Say 'Chiz'

Is it the generation gap that’s making Chiz Escudero at the top, on one hand, and just below the winning candidate, on the other — in the surveys? From the survey results that have been drummed into our email address, Sen. Manny Villar is shown as the No. 1 choice of respondents, and Senator Escudero just below him.

Two surveys reaching us show this trend. In a special run in eight cities in Mindanao, 23 percent of 400 respondents preferred Manny among 13 presidential possibilities, while 17 percent preferred Chiz. In a University of the Philippines “mock elections,” Chiz garnered 690 votes, constituting 21 percent of those who participated in the exercise, followed by Manny, with 365 votes or 11.5 percent.

Us “older” women in media — most of whom show a preference for older men — had lunch with Chiz at Diamond Hotel’s Japanese resto, and asked him why he’s popular among the younger crowd. As in most questions tossed him that pertained to his personal life, he paused a bit, then said, it must be because college students think that, being young (40; he was born Oct. 10, 1069), he knows what their needs and aspirations are. Chiz, whose real name is Francis Joseph Guevara Escudero, caught the young generation’s attention through his searing attacks against the present Administration.

At our lunch, he did look charming and sounded intelligent – far from his television image where he sounds rather, well, glib, if you ask me. But television, he told us, is his best reaching out tool — not the Internet, or radio, or print media. Last year, he was voted “most Admired TV Personality” by Anak TV Seal. That, in addition to his being chosen Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum last year; Asia’s Idol, by Asia News Network in 2007, and TOYM Awardee in Youth Leadership in 2005.

We were having lunch while the Lakas-CMD-Kampi national executive committee was proclaiming Gibo Teodoro as its presidential standard bearer elsewhere. Chiz said he will not make any announcement about whether he will run for president, or who his choice for vice-president is. He said many politicians have declared they were going to run, and with whom, only to change tunes and choices a few days later.

As senator, his bills that became law have been on deposit insurance coverage, the fire code, mending sections of the national internal revenue code and expanding the organizational structure of the Court of Appeals.

Chiz has a law degree from the UP College of Law and a master in international and comparative law from Georgetown University in 1998. He represented the first district of Sorsogon, for three terms, from 1998 to 2007. He was House assistant majority floor leader in the 11th Congress, and House minority floor leader in the 13th Congress. He has been voted legislator of the year, outstanding public servant, solon of the year, most outstanding congressman, and youth achiever by various groups.

Our conversation shifted to future first ladies. Can they be liabilities or assets? He said he considers Cynthia Villar as her husband Manny’s asset, she being a businesswoman, congresswoman, and knowledgeable, “where Manny cannot go, she will go and pinch hit.” 

What about his wife Christie? Chiz laughed. No, they have not talked about what she will do and cannot do as president’s wife. He remembers the first time he ran for a congressional seat. Christine, a music (voice) major from UST, sang at rallies before he spoke, and he realized that after she sang, people moved away, not waiting for him to speak. That’s it, I speak first, and you sing after me, he said. Christine runs a music studio, teaching voice to adults and children who want to learn to sing. They have twin children – Maria Cecilia and Joaquin Cruz, age 2.

His twins were born by invitro fertilization – a process hailed and approved by the church hierarchy. But Chiz and Marie are ecstatically happy with their choice. As to his position on the reproductive health bill, Chiz said he is not for the bill, per se, but that he believes in providing everyone access to information and methods on family planning and that he is not in favor of abortion (except under extraordinary circumstances).

As to his good friend Sen. Mar Roxas’ decision to turn over the presidential gavel to Noynoy Aquino, Chiz said something off the record, but, on the record, he said he advised Noynoy to get married now, to stop people from playing around with his destiny.

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In my last two columns, I wrote about Sagada, a lovely place (with pine trees and cool weather, no air pollution) to spend weekends and retirement at. All this, in spite of the terribly rocky and gravely roads. Sagada would never have been without the existence of St. Mary’s School of Sagada (SMSS), an educational institution founded by American Episcopalian Rev. Fr. John Staunton in 1904. Starting out as a mission school, it offered elementary school education, eventually becoming one of the top high schools in the country. Aside from the school, the missionaries put up St. Theodore’s Hospital.

The historian William Henry Scott was appointed principal in 1959. He introduced journalism, surveying and library science into the industrial arts curriculum, designed the school’s coat-of-arms with an Igorot motif.

The Rv. Archie Stapleton became principal in 1959, and under his administration, St. Mary’s achieved its highest academic standard. In 1962, the school placed ninth in national examinations administered to 1,500 public and private schools – an achievement the principal attributed to four factors: the excellence of the faculty, the entrance requirement of the 7th grade, the presence of a large, open-stack library, and the quality of 6th grade graduates entering from the Sagada public schools.

In 1975, St. Mary’s buildings, except for office records and part of its Filipiniana collection, were razed, but new and better facilities were built through donations from Manila philanthropist Alfonso Yuchengco in memory of his father, Don Enrique Yuchengco.

St. Mary’s School, like many organizations in the Philippines, had to scrounge around for financial resources when foreign support stopped coming in. The current principal, who is serving SMSS on a voluntary basis – would you believe – is Dennis Faustino, who was connected with International School in Makati for 30 years. He has made drastic changes in the curriculum, teachers’ trainings, teacher-student ratio of 25 students per teacher (SMSS has 200 students at the moment) – with the goal of making a “model school” that prepares students for entry in top schools like the UP, Ateneo and Dela Salle University. With the expertise of another volunteer — Kent Sinkley — information technology manager, who has installed an array of computers, SMSS is moving towards becoming the technology hub of Mt. Province - “and I think we’ve come a long way in that regard,” says Kent.

One thing that Dennis is very proud of is the cooperation of SMSS alumni – nurses, doctors, community leaders – from many parts of the world, enabling the school to have more facilities and better quality education. President of the alumni association is Rufino Bumasang, who had served as undersecretary under six Philippine presidents, and headed the Philippine National Oil Corporation. One of the fund-raising activities that raised P500,000 was the one-day walkathon organized by Shelly Torrevillas Belt, daughter of alumna Nellie “Labanet” Abeya Pit-og.

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My email address: [email protected]