Once in a while, people would ask in rhetoric what would've become of the Philippines had the Americans not relinquished possession of these islands. I think the following can be one of the possible answers.
Kuya Boy (a.k.a. Uncle Victor from Seattle) is quite a character and I think he knows it. Some nights ago, he kept us up til 3 am as he waxed quite affectively on his youth. It won't take you long to guess how many times he's told this story. His prose is the stuff of low budget TV-movie dramedies, the kind you encounter on HBO Asia in slow afternoon blocks. Of course, if you ask most of our older relatives who were actually there, it's a dragedy. Hey, that sounds like "tragedy" if you have a stuffy nose. But I digress as usual.
He sniffed and chuckled for five or so hours as he recalled his teenage years. Their poverty and the responsibility of being the eldest child formed a major part of his struggles.
After graduating highschool, he held various blue collar jobs to help the family. One day, while on a visit to the general vicinity of Sangley Point (old US Navy base in Cavite) with a childhood friend, a group of American sailors (Navy servicemen) in a bar caught his attention. The sailors were, not unusually, cavorting with some local women while displaying a most whacked-out way of downing beer. Impressed by such carefree demeanor, he told his friend that that was the life he wanted to have. He wanted to be a sailor. (Might I mention that Kuya Boy gushed like a man who just hit pay dirt as he related this part of his story) He wasted no time in signing up for the qualifying exam.
The written test was a breeze but he encountered a hitch in the physical due to the fact that he was flat-footed. Disheartened, he pleaded with the Navy medical officer to reconsider because this was his family's only chance of a better life. The officer was moved by the sight of a skinny 18-year-old weeping and begging to join the most powerful maritime force to ever sail the planet. Soon, Kuya Boy was no longer flat-footed and blissfully proceeded with the rest of the physical exam.
A few months passed and he received his order to report to Sangley Point as one of the newest recruits of the United States Navy. When he got there, he recognized a few hometown boys with whom he will form lasting friendships. There they were, young, impressionable, provincial kids who were about to devote not only their formative teenage years but also the rest of their lives protecting (and worshiping) everything American. They were the proverbial plaster to be cast in the American mold.
They soon boarded a ship which took them to San Francisco. It was early 1964 when Kuya Boy and his mates disembarked and soon received formal training to launch what would be a three-decade-long career in the US Navy.
He wouldn't return to the Philippines until five years later to find his wife in the person of Amor Ordoñez from Bayan Luma, also in Imus. They made their home in Oxnard, California and later moved to Waialua, Hawaii sometime in the 70s. After raising four kids (all of whom, with the exception of Abigail, knew absolutely nothing about their parents' homeland) Kuya Boy brought his family to Seattle in the late 80s where they have achieved much success as real estate agents.
From all indications, Kuya Boy's life in America has been comfortably middle class Republican. I've never confirmed this but his devotion to the stars and stripes speaks GOP. You guessed it, he has become your typical freedom fries American. It's too obvious in his point of view, logic, expressions, even in his wardrobe and bathing habits.
I hope he doesn't take the 5 bucks back if he ever reads this.
Kuya Boy (a.k.a. Uncle Victor from Seattle) is quite a character and I think he knows it. Some nights ago, he kept us up til 3 am as he waxed quite affectively on his youth. It won't take you long to guess how many times he's told this story. His prose is the stuff of low budget TV-movie dramedies, the kind you encounter on HBO Asia in slow afternoon blocks. Of course, if you ask most of our older relatives who were actually there, it's a dragedy. Hey, that sounds like "tragedy" if you have a stuffy nose. But I digress as usual.
He sniffed and chuckled for five or so hours as he recalled his teenage years. Their poverty and the responsibility of being the eldest child formed a major part of his struggles.
After graduating highschool, he held various blue collar jobs to help the family. One day, while on a visit to the general vicinity of Sangley Point (old US Navy base in Cavite) with a childhood friend, a group of American sailors (Navy servicemen) in a bar caught his attention. The sailors were, not unusually, cavorting with some local women while displaying a most whacked-out way of downing beer. Impressed by such carefree demeanor, he told his friend that that was the life he wanted to have. He wanted to be a sailor. (Might I mention that Kuya Boy gushed like a man who just hit pay dirt as he related this part of his story) He wasted no time in signing up for the qualifying exam.
The written test was a breeze but he encountered a hitch in the physical due to the fact that he was flat-footed. Disheartened, he pleaded with the Navy medical officer to reconsider because this was his family's only chance of a better life. The officer was moved by the sight of a skinny 18-year-old weeping and begging to join the most powerful maritime force to ever sail the planet. Soon, Kuya Boy was no longer flat-footed and blissfully proceeded with the rest of the physical exam.
A few months passed and he received his order to report to Sangley Point as one of the newest recruits of the United States Navy. When he got there, he recognized a few hometown boys with whom he will form lasting friendships. There they were, young, impressionable, provincial kids who were about to devote not only their formative teenage years but also the rest of their lives protecting (and worshiping) everything American. They were the proverbial plaster to be cast in the American mold.
They soon boarded a ship which took them to San Francisco. It was early 1964 when Kuya Boy and his mates disembarked and soon received formal training to launch what would be a three-decade-long career in the US Navy.
He wouldn't return to the Philippines until five years later to find his wife in the person of Amor Ordoñez from Bayan Luma, also in Imus. They made their home in Oxnard, California and later moved to Waialua, Hawaii sometime in the 70s. After raising four kids (all of whom, with the exception of Abigail, knew absolutely nothing about their parents' homeland) Kuya Boy brought his family to Seattle in the late 80s where they have achieved much success as real estate agents.
From all indications, Kuya Boy's life in America has been comfortably middle class Republican. I've never confirmed this but his devotion to the stars and stripes speaks GOP. You guessed it, he has become your typical freedom fries American. It's too obvious in his point of view, logic, expressions, even in his wardrobe and bathing habits.
I hope he doesn't take the 5 bucks back if he ever reads this.
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