One time, many years ago, my late father, Napoleon, shared with me a legendary story. He said that Tal Fulano was a name given to a fictional Spanish character who was blessed with profound wisdom and immense wealth. Because of such circumstances, Tal Fulano was considered the singular community leader whose counsel was always sought in times of perplexing dilemma and whose support was forthcoming to everyone in need.
In the Philippine setting, we also created our own fictional personality. While the name Juan de la Cruz, despite its Hispanic orientation, was (it still is) supposed to stand for the Filipino, our equivalent of Tal Fulano was Filosopo Tasio. Filosopo Tasio was, to many, like Fulano, also incredibly wise. The wit that Tasio possessed though was believed to have evolved from his keen observation of nature rather than from any formal training.
Actually, papa pictured to me how colorful Tal Fulano was by intercalating Spanish expressions in his narration. But, he was clear in admitting that the reason he wanted me to know about that fictional name was to put it in more premium status than Superman because at that time of his story telling, the name Tal Fulano and the symbol he was supposed to project was fast losing prominence. Many people did not know him anymore nor could they associate his name with wisdom.
In all candidness, I am also making this narration, in this column, because Filosopo Tasio might, today, be, as dead and irrelevant to many as has become Tal Fulano, to most, if not all of us.
Yet, Tasio, in fact, lives with us today. Many ordinary Filipinos possess the depth of understanding ascribed, long time ago, to the fictional personality. In our midst, they are the barbers, the barangay lupons, the drivers, and the radio commentators among the other men and women endowed with experiential lessons. Most often, they speak with the confidence of learned authorities on wide ranging issues not necessarily because they have obtained doctoral degrees but because they have the ability to relate their own personal experiences with information they assimilate from various knowledgeable sources.
I met one such gentleman few days ago. His first name is beyond my memory but I could recall his family name, Mileno. As soon as I hopped into his taxicab on my way home, I noticed him "multi-tasking." He was doing internet, listening to his two-way radio and opening to me who he was in a rather sincere manner. Just on the eighth year of stay in our city, Mileno said he came from Ormoc City and his driving for his "bosses", the Corominas-Richards family is a pleasant experience owing to their good nature.
The Filisopo Tasio in driver Mileno surfaced when he shared with me his ideas on governance. Government priorities, to him, are difficult to comprehend. Our educational system, for instance, is geared more towards graduating professionals to work in air-conditioned offices, when we need to train more people to perform blue-collar jobs. He agrees that we need lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants, but Mileno, insists that we need educate more people to become agriculturists, horticulturists, foresters, fishermen, automotive mechanics, carpenters, welders etc.
He also wondered aloud why, despite the presence of brilliant officials in our bureaucracy, they just could not formulate a program attractive enough for people to be enticed to go back to their provinces and thru this process of reverse migration, decongest the cities. I could not simply disregard his idea that when there are better economic opportunities for people in their home province, they would gladly go home and save our cities from the humongous traffic problems we are experiencing.
That day when I rode the taxicab of Filosopo Tasio Mileno, I wrote in this column my preference for the city to buy a tractor, for farmers' use rather than an expensive SUV for the comfort of barangay captains. Truth to tell, he disarmed me when he stopped his car by the roadside as soon as I told him my write-up. He claimed to have read it in the morning and he was glad to meet me in person! Then, we strengthened our common membership in the Mutual Admiration Club with a firm handshake. Gosh.