" phone numbers of Fantasia Barino and Diane DeGarmo to oust Jasmine from the finals. (Who knows but are you happy now, Simon and Randy?)

But before we curse judges for thumbing their noses at Jasmine (or for unfairly denying the featherweight boxing crown to Manny Pacquiao), another panel across the Atlantic Ocean in London redeemed the reputation of judges by their wise decision.

On May 15, a distinguished panel of judges headed by Brian Hanrahan of the British Broadcasting Corp. unanimously chose Patricia Evangelista of the Philippines as Best Speaker in the 2004 International Public Speaking competition sponsored by the English Speaking Union (ESU). She will receive her prestigious award in November from Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, in appropriate ceremonies to be held in Buckingham Palace.

Patricia Evangelista, a 19-year old sophomore student of the University of the Philippines, bested seven other finalists from among the 59 contestants from all over the world who made it to the London competition. The seven other speakers came from Malaysia, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Morocco and Mongolia. Ironically, the "native speakers" of English -- from the USA, England and Wales, South Africa and Australia -- were eliminated in the early heats.

Unlike "American Idol," where the participants sing songs composed and crafted by others, the London competition involved speakers who wrote their own speeches and delivered them extemporaneously without notes or cues.

The theme of this year's London competition was "Borderless World" and Patricia's speech titled "Blonde and Blue Eyes" spoke of being a product of "four centuries under Western domination" which made her wish she would "wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!"

Patricia revealed that she has sixteen cousins but only five of whom are still in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener pastures." Patricia believes that "it's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world."

"There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice."

This notion that the Filipinos who joined the diaspora are deserting the Philippines has been the favorite subject of Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Raul Palabrica who has been a major foe of the Dual Citizenship Law.

In his column last week, Palabrica gave vent to the exasperation of a Benjamin Subido who questioned why the media "extol[s] foreigners of Pinoy ancestry to high heavens." Subido believes that these "Fil-foreigners," as Palabrica labels them, "are no longer ours. Jasmine Trias, Antonio Taguba, Efren Reyes (the actor, not 'Bata'), etc. Do we have some kind of national inferiority complex that we bask in the reflected light of ex-Pinoy blood liners?"

"Come to think of it, the main reason Pinoys leave the country is that the going is rough here, there are very few opportunities for advancement. The ones who stay are the tough ones. Why admire those who abandoned ship?"

The response to this attack on "Fil-foreigners" comes most eloquently from Best Speaker Patricia Evangelista who said that she no longer accepts this narrow-minded view of Filipinos who leave the Philippines. "I don't think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino -- a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures."

And here is what Patricia Evangelista understands that Palabrica and his ilk do not: "Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire traveled all over Middle-earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

"In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me."

Congratulations, Patricia. We are proud of your achievement and of your message.

Rodel Rodis is a San Francisco attorney who is an elected member of the San Francisco Community College Board. Readers may send their comments to Rodel50@aol.com.