Sporting Chance

Mobiline center Asi Taulava's mother Pauline Hernandez Mateaki hardly warmed her heels here as she left in a hurry last Wednesday night after a 3-day visit to attend to her ailing husband, suffering from a kidney problem in Tonga.

Is she of Filipino stock or isn't she? That is the question.

Pauline arrived from Los Angeles to face Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez in his Intramuros office. Rodriguez, Associate Commissioners Linda Hornilla and Alan Yap, and five other BI officials were in a closed-door session to cross-examine Pauline who showed up with Asi and two lawyers.

The interrogation was held Wednesday morning. Rodriguez wanted to hear Pauline explain the discrepancies in two documents regarding her birthplace -- one indicating she was born in Vaotu'u, Tonga and the other in San Jose, Samar. It was a key factor in the BI's decision whether or not to issue Taulava a Certificate of Recognition (CR) as a Filipino. A CR is required for a Fil-foreigner to play in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) as a local.

After a session, Asi took his mother to lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Binondo then they went shopping at the Robinson's Department Store in Ermita. Asi paid for all the bills. His mother bought T-shirts and native handicraft to bring home to relatives and friends. That same night, Asi's mother took a Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles where she lives. She will then fly to Tonga. She would've come here earlier -- her trip was postponed at least twice -- but she couldn't leave her husband's side because of his sickness. Her husband fell ill in Tonga and is confined in a hospital.

The BI is supposed to announce its decision on Taulava's application for a CR tomorrow.

Taulava's mother stayed at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel on Roxas Boulevard. She was booked in a single room but slept with her son in his room. Taulava keeps a room all-year round in the five-star hotel.

"They're really close," said a source close to Taulava, referring to mother and son. "They hold hands, make kwento. Asi didn't see his family last year so they had a lot of catching up to do."

Asi, 26, is the third of Pauline's five children. He said he owes his athletic career to his mother. "She used to take me to the park when I was a kid and encouraged me to play ball," he recalled. "I was about nine when I held my first basketball. Football was my favorite sport but my mom told me to stick to basketball because I'd only get hurt in football. She told me to try out for my high school basketball team when I was 14. I didn't think I'd make it but I was taken in as a sophomore."

Taulava played at Morningside High, the Los Angeles same school that Ron Jacobs coached before the San Miguel Beer coaching consultant moved to El Camino Junior College, Loyola Marymount University, and the Philippines.

Where was Pauline born?

Pauline said her original birth certificate was destroyed in a fire. In August 1998, another birth certificate - called a delayed reproduction by authorities - surfaced and was authenticated by San Jose municipal registrar Yuri del Valle. The birth certificate indicated she was born in San Jose. Yet, in Asi's birth certificate, it was noted that his mother was born in Vaotu'u.

In an affidavit, Asi said, "In Tonga, it is customary and a matter of practice for the woman/wife to follow the husband in all respect. The information in my birth certificate that indicated Vaotu'u as the place of birth of my mother could have been entered by personnel of the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages of Tonga by just copying the information that pertained to my father. Hence, in my birth certificate, Vaotu'u was also typed as the place of birth of my mother which was also our residence at the time of my birth."

In her testimony, Pauline said she was born an only child to poor Filipino parents in San Jose and left the Philippines when she was five to live in Tonga. Her father found work in Tonga as a farmer. She cried before Rodriguez as she related that her father abandoned his family when she was seven and her mother died of a heart attack when she was nine. She was raised by her mother's friend in Tonga. She married Pauliasi Pulupaki Taulava, a Tongan when she was 18 in 1968. She claimed she was still a Filipino citizen when Asi was born in 1973. She became a Tongan naturalized citizen in 1976 and three years later, migrated to Los Angeles.

Since leaving the Philippines in 1955, she'd never been back until last week.

It's unusual for a Filipina to be as tall as the 5-11 Pauline. However, she has Filipino features. There's no doubt she's Asi's mother -- the point of their noses is the same and so is the color of their skin. She's definitely not his stepmother.

The interrogation took about 30 minutes. Pauline showed the BI officials photographs of her children and grandchildren. She said she doesn't speak a word of Pilipino because she was only five when she left San Jose. She couldn't recall any relatives she'd like to visit in Samar.

Pauline must be a professional liar if she didn't tell Rodriguez the truth. There are no contradictions in her story. And she showed good faith in flying 10,000 miles to appear before Rodriguez and undergo a draining interrogation without faltering. If I sat on Rodriguez' chair, I would give her the benefit of the doubt and issue Asi his coveted CR.