Adel Tamano

The much-awaited elections are just a corner away, and we’re all getting ready the list of people we want to vote to public office. I’ve written about a number of people who I believe will contribute effectively to the national and local legislative and governing processes. I suspect that a name that will be found in many codigos will be that of Adel Tamano, who is running for senator under the banner of the Manny Villar’s Nacionalista Party.

Adel’s name has not appeared in the popularity surveys that have been coming out, but, at the risk of being charged with endorsing a candidate, let me say that I will be happy if his name makes it to the top 12. It would be a waste if such a young man with a good reputation, talent, and sincerity of purpose, would not be allowed to help reform society and governance.

As to his academic preparedness, he has it. He finished his high school education at de Dela Salle University in Greenhills, a bachelor’s degree in economics at the Ateneo de Manila University where he also obtained his degree in law in 1996. He passed the bar in 1997. He furthered his studies by taking his master of public administration at the University of the Philippines, focusing on judicial governance and reforms.

Then off to Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass. he went — as the first Filipino Muslim scholar, for a master of laws degree. At the Ivy League school his outlook broadened to see the world in a better perspective. Surely, he must have been an exemplary student, as he was asked to be the commencement speaker of his Harvard class of 2005.

The Tamano name should be familiar to the older generation. Adel’s father is the late Sen. Mamintal Tamano, a political figure in his time, who, with the support of his wife, civic leader Muslim Princess Hadja Putri Zorayda Abbas of Lanao del Sur and Jolo, encouraged Adel to have an intense love of learning and a passion for public service.

Returning from Harvard, he joined the Mendoza Law Office, then the Kapunan Tamano Javier & Associates where he is currently a senior partner, handling special sensitive issues ranging from litigation and constitutional law. He has taught law subjects in many law schools, and written law textbooks and law journals.

Articulate and good-looking (as is his wife, Rowena Kapunan, a lawyer and mother of his two young children), Adel, now 39, caught the public’s attention as he was asked to give his legal opinion on sensitive issues on television, particularly on the “Hello Garci” tapes. Declining senatorial slate offers in 2007 he chose to accept the offer to be the national spokesperson of the United Opposition.

Before he knew it, he was appointed by Manila City Mayor Fred Lim to be president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), where he became an icon of the students and faculty, stressing quality education and creating a program that enabled financially poor students to enter the university, and giving credence to the title of PLM being “The People’s University.”

Now the challenge is for him to carry his vision to the Senate, if the electorate so decide. His platform of government is responsible citizenship, primacy of education, rule of law, and anti-corruption. His legislative agenda: education as budgetary priority, establishment of local colleges and universities, entrepreneurial centers, programmed public services in health, green energy, and peace process.

I like reading Adel’s speech in Harvard. It said in part, “Ultimately, the real value of our education will be assessed in terms of our making the world a more just, peaceful, equitable, environmentally sustainable, and tolerant place for our children.”

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On another front, the Silliman University community mourns the passing of Wilfred Uytengsu, one of the generous donors to the institution. Wilfred and his family, through the Uytengsu Foundation, supported the construction of two edifices: the Uytengsu Foundation Computer Center and the newly built Uytengsu Foundation Computer Studies Hall. These are in addition to an earlier building (the Uytengsu Hall) now being used by the College of Engineering and Design, and the Alaska Basketball Court fronting Woodward Hall.  

An existing scholarship in the University comes from the Wentworth Uytengsu Memorial Scholarship Fund, Inc. The scholarship was established in memory of Wentworth Uytengsu, an elder brother of Wilfred, who was a pre-law student at Silliman University, but lost his life in the resistance movement in 1945. Over the years, beginning in school year 1950-1951, about 179 have been recipients of the scholarship and have become successful professionals.

Recognizing Wilfred’s and his family’s support to Silliman and other faith institutions in the country, the university conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Humanities (honoris causa) on Dec. 8, 2007 at the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium.

Wilfred was born on Oct. 6, 1927 in Dumaguete City, and finished high school at Silliman in 1946. He graduated with the degrees of BS Industrial Engineering in 1950 at Stanford University and BS Chemical Engineering in 1951 at Indiana Tech University.

After being away from Dumaguete for 52 years, Wilfred, in accepting the conferral, spoke of how he learned the value of education and work ethic, especially as a young boy who lived a comfortable life but lost everything during the war.

He took reference to the importance his parents, Silliman alumnus Don Tirso Uytengsu and Honey Tan placed on education. Wilfred said he appreciated the value of education more when he had the opportunity of pursuing studies in the United States.

“In today’s globalized world, an individual with a more diversified education and frame of mind will be in a better position to contribute and succeed…while an education does not necessarily guarantee success in the business world, it certainly provides a foundation for one to start with,” he said.  

But according to Wilfred, for one to be successful, one also has to have a good work ethic. “I’m not sure how this was inculcated in me, although I do remember my father mentioning the importance of working hard.” And he worked hard when he arrived from the US, realizing that this was the only way for them to grow, develop and survive.

“The best business plan without the effort is just a dream,” he said. “Once one has started a business, one can only succeed by working harder and at a faster rate than one’s competitor.”

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Two other well-loved persons with special attachments to Silliman have passed away: Atty. Ted Cortes, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Law, and Lydia Busuego Salonga, wife of former Senate president Jovito Salonga who once served as chairman of the board of trustees of Silliman University. (More on these two persons in another column.)

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